yao was born too late, mid to late 90's a center could so mcuh more. He'd be guarding trash centers half the time too, nowadays instead of resorting to a trash center , lotta teams just start a natural PF at the poistion.
If the rockets are going to make the moves to build this into a contending team we have limited trading assets. So we might have to trade one of our stars inorder to open up our ability to develop. Or Les will have to spend more money.The Win Now Senario must go out the window!! We must develop players and have a three year plan of further decelopment. If we kept Yao Ming we must have a tall, strong and athletic Power Forward who can play both the power game and also the speed game like Phoenix. Yao Ming should not be required to guard fast athletic Power Forwards.We also need a stong Playmaker to take on the starting Point Guard duties. Besides these we need about three other players who can run and put it in the basket when called upon to do it. No sentimentality gone Mutombo, Battier, Head, V.Span. Howard, Lucas & Snyder Hayes and Alston relagated to back up positions or traded. New Coach and new General Manager! Hakeem coaches Yao Ming this summer!! Make it happen!!
The Rockets game plan and system must shoulder alot of the blame. Yao moves around and away from the basket too much. Not enough ball movement on offense. Too heavy on defense. Bench players were terrible except for 1 game. I'm talking about Head, Alston, Battier, Howard. And they pull up and shoot (and miss) way too much NO POINT GUARD basically. Head and Alston have no idea on getting the ball inside to Yao at the right time. Tmac is talented but he wants to rule the team...causes problems. He is great and all but not the only player on the team. Yao had a major injury and needs more time to recup fully. It takes a year to recover from most knee injuries (ACL, etc) and he had a broken bone. He was able to play but we knew ahead of time that he would only return to 85% for the remainder of this season
Rebounds are not just about height. If that was the case, shouldnt Shawn Bradley, Manute Bol, and Gheorge Muresan all have averaged 14 RPG. People need to realize with all the advantages that Yao has being so tall, there are disadvantages as well. It is not easy for someone that tall and that big to be quick on his feet. Everyone keeps bashing Yao for being slow. I bet if they were 7'6 and weighed 315, and broke their foot last year, and their leg this year that they wouldnt be that quick either.
Yao's slow because he's slow, not because he's 7'6. There's only 3 inches between him and Sabonis, Sabonis in his prime was fast and agile.
Sabonis in his prime was quite possibly just as athletic than Shaq. He completely dominated the Euroleague. Personally, I'd say that's more an aberration than the norm. Guys who are 7'3" and taller tend not to be very quick. Mark Eaton, Shawn Bradley, Manute Bol, Gheorghe Muresan, Rik Smits: They were all very slow. Ralph Sampson was quite agile due to his slim frame, but even he looked big and awkward on the court at times. Eventually, his slimness and lack of strength led to an injury plagued career.
Admittedly, sabonis was something spectacular....some of the moves he had were insane for a 7'3 guy. And he didnt even play in the NBA till the end of his career when his knees were already shot.... Some good moves of his in this 1989 video with the USSR team <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/94X7oyzlfeY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/94X7oyzlfeY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
I dont know if there was such expert in the market, but someone has to teach Yao how to protect the ball when he got it in the low post. Okur also sent the message to the entire league that Yao is lack of offensive moves and is simply too predictable. I would not blame Yao's defence on Boozer but his loss in offense costs us this series. He should have put over 30 points each game playing against Utah. They werent even double-team him most of the time! I bet even after this playoff series, no one would praise Okur's defensive skill and vote him into the All-Defensive team. Yao is exposed, he needs to work really hard this summer on his offensive moves, or else, Yao version 2006 is the best you got and it will never come back again.
