I think Yao maybe taking too much time setting up his shot in the post. When he receives the ball in the post, he should look for the quick pass or start his move right away, he usually takes a good 5-6 seconds off the clock before he makes a move. He maybe allowing too much time for the defense to react, making a quick move if the pass isn't there makes harder for the defender to either have to double team or allow Yao to score.
Good observation. Yao needs to take quicker shot and hit those wide open 15 footer. In term of fatigue, if there is any, is not totally releated. Yao usually miss the first three four shots and pick the percentage up later. Was he tired at the first 5 minutes? I don't think so. Any game can go through a period of slump, or mini-slump (Ask Tiger about it). Anyone who actually plays basketball knows that, you are not going to hit all your shots all the time.
I totally agree with this. As soon as he gets down into the post, and has control of the ball he needs to move in right away. And dunk the shYt out of the ball everytime. Ive seen him miss those easy shots under the basket where he has access to dunk.
I agree Yao should be more fierce, but the guy is doin his job despite gettin handchecked every single time he posts up...he needs to work on his post up and ballhandling. At least he doesn't ballhog and take a 3 pointer when the game is tied ala franchise..but he has more positives than minuses, look at his stats vs minutes played vs touches on the ball. he's def got more brain cells than the rest of the team combined..
Ithink people over-emphasize the fatigue issue on Yao's last April's performance. To me, at least half of the reason for Yao's breakdown is because of the great coaching of Mr. Larry Smith (Thank God I don’t have to see him again). I can't recall how many games under Smith last season Yao sit the whole QT or even the half game. I know Smith was not satisfied with Yao's aggressiveness and he loved Cato because Cato was the same type of player as him, but instead teaching Yao and telling his problem in the practice, he chose to bench Yao at crucial time when we were pushing for playoff. At least Rudy T never did that even Yao was tired in the middle of last season. The last 17 games last season definitely were the most frustrated experience for Yao. When you get frustrated and completely kicked out of the flow, you appear more passive or looks more tired. I can guarantee you that this will never happen again under JVG's coaching.
Not to disagree with you, but just to make sure we are talking about the same thing. When he receive the ball, there are a couple of things he needed to do before he can execute a couple of things. First of all, he has to wait for the cutter to cut and the cutter's defender cleared out. Second, he has to wait for the spacing to be cleared by his teammate moving away (and therefore by drawing their defenders away). After that and until then, he shall start his move. Of course, if the play is not designed to have a cutter cut or the space is already cleared, then he shall start his move immediately. The only thing I have a problem with is that he started his move, it started out by taking a couple of useless dribbles. It serves no useful purpose. He seems to do it just for some psychological reason. If your point is that Yao shall be of with more purpose and force when he started his move, I agree with you. But I definintely have no problem with him wait for the cutter or wait for enough space after he received the pass.
I would like to share some personal experience. I came from China. When I saw Yao lowering his arms after grabbing a rebound, always fading away instead of leaning in, losing shooting touch when a smaller guy bumps him from below, etc, etc, I just feel so familiar. I mean, those are exactly what I experienced when I came for college here in the US. Take rebounding for example, in china, people dont strip the ball once you gain possession, because we don't think "hand is part of the ball". If the ball is in my hand, and you knock it out cleanly, it's still a foul. So people rarely hold the ball above their heads. And in the long run, people ignore the development of shoulder muscles (you see Chinese players usually have narrow shoulders). When playing here in the US, I had to hold up my arms all the time (btw, I am talking about big man's game, I play pf), either playing defense or rebound. And for put backs, since so many arms are fighting for the ball, you must fully extend your arm and only use hands to shoot the ball. That's a totally different kind touch. This made my shoulders so sore initially. Then I realized the problem and hit the weight room, and it took me a whole year to feel compeletely comfortable "playing the ball above my head". I can also talk about shooting. In China, people don't like contact. We give shooters space. We only try to block the ball and never want to touch the player. So I was so used to shooting with "open space". For the first year in College, I thought American kids had no skills whatsoever. All they did was bumping me away and they don't consider it a foul. It really changes the way you feel about shooting. What I figured through these years is alway to expect body contact and keep my arms very steady. That kind change affected my shooting very much for the first couple years. It exhausts much more energy every time you shoot the ball. But now I am used to it, I can play physical and shoot well. Actually, Most times, I shoot leaning in instead of fade aways. Of course, this may sound funny for those of you who grow up playing physical ball. But from my personal experience, it's quite a big change. It takes a little time to adjust to it. But it's definitely doable. And with Yao's talent and work ethics, things will change fast. Hope I made sense.
I may be wrong, but with the different time zones between here and China, I think that Yao is staying up late talking to his girl friend, or friends and family on the phone or on the Internet , which will make you tried all the time.
damn edit: I meant Yao takes too long after the cutter and if he isn't double teamed. Yao takes a couple fake jab steps before he dribbles, I think a quick move would make the Defense react faster and more out of sinc. Yao shouldn't put the ball on the floor in the paint, it's too dangerous.
I definitely think he is losing leg strength due to fatigue. Here are just a few of my observations: 1. He stumbles a lot more now 2. He has absolute horrendous foot work around the basket (which was one of his strong suits) 3. He is getting pushed further away from the basket than he was earlier in the year. 4. He is limiting his shot selection more and more. He is almost exclusively shooting fade a way's now. Gone are the drop steps, spin moves, Shanghai Shakes, hook shot and the many other plethora of shots that we have previously seen in his arsenal. 5. He is making a very low percentage of his shots. Before I get slammed because his percentage is still close to 50% please remember that it was close to 70% after the first few games. Also while he is still hitting close to 50% of his shots in some games try to understand that it is put backs dunks and point blank shots that are keeping he f/g% respectable. He is missing almost all of the more difficult shots that he was routinely making earlier in the season. 6. I don't think any of us can say that we have seen the kind of performance out of him that we saw in some of the games last season such as... -The S.A. game when he dominated Duncan and Robinson -The Dallas game when he dominated the 1st half and Barkley kissed a Kenny's ass. -The Laker (with out Shaq) game when he was so unstoppable but fouled out in the second overtime. -The Pacer game in Houston when he dominated against both Miller and O'Neil. There were others as well but those were the ones that I remember right off of the top of my head. He just does not seem to be playing with any energy at all.
crash, I absolutely agree with you. However, I think that since Yao decided to play more aggressively, he lost his shooting touch. He was playing beautifully and shooting great until the game against the Grizzles. To watch Yao shoot around the basket was a thing of beauty. And I have not seen that he got back his touch since that game.
what level of basketball did you play in china? I came from China too. as I recall it, stripping the ball is a very commonly used technique by CBA players and guards probably do it mroe often. I've seen enough of those in CBA games and I never know it's a foul in CBA. also I think for a big man holding the ball high to prevent the guards from stealing it away is the fundamental of basketball regardless of where it's being played. maybe it's not stressed by the Chinese coaches as much as it is in the States, but i believe it's definitely one of things that are taught at more formal and higher level sports schools like the one Yao was attending. as for the shooting thing, i kinda agree with you. bumping your opponent when he shoots definitely CAN be called a foul. i didn't pay much attention to how that's called in the CBA. but i think the CBA is also getting more and more physical and the refs allow a lot of contacts nowadays. hell, wasn't there an American baller playing for Beijing ducks that got tackled by a Chinese player and had his leg broken last year?? that almost jeopardized his career!!
BTW, if this is the Yao that JVG and Ewing would like to turn him into, I will vote no no. Please give us back the mobile Yao who has tons of moves under the basket.
I don't know what's going on with him but he needs to play better. We may have to face reality. He may never develop the ability to play 35 minutes per game. It's my opinion that if he cannot play an effective 4 quarters, it's better to get 25 solid minutes than 35 mediocre minutes. It's disappointing but we should take what we can get. It's better to work with what we've got then to change him into something he's not.
so much for the hype Yao's going to become one of the greatest players to ever play the game. and now he can't even handle 35 minutes a game. it's really disappointing.
Crash, I really agree with you about Yao limiting his low-post moves, I posted a similar observation about a week ago. If Yao catches the ball in the low block and doesn't pass it back out, it's always dribble-dribble-dribble, turnaround-J, or dribble-dribble-dribble, awkward hook. WHERE ARE THE UP-AND-UNDERS? WHERE ARE THE BALL-FAKES? There was a reason why so many of us were reminded of the Dream Shake last year, but where did it all go? Is this Ewing "teaching" Yao to forfeit his best moves because Ewing himself only had a TAJ move? Is this a result of everyone wanting Yao to be more "aggressive" and those fancy moves aren't "power" moves or are too "finesse"? Maybe Ewing was the wrong choice after all--if we can't get Dream to coach Yao, how about showing him tapes of Kevin McHale's assortment of post maneuvers?
