Since, I haven't seen an update from our Chinese members about Yao's post in his forum lately. Here is a translation I found from another Yao's fan site. (posting with permission from the translator, pryuen)
What strike me is Yao is willing to change and imporoved on his weakness but he does not know or grasp the methods of doing so. Isn't that a coach or his trainer job to help him? I think that he is someone that you have to teach in detail ,the method of being aggressive without getting foul calls.
PS: Sorry for the mis-spelling both in the title and the message. I did not preview before posting and could not edit them.
It is not quite that simple. Although it is not intended, the NBA officiating can vary from game to game. If Yao is in the process of changing his game, then the officiating must also adjust to him. Unforunatley, there will be some lag time before the adjustment. The best example I can give if the Utah Jazz who plays aggressively. Jerry Sloan has had the team grabbing, flopping and trying to strip the ball for nearly 2 decades. The officiating has adjusted to the Jazz and accepted there "style" of play. The Rockets often use Tim Duncan as an example for Yao. Duncan is aggressive on the court but has a passive demeanor. If the Rockets and Spurs immediately traded coaching staffs, would Yao immediatley become Tim Duncan? No. It is the repetition of what is taught that becomes what is learned. Duncan has spent more time repeating those things which he has been taught and it began years ago with good college coaching.
Yun Exactly what I have noticed, just by observation. Patrick Ewing looks very disinterested during the Games and seems to make little effort to advise Yao Ming or spur him on . Yesterday I read that Coach Ewing weant to move away, at the first opportunity, from the Rockets and take on a Head Coaching Job with another Team. How can a Coach with this mind set realy have the interests of the Rockets at heart and in particular Yao Ming. Les made a big mistake by allowing JVG to bring on Ewing. He should of hired Moses Malone as Yao Mings private Mentor/Coach.In case you dont know it was Malone that improved Hakeems Game
Actually, every time they showed Ewing on tv on the Knicks game he was sitting right next to Yao and conversing with him the entire time. Maybe they were discussing the most recent adventures of the Silver Surfer, but my gut tells me they were talking about basketball. I guess Ewing should look more "intense" when he speaks. Seriously, though, Moses was a huge help to Hakeem but Hakeem was also a very different player than Yao. I can think of several big men I'd rather have tutor Yao, but not THAT many. I mean, we've got Patrick Ewing here! An all-time great! Why look a gift horse in the mouth?
Did he mention anything about working on his ability to get and hold position? It seems like Yao is attributing his slump with just not being able to shoot the ball because of all the added strength. Practicing shooting is not going to fix his problems. It doesn’t matter how great a shooter he is, noone is going to be able to consistently make the off-balance fadeaways and hook shots he takes. I think he needs to spend a whole lot less time practicing shootouts and a whole lot more on getting position in the paint.
if you re-read it again, Yao had response to two questions. One is about his weight training which he said that he is doing it religiously to the point that it had some effect on his shooting touch. The second is about his playing not good or agressive enough in which he tried to improve but does not truely garsp the medthods of doing so. He does not attribute his slump to his shooting touch.
for those people that post on his bbs, tell him to shoot more hook shots. he did it once against mutombo, and although it didnt fall, it could turn out to be one of his best weapons. just ask hakeem, he used it all the time
Yao seems very methodical and philosophical at the same time. What he has is patience to change. He wants his criticizers to have patience as well. He realizes he has weaknesses, and he is trying his best (in due time) to improve upon them. very interesting reading....
Yun, thank you for the posts. It's good to know how Yao sees his game. Fans rarely have the opportunity to converse with the players about their games. Yao is truely unique in this. And he is very open about his own weaknesses and why he is struggling in some areas.
Yes it's not easy. I don't think he will ever dominate. But I will be pleased if he can score 17 per game with 9 rebounds and 2 assists. I just hope Rockets can be good... He will have bad games and he will have good games just like any other basketball player.
As any good trainer knows, you must find the thing that is blocking you from achieving what you desire. Everybody can see the goal. The question is what is keeping you from achieving it. This is what trainers do the best. They eliminate the one thing preventing you from moving on.
I think that it is a big misconception that Malone would be a good coach for Yao. Malone taught Hakeem well by DOING, not by SAYING. Malone is no longer capable of teaching that way, since he has been retired for a long time and couldn't possibly matchup with Yao at this stage in his life. Malone also has VERY POOR communication skills, as anyone can see in the short TV interviews he has done during Rockets games in the past. I think you could say the exact same thing about Hakeem. While Hakeem is a much better communicator, I'm not so sure how English with a thick Nigerian accent will work with English with a thick Chinese accent. Just too many layers of problems to work. Ewing was a great choice. He still has some ability left and he is a very smart guy (president of the player's association).
Thanks, Yun, for the post. Like Easy said, it's rare to hear from players about their game. If someone gets the chance, ask Yao about his stamina and if playing basketball for so long without a break has significantly worn him down.
He said he always run out of gas the first 5 or 6 minutes into a game. But if you give him a rest, he will be fine the rest of the game. He doesnt know why but this is pattern (or habbit?) and he told that to JVG. I guess that is why he doesn't play the full first quarter lately. And actually, stamina was always a problem to him even back in the low intensity China basketball league.
