well if you're 7'6" then hopefully your hands would be able to cover the ball. (Patrick Ewing actually suffered from this, I think) Yao's hands are plenty big. But Shaq's are hugemongous. They're like steel clamps. No way Yao can grip the ball as tightly as Shaq. hm... let me try to do an image, i don't think i've done this before, so if it doesn't work don't laugh.
hmmm, I dont know. I know that his spinning drive is awesome. He did even a crossover driving dunk once from the top of the key.
that move was almost like it was in slo-mo... haha... it didn't look pretty, but it was pretty darn unstoppable.
Mark Jackson is an accurate passer and I don't think there's much of a difference between when he's in and when Steve's in. Yao seems to do about the same. And Mark is definitely pass first - 2nd leading assist man of all time.
I think fatigue is going to be a problem his entire career. 7'6" and 300 lbs is a lot of body mass to move around. How many guys near Yao's height can you think of? Shaq, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem, Artis Gilmore, Shawn Bradley, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Gheorghe Muresan, Ralph Sampson, Mark Eaton, Chuck Nevitt, Manute Bol, Rik Smits, Arvydas Sabonis, who else am I missing? I think of these 12, probably only Shaq, Wilt, and Kareem averaged significantly more minutes per game than Yao, and probably only Muresan and Shaq weighed over 300 lbs. So I don't think we can expect much better in terms of minutes. I do think Yao is being more aggressive, getting accustomed to the increased physicality in this league. Almost every time he comes down the floor on offense, he's looking for his opponent, then collides with him. He's like a heat-seeking missle now.
Actually, by being so tall, it's much easier to get you to lose your balance and push you out. This isn't like a grownup pushing off elementary kids. NBA centers are usually 6-10 to 7-1, at about 280-300 pounds. Yao's main advantage is his ability shoot over defenders with his height. Not his ability to just pound his way through the lane. I'm not sure what's the football mentality here is. NFL running backs aren't tall. In fact, it's rare to see a tall RB because they're so much easier to bring down. OL, who plays with your "get out of the way" mentality, plays with their knees bent, so they won't get pushed over by a defender undercutting him.
i do think yao has the desire to become a true force / presence in the league. i really think it comes down to conditioning. i really think his conditioning will improve to the point where he can play 38 MPG and not be winded all the time. it'll take more than this and next season though.
you may be older than him, but my guess is you're not 7'6 and 330 pounds, and most likely don't play in games that are at nba level intensity. i mean, being 7'6 has gotta make it damn rough to maintain energy all the time. though having said that i do think yao could be better in this area as he can seemingly play OT games or long minutes on some occasions. still, at 7'6 and 330, it's hard to compare him to anyone else. as for Yetti's point, like Juugie said it's not like yao just starts magically getting the ball in the post with mj in. we all remember the dallas game and mj getting pissed at yao for letting najera steal one of his passes. it doesn't really change much no matter who's doing the passing. the only thing he might get more of is jump shots off the pnr when jackson flips one of those behind the back passes. oh, and ming is not our best halfcourt defender. cuttino, jj, and cato are all better. ming is the biggest presence on the court, but not the best defender. one nice thing about playing center is he usually doesn't have to guard a very talented player and thus he doesn't have to worry that much about picking up fouls on them.
FYI, Yao's has been playing basketball non-stop for the last three years. The guy does not have off-season.
<i>6. And NEVER use the words, "tired," "exhausted," "pooped," or any related term, ever again.</i> are you Yao's girlfriend?
If I had Yao Ming's height and Yao Ming's touch and Yao Ming's basketball knowledge . . . I'd be Yao Ming.
Well I think that when the playoffs come, Yao's minutes will shoot up. We need him on the court as much as possible, and I'm sure that JVG will adjust his minutes accordingly. Yao will just have to suck it up. Also, Yao has played big minutes before this year, mostly in OT games like tonight's 40 minute performance, so it's not like he can't do it. Another thing to remember is that in the playoffs there are NO back to back games. Every single game will have at least one day off for him to recuperate. And in the first round, there are even more days off because of TV scheduling. Putting all this together, I pretty much expect Yao to get an increase in minutes. And I can totally envision this kind of scenario happening throughout his career, where he logs in lesser minutes during the regular season, and then really cranks it up during the playoffs. BTW I checked some numbers and since January, whenever Yao plays more than 32 minutes (his season average) he is averaging 24.65ppg and 11.53 rpg and the team is 11-6 in those games. So if he gets the minutes, he's definately producing. Though it seems like he's been having to fight foul trouble as of late too.
I agree some of your issues, but you over-simplify the point IMO. Yao's explorsiveness and strength, at least right now, is not enough to dominate inside. He has to make it up with his skill and smarts. It is not so simple to own the lane, even you are 7-5 and 310. Talking about the "tired" quote, I consider it as cultural difference. Unlike most american players, yao doesn't think it is shame to say "tired", which is often got as as an excuse or you are not tough enough. Action is always more than words. As long as Yao plays as hard as he can, I don't mind he says he is tired when he is tired -Littlefish
I think we'll have clinched 7th spot and will be too far from 6th by the time there's 3 games left in the season. I think that if we play him lightly in those final few games, along with the one week of rest before the playoffs, we'll be able to put him in any series consistently for 40 minutes.
