[Houston Chronicle] Yao taking positive steps

This is the type of stuff I like to read.

 

Hes taking big positive steps on my game on espn 2k5, him and boki

 

Awww yeah.

This type of stuff is making me drool for the season. Luckily NBA Live 2005 will be in stores next Tuesday to help me ease my hunger pangs for the season to start.

I'm anxious to see who the next alley-oop tandem is going to be. Steve and Kelvin worked that act very well over the past two seasons, and it seems too effective to abandon. TMac seems a likely target, but someone less the focus of attention might sneak in more.

Anticipation is growing high.

 

Great story. But I don't really understand JVG's point with the Shaq pictures. Personally I think Shaq was at his best physically when he was in Orlando. Back then he still had the massive strength and bulldozing ablity, but he also had an unbelievable amount of quickness and explosiveness that's practically inhuman for a man of his size.

And if his point is that Shaq was much better when he was younger, then the fact that Shaq won three rings in the middle would be sort of a mixed message.

Eh. Whatever. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing. Perhaps the simplest solution is correct in this instance. Yup. It's probably just that JVG has a massive man-crush on Shaq and won't let an oppurtunity go by without showing off his stalker pics.

 

Do you think Francis might accidentally feed Yao the ball when the Rockets play the Magics? Francis was Forced to feed Yao the ball all season long last season. He might still feel the pressure when he plays for the Magics.

Francis, saw the elephant in your living room?!?!?!

 

Managing to get Jeff Van Gundy to compliment your conditioning is a legit accomplishment. Is it just me, or has this offeseason dragged on for way too goddamned long already?

 

That was the point - to show that Shaq got more and more and more out of shape as the seasons moved on. There is a point when gaining weight can be a good thing, but then there is a time when it is a negative. Shaq's history shows that perfectly.

 

Exactly....

Shaq (Orlando era) -> Shaq (start of Laker era) ->Shaq (2nd championship; Laker) -> Shaq (end of Laker era) -> Shaq (start of Heat era)

I think that JVG's point is that Shaq improved, but he also got too big (which can have a negative effect on big players feet and knees). IMO, Shaq best "in shape" year was during the Lakers 2nd championship. After that he got even bigger but you started to see nagging injuries appear.

Shaq might come into Miami in his best shape since his mid-Laker career. We'll have to see.

 

I actually thought Shaq looked awful, conditioning-wise, in the second championship year. I thought he was in his best shape in '95 when we played him in the Finals, and 2000, when he won the MVP.

 

Blame the fuzzyness of the message JVG was trying to send Yao on the poor journalistic work of JP Lopez.

It is the respnsibility of every journalist to make sure that his/her report conveys the proper message and show above average clarity.

 

I would literally wet myself laughing if that happened.

 

That's the thing. Shaq did not have "massive strength" at Orlando. No. Ask any of his trainers. He was nowhere as strong as he was in LA. His leg-press and bench-press were miniscule and almost non-existent before LA. Shaq didn't think that weight training was important that then. He just "played ball." He was a bit quicker and thinner. But what you are seeing is "youth." There's no way that Shaq can get back to a body that thin. Just like Hakeem looked a whole lot different from his 80's playing days to his 90's. Youth.

But to say that Shaq in LA + the weight training wasn't better doesn't realize how much stronger he had gotten since he went on the training program. Shaq in LA was not slow. He was quick enough. But also *incredibility stronger* than before. If you look back on his title run in LA, anyone remember how players literally "bounced off" of Shaq. He was the consummate brahma-bull; quick and strong. The year that Shaq played Philly when they went 14-1 (play-offs) was incredible. Shaq destroyed his opponents that year.

Although, the later part of LA era, Shaq started to get too big. Which I think partially to blame was his off-season training, or lack of it.

 

Shaq has been bulldozing guys since he's come into the league. Was he stronger during his Lakers days compared to his Orlando stint? Definitely, no doubt about it. But if he continued to keep his body trim by decreasing body fat and thereby increasing muscle mass, instead of making a conscious decision to gain weight, I think he could have been even better.

A lot of the weight that he gained was in his torso. Look at any before and after pictures of Shaq. He went from being kind of boxy-shaped like Tim Duncan to the pear-shaped monolith that we've seen for the last few years. He definitly could have built up his upper body without adding all that girth around the middle.

Not having some extra weight in the middle would have allowed him to keep more of the quickness and explosiveness that he lost. It's simple physics to say that it's easier to jump and move around if you don't have a 15-20 pound donut around your stomach. Also there would have been less strain on his knees and toes, which are the injury problems that he's had to deal with during his Laker's run.

So how do I rationalize that Shaq had his greatest season ever in his 2nd Championship season, if I preferred his body during his Orlando days? No doubt, he had one of the most dominant seasons in history. But I think it had much more to do with his confidence, focus, effort, and experience than any type of improvement physically. Confidence and experience is the key because I sincerely believe that the mental psyche of the players is one of the main determinates in who can pull out the victories in crunch time.

Shaq was so focused and was giving so much more effort than he had in years, and he was on such a roll after winning his first championship that there is no doubt in my mind that he could have been just as good, and probably even better if he was 320 pounds and 8% body fat instead of 340-350 and whatever fat he was lugging around. Shaq wasn't losing all those big games in Orlando and the beginning part of his LA career because he didn't have it physically. He wasn't winning because his mental approach wasn't strong enough to be a champion. And it really only took a Portland collapse to change all that around.

There is really only one point that I will conceed that the Big Shaq was definitely better than the Slim Shaq. That is in the fact that the Big Shaq had such a low center of gravity with his pear shaped body, that it was near impossible to move him off the block. That is an amazing plus for a player, and I admit that he wouldn't have quite had that if he was slimmer. But he has never had a problem scoring in this league. And I believe that the pros in the slim Shaq, ie quickness, mobility, less injury prone, stamina etc. far outweigh the Big Shaq's low center of gravity advantage.

 

I think that was JVG's point. That Shaq getting stronger was good, but he got too big. Not good! And there's a happy-median that can be maintained. Shaq at 340-350 was too big, I agree. His weight seesawed back and forth during his 3 year title run...sometimes trimming down sometime back up...bad! And JVG doesn't want this to happen to Yao. Too much injury risk for big men like them.

But to think that Shaq can get back to the skinny size that he was in Orlando is not going to happen no matter how much exercise he does. Miami will be a testament to that. He'll come in slimmer with something to proove. But, watch. He wont look like Orlando days. He'll never get back down to 305lbs like he was in Orldando. He gained too much muscle (and years) since those Orldando days. If he can get around 320lbs, that would be good in relation to the body fat% (like you said above; 8%). And he'll be able to play at a better weight. He'll have the best of both; strength + low body fat.

 

Yeah. And in terms of Yao, I think they're on the right track in terms of having him decrease his body fat instead of putting on weight. Last year, he gained weight in the offseason to about 318. But most of that weight gain was from fat. So during the course of the season, with the hectic schedule of an NBA player, he couldn't keep his weight up. I heard that at the end of the season, Yao had lost almost 15 pounds off that 318 figure.

This year, Yao came into camp at 309 and 7.5% body fat. He should be more able to sustain that weight because more of it is muscle and IIRC, Yao played much of his rookie year at 310. In the future, I think Yao's maxed out physical body should be about 320 lbs and 5% body fat or less. Since muscle is denser and heavier than fat, Yao's body would retain about the same shape, but he would fill out his frame a little better.

Obviously, I'm pretty much expecting Falsone to go help Yao train next summer after a short vacation. Falsone training with Yao in China worked out really well this year, and I believe it will continue in the future. And they figure to have much more time to train because of a less busy Chinese National Team schedule. And they even made great strides this year, despite the most demanding CNT schedule possible with the Olympic Games.

 

The "ageless" Mutombo? Did Lopez see Mutombo in a Nets and Knicks uniform?

 

Well to Mutombo's defense, the Nets and Knicks had running games, which is more suitable for non-senior citizens. In our slowed down offense he will seem alot more ageless. But yea, to your credit he was pretty ageFUL for the Nets and Knicks.




PS. Technically Lopez is 100% correct in using the term "ageless", since noone really knows his age, he is without one.

 

Good point.

 

i can't wait........ for the Dynasty Pt. 2 to start...