I haven't watched that many games this preseason but the few games that I did get to see I didn't see anything difference. Besides the fact that he got a little bigger (upper), he stills has the same (7'6') defensive presence down low that is WEAK compared to some Power Forward down low. Come on YAO its your 3rd year in the league prove something already, Block some shots get some Rebounds. I know most people in this forum is going to disagree but I'm just saying my opinions and the forum is still open for yours.
our defense is steller with the 7'6" guy under the basket. blocked shots or not. without yao, our defense goes from good to bad in a hurry. his defensive presence has always been good. and looking at the numbers, great even. just look at the opponents field goal percentage the 3 previous years before he got here. and then the 2 that he has been here. huge difference.
thanks for your comment. Don't get me wrong I'm a big Rockets fan and a HUGE Yao fan but it gets me mad when you see littles guards and small forwards bring it in on Yao. I don't see them doing that with Shaq. If Yao should ever reach his full potential he needs to put and end to all that and stop being just another tall NBA center. ie...Shawn Bradley...<- not saying he is but using as reference.
Maybe not in this preseason, did you guys see Yao pounding his chest and taunting the yelling Serbian fans by cupping his ear before taking a free throw in the Olympics? That is changed attitude.
i understand what you're saying. and some of its his fault, and some of it is just the way things work. espn won't show replays of the 7'6" guy altering a countless number of shots, and turning many many more players from slashers into jumpshooters. the only thing they will show is the 7'6" guy being dunked on, or other isolated instances. i do hope his man defense gets better, and even more so his pick and roll defense which is going to haunt him just like it has shaq for his entire career.
Yeah, Espn is very bad in presenting the whole picture. In that Amare/Francis incident, they never showed how many shots Yao blocked Amare, and how bad a shooting game Amare was having, all they showed was Amare dunked on Yao. So the viewers had no way of knowing it was all the frustration Amare had leading to the dunk made him to howl.
You know I've been looking for that fire he showed at the Olympics and I'm not seeing it. I was hoping he'd bring it here but it's been a disappointment for me so far. I know it's still early but that's just me...
I remember the same thing last season... remember, Gundy doesn't care about pre=season wins, just execution. He runs these guys every day to get their conditioning up, let them have a game or 2 at full speed with the appropriate rest (i.e. non-practice time) before you make judgments
Yao Ming 6 6 25.3 .536 .000 .786 1.30 6.20 7.50 .8 .67 1.33 3.17 2.80 13.7 What's the big fuss about?
Yao can and will get better but his lack of athleticism mitigates his size. Yao has a below average vertical leap and he's not quick to the ball. He can definitely improve the number of shots he alters and grab more boards but I don't see him ever dominating in those areas due to his lack of athleticism. On the other hand his overall basketball skills are unheard of for a man his size. This will hopefully make him into an unstoppable player on offense and his overall understanding of the game should make up for his lack of athleticism. Regarding the preseason. It's the PRESEASON! It's pointless to over analyze it. It has little to no bearing on what happens in the regular season. The stars are not giving it 100% and there are a lot of guys playing that won't see any time during the season. I saw the end of the Lakers game last night and Kobe and the rest of the Lakers were all smiles despite the Lakers losing. Guys were joking and having a good time. Guys just aren't giving it 100% at this point.
No no, you are not crazy. Remember, Yao just went through the Olympics for China, spending all summer playing D-level hoops (again). Either this is it, he is what he is, this is what we have and this is what we're gonna get from him... or else he just needs to some to get out of that international bball mentality.. or else he just needs some time to get his second wind, and start to show this world-changing skill of his, paired up with TMac.. Personally, to me, it looks like he has regressed a little bit.. I think he got into a comfort zone with SF and Cat and Cato.. he's not going to be like Hakeem, in that he is not going to step up and take charge, demand the ball, and take the winning of games into his own hands.. I think his whole attitude of 'team first' is great and all, but when the team is still so new as a unit, I don't get the sense from him that he is going to pick this team up on his back and carry us until the team starts to gel. It seems like a case of just what TMac said the other day - they are all thinking too much, instead of just playing, and when that happens, everything gets out of sync. One almost gets the sensation that, to Yao, running a basketball play is akin to a choreographed dance, every member of the team equally important, working in unison for the same goal (a basket). And if any part of that choreographed movement is disrupted, either by a team member being out of place, or by the defense, it just looks to me like Yao gets lost at that point. What we've all been waiting for, for Yao to gain enough confidence in his skills and strength to be able to start to just PLAY, to act and react, to be able to make those split-second decisions which often mean the difference between winning and losing (and which, by the way, is the primary reason SF is no longer here), those things we have seen brief flashes of, yes.. But it IS Yao's 3rd year now.. How long until he starts to DOMINATE?? It's not like I am getting impatient or anything, but so far, Yao has been walking on water in this town for over 2 years, and we keep saying 'needs to get stronger, needs to be more aggressive, needs to rebound better' etc etc. I am just wondering how long this honeymoon is going to last before we conclude that he's just gonna be a nice big mnan with some skills, but not the 2nd coming of Hakeem? And, on a related note, WHAT is WRONG with JVG's stubborn brain that he refuses to acknowledge that Yao needs to be playing out on the high post on offense, like Vlade did.. for crying out loud, he doesn't HAVE to be stuck down there in the low blocks 24/7!!! Argh!! When he is stuck down there, we almost never get to see any of this vaunted passing skill he has.. he is relegated to hook shots and baby-turnarounds.. is it just me, or does anyone else think that, if he was out on the high post at least SOME of the time, he could conceiveably lead this team in assists?? I mean he can hit that shot, why nto drag a defender away from the basket, where he can pass or shoot, and then slash to the hoop on a p&r ?? Oh well, I guess that's why JVG gets the big bucks, and I am just some shlep.
JVG insists Yao play in low post, but also demands him to come out to set picks. What an oxymoron! No wonder Yao is always tired.
For the millionth time...IT'S THE FREAKIN PRESEASON! What do you want him to do, punch someone? If the fire doesn't turn on in the regular season, fine, there is a problem. You people have to quit asking for a gold medal game/playoff game atmosphere when everyone around him is telling Yao to tone it down, it's only the preseason.
Here is someone in China stands at 2.38 meters, 12cm higher than Yao. http://www.wenxuecity.com/BBSView.php?SubID=news&MsgID=19095
I thought Yao played great defensively in the spurs game. Blocked 3 shots, grabbed 11 boards in limited minutes. Played with an injury. I think it was pretty obvious in some of the earlier games that he wasn't playing as hard.
