JJ has been horrible this year at throwing Yao the entry pass. He will look right at him for about 4 seconds while Yao has already posted up and then the defender starts jostling Yao while JJ is holding the rock. Then JJ inexplicably decides to throw it out to the top. And the best entry passer on this team is sitting on the IL. Makes absolutely no sense.
Exactly. 26 minutes. 6 turnovers. Not the best ratio ever. Yao gets no calls from the officials and there are times when he sets up and doesn't get the ball in time, but Yao has a few low-block issues that are going to prevent him from dominating until they are solved. 1. He has weak hands. They are soft as hell and can catch just about anything, but they can't HOLD ONTO anything either. Guards half his size strip the ball from him with startling regularity. 2. He makes his moves too slowly. Too often, Yao gets the ball and waits for too long to make a move. He was better last night, but, generally, he isn't decisive enough when the ball comes to him and it allows the defense to adjust. 3. He brings the ball down. This is something he must fix, particularly in light of his inability to hold onto the ball. When he gets the ball, if it stays chest high or higher, he is fine. But, when he puts the ball anywhere below his chest and guys start swinging at it, even when he doesn't turn it over, he loses some control and that dramatcially effects his shot. He needs to watch film of Kevin McHale. That guy was one of the best at keeping the ball up. 4. He does a poor job of sealing off his man. This is something that is really more about Yao's strength and will than anything else. When a guy is coming after the ball, it is up to Yao to seal him off. When he does that, he has a clear path to the basket and he is basically unstoppable. When he doesn't, he gets a turnover and often looks bad in the process. The great centers and power forwards who played the game were masters at sealing off defenders and making them pay for overplaying the ball. 5. He does a poor job of establishing position. This has been his greatest achillies heal. He has a very difficult time establishing position, particularly against smaller, quicker players and this costs him. In this league, you can only hold your position for a short time before the defender adjusts. Yao must be able to hold it longer than he does (a la Shaq) or guys won't want to pass the ball to him for fear of turning it over. The combination of these five things is what makes Yao look bad in the post. They are issues he must address. Some are strength related and others are just about force of will. You can put the best entry passers in the world on the floor with him, but if he can't establish position, seal off his man and hold onto the ball, it won't really matter.
Good post Jeff. Also, Yao will establish position, and then MOVE before the ball is swung over to his side of the court. HOLD that position Yao. DD
That pisses me off the most! Theres no reason to do that yet he brings it down where guys like Najara can get to it. He needs to hold it up!
Good observation. These are well-known issues with Yao that he and the coaching staff need to work on. BUT. these should not be the reason they do not pass the ball to him often enough, particularly in last night's game. With all his weakness, he is still the most effective weapon Rockets have and on most nights, he is the biggest mismatch on the court. The number of shots that Yao takes in the last few games is a concern. Yao is not a role player in this team. Even with all the TOs, he still is the better option than most of his teammates. Bottomline, the issue raised in this thread is still valid.
not true. Yao's thinking must be: "if they don't double I'm gonna to shoot, if they double team or if I see a teamate wild open I'm gonna to pass for an open shot" Yao's just too good finding an open teamate and too unselfish as a scorer.
I have said this many times, Even Ginobili under JVG, he will another boki. JVG just like his old knicks players. Free boki.
One thing that I have noticed is that Yao will have decent position, but then he releases the position to catch the ball. He jumps towards the ball, and when he does, he gets pushed about 3 or 4 feet farther from the basket. I realize its good to move to the ball to keep it from being stolen, but he eventually ends up with it 18 feet from the basket.
free boki? this is a thread about yao. ========================================= yao is an allstar player. he can take over a game...but only for about a half at most. mostly because it is too easy for opposing teams to deny yao the ball. if JVG wants to keep his job, he doesn't have to worry about the offense, he doesn't have to worry about making the games more fun to watch. he has to teach the team how to make a good post entry pass. ewing and mutombo need to teach yao how to keep his position.
How many times have we seen the following: We have trouble scoreing, Yao doesn't touch the ball for 7 possessions, we are shooting bricks left and right. JVG calls time. We get the ball into Yao, and he delivers. It's the whole teams fault, Yao's fault, and ref's fault, that we can't use him like that all game. Yao doesn't demand the ball, he doesn't get upset when he has good position and is ignored. Our team don't get upset when we can't get the ball to Yao on time. Besides dunks/layups, Yao with the ball close to the hoop is our best percentage shot. We have to be upset everytime we miss that 1 second window to get him the ball at chest level. I've got to say though, comparing with last year, we've gotten much better at it. There is no reason not to improve in this area. I'm looking forward to our improvement in this regard.
As the so called second option in Rockets, I wonder when Yaoming would average 15+ shots per game . I think I am going to be against JVG finally! I guess he somewhat lost the control of this team or some players.
I hate to say this because I think Jim Jackson can be a helluva player, but i've seen too many times Jackson seems go after "his" over passing to Yao/shows no confidence in Yao. It's pretty blatant at some points where a simple lob to Yao was available and he swings the rock to the other side. Yao's turnovers are top-level frutrating, but Jim Jackson's turnovers drive me batty... and this goes back to when I watched him as a trailblazer. Stuart
