While most big men would kill for a mid to outside jumper that Yao once had, his outside shooting and passing are ruthlessly undervalued by the coach and some fans, yet they think they've done a grand job throwing it away.
According to a few chinese news I read since last summer, Yao actually believe in muscled up low post play, and he was and is working hard to that direction by doing weight lifting and some other stuffs. I bet it's also a part of the training plan by JVG. It's hard to say Yao's frustration is due to the play style change. My guess is that his frustration is more due to his faiure to meet the high expecation from everybody around him and the fans. I remember he at first did not set a super goal for this season, he once said entering offseason is fine, 2nd round would be excellent. Then a few weeks later he said Rocket should aim at a Championship ... I believe the organization must set this goal internally. Yao actaully is not ready for leading Rox to a title. Rox and fans should give more patience to him and Tmac. Blaming and trade player whenever there is a loss does not help a rebuilding team. To me, Rox is not champion competitor in coming 2 years. Builing up healthy work relationship between our 2 best players is much more important than winning a few more games in this season.
Went on Getty Images website to find some Yao pics from 2002 and found a few with Yao smiling off the court.
The Rockets have Invested heavil in this guy, hence i dont think it's unfair for them to be expecting that yao should have improved alot more by now!.
if i invest heavily to change you into an elephant, is it unfair for me to be expecting that you have made some progress? it's stupid in the first place to try to force yao into becoming a pure low post punisher, and now the results are in.
I'm not a fan of Van Gundy. But calling him r****d is a bit too much. I seriously believe Van Gundy's a smart guy and the man is a philosopher. The problem is he's so stubborn. He's obsessed with his past. Probably he should see a shrink or somebody. Maybe he will be enlightened. He just need to realize it's not a shameful thing to give what he used to believe. Great people adapt and go with the flow.
We hope he'll be Brad Miller??? Please, Mr. Yao...please be as good as Brad Miller!! That's all we hoped for when we used a #1 pick on your 7'6" ass!!! I was not a hatah...until I came here. When I watch the games, I'm rooting for Yao like crazy. But I root against the Yao pity parties I find here. The problem..once again...is that we wanted more than Shawn Bradley or Brad Miller. To me, it's pointless to have a 7'6" guy whose strength is outside shooting. I like my shooters at around 6'6". Let the guy a foot taller be down low so that...God forbid...he might also pull down a freaking rebound every once in a while. At 7'6", that might be an expectation...along with easy bucket's since his head is less than 3 feet from the FREAKING RIM!! Blame it on whoever you want to blame it on. Yao's numbers are his own.
MadMax, I don't agree that simply because you are tall you should play inside. Look at Nowitzki. People criticize him for not having a post game as a 7-footer. But if he can hit the 3 consistantly, why don't you just give him the green light to shoot, 7-foot or not? Imagine what Nowitzki would be like if his coaches forced him to stay in the paint all the time and shoot only turnarounds or hooks. I know, Yao is not Dirk. He doesn't have the speed and the shot. But the point is, you cannot just look at the player's physique and say what he's supposed to do. You have to look at his skills and his mentality. Nowitzki's skills and mentality is a run and gun guy. You just shouldn't limit him in a post up halfcourt game just because he's tall. Another even more extreme example of this "discrepancy between physique and skills/mentality" is none other than Magic Johnson. Imagine his coaches asked him to play PF and be a rebounding enforcer in the paint because he had a PF's body.
I agree. Yao should post up...and play inside..but also play high post area and shoot jumpers which he can make...and pick and roll to the basket.
Yao is 7'6"...so do we need to go draft a real center so that we can have someone down low...so Yao can hang out around the perimeter??? Yao isn't Dirk.
The old Yao was not the focus of our offense, or the opposing team's defense. Now, 2/3's of JVG's offensive set-playbook is designed around getting the ball down low to Yao. His occasional fadeaway and slick passes in his rookie year are remembered because they were the FIRST time we'd ever see him do it. Now, teams game-plan against that: always double him when he gets the ball on the baseline, and cut off his passing lanes when players cut in. Teams have made adjustments to stop Yao over the years (fronting defense), and Yao has made adjustments back, and thus his game has changed. He's still on an upward trend in terms of production... so I'm not too worried yet. I would like to see everyone here STOP making excuses for him, like he was a child. JVG has showed him how easy he can have it... if he wants it (and I do believe he does). In the end, it will only be his energy level/stamina that keeps him from being an elite player... not his coach, supporting role, or even his own desire (yes, Yao can dominate by default... if he has his energy level up).
this is all i'm saying. i like the guy. i'm rooting for him. but the excuses are soooooo tired and played out.
The "old Yao" won't be back unless we change the system JVG is using. We are basically an ISO team, mixed with occasionally PnR near the top of the key. We either dump to Yao in the post, let him go 1on1, or pass out if get doubled, or we isolate TMac on one side, rest of the team on the other side. Now, I have no problem with this system. It has been proved that any system can win games in this league as long as you can execute it. (Well, except the college system run by R. Pittino ) The fact is you won't see the things you saw from the "old Yao" with this system. Whether it's goo, or bad depends what this team can achieve under JVG.
Don’t worry guys, during the laker game I saw Yao started to do some mid range jump shot again without hesitation, one even close to the 3-pt line. Although he didn’t make most of them, I just thought it’d be a matter of time. Remember the first 20 some games in his 2nd season? His shoot was off too due to the stronger bicept muscle (which is said by Yao himself.) Then after he get used to it, he picked up his touch again. Now he gets an even stronger upper body and you factor in the elbow injury and brace coming on and off… I have followed his career so far and I think Yao is smart enough to fight thru situations like this.
