Preface to thread: If you have not watched at least 15 of the last 20 games, and a lot of NBA in the last 10 years, then Do not post in this thread please, start a new thread or post in another. To anyone who has watched the games, what do you guys really think? I have watched NBA for the last 12 years, and I would never say, that Yao is not one of the greatest offensively skilled players I have ever seen. Next to Olajuwon and Duncan, I cant think of a post man that has been more talented in the last 12 years. He is slow, quickwinded and fumbly, but he is more skilled than Robinson, Ewing, Ilgauskas and more than Shaq could ever dream of. Its amazing, to watch a player that great. And more amazing to see a bbs blame him and decry him because they get upset with every loss. Its not even tonight, he didnt play well and his shot was off, but Im talking about what I have seen this season, because I have watched every game sans about 10. If you watch a majority of the games, I dont see how you cannot see this. We cannnot continue to blame him, when we are a perimeter team, we live and die by the perimeter. We fell behind tonight when we went 5-20 in the start, and we caught up when we made a few and got out on the break a couple of times. This is what happens. At the start of the game tonight, he got a couple of Offesnive rebounds and a couple blocks. If this were Duncan or Garnett, you think his coach would feed him the ball, but this did not happen. Its not positioning, or lack of stamina, its the fact that we are a perimeter team. The entire teams mindset has evolved to this and it will lead us to our fate. Give him 18 shots a game and see what happens, integrate a few 18 footers, or a few face up elbows (like Olajuwons last few years). And as far as defense goes, without Yao, we are a good defensive team, with him, we are great, he is 7'6 of space in the lane and this is ALWAYS a presence, whether he is getting blocks or not. Fouls are an affliction granted, but when we lose, we lose mostly because we are a perimeter team, not because we are a post team, and our post option is inept. I watched Rik Smits and Z when he played, throughout the careers, there is miles of difference b/w them in year 3 and Yao, if youve watched, I think you will agree.
I agree. You made a real good point there. You really have to watch many of his games to see the real Ming. For his first two years in Austin, I lived in an apartment off-campus without cable and therefore I didn't get a chance to watch his game. I never understood Yao and the only things I hear/see are on SC, and most of it is negative on Yao. As a result of that I never liked him. This year I moved and got cable (NBA TV Rocks) so I been keeping up with the Rockets and Yao is really great outside of his rebounding and foul troubles. If Yao can stay out of foul trouble, his rebounds shouldn't fall below 8.5 per game. Unfortunately my cable's been out for almost 3 weeks now. I catch up with the action on ESPN when I'm on campus and all the stuff I see makes me dislike Yao. Anywho, great points there Francis3422. Ming, stay out of foul trouble pleeeeaaaase!! Go Rockets!
Preface to my reply: I've watched 19 of the last 20 Rox games (Boston is still on my Tivo - we had company) and have been a fan since '78. Probably watching 80-90% of the games since '84. For the most part, your analysis is correct. Ming needs Red Bull. He's a step or two slower than most of the league and 3-4 steps slower than teams like Washington or Memphis. It's not his fault, but the fact remains the same - he is slower. He also needs to develop toughness. Although Akeem was smaller than Shaq in '95 he never backed down, not that Yao doesn't try, but at times he seems intimidated. He needs to sharpen his elbows and let a few players know he has some. He needs to quit playing x-box and start playing slap jack to improve his quickness. However, the problem with Yao taking outside shots, although he may be very capable of making them is that there will always be better shooters on the Rox (Wesley, Barry, T-Mac, James, etc) that are more consistant from the outside. Also, when Yao shoots from outside he is not in the middle to rebound, and that is one of our weakest areas of the game. I think Yao is better than both Smits and Z at this point in his career, but Smits was a great player and Z is now (with similar stats) so to compare them is not necessarily an insult, however, I think Yao will be better in the long term.
Besides working on the basic things like holding onto the ball, Yao needs to get more touches to either pass out of a double team or get off his shot. I don't see why players like McGrady or Sura can shoot their way out of slow starts, but JVG will just abandon Yao as soon as he gets off to a slow start. Sure, he turned the ball over in crucial situations today but why not take your chances with a 50% shooter rather than having McGrady create everything for himself off of a screen? And this was Yao's first poor shooting game since Jan. 2. It's funny some of you want to trade him for Lamar freakin Odom, but when Yao plays bad, this team struggles to win. And when Yao plays well... this team goes on an 8 game winning streak even with McGrady playing so-so basketball. Have some faith, fellas.
It's called Lunacy of a BBS. I've read page 10-14 of the game thread. There is so much blame and hate toward Yao, it's not even funny. Ok, so he's in a slump. He did not shot well tonight. He blew a crutial FT, but you never see the same level of hate toward another player. Not when Tmac is stink up his 3 pts shot after 3pts shot, not when Sura shot 1 for 7. No one calls Tmac a p***y for settling for parimiter shots in stead of going for the hole, or crucify him for blowing a late game FT miss. I would actually like to see Yao goes onto IL for a while see how this team performs. Appreciate him while you can, the party won't last for ever. a few quote about what's been said about Yao: sad, pathetic, awful, heartless, gutless, clueless, horrible, uninspired, unmotivated, disinterested, and completely disgusting p***y
I guess there is one reason Yao looks intimidated these past few games. He got whistled too much. Any contact is a foul for him, that really takes an effect on him. Plus, Matt Boland is one of the official tonight. I guess Yao just doesn't feel comfortable. He needs to see a psychiatrist.
Some posters here behave and act just like those sportswriters, scouts and ESPN. They are contantly looking for each chance they get to bash Yao. It's all about hatred toward Yao. Where were these people when we were on 8 game winnning streak? Was I mad at Yao's performance tonight? yes. Do I get frustrated with Yao becasue he doesn't rebound well, pick up fouls too quick, turn the ball over a lot. Yeah. But I never let all those things fool me into thinking Yao is the biggest reason that we lost so many games, or we should just trade Yao, or let him go when his current contract is up. Please, as long as we got Yao and T-Mac on the team, we have future. On the other hand, Yao needs to grow up. For God's sake, Yao, please be a man for once in your life. Please learn something from Kobe, go practice 24/7, work on your rebounding. Don't play CS too much. Don't be your moma's boy anymore. oh. last thing. don't walk with your head down, Walk Talll!!!
MingDynasty: On your point about the outside jumpers, this is true, but he isnt a great O rebounder anyway, and in this case he is that much closer to being setup on the D side of the floor. The only thing I say is, get him 18 shots a game for a year and see what happens. He gets 19 right now on what 14 shots?
Man...how screwed up will it be when Yao gets a max contract which totally caps the Rockets into the next millenium. Forget Jeff Bagwell. He'll be retired by then. Yao's contract will be the equivalent of Jason Giambi's contract.
Even less than 14 shots. I think just around 12. I still think the only one need to be traded is JVG. Yes, he is a great defense coach. But he is wasting the great resouce he has. Look what is happened to Rockets this season. The first 15-20 games, he does not know how to use T-Mac, almost every play goes through Yao. When this failed ( a 6-9 slow start), he suddenly makes a 180 degree turn. The offense almost forget about Yao. Even when we are on 8-win streak, yao only shot around 14 times per game. I agree your point that we are turning to a perimeter team. Do not mention inside-out. I just did not see this happen in the recent games. Fire VGD!!!!!!!
As a once loud vocal critic of RainMan Gundy I am not (at this time) advocating for his departure.... I am however withholding judgement until I see our performance in the post-season. As for Yao... I could not agree more with Francis3422!! What's evident on this BBS is merely symptomatic of a phenomenon that is so common across our country: When we don't get what we want IMMEDIATELY, we tend to whine, and b**** and moan, and pin the blame on the best scapegoat we can possibly find!! (Can anybody say Janet Jackson )!! I've been a hardcore Rockets fan since '85 and watched most of the games that have been on TV, and I've had season Tix a couple of times along the way... I sat in line all night to try and get one of the precious few Tix to game 7 of the Knicks champ series, and missed by one person of getting the last ducket... Anyhow, Yao will fine. I think somebody (maybe even Shaq-daddy himself) will take Yao aside one of these days and tell him, "Look dude, your're not going to get the respect from the league or the refs until you start showing up in a physical way every night!!" I'm sure that message is being delivered by others but it needs to come from someone that Yao truly respects and maybe even fears a little. (Hell maybe his mom could tell him to grow a pair... ) I think Yao needs more determination and persistence as well as some exercises to increase the strength in his hands!! He gets to a LOT of balls but just can't hang onto them ... I'm a Yao fan who does believe he's a GREAT center who will only get better. Barring injury he will continue to improve and once his commitment to China Ball in the summer is over he should be better in the Reg. Season!! Please remember, Yao comes from a very humble and "shame-based" culture. I doubt anyone is more critical of him than he is of himself. Oh, and BTW, he's still a 23 year old!!!! The Sky's the limit!!
Yao Ming is an amazing offensive player. The level of hate thrown his way is ridiculous. He regularly has games where he makes 75% of his shots. For other players, this would be a career night. For Yao, it's no big deal. When Yao shoots, I expect the ball to go in every time, even on his jump shots. I'm shocked when he gets a good look and misses. Is he perfect? Of course not, but he's a great player. T-Mac has had a long stetch of games where he couldn't shoot at all. Not a peep of hate from the fan community. No T-Mac sucks, trade T-Mac, T-Mac is a p***y, etc. It's obvious that people cut T-Mac and other Rockets some slack that they extend to Yao. It's almost as if some people secretly want Yao to fail and are waiting to jump all over him whenever he makes a mistake. The question is why?
The reason people bashing Yao is because Yao tends to disappear for a long stretch of the game. You don't see good post players get 10 or 12 points. They should get at least 18 or 20 points on their bad nights. Also about the rebound, well.
I hate Yao! I hate I hate I hate! Free Yao Jersey -Free Yao Ming Jersey All Sizes and Free Ship. Yao Ming Jersey - Find your favorite pro athlete's licensed jersey at FansEdge Yao Ming Memorabilia - Free Shipping and Low Prices All Autographs Guaranteed Authentic Yao Ming Jersey - Compare prices on Yao Ming" Clutch, Yao's killing me. Help!
Most post players, with the exception of Shaq, get a lot of their points from 15+ foot jumpers. Tim Duncan and Chris Webber take a ton of spot up jumpers. When they're post game isn't working, their teams still keep them involved by getting them easy jumpers. Yao is a better shooter than both of these guys but for some reason the Rockets offense doesn't create open jumpers for Yao. Being a successful player in the NBA means you need an inside and outside game. I don't see why we're trying to turn Yao into a one-dimensional player. He's not Shaq.
