In crunch time, do Yao's teammates have confidence in Yao?

I'm gonna go with yes because they are teamates. Everyone messes up at one time or another. The best players are the ones that are able to bounce back. Yao is the second best player on the team and he's at the level of being one of the guys you want to have the ball. Yao, Jordan, KG - they're not always going to get it done. Their teamates continue to give the ball back to them, though, because they are capable of getting the job done.

 

It depends on which Yao shows up. Yao gets his confidence shaken too easily and when he plays like a slug then the answer is no. But during that 8 game win streak and the loss at the sonics, the answer would be Yes because that half of Yao makes you think he'll never miss.

 

That's a tough one, If he has butter finger like he did last nite then no. If on the other hand, he is sure handed like he has been in other games, I have total faith in him hit a shot. It just depends which Yao the team gets.

 

Yao is an ENIGMA wrapped in a CONUNDRUM. Everyone loves him, wants him to perform well, and expects him to perform well. Sometimes he appears to have a clue of what to do and some times it looks like he is lost as a goose. IMO he is so young by basketball experience standards that he is very prone to have his confidence shaken easily. Right now his psyche is to fragile to consistantly go up against the best in baskball night-after-night and dominate.

I don't think the CBA experience he got was as good as some of the really top high schools in this country, much less the big time colleges. I would compare him to a kid three years into the NBA out of high school. Add to that his physical size and the time it takes for a tall person to really get control of their body and you have a person that for his age and experience seems to be ahead of the curve for being a good player; however, I just don't think he will ever be an atheltic freak that is 7'5" but moves like some 6'2''.

IMO Patrick Ewing is the wrong coach for him. I would really like to see Kareem come in and tutor him. Their style of play and capabilities are a better match. Yao will always be a 'finesse' player, not a 'power' player.

 

Yao is an excellent clutch shooter and scorer, his % goes up as well as his scoring; his achilles heel is his tendency to get stripped late in the game and his FT% declines from about 75 to 60. See here:http://www.82games.com/04HOU22E.HTM

On balance I would say yes though.

 

This year JVG calls a lot timeouts in crunch time and designed plays. From what I see, usually the team would do what they were told by JVG, and a fair amount of plays were called for Yao. I believe JVG still has confidence in Yao. His teammates just excute the plays. Do they have confidence in Yao? I have no idea.

 

Apparently, his teammates DID trust him and threw him the ball at the end to take the shot. He was stripped and that led to another fastbreak that ended the Rockets' hopes to pull the game out for good. They pretty much had to depend on another T-Mac miracle to bring them back and tie the game up (McGrady made the first three to bring it within one, and then his second three to tie up the game and send it to overtime bounced off the back iron).

The problem is, and this is a natural human instinct, people tend to lose trust in those who don't deliver the desired results when needed.

Personally speaking, I have never got the feeling that Yao has that 'killer instinct' to be a clutch player in close games. If you notice, even some of the best players in the league are NOT clutch players, while some of the best clutch players in the league are role players. For example, even at this stage, Reggie Miller is still considered the most clutch player on his team; when Chris Webber was in Sac-town, almost everytime the game was on the line, C-Webb didn't show up, and it was Bibby who tried to pull them.

Still, I don't think Yao's teammates have lost confidence in him after last night's debacle, but rather if he repeats these mistakes over and over again, then they might have a problem with him.

 

yao is slower and we have tmac and other shoters like wes and sura and padg. so we just can let yao RnR to shoot or let guard shot and yao foculs on board.

Actually I really want to see someday in clutch time yao and tmac do PnR and yao shoot a 3 or long 2 bomb.

yao need time to shot , he can not do it in rush, even layup.

 

Listened to CD this afternoon on 610 sports radio. CD said Yao has been playing BBall nonstop for the past 5 years and this year is the first one that he has an off season.

CD went on to say that Dream used to spend his off season working on something new and always showed up in the season with his new repertoire.

I believed next season Yao will show up with a much improve game thanked to the off season spend resting and working out.

I believed we will see a much different and improved Yao, by then we won't have to be asking if Yao's teammates will trust him comes crunchtime.

Patience my friends, PATIENCE!

 

of course " YES" Yao save this team a lot of times. if you still remember LAKES game

 

Good post Tiger. Dead on.

 

But let me add something here: players CAN develop a 'killer instinct' as they gain more experience and, by extension, gain more self-confidence to make that big shot or make that big stop on defense.

So in that sense, Yao can still definitely acquire/learn that 'killer instinct'. But I wouldn't hold my breath (jk)

 

when was the last time a palyer developed a killer instinct. Either you have that win at all cost mentallity or you don't.

 

zhou1109 mentioned that game against the Lakers. That's the first thing that popped into my head when I read the question. I dont know if his teammates think of him as THE go-to guy necessarily, but I think he definitely remains one of the top options.

 

I'm going to float this thread 'cause last night in Seattle his teammates made the answer crystal clear. Absolutely, they will go to Yao in crunch time. And, with great results I might add.

 

Of course they trust him. If they can't beat the opponent by the fourth quarter, they'll start going to him.


(Whispers..) "Dang, we might have to go to the not-so-secret weapon to pull this one out.

(Stern Voice...) Ok, Yao, I'll give you the ball, and you'd better score, or I'll pass you up for another 5 minutes."

 

When was the last time there was a player with Yao's background and talent enter the NBA?

 

If they don't trust him, they better start. They are his support. He's not going anywhere. If they don't support, they'll be shipped.
See...........the whole squad of last year.

 

I trust Yao to take the last shot....As long as he's has the stamina and tenacity to GET INTO POSITION and not get his shot blocked/stripped. The guards will only spend so much time before they rotate the ball to the other side. So, Yao has to learn how to get into position much faster and fight for that spot. If he can't do that, but instead plays soft...then no one should blame others for not getting him the ball. The guards will NOT pass the ball to him if there's too much risk. If they did, it would not be smart basketball. That's why we have game plans to rotate the ball for a 2nd option or reset the play. But we can only do that so many times (24 second clock; two or three possessions). Sooner or later our opponents will take advantage of us if we keep doing the same thing that is failing. That's how we get down by 10 points. We keep trying to force the issue into Yao.

Today, we have a lot more options just in case Yao is doubled or if Yao doesn't fight for position. This has helped us as a team.

So, once Yao has the ball in his hands...I feel that IF, I repeat, IF he gets a good shot off and it doesn't get blocked, then it will go in 50% of the time. But it's all the other things that need to happen before Yao can shoot. Sometimes Yao will get doubled immediately and he'll have to pass the ball out. That's where Yao gets in trouble sometimes (turnovers). The good thing is that Yao seems to play better in the 4th compared to the 1st. Which is ok with me!