Shaq tonight was punking him left and right. From what I could see you think Yao is afraid of the big man..... One play they had Deke and Yao in and Yao guarding Doleac and Deke on Shaq BUT yao fouled and gundy took him out.
Man its been a while since I've seen one of these "Yao needs to bulk up" threads. I thought they were extinct.
Have a look at this thread and look at the two side by side and tell me at 7 foot FREAKING 6 that Yao still needs a ton of work... http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93297
Good idea. Bulk up Yao so he becomes even slower. Yao plays Shaq twice a year. It doesn't matter. And Yao isn't exactly a stick figure. You don't have to be bulked up to get stronger.
Yao needs to get stronger....not necessarily much bigger. But more importantly he needs to work on his balance and core strength in his abs, back and torso so he can pivot, hold position and make his moves quickly and with control.
I'm guessing this guy didn't see yao take it right at Shaq about 5 times for scores. When was the last time a player lowered his shoulder, knocked Shaq backwards, and scored over him?
I sat on the second row behind the heat bench, YAO got owned. But hey what do you expect, shaq pretty much owns everyone. I swear he almost tore down the goal 2 different times.
You know HBO'S REAL SPORTS with Bryant Gumbel did a story on Yao a while ago while he was still in China. I think that was the first time I've ever heard of him -maybe it was in 2000 ? Yao was 19 yrs. old in the story. It just talked about how hard it was for Yao to get to the US with all the red tape from the Chinese government. What I remember distinctly from that story was how antiquated the gyms the Chinese players had to play in, and how they just went through these mindless drills over , and over. They absolutely had NO strength equipment, and few trainers that knew what they were doing-- they only had a few dumbbells and they showed a clip of Yao doing these deltoid raises with really bad form--he was leaning back and doing reps too fast. They also mentioned that Yao had just recently started working out with weights , he was already 19 years old! Yao is only 24, and he has bulked up considerably from his rookie year. He of course has a LONG way to go to get the upper body strength he needs to bang in the low post, but he's working on it. I know we all want him to bulk up faster, but you have to understand he's not like our players here who has had access to strength equipment early . My high school had more strength equpment than they had. They would just do shooting and sprinting drills for HOURS-- It was all cardio--no wonder all the players were so skinny. I also remember a funny clip of Yao , and some teammates doing laundry-- something about them not trying to have any stars on the team, and everyone had to contribute for the good of the team... I sure wish I taped it back then.....
Why does he need to bulk up? Shaq's moves over him were not the usual overpowering moves he uses on everyone else. His spin move around Yao had nothing to do with Yao's lack of bulk. I don't recall him ever bulldozering over Yao. So if Yao does bulk up, then what? He'll have a power game like Shaq? Yao's game is not about power. If anything, I would say he needs to work more on speed and conditioning to improve his game, not power and bulking up.
Twice a year? what about the NBA Finals this season? that makes about 6 games a year when we sweep thim...
We've been hearing this ever since he got here and at this point I don't think we can expect him to bulk up anymore. IMO what Yao needs to do is learn how to get position better and be quicker on the move. Yao's game still isn't a natural power game so better position and quicker feet will benefit him much more than just bulking up to battle Shaq.
We just need him to be as bulky as he was at peak form last year. Ever since the flu, Yao lost a tremendous amount of weight and despite that, his speed hasn't improved a great deal. If Yao can stay here over the summer and work with Falsone then whatever shape he comes out in would be incredibly beneficial for the rockets. Point is, right now, there's no way Yao is as strong as he was last year because when he and Shaq faced off last year, Shaq had a much more difficult time establishing position against him.
Yao mainly needs to bulk up his estimation of his role on this team. I love the balanced scoring that we have demonstrated since January but integral to achieving this is for Yao to play enough minutes and be agressive while in the game. This opens up shots on the perimeter. It's great that we can gut out a win in a game like last night when we struggled offensively. But Yao needs to understand that the team is playing with "fire" as long as he doesn't grasp that he and McGrady have to share the load of carrying the team down the stretch. He seems to be to content to let Tracy be "the man". The game he played in Phoenix showed he doesn't have to take a back seat to Tracy as far as his role of team leader. He needs to accept that role equally with McGrady. Besides McGrady's minutes will catch up to him. If Yao will not make silly fouls and really take a leadership role this team has a tremendous upside.
