From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/marty_burns/03/23/coaches/1.html: Speaking of coaches, Rockets boss Jeff Van Gundy was the target of some readers in regards to my column about Yao Ming's slower-than-expected development. Michael Sutherland of East Greenwich, R.I., criticized Van Gundy's statement that Yao's biggest strength is his scoring ability. He says Yao's greatest asset is his passing, something Van Gundy has not exploited enough in the high post. "The Rockets should run their offense around him," Sutherland writes. "If Yao were on the Kings ... oh my!" Matt Simpson of Kansas City, Mo., adds that Van Gundy hasn't done enough to help Yao stay on the court. "If Van Gundy can't come up with a better way to stop opposing perimeter players from getting in the paint, then Yao will forever be in foul trouble," Simpson wrote. "On offense, watch how much Yao has to run around setting picks for other players and then ask why he is tired and can only play short minutes?" In defense of Van Gundy, he's had nearly his entire roster turned over in the past year. He's also had to work in Tracy McGrady, a volume shooter. It's reasonable to expect it might take time for Van Gundy to mesh Yao's talents into such a scheme -- and indeed the Rockets have been playing better of late. Apart from the Xs and Os, it is remarkable how much interest Yao generates among NBA fans. Many readers wrote in to say they agreed that the young Rockets phenom was being criticized too harshly. Phil from New Orleans notes Yao spent his first two years playing with shoot-first guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. Now he's playing with McGrady. "I'd give him another three years before we see the real Yao (that is if McGrady will allow that to happen)," Phil writes. Others pointed out that Yao's lack of meanness could stem, at least in part, from cultural differences. Michael Byrd, an expat living in Xuzhou, China, notes that Yao is representing an entire nation. "I find his attitude and on-court persona to be a refreshing alternative," Byrd writes. While Yao's low-key demeanor might be understandable, I believe he could stand to be more aggressive and a little nastier. The NBA is a physical game down low. Yao can be tough and nasty without being dirty. But I think he will learn this in due time, once he gets more comfortable with the NBA game and his place in it.
personally, i think yao commits himself way too far out on defense. he seems to get caught in a lot of screens guarding his man and then has to book it back to the paint while the opposing team takes advantage. this happens a lot.
Sure, McGrady "won't let" Yao develop, I mean afterall it would only mean that he wins more As far as Yao chasing guards, what else can you do about that? oppsing teams KNOW that he is slow and would be tired when they set picks and force him to go out and defend the PnR. I don't think there is anything JVG can do about that. I think the whole thing of Yao and McGrady not being able to dominate AT the SAME TIME is completely BS. Why? Simple, look at the Suns game (when Yao had a 20-20 performance, and T-Mac had 30+ points) AND the Sonics game (When BOTH took over in the 4th quarter and won the game). Yao has PLENTY of shots to take without McGrady reducing his own. JVG should simply watch the tape of those two game and see how both our stars were able to dominate at the same time without "deferring" to one another. That is my take
this is a very good article and I think JVG and YAO should read it! 1. Yao is doing too much on D-SIDE. the consequence is he gets winded too fast. Also one of excuse he only average 8.5 RBs because he is far away from the busket. 2. I always think YAO is the last piece of KINGS's puzzle. YAO is better player than C-webber now since CW does not have any low-post. YAO is very good passer and he can go to high-post to do the same thing as CW in KINGS 3. TMAC was a volume shooter but now I think he is trying to make change. should give him some time. he can benefit a lot from JVG coz I think JVG's defence allow him to do so.
Shaq has the same problem, Ilgaukas has the same problem...most big men are too slow or unwilling to pick up guards on the PNR...still, you don't see Shaq, Z or other bigs getting in a defensive stance, shuffling their feet by the 3 point line trying to defend guards. Why? It's too much to ask of a big man. And it's certainly too much to ask of the biggest of the bigs...knowing Yao's propensity for picking up fouls and getting winded, I don't understand what VG is doing. He should place more owness on the guards to fight through picks, or utilize the zone more, or devise alternative defensive strategies like trapping...it would also allow Yao to defend in the paint.
I think he is just playing out what JVG tells him to do. In the beginning of the season , JVG tried a Yao first offense ,which dubbed as Plan A. It didnt work. While the intention is good , after all , developing yao is one of our top priority, there were some serious problems: 1. with sura injured and practically no outside threat, our offensive game was very predictable, that makes it very easy for the opponent to defend. 2. playing without Cato, Yao had to cover more grounds in the D end than he can handle. Now that the Plan B is working so well and we have a shot for the title (who would've thought that !) , I am all for staying with the current system till the end of season . That said , I would LOVE to see a revised Plan A at the beginning of next season, because while the Plan B might get us deep in the playoff , a fully developed Yao will get us a dynasty .
Big men going out to guard the pnr IS the Rockets' defensive scheme. It's not just Yao. The assignment is, if your man set a pick high, you go out and trap the ball handler. Your man will be picked up by a rotating teammate. Return to your man only if the dribbler goes past you or passes the ball away. Watch, all Rocket Cs and PFs do that. That's JVG's way of defending the pnr, which is quite effective. But that does tire out the big guys quite a bit.
Lets get something straight - Yao is a "good" passer not a "very good" passer. Someone like Bogut is better than him. That said, the evolution of Yao, Mac and JVG is still continuing. Yao's development has slowed because of his lack of quickness and stamina and he said so himself in an interview with Ahmad Rashad. All the other stuff imho is neophyte and uninformed rant. QED Fans are fans - we do not know half the basketball Yao, JVG and his assistant coaches know. Nevertheless, fans are encouraged to continue to speculate. And zhao1109, please shove it and save us that junk!
I disagree that he comes to far out on the screen roll D. I've been watching as closely and I can and my take is that the other team is not taking advantage. In fact, I would argue that the opposing Center almost never gets the entry pass despite the fact that he has 10 feet distance between himself and Yao. I am actually quite fascinated by that. It makes no sense. It may be attributed to the fact that most centers do indeed suck. So nobody wants to pass to them. But in addition, it seems most players are afraid to make that pass through/over Yao Ming. I cannot quite figure it out. But I have to say that I don't think it has been a problem. It seems to actually work. I think he gets back to his man 95% of the time, cuts into the shot clock, and has, at the same time, not only disrupted the offense but gotten the ball out the primary socrers hands.
I agreed that Yao help trap the guards in PnR is pretty effective, how come we're not doing a lot of these with Mutumbo in the game though? Usually Deke is right at the paint and downlow.
I completely disagreed with you on Bogut, Yao is way better passer than Bogut, the kind of touch, vision, precision displayed by Yao though rare but put Yao way ahead of Bogut IMO.
While Yao does go out very far to defend PnR, which is what he has to do, he commits most of his foul on helping defense around paint area. Our individual defense is just not very good.
US? don't use "US", it only mean YOURS. and pls don't use some words like JUNK. you have your own and disagree with me. And of course I don't think you are right either. Here I just want to talk basketball.
That's the whole idea of the defense. Yao is too big for the ball handler (usually a guard) to pass through/around/over. In fact, he totally blocks the view of the dribbler most of the time. The dribbler is forced to either pass the ball back out to the perimeter, or try to use his speed to dribble around Yao. If he chooses to dribble, there will be a defender rotating over to close the door on him. JVG's defense requires the whole team to work together, not just individual good defenders. Once the ball is passed back out or the dribbler gets picked up by a rotating teammate, Yao quickly runs back to guard the opposing center again. That kind of defense is very exhausting to both teams, wearing down both the offense and defense.
I cannot comment on whether or not Yao is a better passer than Bogut, but I can say that Yao has very good talent in passing. I remember seeing his freshman year when he threw soo many passes that none of our guards expected, because they were so quick and accurate and not what a center usually does. Then his sophmore year when he and the guards would connect with a behind the back pass. Where Yao dumped it over his head to the cutting guard for an easy layup. This year I even saw him do a behind the back pass on the floor. TELL me how many centers can do it. I would say Yao has an advantage over Bogut in the fact that he is taller and can see over most of the opposing big men.
