i really hope yao works on his game hard this offseason...he can be one the top 5 players in the NBA easily and even surpass Tmac if he improves certain aspects of his game Yao needs to improve: 1) Defensive positioning when going for blocks. Stop trying to take charges and stay out of foul trouble. 2) His stamina has already improved but it can get a lot better. 3) He really needs to work on his back to the basket game. Develop an accurate hook shot. If he can gain more consistency and become a solid 20/10 player Houston is headed for the title.
There are different levels of "dominance." Is Yao ever going to be in the top tier along with Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, TMac, and Garnett? I wouldn't bet on it. Can he be in the second tier along with Pierce, Wade, Carter, Stoudemire? Possibly, but it's going to require consistent play - no more 12/6 games!!
Are you sure of that, I guess it depends on the pass. If he touched some pass that noone can catch, I would believe that's that on him. Of course, you can disagree. Or you mean, in reality that he actually turns over 15 times a game, including those ones from guards, because the guards thought of feeding him but he could not get perfect position, and the guards decided to dribble away or do something else, which led to a turnover 10 seconds later?
What does that mean? Is TD a thug? guess not. Is TMac a thug? NO. why do you have to be a thug? I see people complaining in every game thread about his hand clapping, and they want him to do the chect pounding instead. I would suggest you and those so-called fans, quit watch basketball and switch to wrestling. You can have your tough trash talking and thug taunting actions there every single minute, the only problem is, there will never be a single second of real sport. If he's 20/10, he can smile to Amare all he wants, nobody would complain. Yes, he needs improvement in lots of aspects of his game. But no thanks, being a thug is not one of those aspects.
In Yao's first two years, he had to watch the Steve and Cuttino show. This year, none of our PGs ever learned when/where to feed him the ball. Next year (I assume) we will have a PG who knows how to pass the ball into the post and dish from penetration. This alone will improve Yao's stat line. I'm not a YOF or anything, but I really believe next year Yao's stats will take a leap because he will have better supporting players and I'm hopeful he will learn to avoid so many dumb fouls. His Assist/TO ratio of .3 also needs to improve some, but I'm afraid that one will be a tough nut to crack along with the consistency issue.
They could have also bounced it off the backboard...ala Billy Paultz and Moses Malone. The problem with the lob to Yao is that teams are allowed to dip a defender down on the backside to disturb the pass...basically play a zone. It worked against Dallas because they were doubling Tmac out top...other teams double Yao on the entry pass, thus making it harder. Yao has to work harder, and use his physicality to become an elite player, if he continues to be a nice guy, he will be a nice player, but not dominant. It is all up to Yao. DD
I mean that when a player throws a pass to another player who does not establish possession of the ball, the turnover is charged to the passer, no matter how easy or hard it would have been to receive the the pass.
I definitely think fatigue is a rpoblem - have you seen him get winded time after time running down the court? Fatigue leads to sloppy, cheap fouls and not getting into position for charges fast enough. Although because he's so big he'll have problems throughout his career, he should still be able to have his share of 40-minute games. The Dennis Rodman comment ws just an expression - I know guys like Rodman/Wallace will always get more rebounds because they aren't asked to be scorers and so they can roam around the paint for position well in advance - plus, as you said, they are more athletic. But he does need someone to work on positioning with him - just look at Deke - he gets a whole bunch of rebounds, and he's not as quick as the Ben Wallaces of the world. I know from my experience with playing pickup ball and watching the NBA that the difference between a good rebounder and others is what they do when the ball is in the air. Yao continually watches the shot in the air without moving for position, and repeatedly fails to seal/box out his man, leading to offensive rebounds for the other team and defensive rebounds that should have been Yao's offensive rebound. I agree that he tips the ball a lot to players on his team - Im not sure he gets credited with rebounds for that - but it's not that he's a bad rebound; it's that he could be so much better. Just get position early, box out your guy whom, no matter how quick, will never be able to get in front of him, or it will be a fou. Maybe a little more hustle too - but once again, fatigue IS a factor for a guy his size. And yes, he does have trouble with smaller quicker guys like Marcus Camby/Elton Brand/Collins Brothers. He's gotten better, especially compared to last year, but the fronting thing seams to cut down on his shots because of the guards being afraid to pass it to him - another thing I saw improve this series. I agree, consistency is THE biggest thing haunting him - but I think his lack of rebounding/shotblocking/defense when he is not shooting the ball well lands his but on the bench and makes him nothing but a foul waiting to happen. When Shaq/Hakeem struggled they kept on getting position and going to work, or created for other guys on the post, or just looked to get layups/draw a foul. Yao, when he struggles, does NOTHING to make up for it on the other end - he needs to learn that he can be more than an offensive weapon - he can be a decoy of sorts for other guys (that's why Shaq is so good - when he struggles, he makes the guys around him better).
Relax, Yao will be a better player next year. And he will get a few more minutes. And he will play better with TMac. Expect great things for Yao. Dominant???? Some games. I think he will be more consistent.
We talk about this on the board all of the time, and it depends on what you mean by dominant. Will he intimidate other people by screaming and swatting their shots into the fourth row? No. (By the way, I have how that freaking Flopper Dirk screams after he blocks shots by people who are 6'2. What a prick.) But will he be a consistent presence that the Rockets can count on to hurt other teams in the post? Yes. I think he took some good strides in the playoffs this year.
OK, I don't expect him to be dominant, I want him to be consistent. If he could stay on the court for more than 35mins, give us 20/10 night in and night out, or even 18/9 with 2+ blocks every night, I will be very happy.
Dominant is 21+/10, with teams being forced to double team you because if they don't, they know you can single-handedly beat them. There are about 10-15 players in the league that are "dominant," and about 5 with the potential to be so. Dominance doesn't necessarily mean swatting anything in your path on defense and then stuff anything home on offense, but it does mean your pretty darn close. Dominant also means that when your having a bad shooting game, you are still a pain in the but to the other team because of your prowess in other areas. Overall Dominant Players (off the top of my head): Garnett, Duncun, SHaq, Lebron, Kobe, McGrady, Iverson, Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudimire, and to an extent Dirk, steve nash, Jermaine O'neal, and a few others I'm forgetting. The reason Yao isn't dominant is because he can be stopped relatively easily and held to single digit/10-12 point games on a regular basis. When this happens, he struggles in other aspects of the game more times than not. But he has the potential to put up 25ppg/11rpg/2.5bpg , and we all know it - otherwise I would be laughed out of this thread. The reason next year is so important is that even the Jermaine O'neals of the world, the truely dominant players, started to shows signs by this age. If he doesn't dominate next year, then more likely or not what we see is what we have - a guy with 20-30 "capability," but a guy who'll dissappear and will need a power forward to do his dirty work.
