All Rockets need now is to let Yao be Yao (article)

There are plenty of great players who never won Championships. I haven't heard anybody disregard T-Mac as a great player and the Yao haters are far and few in between.

When it comes to passion, how do you rate it? Is it judged by how much you can yell and scream, or by how hard you play and how dedicated you are to your team? The game is about being unselfish and having talent and they both have immense talent. In the end the so called "passion" doesn't mean anything if you can't do what's necessary to win. We all saw that with Francis and Mobley. Yelling at the referees doesn't increase your talent level and it doesn't dictate the outcome of a game. Yao and McGrady are a bit introverted, don't confuse that with passion especially after witnessing last year's playoffs. If anything they care too much. Racking up technicals is not my idea of "passion".
Passion is ENERGY & playing the right way and they both played very hard last year. You're not going to see Yao yell at anybody, that doesn't mean he is not passionate.

Tim Duncan doesn't strike you as a in-your-face type of player, he's practically a robot. Yet, he won because he is darn talented.
Yao and T-Mac have good chemistry and that permeates the rest of the team. If your best players play hard and are unselfish, it shows they have passion for the game. As long as they're Rockets, we're not going to face any chemistry issues. They set a great example for their teammates and they're going to make the Rockets extremely competitive for years to come.

 

I'm sick of people, like this guy, still knocking Yao for a supposed huge amount of pre-draft hype. It was a big story, but no one was hyping Yao as a player before he was drafted. Most were skeptical, and even the most die-hard fans thought he'd be a decent role-player until he developed.

The hype all started when Yao started having breakout games in his rookie year.

 

1. Shaq does not run out to 3 point land setting picks Jeff. He may set one or two down on the block, by accident, just to create space for a cutter. But he ain't running out to 3 point land setting picks, and he ain't showing on defense on the opponent's pick, except a handful of times at crucial moments in a game, series, or season. I saw him show a couple times in the playoffs but zero times during the regular season. Yao shows on every pick and roll.

2. Yao can hold position, but he can't hold it for over 3 seconds and not get called for it. Shaq can hang out in there for 5 seconds with no whistle. Yao holds position until he is in danger of getting the 3 second call and then he has to release and the push comes because he releases the grip. The worst skill our guards have is the ability to throw the ball in the post. There is no single player that can push Yao out of the post without fouling him. And if he can't hold his ground against 2 or 3 defenders, don't you think..........that's a ...................foul? Remember, Alan Henderson digging Yao out of the post during the Dallas series???? Foul or not?????? Give Yao the same calls that Shaq gets and this issue disappears. The key difference is Shaq would have landed a high elbow to Henderson's noggin and either put him in the hospital or the morgue.

3. Shaq is not 25/15, he is 23/10. With a couple tweaks, meaning Yao conserving himself and staying out of foul trouble and Van Gundy getting him 3 or 4 more opportunities in the paint, he could easily average 23. The 10 boards a game?? he's not far from there now, without a lot of interior help. He should crease 10 this year. Agreed, Shaq is/was dominant. But his dominance is partly mental, physical, and reputation combined. Shaq has created so much contact over the years, that the game has had to be called entirely differently because of his physicality. Put his game back in the 80's and he fouls out in 20 minutes. His style of play is going out of style as his career fades. He dominated his era. A different type of player will dominate the next era the same way that Jordan and Hakeem dominated before Shaq and Bird and Magic dominated before Jordan and Hakeem. They are all different style players. But they were the most dominant players of their times. Granted, Yao will never be the dominant rebounder that Shaq is, but he can make up for that with his free throw shooting. As far behind Yao is from Shaq on the boards, Shaq is even farther behind at the free throw stripe. Shaq is a liability at the stripe, the worst in the league. Yao is adequate/average on the boards.

4. I didn't say to take Yao out of the pick and roll situations. I made it clear that the outside picks Yao sets, should specifically be in the pick and roll situation going to the basket with him and TMac. The pics that should be eliminated are the picks where he runs out to the 3 point line to free up the dribbler who then swings the ball to the other side and he has to run to the other side and set another pick. Those are counterproductive for Yao. I think somebody else should be setting them.


Statistically, Yao could easily go past Shaq in the right situation. It's the respect factor that needs to change for Yao to become dominant. He has to earn the respect. Unfortunately, pure basketball doesn't win respect these days. You've got to street it up with the elbows, fists, and tattoos to get attention and respect.

 

I've said it before and I'll sayit again, the same idiots who are bashing Yao for not livign up to expectation are the same ones who proclaimed him a bust befoe he was drafted.

 

I like your optimism, but in order for yao to be Shaq, everything has to be going the right way with very little margin for error. Shaq on the other hand has huge margin for error because of his atheltic ability and dominance

 

That is EXACTLY correct. If you think that Shaq's game is only as good as it is because the referees give him the benefit of the doubt and he's just big, you have not watched the game enough. Shaq is one of the most athletic big men ever to the play the game. Period. And, I'm not a fan of his whatsoever. But, greatness is greatness and that guy has it.

Yao is not in Shaq's league - not yet. It doesn't mean he can't be or won't be eventually. It just means he isn't now.

 

Yes, Shaq is one of the most athletic if not the most athletic big men to ever play this game. And he has proven his greatness. But, he's also the most frequent offensive fouler ever in the NBA who changed the way the game was called during his era because of the contact he created. Nobody wanted to see him foul out with offensive fouls although he could foul out of 50+ games a year to this day with the bulldozing style that he plays. He gets away with as many offensive fouls as Jordan got away with defensive hacks on dribblers and push offs for open jumpers. The game has been tilted in his favor for many years. That tilt is disappearing though and will soon swing in Yao's favor. Watch it happen. Yao is not that far away from Shaq. A little respect from the league in how the game is officiated towards him and a little tweak in how many touches he gets and how he is used and he will be neck and neck with Shaq. There is no one in the league that Shaq wants to face less than Yao. That should tell us something.

 

What does the article's name mean? Please don't squeeze the charmin? Letting Yao be Yao means accepting that Yao is what he is. IMHO, Yao is too good to play the way he plays. When Yao lives up to his potential, he will be a bad ass. Until then, he's Yao: a really good, really tall high post player.

 

How is he a high post player when he never, ever plays in the high post.

 

Enough with the high Yao expectations and comparing him to Shaq.

The reality for the Houston Rockets to win a championship is Yao just needs to be more "consistant." He doesnt have to be a heck of a lot more dominant. Just more consistant. I am fine with 18/9 or even better, 20/10. That will be enough if we get that "consistantly." It is Yao's LACK of consistantcy that bugs me. Things like the ZaZa Paculia play in the regular season.

The REALITY is, is for the Rockets to win a championship it is TMAC that has to rise to greatness. TMAC is the one that has the ability to rise to another level. And we have already seen it. Just give Tmac a "consistant" Yao and a few better role players and we can win the championship.

What we saw in the playoffs with the Tmac/Yao pick and roll was something that could be one of the most dominant plays in the NBA today. No one will be able to stop it! Especially with a few good shooters on the outside for us.

 

Hey guys Yao will dominate soon!

 

Those were expectations were created by the Rocket front office. BY:
a. Drafting Yao #1 overall.
b. Subsequent hype out of the PR department.
c. Not Yao's fault, but comes with the territory + $75M contract extension. There is a tacit expectation to perform.

See "krocket" above.

 

Just because he was drafted number one, he was hyped and he got a 15mill/yr contract, it doesn't mean that he has to be the best big man ever in order to fulfill his obligations. there are plenty of players that got drafted number 1, it doesn't mean that they need to be better than Shaq. Nobody can.
Shaq has dominated the position and the era like nobody else in basketball history. He is 7'1", 360lbs, built like a tractor and he has freakish athleticism.
Yao doesn't have to be Shaq to be successful. That's because nobody can be Shaq. If Yao doesn't reach that level, it doesn't mean he failed.

 

m_cable,

Where does Yao usually shoot the ball? His face-up jumpers, which make up about half his game, are not often taken from the paint.

-P1st, S2nd

 

Um no. He takes most of his shots from 10 ft and in. I'd say almost as much as 75% of his shots come from turnaround jumpers, jump-hooks, layups and dunks. He hardly ever gets the ball on the perimeter looking to shoot. Occasionally he'll put up a shot if he gets a kick-out on the weakside. But otherwise Yao spends most of his time either, posting up on the block, setting off-ball screens and diving into the low post, or running the high screen and roll. I'm not even sure I've even seen Yao run pick and pop since Steve was on the team, or at least it just feels like that.

 

I never compared Yao to Shaq, and I never said Yao would, should or could be the best big man ever. I simply indicated where and why these expectations were created. That was the question.

 

I hear statements like this too often. Yea, Shaq definitely get away with his share of offensive fouls, but many people don't realize that Shaq, just like Wilt, gets fouled more than any player in the league with no calls. He is probably 2nd to Wilt in history as far as getting fouled with no call.

The difference with Yao, however, is that he doesn't yet seem to get that benefit when on the defensive end. We see him getting pushed and hacked repeatedly. It's fine if Yao doesn't get those fouls called, but it irritates the hell out of me when he gets called for all those "touch" fouls on the other end. Maybe that will change in the future, maybe it won't.

 

The reason why all the hacks on Shaq are not called is because all the offensive fouls that Shaq commits are not called either. It's the way the the game is officiated with Shaq. They are not gonna foul him out on offensive fouls. Therefore, if they let him get by with the offensive fouls, then they have to let the defense get by with the hacks.

Yao is suffering from this. He doesn't get all those hack calls because the refs look at him as a huge man with a huge size advantage.......they think he is Shaq part II when in reality he is a cross between Kareem and Bill Walton.

 

I heard this last year.....