If Yao is saving energy on defense in order to carry his team offensively, he wouldn't be the first superstar to do so.
I understand why everyone is mad and so am I but it's just a motivation tatic all coaches use. Van Gundy is the king of these type of mind games.
The NBATV just showed the clip without any comments. I thought he said "they", but he also mentioned "they got only one board in the second half, not playing defense". We got more than one board of course. So it had to be "him" which is Yao whom he blamed.
JVG is trying to let Yao not get a big head because of how well he has been playing. I love it that JVG is not satisfied with Yao's game, and hopefully it will propell Yao to keep getting better and better. When JVG starts to give you complements to a player you know he is not happy with his performance.
I think JVG is just trying to motivate Yao. You guys need to relax. Y'all remind of dallas fans who cry every time someone suggests that dirk should play more defense. What a shocking suggestion!
Amazing, if true, this takes me off the JVG bandwagon... truly disgusting. Long rant... Juwan is a negative 11.2 on/off court presence. Bowen is a negative 8.4 as well. Yet these two players seemingly are ahead in pecking order over Hayes, who is a positive 11.9. So those stats are skewed because Juwan plays better comp. blah blah. He sucks. Horribly. And yet continues to play the majority of our minutes. He shot 3-11 today, mostly getting blocked on wasted opportunities. Juwan ends excellent ball movement by getting into bad positions where he goes one-on-one. Juwan plays no defense. Yet JVG praises Juwan for his work ethic. Jeff, if you think Yao is the best reg. season center, then give him his due. I don't care if scrubs like Juwan and Bowen play their hearts out, players like that HAVE to do so to get any results due to a LACK of talent. And then Yao tries his heart out, being the only positive player on the floor, and the only thing Jeff can do is tear into him. Sometimes I wonder if Jeff only watches the defensive end of the floor, but then I think - wait but then he would see Hayes out there playing his butt off, yet he seems to be blind to Juwan who plays NO DEFENSE. Jeff, a system is not everything. Sometimes, you need to actually look at the results as well. Why don't you stop looking just at the players who run the system, and start looking at who is actually helping you WIN. Jeff, you may win me back one day, but as cute as your little mind games are, and as much as I would like to defend them, why don't you try to actually ADJUST for once? Like last year, when dump it into Yao wasn't working, you let Tmac run free. Well how about actually trying to use Stro and Hayes more?
I agree Yao has not played stellar defense lately, but I won't call that 0 effort as JVG put it. It takes a lot of energy to carry extra large load of offense for your team, especially when you have to wrestle in every possession with your defender(s) to get into good position, and often fight off double- or triple-team to score. I have little double Yao's offensive output will decline if he diverts significant portion of "total" energy to defense. You need to realize Yao's stamina is still not the as strong as most other NBA players despite the tremendous amount of training he's undertaken. It is not an easy task to maximize Yao on the court in every game. Unfortunately for JVG and Yao, there is not much they can do with TMac on the sideline.
I'm predicting right now that Yao will not score more than 20 against SA. However, he will foul out. Thanks to Gollum
Yao is not a dumb. He will fight back sometime. Good luck, Van Gumpy! You are doomed in Houston. I'm offically on the "Fire JVC" bandwagon. We need a coach who will respect his players. By the way, ship JVC out together with his boy Rybo and Howard.
I don't have a problem with a coach asking more of his players. every coach should. but I'm sorry, I"m losing respect for van gundy quickly. there's no need to call out yao in a game like this. there's no need to play head games with a player like yao, who routinely gives every effort in the game. with 1:08 left in the game (outcome clearly decided), down my double digits, yao lost the ball on his move and it bounced in the lane. he didn't reach for the ball, he DOVE on top of it and was able to maintain the possession. don't question his effort. he deserves a little more respect than that.
I much rather have Yao spending his energy on the offensive end, wrecking havoc in the lane and fouling out the other team's frontcourt players, than chasing guards all over the place around the three point line. Yes, there is a time for lockdown, no-holds-barred, 48-full-court-press defense. We call that the playoffs.
That's pretty much how I would put it. What are you guys so worried about? That Van Gundy is hurting Yao's feelings? Lol. He wants Yao to step it up on defense. Big deal. Yao probalbly refelcts now on what to better on D next game. Gimme a break, folks.
