Yao has improved dramatically and I am really proud of him. Too bad he is on a sucky team. Yao is a gentleman -all class. We are lucky to have him. If you want to credit Ewing - I do not care. Fine give Ewing the credit. Ewing went to Georgetown so he must be smart. I was disappointed that Moses Malone was not enlisted to help Yao after he publicly stated he was interested. He is a former Rocket by the way and helped Hakeem at Fonde. Does anyone recall when Patrick Ewing was on the negotiating players committee during the '98 lockout? He wore those eyeglasses with no lenses. Interesting style statement.
I actually don't give Ewing a large amount of the credit, but I didn't blame Ewing when Yao wasn't fulfilling everyone's expectations either. I think health, fatigue, and being new to the NBA were the main reasons for Yao's inconsistent performance in the past. I think the those things being remedied are the major reasons for his improvement. Ewing is a cog in the wheel, and deserves a tiny bit of the credit. I was just curious to see if those that blamed Ewing before were willing to credit him now.
Well Ewing just did a pregame interview FOX and he said the last couple of years he worked with Yao, but this year Thibodeau has taken over coaching Yao.
On another note, does anyone know if Charlie Ward is doing anything as an assistant coach? All I ever saw is he's in a fancy suit on the side line not saying a word even in the huddle.
Yeah I saw the interview with Ewing on the pregame, it seems Ewing has helped Yao a lot, but Thibodeau seems like a much smarter guy and much better communicator. I would still give them both credit, and then let Ewing go back to NY and assistant coach after the season.
Just my 2 cents: Every game, pre-game there's a time about 2.5 hours before tip off that a lot of the younger guys come out and work on their game with assistant coaches. Luther Head, Chuck Hayes, Lampe are the usual Rockets - and the guys on the other team are usually either deep bench players or rookies as well. Yao Ming has been out there every game - working on footwork, catching the ball, shooting, from either block etc. etc. And he's always working with Coach Thibideau. He's the only All-Star I see in those early 2.5 hour shoot arounds. (well, for the most part . . . I've seen a few other guys like Ray Allen early too - but Yao's out there working hard).
LOL Actually there's a report said CD coached Yao for two or three days in the pre-season and Yao learnt a lot... That doesn't sound like a positive sign for Ewing's coaching
Can't agree more, buddy. But I'm still perplexed with one thing; Basically, Houston is a team that has the center tradition. And this tradition should be passed on, right. So why don't we hire Hakeem to train Yao? Hakeem has lots of NBA playoff experience and got two champions. For me, he is the best prospect. Does it have something to do with JVG?
The only thing Pat Ewing probably deserves credit for is putting some strippers through college in Houston with all the time he spends at the strip club...honestly, I never see him doing anything...I hope Herb Williams comes a calling and Ewing goes back to NY
That's extremely impressive. You hear about hard-working athletes all the time, but it seems like Yao may work harder on his game than anybody. When you look at Yao, you see a guy that isn't innately explosive, strong, or athletic. But, he's worked hard over the past 4 years to make himself a beast in the post. If you look at Yao's body now and when he entered the league, it looks like a new body. I wonder how the other big men in his class compare. I DO think Yao has picked up at least one move from Ewing. Ewing had a running hook shot going into the lane, and I've seen Yao replicate this a few times in games. I think Coach Thib deserves a lot of credit. You can also see that Luther's game has improved a lot. At the beginning of the year he was mostly a jump shooter, and I criticized him for not being able to finish around the basket. He's doing that now, and looks like he'll be difficult to keep out of the interior.
how do people know for sure that ewing doesn't deserve credit? Or that Thibadeoux deserves it all? I can't believe you'll say definitively that Ewing HASN't done anything. And at the same time give him crap when Yao wasn't living up to his potential as much..
I believe that if Yao had another coaching staff (other than stupid Ewing and Thibideaux) he would be a 100 times better than what he is now.. I think Yao despite his great performances lately has not yet reached his potential and is not even close to... he needs Hakeem or Moses to coach him..I mean, Ewing has never been a great center.. he made a living in the NBA because he fouled a lot and the referees never whistled him..he was a robot for Pat Riley.. he didnot have any good effective post moves like Hakeem did... just look at Ewing and Thibideaux during any game, they always look like they dont know what the heck is going on...
