I see a hundred posts a game saying Yao is soft. I really do not get it. Yao's play has changed a bit since the knee injury. I beleive it is because he has not fully recoved to pre-injury condition. He does not like to dump the ball to risk reinjuring his knee. He also try to avoid fouls because he is even slower than before. It is actually easy to foul someone if you do not mind free throw hurting your team, or you do not mind playing less minutes for your team. I see what Yao has been doing as responsible, not soft. I have seen Yao played through a lot of pain, like the toe problem. To me, that is toughness. One the other hand, ignoring your physical limitation and showing off unecessarily and may in turn hurt your team is what I call moron toughness. Yao is what he is. He may not live up with your expectation. But do not call him soft.
i wont call him soft, but i wont call him dominant either. people were too quick to jump on yao's bandwagon this season. i heard people claim he was one of the top 10 centers of all time. that's just too funny.
I don't care what any other player say on the board....yao is keeping us in these games...we are just waiting on t mac to dominate like he said he would or atleast try hard...all im asking for is the effort!
I agree! I don't think T-Mac has the same mental toughness as Yao's. Anyway, it is time for V-Span exactly! JVG, please admit that V-Span is better than Head and Lucas III!!!
I do not think he is top 10 centers of all time either, at least not now. But I do think he is dominant now. But if you define dominant as muscling people, he is not, and may never be.
I'm a big supporter of Yao (not because of my moniker) and no, I'm not a YOF. I understand that Yao's been double/triple teamed during the playoffs, but the guy really needs to toughen up a bit. And by that I'm not calling him soft because every Rockets fan knows Yao's played through injuries. But by that I mean Yao needs to push people around some more, and dominate that paint more. His dunks are authority-less. His jump shots are getting blocked like he's 6'4. Right now, the only forces that stands in his way is his self.. and the refs.
I think the forces that stands in his way is his body condition...and the refs. If Yao does what those who call him soft want him to do, he will be fouled out before half time. Not just less points for his team, but also more points for the other team because of FTs. Normally you got to know someone before judging him. Here I see a lot of people throwing words around carelessly.(general feeling, not about you)
At least he try his best. Since you don't consider him as a best player,why you ask him do the best thing. Stop the blame.
I've coverd this before. just because he dosent dunk it or cusses about someones parents it dosent equate to being soft. what yao needs to do is try to get iokur and millsap into quick foul trouble. if we get those two into trouble, thats there interior team right there. boozer cant handel Yao. we gott be smarter and try to get yao in better position to drw more fouls. he only had like 6 free throw attempts. thats not good enough.
Dunking does not equal two points only. Dunking with authority brings the intimidation factor. Yao does not and could not intimate even a two year old. People were afraid to play shaq in his prime. Nobody gives a rats ass about going up against Yao. The dude is getting blocked by a 45 year old white boy with no hops.
I agree Yao does not recovery, but this time is not the off-season. it's playoff,you should play more harder and tougher in the game.
turnover after turnover, missed rebounds, missed layups when he should dunk, outplayed by boozer and millsap. Ming is not having a good series.
Yao isn't soft, Yao is slow. (unless being repeatedly blocked by the maybe 7 foot Okur counts as soft... just saying it wouldn't happen to Shaq) That and he has small hands. And smells like cabbage. Yao's turnovers have been atrocious the past two games. Small hands, I'm telling you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- did he have Bigger Hands be4 the knee injury???
Ummmm... no. His hands have not changed size..... His ability to hold onto the ball is about the same as it was then. The playoff intensity exacerbates his shortcomings (and everyone else's for that matter). Here's to hoping he finds a better groove in Game 5.
Yao is doing his best, against 1-2 big guy everygame, you can't imagine how hard it is, he is not as strong as the American players, its not that easy as we saw on the TV. why didnt he dunk? i think its for saving strength concern. (sorry for my bad english )