Yao's got size, got skills, got finesses. He's 1 in a billion, he's one of the best in the league. You don't use your best player and asset as a decoy all night long, you utilize him. You put ball in his hands, someway and somehow, that's what the million $$$ salary the coaching staff are paid for.
That was when T-Mac demanded as much attention as, if not more than, Yao. Right now, we don't have anyone like that in the starting line-up. We need to get Yao more involved, for sure - and when we do that during game 3, Chucky's going to say 'I told you so'.
Lots of people are confusing that it's not about Yao. Whether Yao or any Rocket player can be great or not, it's not important to the Rockets team, in a politically correct or technical only sense. What matters is whether the team can win. To be a great team, you want everyone on your team to contribute the most. That's why we play to the strength of our players. We leave Shane in the game for long stretches, even if he doesn't put up anything offensively, but we rely on his intelligent defense. We leave Ron in the game because of his toughness, despite his sometimes boneheaded plays. We play Wafter in stretches because he provides energetic offensive spark although he misses defensive assignment or rotation completely. We limit AB's point guard responsibility to make best use of his shooting ability. Giving Yao more touches or the wild idea of get him more shots, is not Chinese Yao Only Fans egoistic shameless imagination to make Yao look better with numbers to satisfy their inferiority complex. It's as simple as wanting the high efficiency offensive player to contribute more, which may lead to more victories. Whether Yao is or will be great, is not important. What important is to win. You want to get the most out of your 55% and 86% center, because for the same percentage output, you will get the best result. It's never about what others want, it's about what you want. Your boss wants to have you work on less money, you will never offer to work for free. Opponents don't want Yao to get the ball, you don't just comply, even if you have to force a little bit sometimes. It's so easy to say, oh, it might lead to turnover, but by quantifying it, that excuse never flies. Yao is not great, he may never will be. But this is the Rockets forum, and this is the Rockets team. The 23 million man is in rehab, the 17 million man who can shoot with highest percentage among all players on the team, is the one you want to squeeze the most out of. No but, no if, just do it. If you think Yao doesn't deserve next big contract, that's fine. But right now, he's still the highest paid player with highest shooting percentage and highest height on the court. Make best use of him, it's not about Yao, not about Chinese, not about his fans, it's about the team passing the frigging first round. Basketball shouldn't be this difficult, it's simple logic and simple numbers.
good post real_egal. The thing people need to understand are as follow: 1) Yao will never going to be shaq, hakeem or whomever that will IMPOSE HIS WILL by yelling at the coach or his players. GET THAT THRU your head. It aint him and it aint happening. 2) If this team really want to play with Yao and get the best out of him they have to COMMITTED to HIM. This mean that you throw the ball to him everytime down. If he's fronted lob the ball, if he's double team swing it around and have him cut thru the other side. Do whatever as long as HE GET THE BALL EVERYTIME DOWN. I dont care if he turn it over 5 times, miss shot 5 times etc etc. Keep going thru him. THAT's what you call committed to playing thru him. So many times they abandoned him after 1 or 2 try with a lob past or a high Pick and pop. If he catched the ball dunk it in then he get it again or if he make his 15ft jumper then he get to do it again. However, if he miss or turnover, he wont see it again until maybe three games later. On the other hand, how time have we witness Ron Ron made a boneheaded play one after another consecutively.
Yao Ming knew he needed to win last night. Brandon Roy knew they were going to win. This is where Yao needs to get.
He knew if he tried he could get the calls. He knew he could score as much as he wanted to. He just made up his mind that he was going to get his points and they were going to win the game. I think the Rockets played good, team basketball, but in the end the Rockets needed someone to step up.
Here's the direct link http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?id=4089307 Charles "The thing about Yao Ming is he is so gifted offensively that and he's so big, that's a tough match up for anybody".. "He's got a great jump hook, he's got a great jump shot"... "He should have been demanding the ball, I don't know if the Rockets were not ignoring him"..."They should have gone to him every play"..
2 of the best coaches have had this problems in JVG and RA. great players find ways to get the ball. great players find ways to impact the game when other teams do everything and anything to stop them. if yao wants to be great, he has to get over this. if we fire adelman, it's still going to be a problem if we get phil jackson.
If Yao feels that he can score on someone or if he is in good position to take advantage of the defense, then he needs to let his teammates know next time where and when they need to pass the ball to him. He has to communicate better with his teammates on how to get the ball to him better. He's the star player, he needs to be more vocal and he needs to demand the ball at times. Unless of course he gets scared or shy when the defense tightens up on him.
yeah, and i think yao *knew* if he tried he'd get offensive calls. it's proven to be true again and again.
Are you honestly comparing JVG's problem with RA's? JVG didn't have talent outside TMac and Yao. When did JVG have problem to get Yao 10-12 shots, fronting or not? How often does RA have so much problem to get Yao 1-2 shots in a quarter? Get over what? He won't get more than 6 shots before he slaps his teammates on the court? 6 shots in playoff game, NOT EVEN single turnover at failed attempt. We won game 1 convincingly. But the problem was the same. Yao was 9-9 in the first half, didn't attempt another shot in the second, WITHOUT fronting. Great players? Didn't we established that Yao will not be a great player? So Rockets should just roll over and die?
I understand that completely, and it's obviously unfair. But it is his job to find a way to be effective.
Barkley doesn't realize that Yao isn't a 7'6 version of him. If Barkley wanted the ball, he could find a way to go get it. Catching lobs, facing up from 18 feet, snatching it off the offensive boards -- Barkley did it all. He was versatile, truly one of the great offensive players in the history of the game. That's not Yao.
Can we just draw a play to hand off the ball to Yao, like a qb handing the ball off to a rb? Is it even possible? HAHA
I switched back a couple times during the game to TNT and Barkley was not even paying attention to the lakers game...he kept his eyes on the rockets/blazers game cuz obviously it was a better game He thought the rockets would pull it out and it would be a sweep...too bad that didn't happen
