In terms of speed, I'm afraid what you see is what you get. I mean how can you make him faster? Even if he goes back to his rookie season weight, he's still going to be slower than the average NBA player. There's just no way because he's 7'6".
I'm getting a wiff of some latent racism / ethnicism in this thread. I think we need to differentiate that some of Yao's problems might be that the Chinese Basketball program isn't as tough as the NBA but lets avoid characterizations of Chinese as being inherently passive and submissive. That said I agree with Jeff's assesment that we shouldn't have expected him to come in and dominate but looked at him as a long term project like a high school program. I still think that a big problem though is trying to pigeon hole him as a typical low post player. I think if we moved him to the high post more on offense he would become more effective.
I've heard this statement a lot but I think rather than their being a dearth of quality centers what's happened is big men have been expanding the range of how they play. I think in the past players like Duncan and KG would be playing center instead of PF but in this age their allowed to expand their range of skills which the forward position is better suited than center.
Here is a list of things Yao can improve on: 1) stamina, 2) strength, 3) avoiding stupid fouls, 4) being more assertive, or aggressive as described by many of you, and make some hard fouls for god's sake, 5) keeping those elbows out like Dike. And here is a list of things unlikely for Yao to ever achieve: 1) speed, 2) leaping ability, even though he could work on his timing better. Finally, these are the things the coach can do for Yao: 1) don't restrict Yao solely to the low post, mix it up, make use of his shooting touch even though it hasn't been going that well lately. Let's hope it's just his elbow's injury, and lastly 2) have Yao practice more on the opening tips. Why? you only need to read my sig.
While Mutomobo did a good job today, he was left unguarded, or single covered a lot when Tracy had the ball. When Yao is in the game, the defense is set a bit different.
What's your point? Why are you trying to pit our own players against each other? It's as idiotic as the fools who keep saying Amare scored 33 points today in the chatroom. Yao and Deke are both good. They are the best 1-2 punch at the center position in the league. That's what we Rocket fans really care about here. What do you really care?
JediKnight the Yao anti-christ. Are you one of those Detroit gangsta's that turned out the Palace on Friday. Ron Artest won't be beating anybody for a while. Grow up.
10)He has to adjust to new teammates which changed lot this year. 11)His opponents defend him as big trouble. 12)He has to hustles to grab more rebonds this year b/c Cato's left.
