I think he should definitely use his elbows more. Watch artest when he takes it to the hole, he always spreads his arms out and has his elbows out to clear space. It might affect Yao's shooting though, thats the only problem
I don't think that Yao is soft, but he needs to be tougher especially going for rebounds. It seems that every time he goes for a rebound, he just puts his hands out and waits for the ball to fall into them rather than snatching it out of the air and hold onto it like his life depended on it. Just because a player falls down a lot doesn't make him soft. Soft players are guys who pass up open looks and are afraid to shoot the ball specifically in crunch time, are intimidated by opposing players, and don't give full effort on the court.
I've always used robinson and daughtery as soft big guys. Some guys are just nice and don't have that "i'll do anything to win" mentality. That doesn't mean u have to be a thug on the court, but teammates are looking at you to see how u handle physical play. Robinson is a hof and when daughtery was healthy, he was a all star. He's soft, but still a good player.
you don't have to come from the ghetto to be mentally tough. being mentally tough is more of accepting and answering all the challenges before you, not how intimidating one looks or acts like.
My opinion is Yao still don't know how to use strength correctly when backing down opponent. Sometimes he use all his strength (100%) all AT ONCE which create charges. He needs to slowly slowly back down rather than use it all at ONCE.
Some of you really amaze me, how you can call a guy soft based on getting blocked, losing rebounds, falling down and missing a dunk etc ? The fact he falls down is a mute point because he's a huge dude and they lose balance more easily. He's getting blocked because it's either from behind, he doesn't have the strength to go up and in general he does not jump very high. Why else can a guy like Nate Robinson block him ? Also, he usually has the ball around his waist and when he goes up for the shot he either loses the handle and throws it up anyway and it gets blocked or he gets it blocked going up. He's losing rebounds because of his hands and the Rockets general are terrible at rebounding since they tip it rather than grab it. Also the lack of jumping ability by Yao makes it easier to just tip it because when he grabs it and comes down with it, he gets stripped. Missing a dunk has nothing do with soft period. The fact that Yao is refereed unfairly affects his game a lot. He constantly has to think who the player it is that's guarding him, so does the guy flop a lot etc, which referee is there, how many fouls do I have, how many fouls does the other guy have, can I make this move or not because there's a chance I get called for a foul etc. I think Yao is thinking way too much because of this treatment, it's not really obvious to Yao anymore what he can and cannot get away with. Sure all players have to deal with this but Yao even more, way more. Sometimes you see him more aggresive after a certain amount of fouls and frustration starts to kick in where he dunks it emphatically but that doesn't mean the other times he's soft / goes up soft.
Agree. The only tactic I would suggest is that Yao deliver a brutal forearm shiver (one nasty foul per game) to known floppers in the tradition of Malone, Deke, Cartwright, Akeem, any number of Pistons, Shaq et al. Soon, rather than risking a broken jaw or separated shoulder, they would back off him.
I blame the whole Rockets oganization for not getting Yao the treatment he deservers as a star. I blame the whole Rockets oganization for not getting Yao the fairness he deservers as a human being. I blame the whole Rockets oganization for not supporting Yao enough by reacting to the refs bad calls. Fans are included. Just image Yaos the center of JaSS.
i gotta agree with lee on this one too. yao has a soft mentality. he should elbow somebody"s teeth out. the falling or stepping on someone would be great...but i really don"t want yao falling or stepping on anybody. but it would even stuff up real quick but yao do need to punk somebody with an elbow
I would like for at least 2 of Yao's fouls to be hard fouls, where Darren Williams drives to the bucket and Yao hammers him. Trust me he thinks twice going to the bucket. One hard foul on Boozer when he drives and make him think twice. Dream, Kareem, Wilt, Russell, and Shaq all have done it.
Yao hasn't played "soft" since his first 1 or 2 seasons. Most people just never bothered to re-evaluate his game since then.
What a great idea, if Yao were quick enough to fall on a flopper, and a few of them were hurt as a result, then the flopping would stop.
