I never liked Reebok basketball shoes. They were always too narrow for the widest part of my feet. I'm not saying I've got wide feet, I can wear mostly any shoe as long as it is between 9.5 to 10.5. Nike, Converse, Adidas, and even Riddell's I can wear more conformatably than a pair of Reeboks.
i thought they purposely made them hard so that they could protect yao's toes when someone steps on him?
Same here, although to be fair my subsequent Nikes were only a slight improvement. Never did try adidas The best damn pair of sports shoes I ever owned were made by Asics. Simply fantastic.. but so was the price
Lovely T-mac! Happy to see that he really cares for his big fella. It seems that Yao should really be switched to Adidas!
OMR - that's an interesting perspective but I believe you might be onto something here. I wouldn't go as far to say "stop the pick-n-roll defense by Yao" but it does seem fairly odd that the toe problems coincided with training camp and it seems logical that the quick starts and stops are exacerbating his toe's impact with the inside of his shoes.
I think he's probably the most pissed off guy there. It's just hard for him to be vocal with guys who are paying him huge $$$ in endorsements. Poor guy. Get this man some new kicks please.
maybe i'm missing something here... the last time i checked sudden stops and starts are a fundamental part of playing basketball! as long as yao wants to play, and the shoes are not altered/fixed to increase his toe cushioning, his toe will always be a problem. no amount of "thinking outside the box" will solve that. fix the damn problem already!
Can this shoe company design a shoe that has a hard outter shell that gives some protection from being stepped on yet has a soft inner core to absorb the shock? This is just plain rediculous!
Why can so many not see the obvious? These are the same shoes that Yao wore over a month of practice 6 intense games and no toe injury. Three days of training camp toe injury. True Yao is waiting on a new shoe but changes not for the toe box. Yao said the Toe box was fine and did not request any changes to it. This is not an attack on JVG's coaching ability. But listen to what the coach said. "When he gets down in a defensive stance, I'll let you know. But he's a diligent worker. God bless him, you don't have too many guys like him. He's just a tremendous worker. But his pick-and-roll defense may be the end of me, literally and figuratively." Yao was arguably the MVP of the WC's but JVG only stressed his lack of PnR defense. For him to stress that don't you think he is working on it with Yao. So how do you think he is actually teaching Yao how to defend the PnR. "Okay Yao your pnr defense needs work I want you to watch some film and try to do it better in the regular season". No it's more like... "Yao (JVG screaming) run up top, NOW!... Switch... Get down, get down get down in a stance... Don't let JLIII get by you... COME ON! Come on Yao you let him get by you again. How are we going to stop these guards if you can't defend the Pnr. Okay Yao let's try it again...." Now multiply that 100 times a day for 3 days plus all of the other grueling training camp routines and scrimmages and now you have peek into the agony of Yao's toe. And the problem is Yao for being 7'6" and 310 lbs is still pretty agile and can sometimes do what JVG wants. But his poor feet can't handle the constant pounding. Do you damn the coach for this? Not in the beginning. He is doing his job, Trying to make Yao a better player and trying to make the team better. If that's not his job what else is. But he has to know by now Yao's toe can't take it. Sure a better shoe might help but it won't make Yao weigh less and it won't eliminate the pounding on his feet.And that's why JVG needs to think outside the toe box! God Bless Yao, there are not too many players who would damage their toe for their coach.
C'mon, man. You think JVG singles out Yao and his feet are suffering? Six "intense" games? Yao came IN with this problem, so it is actually more likely the wear and tear FROM the WC's is as much to blame as practice. They guy had like 3 or 4 workouts before getting pulled. You cannot seriously think that 3 or 4 practices were enough to do damage to Yao's feet. And Yao DOES need to get better on defense. This is a guard-friendly league where teams (including the US team at the WC's) are eaten alive by pick-and-roll penetration. If Yao doesn't improve on it now, he'll be in foul trouble or will get killed with guys flying by him. But, I'm sure his foul trouble will be Van Gundy's fault too.
Looks like the problem is a combination of Yao's shoes and JVG's use of Yao. I going to take Tmac's word since he looked at Yao's show and compared it with his own. So yes, most probably Reebok's Biomechanical engineers either are not that great or Reebok is cutting cost. Let us also not forget JVG's history as 1) Overemphasizing practice and making it very rigourous 2) Demanding things out of Yao that he at his size, simply might not be capable of. I am not going to go into the biomechanical aspect of it but simply put, BIG people exert a LOT more pressure on their leg and feet when they move. Think of it this way. Which has a harder time braking and stopping? Car or a truck? And why? Similarly, everytime Yao has to stop hard and change direction, it takes more out of him, in terms of stamina and structure, than it does for a normal person. It puts tremendous pressure on his foot, and considering he has had foot problems, I would be extra careful with him. JVG needs to accept the fact that Yao is never going to be an axcellent pick and roll defender. It's physics JVG. You cant expect somoene who is 7-6 to move about as 6 footers do. Sometimes I am amazed at his stubborness. Yao's movement should be minimized on the court to lengthen his NBA career. He should do it the Shaq way. Shaq is known to be a poor pick and roll defender. I guess he regrets about it while he polishes his 4 rings. Maybe Shaq knew his limitations and conserved his energy and movement for doing what he does best. If JVG keeps being stubborn and keeps misusing Yao, expect him to go down again this season with foot problems. Frankly, I wouldnt be surprised if this happens.
Of course Yao wouldn't publicly say that the shoes are fine, he's paid to say the opposite.. His toenail speaks the truth. Reebok sucks!
Come on Jeff, Yao says the shoe is not bothering him and he is lying. Everything he says coming into the preseason proclaims his foot healed. Isn't it possible he knows his foot better than anyone else. And yes the team would do better if Yao played better D and it would great if he moved like Hakeem. But no matter how much you want him to play better D it won't take away the pounding his feet are taking. Did you not watch how much Yao has to run back and forth on the court. IMO Yao is required to more on the court than anyone. On defense he is constantly running hi and lo. On offense he is required to come from down low and run hi screens for others. This is not about JVG, this is what I saw on the court last year. Maybe you saw something different but that's what I saw Yao is being asked to do more than he ever has in his career and play more minutes. Maybe that has nothing to do with it and if Reebok builds a better shoe all is well with Yao's toes. Don't hold your breath.
JVG is a tense little furry ball, but I dont think he is unfair to Yao like you said. You can sense his frustration and that's probably after numoerus practice and instructions with Yao on PnR.
You'd think by now that people around here would know Yao a little bit. Did you people actually expect Yao to complain about his shoes? The man is probably a lot like me, and firmly believes that a bad workman complains about his tools. Bless his heart. He just doesn't have that personality. There is no reason why those shoes can't be improved to get rid of this problem permanently, and unless Yao gets on Reebok's case, it's going to be the same old story over and over again.
i think les and cd must have told jvg during the summer that yao's health was the most important thing, i rememeber jvg himself said that he would decrease the intensity of the practise to avoid injuries. it's just the jvg's way to show his bosses it's not his fault, it's instereting yao did not keep his mouth shut this time, and tmac very eager to show his support. you know jvg like to present himself as a no execuse tough guy, i would have expected some lines from him like: being 7'6 no execuse for not defending pnr or bad shoes no execuse for playing great bball
First off, Yao said his FOOT was not bothering him last year and it was. Yao has a history of not reporting injuries. Everyone from Keith Jones to other players have said that they have to coax Yao into telling them when he is hurt, sick, etc. Maybe it is pride or wanting to play through injury. Whatever. I am simply more inclined to believe that the trainer knows and is telling the truth about the problem. Given the fact that even Yao said he had to stop practicing due to blood building up under the nail (ew) and agreed to have the nail removed like last year, I'm guessing he thinks his foot is a problem as well. Second, there is zero chance that intense games in the WC were less of a problem for his feet than 3 practices in Houston. Period. When he got here, his toe was a problem from the play during the WC. The wear and tear of ALL of it created the problem. It didn't just magically appear when he showed up in Houston and went off to training camp. Third, I'm not talking about him playing D like Hakeem. He'll never be that good on defense. I'm just talking about moving his feet and challenging defensively. If he doesn't, it won't matter what his feet are doing because he'll be in foul trouble every game. His improvement on defense is a requirement. I remember when everyone screamed and yelled about Yao being "forced" to learn to play with his back to the basket on the low post. There were cries that JVG was an idiot and that Yao should exclusively play the high post. Guess what. The time he spent learning the low post game is the very reason he ended up dominating in the second half of last year and, assuming he can return from this problem, will likely dominate again. Improving on defense is like playing in the low post. As a big man in this league, if you don't, you will get burned plain and simple. EVERYONE is required to run a lot on the floor unless they are spot up three-point shooters. It is the game of basketball and Yao has got to figure a way to make that work for him. This isn't just in JVG's system. It's the entire league. Look, big men for YEARS have suffered from the same problems no matter what the system. Yao is either going to find a way to fix it and adapt or he is going to never reach his full potential. It is gravity. It is physics. And, it's basketball. You can't simply reduce the wear and tear he gets. It is a HUGE part of the game and one of the reasons guys with his size have always struggled to some degree. I want Yao to be the exception, but he and the team better get a handle on it now.
