http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2007/10/yao_johnson_or_magic_ming.html From Fran Blinebury... October 09, 2007 Yao Johnson? Or Magic Ming? OK, OK. We can all jump off a bridge on Thursday night if the Rockets get beat by Panathinikos and have a two-game exhibition losing streak. For now, just hit the rewind button on the video highlights and enjoy how comfortably Yao Ming fit in Rick Adelman's offense. All that summer of worrying and moaning about playing the 7-6 guy at the high post. All of the panicky wondering how he would be able to get up and down the floor to keep up with his sprinting teammates. In 17:25, Yao scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and -- most entertainingly -- dealt three assists. See Yao find cutters. See Yao dish. Magic Yao. It's called expanding Yao's game and that's been Adelman's intention since the first hour that he took the job. See the backdoor cuts by Rafer Alston and Bonzi Wells and the easy buckets on nice feeds from Yao. See Yao step outside and bury the open jumpers. Pulling Yao out away from the basket at times creates more open space in the lane and more room for his teammates to cut and get themselves open. This was just a start. • • • More encouraging signs: ---Bonzi (Nutri-System) Wells showed that he can still play the game a bit when he's not carrying several canned hams around under his jersey. There's no question that Wells understands Adelman's offense, the opportunities it presents for him to score and can take advantage of it. Let's just hope he doesn't suddenly bolt from camp for dental appointments or personal problems. --Luther Head, who shined during the week of training camp in Austin, came out and sparkled at times. If there's an unheralded Rocket with a potential for a real breakout year under Adelman, it's Head. --In 23 minutes, Luis Scola showed the reasons why the Rockets got him. He played smart. He was active around the hoop getting put-backs. And he grabbed 7 rebounds. The only negative was the 5 fouls he picked up. That's part of the adjustment from Europe to the NBA. --Rafer Alston continues to rise to the challenge of suddenly having so many challengers for his job. He clearly enjoyed pushing the ball on the break and distributing to teammates for buckets. Yes, it got sloppy. No, it wasn't pretty after the 30-9 first quarter. Yes, they lost. But I liked the first taste. Anybody else want second helpings?
i'm dying to see steve's over the back dunk tonight. This supposedly proves he hasn't lost much of his vertical.
yeah, that steve dunk brought back some good memories ...and the refs shouldn't have called that foul, it was too badass to be called, and it's the preseason
This article reminds me of one I saw here in NY when Don Nelson came to the Knicks and tried to move Patrick Ewing to the top of the key so that he can pass better and create more space. Teams just started ignoring Ewing and paying attention to the cutting players. And after being defensively minded under Riley all those years, they regressed and Donny lasted only a year. And he be having them 3 COY's under his belt? OH ****! Did I just portray negativity towards a coach who hasn't had a chance to demonstrate if his system fits the team? I feel right at home!
Nellie's a one-trick pony. Adelman's a flexible coach. He's going to see the weakness and adjust. I just hope it doesn't take too long.
Since pryuen always calls him Big Yao, can we call him Big Johnson? Spoiler This night shift is really getting to me.
Ewing was as good a face up player as Yao is. It's just that with other weapons on the floor, every coach in league will leave alone a big man that hits 45% on 2-pointers.
My bad, Ewing was an accurate midrange jump shooter. Let's hope Yao be even better at shooting or passing.
now its time to see what brooks can do! Yao and Brooks? hmmm.... only if he was more experienced in NBA
The difference is Yao will punish teams that leave him wide open at the top of the key and negativity towards JVG was well deserved.
Yeah I thought so too but then I noticed he had 4 turnovers. The Rockets had like 27 turnovers in the game.
