Dirk looks like mini-me next to Yao!

"Watcha gonna do, when Yao-mania and my 24" pythons run wild on you!!!"




sorry, couldn't resist .............................

 

Dirk is a classic Euro player...slim with long arms. Yao's arms were that skinny last season, also. Weight training isn't part of the daily training in Europe or Asia like it is in the United States...

 

No more weight gaining for Yao. Its more attitude now. After flooring Williams yesterday, he should've dunked and starred at him but he is shouwing more emotions, evidenced by that awesome pic posted above

 

I read an article about Dirk's teacher/trainer from Germany in an old SI. Dirk visits him in the offeseason to train, and sometimes the guy flies in if Dirk is struggling with his shot. If I remember, the trainer wasn't big on pumping iron. He'd have Dirk takes jumpers with 30 pounds of weights (or something like that) draped on his body.

 

That picture really demonstrated just how big Yao is.

Is it too early to say that Yao is finally getting it? I love the way he abused Mavs centers yesterday. It is almost Shaq-esque.

 

let's just dream and wait till it coming true

 

maybe the New Yao is Roid Rage


Rocket River

 

Yao looks like a freaking beast in that pic. Cant wait till the day he drives in the lane and just plows over other centers to dunk the ball.

 

Another part of Dirk's training is to walk up and down the length of the court upside down on his hands.

 

In Dirk's case, it worked. Why change.

 

The low post is not a place for the faint of heart and the weak of body. Yao needs to put on more muscle to be able to withstand the punishment in the low post. Dirk plays out on the perimeter where ticky-tack fouls are called. I've seen games in the low post in which Yao is actually being mauled and wrestled like the game against the Heat. Getting points in the low post takes a much different player than jacking it up from the perimeter. I remember when Pau Gasol tried to go to the basket in the last game against the Grizzlies. Cato whacked Pau really, freaking hard on his arms. I believe Pau yelled out in pain. Guys like Cato and Ben Wallace hit hard.

 

Do you have first hand knowledge of this or are you just satisfying your fallacious preconceptions?

Btw, what da heck is classic European player?

 

Not sure if more mass will do Yao any good now. You don't want to put too much weight on that frame. Yao is already having trouble dragging his 300+ lbs body up and down the court.

For Yao to have more success in the paint, he now needs to toughen up mentally. We will see if Yao has it in him.

 

The disparity would've even been more obvious if Yao was in the foreground and Dirk in the back.

 

Putting muscle on his upperbody will allow him to withstand the brutal hits that go on in the paint. These hits sap a lot of strength from a player. If you want to see if it is tiring to getting hit all the time on the your upperbody, tell someone with a big stick to whack you on the back and arms every few seconds. It's not exactly an invigorating feeling. Muscle mass cushions a lot of those hits.

 

I think his current weight is about optimum. Any heavier will impair his relative quickness and make his engine less energy efficient, so to speak. Besides, whether he's 340 or 350, he still has to deal with multiple 250+ lb defenders. Might as well use more of his wits or to draw more fouls. Let's not forget his FT is deadly, not like that other 7 footer MDE.

 

Is that same Williams laught at Yao last year at phx bench? What a diffirence year late!

 

What about what Najera was doing to Yao??? He's still not quite strong enough, and he gets bothered by centers who will bang,etc. on him. That said, I think it's a rhythm thing, he needs to be in rhythm on offfense.