Forcing Yao to be a post presence like Shaq and Duncan is just crazy. He will never be Hakeem, Shaq, or Duncan. What's his strengths? He can pass very well for a young player as seen last year and in some instances this year. He is an excellent defender within Van Gundy's system. What are Steve's strengths? He can explode to the basket. He can jump out of the gym. There was a prior post that mentioned Yao being more like Vlade. Is it not possible to see Steve use his quickness to get away from a defender when he does not have the ball with Yao passing to him in motion for an easy short-range shot off the glass or even an alley-oop dunk? How can a defense stop that? Anyone remember last year when Yao was holding the ball and dropped a pass over his back to a Cuttino slashing along the baseline to the basket? Steve and Cuttino are not distributors, but they are two of the best at getting to the basket. Yao is a good passer with the potential to be a great passer. Imagine having Yao hold the ball far above his head with him watching the defenses develop and having all of the Rockets running around in play patterns like in football. Yao could easily be the giant pocket passer while Steve and Cuttino are both the star receivers. Trash this post up offense with Yao. Rockets have the potential to make mincemeat out of their opponents while making the game entertaining too. Yao will be putting up freaking 20 assists a game with Steve racking up 30 points.
Wow... I don't think you can back up all of those assertions. If you watch the games, yes Yao CAN dominate the low post like Shaq and Duncan. Why would you want to move a 7-6 guy to the perimeter? This Yao at point center thing has never been tried in all these years of basketball, and probably for a good reason.
Great players win the game by drawing double-teams, triple-teams defense and then are able to pass the ball out of double-teams, triple-teams. The more double-team you can draw, the better you are because you make your teammates better with no defenders on them. That's why Duncan is better than KG. KG can do all these things, but he does not draw as much double-team as Duncan. Yao, on the high-post, can't draw as much double-team as he is on the low block, thus less valueable for the team. I don't think Yao himself realizes that he needs to score, score, score instead of passing, passing, passing. By scoring more, Yao can draw more double-teams, then he can think about passing, not the other way around. If not, he will just be a good center, not a great center.
I think Yao will eventually play some high post. Hakeem did. Shaq does in the triple post on occassion. Right now, I think JVG wants Yao to learn how to be agressive in the low post BEFORE he puts him in the high post where he doesn't dominate in the same manner. I think they do need to emphasize both their strengths because they are both going to be around for a while.
Charvo; That was pretty much my thought why I posted the idea of Yao at forward. As far as Yao not drawing double or triple teams doesn't that happen already? Also the point center idea has been tried and works well with the right center. Bill Walton on the Celtic team that beat the Rox in 86' basically played point center same with Sabonis throughout much of his career. Yao has the soft hands and potential court vision to make him a superior passer than both those players.
i think everybody was impressed at how brad miller looked like a 6'10" unstoppable pg at the free throw line, and peja (boki please!!!...) or bibby(sf) got easy layups without dribbling. The best possible play i can think of is 1.) Yao hustles down to the paint and looks for a quick pass to get his hook or dunk on. 2.) If not open then steve/cat take the ball on the wing and yao comes up for a pick and roll w/ yao's back to the baseline. 3.) steve or cat can explode that way (down the baseline) while cato drops in for an ally oop if the d helps. 4.) if the D stays w/ sf/cat then they pass to yao on the high post and try to back door 5.) JJ comes to the corner yao passes to him then drops to the low post and goes one on one from there.
Drawing double team is not the only way a player can make his teammates better. A big man who can hit the midrange shot and a good passer will leave the middle open for his teammates to penetrate. See how the Kings work with Divac. Their guards always gets layups because the inside defense has to come out and guard the big man at the high post. Yao is as good a passer as Divac. And he is probably a better shooter and he's way taller. Plus, Yao can drive pass his defender much better than Divac.
I think the Rockets should have a 3 second or 3 dribble rule. If you watch the Kings play, no player has the ball for more than 3 seconds or dribbles the ball more than 3 times (unless he's driving in all the way). It's either pass or shoot, the Rockets have the tendency to hold the ball for way too long, not just Steve or Cat, but Yao too. The Kings keep moving the ball no matter what, that makes the defense react. Keeping the ball for a while lets the defense set back up and get ready. Just a couple of my thoughts.
As much as you think Yao can dominate like Shaq and Duncan. Chinese players will never ever have the strength of African American players to bully their way into the post like Shaq. It's plain genetics. However, Yao can use his head to help the team rather having to try force himself into the paint. I think Yao can make quick, smart decisions probably better than any single player on this team. Trying assert physical dominance when any average build African American can just push him out of the paint is just ridiculous. If you don't think this is true, I suggest you go to the basketball court in the local park and see if you can post up on any of the guys there. You can be 6 feet tall Asian, but that 5' 5'' African American with the muscular build is going to outmuscle you every single time. How do you think Dat Nguyen of the Dallas Cowboys has any measure of success in a league where guys are running 4.5s and benchpressing 500 lbs? He uses his head when playing. It does't mean he can be a skinny toothpick, but his head is what gives him advantage at times. The same thing goes for Zach Thomas of the Dolphins.
You're right. Yao emulating Shaq is a joke. Yao emulating Divac is probable. Divac is a damn good player, and he's one of the best passers in the league especially for anyone who is not a point guard. Yao can be that if the Rockets groom him to be it. This experiment with Yao trying to beat his defender down in the paint is just a waste of time. It's horrid to watch too.
You are stereotyping. Yao's game is not the bull in the china closet game that is Shaq. Neither was Kareem's game that way. Even after Kareem had been in the league 15 years and won 6 MVP awards, he still had trouble with the physicality of certain players, white players no less. Just check out some old playoff footage. The physically dominating teams of his era were the Celtics. Those white boys were pushing Kareem all over the place(and getting away with most of it). By the way, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, and Big Red never had trouble getting post position inside even against the biggest of the Afro-American players of their generation. It's a matter of basketball style and what basketball style is in vogue. Right now, physical basketball is the style that is in vogue. The Celtics started it, the Pistons continued it. MJ and Hakeem thwarted it, and now Shaq has revived it. If Kareem were playing today, Shaq would kill him in the post. But if Shaq were playing the in 70's and early 80's, he'd foul out in about 16 minutes. He couldn't play that style of ball. With that said, Yao does need to be more physical, just like Kareem had to be worked on to be more physical, even in his 15th year in the league. And the style of ball that is in vogue is going to change in a few short years. Because the rising superstars (Yao, Lebron, and Carmelo) will dictate that change. The classic fast break, high scoring games will come back into vogue. The league will realize that to cater to it's supstars, the refs are gonna have to blow the whistle and clean up all the banging, the holding, the grabbing, the pushing. It will get to the point that when Yao is given the ball 8 feet from the bucket, he will either get the basket or a foul will be called, just like what Shaq gets today, even when Shaq commits the offensive foul, which is what he does about 10 times a game, when he hooks the defender around the kidneys, and then goes up for his shot, initiating all the contact. When that happens, the defenses will realize that they can't play football on court anymore with Yao because he is gonna get the lions share of the calls. The game will go back to a game of skills with defenders laying off the offensive players because they want to stay in the game and not foul out. The league always caters to the supstars and their style of play. The Shaqs and Malones of the league will become the Mark Olberdings and Truck Robinsons of the league, just big physical players who foul a lot, but every team will need one to get into fights and disturb the rhythm of their opponent for the few minutes they play before they get into foul trouble. Yao's day will come, it's just not here yet. He'll still need to be more physical, but he will be physical enough to dominate his era. No, he will never be as strong as Shaq. Probably no player, black, white, Chinese, Mexican, or Heinz57 ever will be as strong as Shaq. Probably no center will ever be as quick as Hakeem. Probably no player will ever see the floor and make better decisions than Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Probably no player will ever duplicate the skill set of Pistol Pete, or Wilt Chamberlain. But each generation will have it's unique talents and dominating forces. And those players will be looked back on in awe. Yao is probably one of those dominating forces. He will get better with time. Let's just hope we can find the next Magic, the next Worthy, the next Kurt Rambis, and watch championship basketball once again in Clutch City.
Huh, huh, image A Divac with Kobe or with T-mac win a NBA championship. What a splendid plan. If Yao becomes a Divac, let's forget about championship, baby.
Genetics? Wow... that's a pretty strong assertion. Dat Nguyen I've followed since the A&M days, you're right he's no force of nature like Ray Lewis. Zach Thomas though is another story. But you don't need brute force to dominate the paint.
Bateer is actually from where I was born, which is in China but he's actually Mongolian. Mongolians are fierce atheletes, their imprinting (whether genetic or enviromental) makes them totally different atheletes than the average Chinese. The have different cultural backgrounds as well. They are more unbridled and passionate. This explains why Bateer can get rebounds in the NBA.
Sorry dude, not gonna happen. The window of opportunity for Kings was closed two years ago when they couldn't make FT shots against the Lakers in game 7. Divac is in the last year of his contract, don't know if Kings want to bring him back next year with Miller on board, unless Divac wants to play backup???
Oh, by the way, people think moving around positions like KG is fine. They do not realize it is detrimental to a player's career development. KG will be a much better player than now if he plays one position since he entered NBA. It is called specialization. You always develop better if you can specialize in one position. If you don't agree, just think yourself as one example.
its always the people who are new and have less than a hundred posts that puts down one of our best players, saying he'll be this or that when anyone who watches basketball knows that Yao has all the physical tools to dominate the game. he just does not have the mentality yet, but he is coming around.
