Wtf? Bill Walton led his team to a championship. Ewing led his team to the Finals. Yao can't even lead us to wins in the regular season without T-Mac.
Early last year after we beat the mavs by 31, Avery Johnson had this to say about Yao... "When we double-teamed him, triple-teamed him or single-covered him, he would still score,'' Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "He was playing like we were not out there on the floor.'' Yao put up 36 points on 12 of 16 shooting and was a perfect 12 of 12 from the line. he can do that again. Hopefully coach RA will look at some footage make adjustments on the offense.
YES on physical skills, NO on mental skills, but most importantly, Yao will definitely increase his impact to the team via his leadership and other intangibles. More elaboration: - Physical skill: very simple. He won't get any faster, and in fact, will slow down a bit. But he will make up for it by learning a few more moves. - Mental skills: no question he will gain more with experience, and he hits the book hard. - Leadership: he is starting to show it now, especially the last game. He was directing teammates, telling them where to go, where to move, etc. This is his area for biggest improvement.
We can't be sure of that. 82 games is a lot. I do feel that physical injuries made it harder for him to play at a sustained level which caused him to get mentally stressed as well. Right now he is feeling a lot of mental pressure unfortunately,but I don't see him running out of gas which gives me some hope that he might be able to turn things around with time.
I wish he has not peaked yet. If this is already the best Yao we can have, it would be a big disappointment.
I don't think he will have numbers over 25 to 26 a game, but he doesn't need to......especially in the regular season. I would rather see him get monster numbers in the playoffs, then average 27 points a game and 12 rebounds shouldering the load and end up wearing himself out or into injury by April. He doesn't really need to be a big scorer right now. He already commands constant double teams and teams actually make their gameplans to stop him, specifically....how many other players in the league outside of Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Duncan, and Garnett....can do that? What he does is open up the floor for other players, who can't hit thier shots? But he does his job. He really doesn't need that much to take it to the next level, really it might just be about getting a few more wins, winning in pressure situations, and demand the ball little more.....that's about it. Not much. He already plays good defense, heck if he's kept the Rockets at the top defensively, what more could you tell him to do, besides the fouls. Haters, critics, and blow hards make it seem much worst....but he's easily a top 6 to 8 defender. I would even bring up 2x MVP and one all NBA center who plays almost next no defense (maybe even one of the worst at each of their respective positions), nobody seems to complain about that too much, in fact that team is favored to win it all. I'm pretty much proud of what the kid has did in his NBA career (so anything else like getting another plate at homeless shelter), most were saying the Rockets should've got Jason Williams and that Yao would be another Shawn Bradley or Manute Bol. Never even play a season worth of games. Even Sir Charles said he never score 20 points in a game. Year in and year out, he's been proving critics and haters wrong at least few times a year. He's not team cancer, he's not going to hang his teammates out to dry or go talk about them like to the media. He isn't a showboat, stat-padder, or after vain glory. Or looks at himself as the "One." He willingly let's other players get their shots and opportunity. As we know of he hasn't had drug problem, shot anybody, committed rape, or any run-ins with law. I bring that up,because that seems to be big problem nowadays. Start in a NBA Game: Check Score 20 points in single NBA game: Check Score 20 points and 10 rebs more consistently: Check Become a capable starter: Check Become an all-star: Check x5 and possibly a 6th this year Hold his own against other top-flight centers, like Shaq, Camby, Amare, and etc: Check Average over 20 points a game and/or 10 rebs Hit a game winning shot: Check Get his team to the playoffs: Check Help his team win over 50 games: Check Play sound defense: Check Average over 25 ppg in season: Check Average nearly 20 ppg and 10 rebs for career: Check his career average in scoring is close 19 and his rebounds at 9. Get team past 1st Round: Win an MVP: Win Championship: He only has to do 3 more things in his career and would've had legendary career. What more do you want from him? He's done pretty much what's expected of him......but some of you are just keep picking at a scab. Super overcritical about every situation and every game. Maybe he would've been better off on another team, same goes for T-Mac, Coach A, and other players. If the fan base is that disillusioned or dissatisfied with a player or the entire team, maybe they should be on lesser team. Let the Rockets trade places with another franchise, like Atlanta, Seattle, Charlotte, or even New York. The fan-base would probably shoot up 80%. THose cities and fans would be happy to have a team that could potentially go far in playoffs and is perennial playoff team.
If he keeps working on his game, we won't peak this early; however, we change his physical limitations such as his slow speed, basic klutziness, and almost non-existant vertical. He can change his mental toughness, though.
Several posts on YMM. I think they're pretty right on. "What a shame, isn't it? A guy who has a 7'6 310 body is really on the inside, a 5'6 nice gentle guy. I think if any of us were born in Yao's body, we'd be tearing up the league. One of the most egregious examples of Yao's weak mentality was the Dallas game when Devin Harris committed that hard foul on Yao Ming. Yao failed to pay him back in the 4th quarter when Harris attacked the rim right at Yao. It was Yao's opportunity to pay him back, but meekly committed a weak foul on him. If it was you, or I, I think we would've fouled him very hard. Let's not mention Shaq and Yao in the same sentence. Shaq is many levels higher than Yao Ming mentally as a NBA center. Yeah, Shaq is not intelligent, or educated, but Shaq has the proper mentality. He knows when the dish out hard fouls. This bruteness is something Yao has never understood, or grasped. One final comment: Yao's whining to the Chinese press is ineffective. Why does Yao whine to the Chinese Press but stay silent in the American press? Is it cowardice? Maybe Yao is really all about protecting his "image" as a classy good guy. If that's true, then Yao is not only a weak person, but also a hypocrite." "Yao's problems have never been about his skills but more about his mindset. The guy has live a sheltered life and just can't think outside of the box. He does what he is told and just accepts it. He is just too nice of a guy to succeed in a tough and competitive environment." "yes, I agree that Yao's mentality from the very beginning has been more about being a great ambassador of China than being about a great, dominating NBA center. Hes' always been more about making friends than winning respect. Yet, some of JVG's bulldog personality rubbed off on Yao Ming, especially last season. And JVG provided Yao Ming a working environment ( mainly whipping Yao towards it ) to move towards becoming a great, dominating center. And we've seen flashes of this greatness last season. However, Yao's original personality is not to dominate. He is much too gentle, much too passive, and much too generous to be a great dominating Center on his own. Without JVG this season, Yao no longer has a supportive nurtuting working environment that can accomodate Yao ie baby him onto the path to greatness. Now, this new coach who has never focused on Centers like the way JVG did, is transitioning Yao to become a role player ala Brad Miller. And Yao is submissively accepting it. And this is Yao's mistake. He'll look back in a few years and recognize where he went wrong. HIs mistake was to not speak up for himself, and demand that the Coach utilize Yao's low post game into his system. In the NBA, it's all about Stats. And I am not sure Yao understands this fully. Moreover, while Yao has demonstrated that he understands to some degree these changes are bad for him, he doesn't have the courage or the balls to speak his mind to the American press. Instead, he's cowardly been whining to the Chinese press which is useless, and ineffective. In sum, I pretty much give up on Yao Ming now. It's been a long 5 - 6 years where I was waiting for Yao Ming to "get it" and make that transition to greatness. He certainly has the size, the skills, and the talent to DO IT. He however has always lacked the mentality to be great. Last season, due to a supportive and prodding JVG, he came close to it, but I guess you have to be born to be great to truly be great and sustain it."
No, he is not. People are afraid to attack top 6-8 defenders. No one in the league, midget guard or big man, is afraid to attack Yao. They actually get up for it. Part of is is due to his lack of mobility, but the other part is due to him not putting players on their backsides. There is no penalty for driving on Yao. I think Yao can become a better scorer and passer out of the post. I don't think he will ever be a better rebounder (physical limitations), and I doubt he can become a better defender due to his nature.
Obviously, Yao is peaked. He is going to be smarter, with more experience, but the body will be deteriorate due to the wear and tear. His overall impact/level of play will be determined largely by the way he is going to be used, e.g., in Adelman's system, he probably can play a little longer but with less impact; in JVG's system, he would have much more impact, but get less years left.
it doesn't make sense to talk whether yao is peaked or not after he has played 6 years in NBA. He could grab 10 reb and score about 20 per game. That is all. You wouldn't expect him to get more reb than D Howard.
I don't see Yao as having "peaked" at all. He's had to adjust to a whole new culture with the added responsibility of representing his nation. He came out of China and had a lot of "commitments". Also he hasn't been playing against good comp most of his life like all these other guys. As to the question about RA hindering his progress,nothing could be further from the truth. Yao is a great passer and I believe comparisons to a younger Sabonis will be in order once he and the rest of the team gets the offense down to where it's second nature. The guy has been held back by injuries and also has been chasing guards around earlier under JVG. At the same time JVG definitely helped his defense. I think once he settles in under Adelman he will be on his way.Yao can already pretty much post up at will,but that doesn't necessarily guarrantee us wins by itself. We will see his endurance.passing,and outside shooting on display now too. Put me in the camp that says he's been on a curve unlike any other player.So much has been demanded under him. Yao will settle in and probably even add more weight. With Tracy playing the way he is and Yao maturing WE will rack up titles.
YAO is better Ewing... You mean JVG lead the team to finals? If my memory is right, Ewing didn't play much in that playoff year.. so you can not say he led his team to the finals
Yao will reach another level when we get a good PG. He just need to sharpen his other variety of tools such as assist, shooting 3s and long 2s as well as various moves. JVG has restricted his variety of moves and confine him to purely low post moves. There is a lot more to improve for Yao and I can see with a good PG, he'll get 30-35pts, 10 rbs, 5 assists with 2 blocks.
What's the difference between making the playoffs but immediately get bounce off versus not making the playoffs? Yao needs to time to develop, so losing now but will win later. If Yao dominates, he will be able to make his teammates better. Even if T-mac averages 30+ points, his team still loses because when he's on, he's not passing. Unlike Jordan, he can 't win a series by himself.
He should just concentrate on improve his low post scoring. When he consistently has his ways against his opponents, he can work on other things. Contrary to what others think, the Rockets doesn't need a great penetrating guard like Chris Paul. The team needs who can shoot from the outside, handle the ball, and not commit stupid turnovers.
He had almost all of Gundy's tenture to develope. gundy had our offense pretty much yao as the number 1 option. pump it into yao, if he dosent have a shot give it to the 3 point shooters to bomb away. alot like the dream years. Where did that get us. how much time does yao need to develope?. hes 27 and he's had ample time to "develope".. right now tracy is our best player and is our only realiable 4th quarter option. the ball should go to him.
New coach, new system, and new teammates. Those factors also worth considering. Who know what happen behind the curtain? But Yao definitely spending more time out in hight post. Beside we only play 15 games. I don't expect Yao to continue this pattern once we're clicking on all cylinders. But I'd take a strong finish over a strong start every time. Let's Yao save energy for post season.
