The reason Yao never fouled hard is, I believe, that he never fouls intentionally. That's why you see lots of bad reach-in fouls. I think lots of posters here talked before and agreed with what Jopatmc about letting refs foul him out at half time in a couple of games. But Yao also needs to act more determined, and make your intention obvious. Just like a driving test, you don't just blink at your blind spot, but rather turn your head exaggerately to show you are watching. Same thing for Yao, he needs to foul hard on those nimble guards sometimes, when he should know there is no way he can avoid a foul. I do agree that JVG never hesitates to criticize Yao openly. Yao has a really good attitude and confidence, so he's ok with that, and never mind taking public critic and even apply self-criticism. However, when it comes to criticise other non-rookies, JVG would normally be like "WE should do this and that, or WE did this or that wrong". Same thing goes for other players. When was the last time or ever, you see Rafer said something like "I didn't do this right or I let the team down" instead of "WE didn't have enough intensity"; or, when did you ever see TMac said something about "I let my team down with my bad decisions or bad shooting" instead of "THEY hustled and wanted more than we did"? I just think the coach should talk about "I as a coach" or "our players as a team", and players should always start with "I", when it comes to attest a defeat.
I think it has much more to do with conditioning and getting his 'timing' back than anything else...many of the fouls he commits are because he's at the wrong place at the wrong time. It will be a problem early on, but I am confident once he regains his form it will be much less of an issue. Meanwhile, I understand JVG's concern, you don't want your best player to be sitting on the bench unable to help out, which is often the difference between a close win and a close loss; I have no doubt that we would have won the Hornets game had Yao played more in the first half, in spite of everything we did wrong, we could have still pulled that one out.
Exactly and I wonder why JVG can't see this and stop having Yao do so many wrong things for a 80" Center.
Agreed. The only pick Yao should be setting is at the key area for McGrady. That's it. Some of our sets he winds up setting as many as 4 picks on one possession.
I think it has to do with using Yao as an example. JVG knows that if his team is do well, he must demand and expect the most out of his best players. In fact, his reluctance to openly critize t-mac is a function of him expecting even more out of Yao than any of his players. JVG wants to use Yao as the undisputed guy to set the example for everyone else.
i think this is jvg's way saying the first priority for rox is to make yao play 35+ minutes. that's the reason why hayes started at 4, i expect jvg would also urge guards to play more aggressive defense, in some cases, if a player beats you, foul him, do not let him run into yao. both yao and jvg have to do more homework, study the history of every single ref, yao has to play at different aggressive level according to refs. even within the same game, sometime you have to make quick adjustment ...
TMac played poorly for 3 games. JVG said " I believe in his greatness" Yao got into foul trouble once in 3 games. JVG said " Why cant you improve it in 4 years" Before open your mouth to media, go check the status of other big man's foul stats. Career stats for foul per game: Hakeem 3.5 Shaq 3.4 Ewing 3.4 Mourning 3.4 Robinson 2.9 Yao 3.3
i bet most big men in your list played more min per game than yao, however, in their times, big men got much more repects from refs, so your point still valid.
Guys, I blew it. I live in New York, and I work on Madison Avenue, about two blocks from the NBA store. Just 7 minutes ago, I was outside on the sidewalk, waiting in line at the falafel stand. David Stern walked right by me. He was walking slowly, almost brushed against my shoulder, and talking to some other dude in a suit. I was soooooooo close to congratulating him on the NBA's success, telling him I love the "Zero Tolerance" policy...and politely bringing up Yao's foul issues. But I chickened out. Sorry. (I know this wouldn't have done squat, and yes, I'm aware that Stern must get accosted by crazy fans all the time. But still. I feel I let an opportunity slip away.)
I didn't mean that it was necessary for JVG to try to keep Yao humble, just trying to get into JVG's mind and understand his need to put everyone down. Yao, to be honest, has totally won me over. He works hard, has a good sense of humor with the press, and doesn't show boat on the court. Not to mention he has shown that he needs to be on the court. I think he's perfect just the way he is as far as personality is concerned, but apparently JVG feels the need to criticize in order to motivate. Personally, I think its the wrong way to go with this group of players. Maybe if he had a bunch of attitude problems that would be the way to go, but the current Rockets roster is full of quality individuals who just want to do the best for the team.
Why it's such a surprise? Big men usually get into foul trouble very often in this league, since Yao is the biggest and the slowest, that's expected. Plus, it's always one of the top priority for the other team to attack Yao, to get him into foul trouble. I'm not saying Yao has no part of his foul problem, but to point out that it's a common problem with most big men, not just Yao. Oh, last night's game was partly JVG's fault because he left Yao in the Mavs game too long when the game was out of reach, no smart coach would have done that when you have a back2back game the next night. Just plain stupid coaching! On the other hand, if we have some perimeter players who can play good defense, then Yao doesn't have to get challenged too much, that will help him, too. BTW, why everyone is surprised by Bonzi's off-court behavior? He has always be a jerk off the court.
With all the extra zone they played this preseason, I don't see why JVG couldn't have put Yao back in the 2nd quarter against NOK and gone to zone. Especially during the times when Peja was out of the game. Considering how Paul was able to penetrate at will, they should have been doing this anyway. You could argue that West was hitting his outside jumper, and CP3 was, too...but that's the point, they were hitting their outside jumper against our man defense...try the zone, keep Yao in the game! Secondly, I think it would be nice to reduce Yao's fouls, but I continue to be more upset about increasing the number of fouls called on his defenders. Yao seems to be fouled multiple times on pretty much every possesion. Whether it's when he is posting up, or when he is doing a move into the lane. The only time he doesn't look like he is being fouled is when he does his baseline jumper. Finally, as to reducing Yao's fouls. As mentioned above, zone is obviously an option. Just got to watch that 3 second call. But the biggest solution seems to be to reduce as much as possible those offensive fouls on picks. This is both the guards and Yao's responsibility. And it's not just about fouls. A cleaner, clearer, better pick-n-roll situation will create a better mismatch/opportunity. Additionally, as a guard, sometimes you have to take a foul when you know you're beat. Take a foul on the outside, before it gets to your interior defense, before it becomes a 2 shot foul, or a potential 3 point play. One of the Rockets strength this year shoudl be their guard depth. If anyone on the team is getting into foul trouble, it should Rafer, Luther, Bonzi, Snyder....not Yao, Chuck or Battier.
thats my vote... FOUL out in the first half YAO... id rather see a aggressive Yao fouled out on the bench then a meek mild YAO playing like a soft rookie although I agree needs to cut down on the ticky tacky touch fouls... must be hard to do... when on the other end the guy who is guarding you is laying forearms into you
In the first 5 years of their NBA career: NAME MPG / PF / FPM (Foul Per Minute) Hakeem 36.26 / 4.04 / 0.1114 Ewing 35.24 / 3.92 / 0.1112 Zo 35.82 / 3.68 / 0.1027 Shaq 37.76 / 3.58 / 0.0948 DR 38.34 / 3.08 / 0.0803 Yao 31.50 / 3.30 / 0.1048
I also agree with our guards needing to take a foul if they are beat... we got so many... if they as a team want to eventually win it all... they have to make some sacrifices... take the foul especially if you are playing 10 or 15 min a game...
