Kobe's full of crap. Bynum is being groomed...please whatever. I think its time Kobe start takin more shots instead of talkin to the media.
What I don't understand is we have two former Hall of Fame centers one lives in H-town Dream and Moses does he live in H-town? Why don't we have these guys come in to talk to Yao and give him pointers. It doesn't seem like Yao's game has evolved having Ewing around.Do they still have camps in the offseason for big men? Also I don't think it's about Yao being more agressive on D.He always seems to be in the wrong area to get a rebound or stop a guy from driving down the lane.
are you serious...kareem was a bust as a clipper assistant...was suppossed to tutor olowakandi...how did that turn out? yao has better numbers than almost every big in the league. what is wrong with you people?
Ewing is JVG's boy. There had been no way for JVG to skip one of his NYKnicks fighters and go for an ex-Laker.
- My dad says you don't try hard enough on deffense. - You try dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court every night!
Kareem a great teacher. Sure. Kareem was one of the worst people to be around during his playing career - he was pretty much a jerk. I also love it when people say that somehow Kareem would magically transform Yao into something far greater than he is now. Sure he could.
Last I checked, Yao was the 2nd best center in the league behind Camby. For all the heat Ewing gets, looks like he hasn't exactly done a bad job.
This is the next step that Van Gundy needs to take for his other superstar player. Van Gundy needs to set Yao free offensively. If he just loosened up the offense for Yao and let Yao create with the basketball and mix his perimeter game with his post game, Yao would take a quantum leap forward. Beyond that, if Van Gundy could open up his thinking to people outside his little Knick network, Yao and the Rockets would be better off. Could you imagine having Kareem as Yao's coach and then welcoming Moses and Hakeem to the organization as consultants. Moses and Hakeem are the hometown boys. Kareem would tive Yao the skyhook. Hakeem would give him footwork, and defensive skills. Moses would give him the bang that he needs on the boards. One thing I don't understand about the Rockets organization is why they don't reach out better to their retired superstars like Hakeem and Moses, maybe Elvin Hayes, and keep them involved with the team. I saw Moses up in Philly a few days ago sitting behind the bench. I guess the Sixers have him doing something for them. That's unfortunate. We had him for so many years and I think he still lives here.
that's a very good idea.they can hire those guys to also teach swift.hire calvin murphy and drexler to tutor head!
I've been saying ever since Yao got here he should be working with Kareem. If Yao learned Kareems sky hook that would be unstopable.
First, I've never understood why Yao needs to be coddled by coaches so much and why his personal coach (Ewing) is blamed for every shortcoming and not given credit for any lick of improvement (though Yao himself has publicly stated otherwise) - and I don't need to hear the "Akeem/Moses at Fonde" stories again. Yes, they played summer games against one another. How much did it help him? Who knows. I do know that the urban mythology around it is that Moses was Mr. Miyagi teaching Young Akeem how to wax on wax off and paint the fence. But following Hakeem throughout the years tends to make me feel that a lot of his skills (incredible athleticism, exquisite timing, etc) were the result of innate natural ability combined with decades of hard work. It's a bit patronizing to Yao. He's not an idiot. There's no secret book of skyhook lore that only Kareem knows the password to. He knows what he needs to do to go to the next level, he just hasn't done it. Maybe he will - but it's not rocket science. The NBA is a players league. Players play, not coaches. But anyway - the idea of a 3-man personal tutelage squad was then and is now a pipe dream. As if three retired NBA superstars are going to pick up clipboards and put on suits just to benefit one guy - come on. Hakeem doesn't even live in the country during the NBA season. Jabbar had his own issues to deal with (namely, everybody hated/hates him and nobody wanted to work with him) Who knows about Malone, but for whatever reason he didn't get the call into the coaching ranks till recently (apparently he's a "consultant" with Philly - and no offense to Mo, but I can't imagine him dropping pearls of wisdom like Pete Newell)
i think we should not insist on Kareem since he is associated with the Lakers.We should insist on Hakeem since he is a better player and a certified Houstonian!
Akeem learned a lot playing against Moses that greatly improved his game through osmosis. Films are great but there's nothing like being up close and personal for actually learning skills. I can tell you from watching a lot of martial videos has never improved my martial arts a bit as opposed to action working one on one with somebody. Of course it takes innate natural ability combined with decades of hard work. If you can't do a split getting coached by Olympic Taekwondo Gold Medalists Steven Lopez isn't going to help you. OTOH if you have the physical tools then a great player can teach you the tricks and pass on their experience.
SC, I'm pretty sure that if I tried to spar with S. Lopez or any Tae Kwan Do master, he she would kick my ass six ways from sunday. Just like I'm pretty sure that Mo Malone (if younger...etc) would be able to outrebound Yao into next week and then some. I think I've told this before. But long, long ago, when I was young and spry and not old and jaded I remember reading a YMCA basketball league manual (in which I was a scrappy D-fensive specialist) in which I read (and memorized) Mo's instructions on rebounding and remember them to this day. You know what it said? This: (paraphrasing) "I envision where the ball is going to go, and then I go there and get it". And that's probably way too complicated for what it really was. (i think he said "see" instead of "envision"- I am not kidding about any of this). For all Yao's faults (which, I should say, are few compared to his strengths) I fail to see how Senor Fo-Fo-Fo is going to import the magic realism needed to motivate him to the next level. Osmosis or no - H/Akeem and Mo had a differnet inherent skill set (which, for two legit sub 7 footers translated towards power, agility, and speed, - different animal), set from YM - which is why we shan't (first CFBBS use of shan't ever?) judge them by the same standard.
The thing about Hakeem and Mo was that they were similar inside power players. They were both tenacious. They both weren't to be messed with in the paint. Yao is the polar opposite in terms of that personality. You don't teach reflexes and instinct. Yao doesn't have the rebounding and reflexive instinct of a Moses Malone or Hakeem Olajuwon. This isn't a kung fu movie where the guy that gets his family beat up goes to 5 mountains and learns 5 styles from 5 old retired farts and comes back new and improved to avenge his family.
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! <b>ROCKET</b> SCIENCE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Okay, I'll stop now.
