I know all the Ming fans are gonna go nuts and what not. But why the hell isn't he getting into position? FIGHT FOR POSITION!! Don't just let them push you 15 ft away from teh basket! Also, he doesn't demand the ball and he sure as hell isn't assertive enough. You can blame Rudy, Francis and Mobley but if the guy you're supposed to be passing to isn't in position than why pass to him when hes gonna take a 15 ft fadeaway?
Dude. Don't you know that remarks like these instantly put you onto the Chinese Triad's hit list? Let me move over and make room for you.
you are right! yao needs to fight for rebounds. he's 7'5" and 300 pounds; he should get no less than 11 rebounds a game. look at tim duncan played against the lakers last night, he didn't have to do much to get 12 rebounds in the FIRST HALF of the game. in addition, he has to play better defense. i, however, disagree blaming yao for not getting the ball enough. rudy and the other players should shoulder the blame for not giving the giant the ball 20-25 times and encourage to take 15 shots a game. if yao were to ask for the ball, francis would think, "you are just a rookie. no way, i'm not going to give you the ball."
Obviously, I didn't mean to trade Ming. All I am saying is that he has to get position in order to be productive. Also, its alot of Steve and Mobley playing AND1 ball and Rudy sitting on his hands. I am just saying that Yao shouldn't be excluded. Hes the team's future and he needs to show leadership when Francis is running around like a headless chicken.
I'll tell you what, if I was fighting my ass off the first half of the season, sprinting down the court for fastbreaks and setting picks WITHOUT ever getting the ball, I wouldn't be very motivated either.
Yao certainly needs to improve his agressiveness. However, a lot of the traits you dislike in him are exaclty what makes him good, and what would make this team great if more of the players played like him. He is smart. He realizes it's pointless to keep fighting for position when he is being fronted. Better to fight on the back side, haev the ball swung, and get an easy shot. That only happened once last night, where Eddie got the pass at the top of the key from the wing and then qucikly hit Yao. Yao realizes you shouldn't have to yell for the ball if you are in poistion or have an obvious advantage where you are - the smart player notices this about hsi teammates, as Yao notices when Mobley or Francis are open on acut to the lane, or when hi is doubled/tripled he recognizes it and hits the open man at the top of the key. Yao certainly has a lot of areas to improve upon. But his faults, generally, are not because fo a lack of smarts, just a lack of experience, and to an extent, athletic ability (he is no Tim Duncan in that department). Francis, Mobley, Taylor, etc have all the athleticism in the world, and skills to go with it, yet can't make the smart decisions and, that, not losing, is what pisses me of, as well as most of the fans, I'd imagine.
Yao is a rookie. He's use to throwing those smaller chinest guys out of the way. He can't do a Ben Wallace or a Tim Duncan like that. Let him build up his body and off-the-ball skills before you critisize.
Yao's lack of aggressiveness with his own teammates and against other players has as much to do with culture as experience. Yao is Chinese - meaning honor, integrity and respect are PARAMOUNT and supercede all other issues in life. Consequently, Yao would view demanding the ball from his more experienced, more highly decorated, and older teammate as a dishonorable thing to do. Also, he probably believes the same about losing his temper (as he did briefly when he got the Tech). I'm also sure Yao is struggling with the adjustment to how dirty the NBA game is in the paint. He probably has never been hacked so much with so few calls in his life. Few Asian or Euro players would dare play like Brian Grant does against him. While I don't disagree with your opinion that he needs to fight more for position and generally be a little "meaner" in all aspects of his game, that I fear will be a longer transition than simply learning the other areas. I still think Yao is WAY BEYOND what anyone thought he would be doing when he was drafted!!
true, I guess I want Yao and the Rockets to suceed that I forget that hes a rookie from a very different culture. But if he wants to go to the next level and wants his team to win, he has to be more assertive.
I keep hearing about this culture shock Yao has to overcome and to be honest with you, I find it hard to comprehend how the game of basketball can be so different in China. I think Yao is just a non-aggressive person and I doubt if we can ever teach him to be mean and nasty.
Why is it that Yao never wins the tip? I heard its because the refs don't throw the ball high enough or something but after 50 games, shouldn't someone have come up with some adjustments? Yao looks a little weak out there, fumbling passes or rebounds. We need to get someone in here to kick his ass a little bit.
yao aint gettin the ball because he isn't trying hard enough to get it. be agressive big man be agressive!
We may need ten trade Yao threads showed up every day on this BBS to kick his ass a little bit and make him more aggressive.
Excuse me,but didn't yao score 27 points and grab 18 boards against tim duncan and david robinson in the first half of this season?.Granted it was only one game,but there's no reason to believe that yao can not do it again down the road.yao is the type of player that played within the concept of a team and besides how long tim duncan and shaq have been played in this league?.last night.it took kobe bryant 41 shots to score 41 points,very impressive huh? i will just be happy if rudy allowed to yao to take a third of that night in and night out so we can see what type of scorer he is able to produce.yao's weakness is,i believe,his stamina,and he is also inexperienced,but that's why he's a rookie.heck ,look at steve and mobley...they 've been played for at least four years ,and they consistently made bonehead mistakes in every single game!!!! does larry bird have that much athleticism compared to ,say magic johnson.I doubt that. throughout larry bird carreer,he's been know as a scorer ,rebounder and playmaker,and the man is not that freaking fast....he just got it up there,something between his ears that we called a brain.does larry jump very high? no but he consistently got double rebounds,he knows how to box out ,get his his teamates involved,set them up for easy baskets,that's what we called smart basketball!!! we don't need those freaking acrobatic moves to make a basket...keep it simple,keep it bored and keep everyone involved ...but we just don't have it right now,our players lacked fundamentals,and the coach does not seem to have any answers for it.
it is foolish for a rookie to demand for the ball, especially veterans are good players. like i said earlier, the coach and the players should give him the ball and encourage him to shoot. there are enough shots for the top 3 players on the team.
Actually, it is pretty much everyone's fault. The blame can be spread all around. In the case of Yao, he isn't strong enough yet to bully his way down on the post. He gets pushed out of position far too often. He also still tries to jump off of one leg more than he should. He needs all the explosiveness he can get from those giant trunks. Olajuwon learned that jumping off of one leg wasn't nearly as effective as two and his jump hook became nearly unstoppable. Yao also needs to learn to not fade so often. He needs variety in his game so he can attack the defenders in multiple ways. He also needs to be more assertive with his moves on the block. Lastly, he needs to learn to stop just swatting at rebounds. He often just taps them hoping someone will get it if he can't. The problem is that it often ends up in the hands of an opponent and leaves him out of position to get back defensively or to protect the basket on offensive rebounds. Now, having said that, strength, post techniques and rebounding skills will definitely come. It might take another year or two, but he is going to be Shaq-like in his dominance once he gets those moves in place because his skills are already so advanced. His agressiveness will come as well. He needs to understand the NBA game and adjust. After a year or two worth of pounding, he'll see that it is necessary to be more agressive in order to get the position he wants. Barring injury, in two years he may be the most dominant center on the floor and possibly one of the most dominant players in the NBA. But, he's a rookie and he needs to learn. It just takes some time but he will get there.
Yao is unable to overcome some of these weaknesses. Sometimes, he's just simply not strong enough. This is something that will change in the future. Right now, we just need to make-do with what we have and get some solid role players in the offseason.
