Who says anything about not making the playoffs? We were the 7th seed this year, despite adjusting to a new system and Steve Francis having the worst season on his career. This is a team that will get into the playoffs every year... and exit the 1st round every year. The whole thing about "building around Yao" is to find a way to challenge for the title.
Come On, Garnett and Yao are in two different classes. Garnett is top 5 player in the league. Yao is not even in the top 25. The article is just questioning Yao for not showing up, nobody expected Yao to dominate Shaq just to compete and Yao is not doing anything.
KG and Kobe were 18 when they came into the league. By the time they were 23, they were superstars. No one expects Yao to dominate Shaq. What we want is for Yao to try hard. To compete. To raise his level of play. To act like he even gives a damn.
Under no circumstances, Yao should not come out of the paint. He need to put his body under the post in the paint. Let the other smaller guy handle the perimeter. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case in yesterday game. I am not sure why JVG will let the play go like that. There is absolutely no sense to use Yao 7.6 body to set screen for the guard.
Can you read my posts carefully? My point is even KG needed time to develop. So does Yao. If you think holding Shaq to 7 points and scoreing 21 on him is "not doing anything" , I don't think I should waste my time discussing with you anymore.
Exactly, and Yao being guarded by Malone coudn't score on him when the game before Taylor was abusing the same Old Malone. 4 rebounds with Shaq on the bench most of the game is unexcusable, and every freaking laker was getting easy lay ups everytime they wanted casue Yao was too tired to contest thier shots and being stripped constantly of the ball is really pissing me off. Hold on to the damn ball, and when Mo fed him the ball with no one on him he fumbles it and causes a 24 sec viloation. Another thing that pissed me off was during the warm-ups and shoot around with 1 min before tip off, Yao is Yawning, freakin Yawning.
I don't know why it's so hard for people to realize that Yao is in his Second Year. Not his 8th or 9th for god sakes. Lets see what he is like in a few years and he has learned everythin that he needs to. You make it seem like he is some big veteran or something.
Yao held nobody to 7 points. He couldn't hold me or you to seven points. The refs are who held Yao to 7 points. Yao got about 8 points in garbage time and he needed to dominate last night against Malone/Medvendinko. He did have that one 30pt game against Shaq so why couldn't he do it against Malone. So yeah, he basically did nothing.
That has nothing to do with showing up and competing. Carmelo Anthony is in his first year and he carried his team into the playoffs by stepping up. Yao carried the team early but then just faded big time when they needed him the most and that has nothing to do with the number of years you have been in the league.
They have one thing in common, that is they entered league NOT NBA ready. It took KG and Kobe a few years to become superstars, why shouldn't we give Yao a few years? It's not like he never made improvement since last year. How do you know Yao didn't try hard? In fact, he played his best defense against Shaq last night. And you know Shaq also played defense a lot better than in regular season. So both players sufferd on offense. I can't believe you guys keep saying Yao is not competing. Holding Shaq to 7 points and 20 points in 45minutes in playoff games is nothing short of amazing to me. Nobody else could have done that.
Man, I don't know you would have any credibility left after these statements. Yao can't hold you to 7 points?
One thing Phil Jackson doesn't get credit for is locking down the main offensive weapon on the other team. With 4 HoFs on the Lakers, they don't need Shaq to be on offense all the time. For now though, I wish Yao would take more shots on the inside. Who cares if he gets stripped or packed? He should do it more and more until he gets it.
It's called a rookie contract. By the collective bargaining agreement, teams aren't allowed to pay 1st rounders anymore than that.
I don't expect Yao to dominate this game. I understand being disappointed that he didn't box out as well as he should, and that he had some blown oppotunities. I do, however, think it's wrong to expect Yao to take over. He started out well in game 2. He just needs to be able to keep it up. I don't think we should blame Yao because he doesn't dominate. If Yao plays solid and boxes out when he should, as well as not bobble the ball or have it swatted out of his hands too much, we can win. It being his second year doesn't excuse him from everything, but it should be taken into account when looking at our expectations of total domination.
Why people just simply ignore the fact that yao is from a complete different and inferior basketball system? The time it takes to relearn the right mindset and basketball technique plus adjusting to life in a new country definitelly requires more than 2 years. Do not just throw Duncan etc as comparison. Is there any compeltetely foreign (non english speaking) basketball player who did not go through american schoo/college system yet just simply came to this country and dominate everyone from day one? Nobody. Why not we just wait for another few years before throwing stone at YAO.
