Yao has been poor lately no doubt. I turned my tv off in the first half of the Lakers game because of him (in large part) win or lose. Because he dissapointed me. What exactly did JVG do wrong? That he want so badly to build our team around Yao and not Francis? Is it a mistake? I doubt it - anysane and prudent coach would have done like wise. That he dreams and expects great things for Yao? The fundamental basketbal states that you attempt to score the easiest way possible and for Yao that is as close to the basket as possible. Yao is an overrated outside shooter and highly questionable stamina. Yet people want our center roaming at the top of the key most of the time? Who is going to go for the offensive boards then? Did you guys know that Yao is a better offensive rebounder per capita than the defensive end? Taking him away from the basketbal area can only be detrimental to our team's rebounding - unless you expect/want Motay and Juwan going for offensive rebounds. It is only up to Yao to develop his game and attain greatness instead of just p***y footing and being ocassionally soft - there is so much a coach can do about that. I trully believe Yao has it in him to be great (even greater) but it just taking longer than we want it. But lets step back a bit here and put things a little bit more into proper perspective. Yao was drafted by the Houston Rockets as a PROJECT! A 3-5 year PROJECT and now he is in his 3rd year. A little patience will suffice here. He obvious started faster than folks like Dirk Vitale predicted [and many of expect or anticipated] and many doubted him all together (how stupid those folks look now). He is in some ways ahead of the "PROJECT CURVE". I noticed that Yao is a slow developer - a late bloomer per se and I see that he is still going to get better with time [heck he is averaging 18-8 now]. The relative deprevation induced expectation is, as far as I am concerned, the sole reason behind our current frustration with him and it is quite understandable. Things will surely get better. He has broken many a doubters prognostications and predictions so far in his career and I am sure many more achievements are in his future. People did not even believe he could complete a whole season healthy and even some said he would be out of the league like Muresan by his 4th or 5th year - not happening save for a devasting injury. Yao has been a winner all his life and he has handled many leadership roles but yes I know that was in the CBA and his Chinese NT but it still counts. A leader is a leader in the East or West - also a winner is a winner in the EAST or WEST. I do not ever question his heart for that reason. Yao and tmac are still 24 and 25 years old respectively. The great tmac came here because of Yao and they must continue together. Coach JVG is imho the right coach for them - a coach that is not afraid to hurt their feeling. In the last twenty years, RudyT was the only "player's coach" to win an NBA tiltle. That should tell you something there. The ups and downs will still come but I like to believe that they will have many great and memorable years together. Truth be told, JVG and CD failed to surround them properly this past off season but they have learnt their leason I hope. In all Yao deserves the max next summer because he IS A MAX player. Please lets allow evolution to continue to take place in his life and hopefully we will be celebrating in no distant future the greatness of Yao-tmac combo. Cheers.
Yes, and back then we would have been thrilled to hear that by now, our center would be averaging 18-8. That said, we all know better by now and can see that he is capable of better. People aren't frusturated because he's "only" averaging 18-8. People are frusturated because he SHOULD be averaging at least 21-11. Phil Jackson? Chuck Daly?
I hope you're right. I think you're right. The team got put together. They need time to develop chemistry. People are freaking out. But I guess you can't really blame them.
Phil "Zen Master" Jackson was/is not a players coach as evident in his book and the drama we saw in Lakerland in the last two years. He may not be as vocal or fiery but he is definitely a "my-way" man who cares little if his player like him. Heck he asked for Kobe to be traded last season or he is gone. He left! Chuck Daly was respected by his bad boys but they never ever mistook him for a "pal". He does not believe in cuddling unless you are willing to drop 50 for him on one ankle.
"I do not ever question his heart for that reason." I hate to say this, but I DO questions Yao's heart. Consistency, in my opinion, is a product of effort. Effort comes from the heart. Nobody can make you try hard, that has to come from inside. There are certainly many nights that I do not see the same effort from Yao Ming. There are nights, many of them, where he seems lost in space, where he doesn't even seem to be the same basketball player he was the game before. The differences in his game at home versus on the road for example. There are no good excuses for his enormous number of turnovers, his lack of physicality when he has been told repeatedly that he needs to become a more physical player, his being blocked nearly every game by players much smaller than himself, etc. The guy has the potential and the ability to be one of the greatest players ever, but from what I have seen of him he does not appear to have the heart or the desire to make that happen. He seems complacent to me. Content with being very good. I don't know if his personality will ever allow him to become great. Having said all of this, I want to make it clear that I like Yao Ming very much. I think he can be a vital piece on a championship quality team, but I do not think that he can be THE piece that gets you there.
Yao and TMac are valuable to this franchise. The reason the team is not doing so well is because we have new players coming in and going out all the time. We don't have stability and I seriously doubt we are going to have the players we need right now to contend anyway. The way I see it this season is a season to get Yao and TMac to gell and the GM should try to find the right pieces as time goes on. It's stupid to blame Yao for the team's bad record, IMHO, Yao has been doing his job and try as hard as he can. We just need to have patience for the team to gell.
... thank you (you beat me too it) Daly looking like he was going to punch someone (from his own team) the whole time he was on the sidelines
Please clarify. Are you saying that JVG is or isn't the coach for Ming? Otherwise, you make many good points.
Many good points. However, I would not agree to the theory of Yao's "lack of heart" as many suggested. Instead, I attribute his under-performance to overal physical fatigue, which in turn, could induce his mental frustration. On another thought, has it occurred to you that Yao's fatigue is due largely to the physical/strength training he had with Jones during the last summer? From various reports I read, I feel that You took it seriously and might have overworked on it.
Actually, a lot of people consider PJ to be a player's coach. Not sure about Daly, but it didn't seem like he was.
Phil Jackson gives his players a lot of freedom sometimes, but do not mistake that for PJ being a player's coach. A player's coach is a coach well-liked and trusted by his players. While PJ's players respect him, they do not trust him. He has played way too many mind games for him to earn any trust from his team.
I am saying he (Jeff Van Gundy) is the right coach for Yao (at least the type of coach). He is also the right coach for tmac I must add. Yao once even said his Chinese coach was different from Rudyt - that he demanded a lot from him and did not pet him. He (that Chinese coach) made him to a large extent what he is today. He needs to be pushed and he said it as much two years ago. Check out coach Brown in Detriot. Do you see how he treated his #2 overral pick from last year? Tough love. Nobody questioned him because he is coach Brown. Iverson hated him while there together but missed him when he was gone because he realize how influencial he was in his life and game. What about coach Phil Jackson? If Boki was in his system he would not even see 77 minutes in a season. You remember how he treat Cook last year? He played him only when he felt he must. My point exactly is being a player's coach does not win jack for you and the history is there for all to see it. Finally, the reason Yao does not appear happy is because we are not winning like he would like it. He is all about winning. Winning is margical and no amount of losing even with a players coach makes one happy.
I really don't have anything against JVG and if you'r enot being sarcastic, I agree about Yao not being a joke. Sometimes he is but that's cuz he is struggling he will do better soon eventually. We just need to retool.. I would really get Sura to work on his shooting and maintain his all around game. I would resign Barrett and have him work on his shooting as well. Barry and Wesley..well if we keep Gaines, he has to work on his shooting too. Gaines can be a decent backup. My dream would be to get Michael Redd..2nd would be Mobley...this is if Tmac still will stay at the 3. I wanted JJ as our backup 2 and 3 in the future but he's gone..Bruce Bowen would be great but he's on the Spers . Bobby Simmons or Mike Miller or Gordan Giricek would be nice with Tmac and Sura. Barrett and Gaines would be good backups. Padgett is our decent backup player too. PF is where we really need help..getting an athletic strong power forwrd like JERMAINE O'NEAL would be awesome. That's impossible so someone like Tyson Chandler or Kwame Brown would be nice. I don't think ew can get them either so maybe Stromile Swift? Or maybe get an oldtimer. Or draft someone. Yao is our center. Mutombo will retire..we can always get a guy like Doleac.
I don't know the definition of the "player's coach", but Jackson has great people skill. He treated players differently based on their personalities. In Chicago, H. Grant was his whipping boy because he could take it; T. Kukoc took his role after Grant left for Orlando. PJ tried this with Pippen, but quickly realized that Pippen was very insecure, that would not work with him, so he backed off. I don't think JVG is capable of doing that.
Thank God that someone on this board had brains enough to write that post (the opening one). Everyone on the board was whining about how Yao only got 25 points in a loss to the Lakers. Heck, a few years ago when Dream was on his last leg and we signed Cato we all would have jumped at a Center that could score that much. I have never been so sick of one place in my whole life as I am of this web site, and its fickle fans. I feel like this site is a good site but I’m tired of all the immature arguing. Yao is the second best on this team and we will turn it around THIS year. Yao will turn it this year as well.
Thanks for clarification, but I wonder why Ming appears to have declined (not statistically), but in his overall demeanor. It may be because he is not meeting expectations, or it could be because he is not receiving the right coaching. Everyone needs encouragement, direction, and positive feedback. JVG seems so negative, and Ewing has never coached. Look at Ming during the Games, he was so much more upbeat, energetic, and effective. Why?
i think all that is true. i dont think it matters how many people talk about wanting yao traded, i doubt we will ever see it. and i really dont know about how many people really want him traded. i think most people get aggrivated and let emotion overcome them when they talk about not wanting a 18-9 player on this team. i think for guys like us, who get aggrivated game after game for not seeing more than a glimpse of few minutes a night of what we KNOW he can do, and criticise him for having it right in front of him and just not reaching out and taking it, its a circular pattern of hope and dissapointment. by next game, every fan on this forum is just as intrigued by yao and what he can do as they were when he first came into this league, and we all wonder, will january 9 be the night where yao realizes that nobody on earth can stop him but himself?? i am admit expect alot of yao. but i dont think its overexpecting. i think i have had a pretty good eye for talent, and unlike some on this board who dont seem to think much of yao because they want to accept what he is, i think he is much more than that. i thought the minute we drafted him that we had the next great big man of the next era. i thought we had a guy that the nba is going to have draft specific type players just to stop HIM like they did shaq. and i still feel that way. im just waiting for yao to quit being the obstical that stops yao. truth is, this guy is going to get paid to stay here, and this orginization might wait a decade because of the intrigue around a giant who has size, power and skill. i do wonder why people only rate positive posts about yao as 5 stars on this board. i never understood why an true criticism is considered a bad post.
