Perceptions of Yao I apologize for this being so long. Just a few things I noticed on the perception of Yao over his brief career. As a #1 draft pick, I have noticed the drastic change in the way Yao has been/is perceived by the media (local & national) and fans thus far. As a rookie, we were all skeptical as to whether Yao would be a solid NBA player as he never played against this level of competition night in and night out for 82 games. I recall most fans wanting to trade the pick for many different scenarios including to the Clippers for Lamar Odom or Elton Brand and some other throw-ins. Thank God the Rockets didn’t do that. The national media was ready to brand him the next Shawn Bradley because of his height and physique. After his first few weeks in the league (especially his first official NBA game against the Pacers where he failed to score) the criticism began and the comparisons to Bradley only grew. Then, he had a decent game against Amare Stoudamire (Suns), followed by going 9-9 and scoring 20 pts against the Shaq-less Fakers, which he followed by the monster 10-12 FG’s, 30 pts 16 rebs against the Mavs. He became an instant star and hope for the future of the Rockets franchise. Lets forward to his second season where Van Grumpy came in and enforced his disciplinarian attitude (which the Rox needed), and his boring defensive style which Steve struggled to adjust to although I think he did his best. Now people put greater emphasis on getting the ball to Yao with less Steve and Cat taking shots and running isolation plays. The frustration began because they didn’t or couldn’t get the ball to him (that’s a whole other topic). The criticism of Steve begins and mass hate towards him grows. The major complaint was that Steve and Cat didn’t give the ball to Yao enough and ignored him on the offensive end because they wanted to get theirs. This brings me to the whole point of this thread. We forward to this season where we have T-Mac (a top 5 talent in the league who has been awesome to watch). My problem is that the whole perception that Yao was the #1 option who needed to get most of the shots is gone again. I notice Sura and other guards completely ignore Yao on offense at times as if they don’t trust that he will catch the ball or feel that he will turn it over and be non affective. On 3 instances in the 4th quarter against the Magic on Monday night I noticed Yao actually demand the ball in the post with great position only to be waved off by Sura. I also noticed Yao sprint down the court for a fast break where he was wide open in front of the basket with his hand straight up in the air asking for the ball only to have the defense catch up b/c the pass was blatantly not made. My point is that for the most part I don’t hear any criticism put on them for Yao not getting the ball enough. The only criticism I hear is towards Yao (some deservedly) that he is too soft and doesn’t play hard and doesn’t establish position. Yeah a lot of this is true but when he does establish position and play hard, for the most part his teammates lack the ability to get him the ball and sometimes seems as though they have little confidence in him that he will make the play. I was at the Magic game with a friend of mine who is a Spurs fan and he noticed this also. He couldn’t believe the way Yao’s teammates ignored him on those possessions I previously mentioned and was baffled at those knuckle heads booing Steve while these guards get the ball to Yao far less than Steve and Cat did. I like Sura for the passion he plays with and hard nose attitude but I get frustrated when Yao is getting about the same amount of shots per game as he was last season with no one really saying anything. I don’t hear Van Grumpy harping on the fact that Yao needs to get more touches on the ball as he did last season. At this point he needs to average more than 12 shots a game. Yao has gone from being the “franchise center” to oh maybe he can just be an average piece to our future championship. It’s amazing to me how people’s perception of someone can change so fast. Personally I think Yao can be better than Rik Smits and the 2nd man to T-Mac provided he continues to develop and has his teammates confidence and trust. Please get him the ball more!!! Peace.
Rivaldo, based on one game you can't generalize that the whole season thus far. Those isolated incidents you just called out could be attributed to other factors, like specific plays being called out for other players ie Wesley and in the 4th quarter we had the lead so it became kinda like a football game where it was obvious to me that JVG's philosophy is to milk the shot clock for as long as he can. In response to the points you made in regards to fast breaks, you seem to believe that your court vision is the same court vision that the players see. It makes no sense to me that Sura or whoever the ball handler is would purposely ignore Yao on a fast break when he is wide open as you say. Do you honestly believe then that JVG would keep this player in the game if he saw that? Anyways, I agree with you that Yao needs to take more shots, especially when the guards have nothing going on at all. We'll just have to wait and see how things go I guess, but I have confidence in this season that Yao will get his.
ditto...to often yao has good position and the ball isn't passed to him and good position doesn't mean two feet away from the bucket, he can be quite effective from 5-10 feet out. i think JH and tmac do a good job of getting him the ball at the right time and for that matter JB and SP are decent also...DW is here to catch and shoot so that leaves mr. sura as the main culprit...i don't want to get down on sura too much b/c he does a lot of good things for the team but as the pg it's his duty more than anyone else's to get yao the ball and it's jvg's duty to make sure it happens.
In other words, you're saying that the guards don't get the ball to Yao enough. Hmm... that's a unique take.
Agree. Rockets won't be contender if Yao can't dominate. Yao won't be dominate if he can't get the ball. Even though Yao still has his weakness, JVG and the guards should try to get him involved more often and let him learn. This year Yao has doen a better job gaining position, but his touches haven't gone up. From what I saw, Tmac, Barry, Padgett, Ward even Taylor all have done a good job feeding Yao, JJ did that to a certain degree, but Sura,Lue and Wesley did a poor job, especially Sura. I recall one of the game Sura didn't make one single pass to Yao, that's just unacceptable as a point guard no matter how badly Yao played. I like Sura's energy and toughness, and I understand he's a natual shooting guard, but he has to do a better job feeding Yao the ball, or Rockets won't go too far.
That's what I am talking about. Thanks god you have good enough reputation that no one will label you as a YOF, (or am I speak too fast?)
Good points you make. But this is really bad timing for such an opinion, espcially regarding Sura. You know, at this moment, Sura is untouchable. He is playing hard with hustle, rebounding, etc. How dare you criticize him?!
I agree with some of your points but I am not basing this on that one game. I have seen it happen time and time again. I am not down on Sura, he is playing his heart out and exactly what this team was lacking early on in the season. I just feel the emphasis needs to be back on feeding Yao the ball more. Now that Mcgrady can score at will it seems that less of the offense is run through Yao. There needs to be a balance and more trust in Yao from his teammates. I take it you're being sarcastic but if not I am not hating on Sura. The point of the thread is to show how people's perception of Yao has changed in such a short time (2 1/2 seasons). He went from being a bust to the savior and now back to a decent player who can never lead a team to a title. I am not saying he's the dream, far from it, but I feel he can be the #2 option, and when T-Mac is struggling or double teamed he can be the #1 option on a championship team. I only picked out Sura b/c I noticed how he waves off Yao and sometimes hesistates to pass it to him. I hate those dumb labels but I am not a YOF. I love the Rockets and have loved them since I moved here in 92. It's hard to be a YOF when I am a big supporter of Stevie but I am not a SOF either. I route for alot of former Rockets when they're not playing the Rox including Horry and Cassell but that doesn't make me a HOF or COF. Peace
The only guys that are willing to feed Yao are Barry, T-Mac and to some degree Howard. The other guys seems to either have trouble doing that or are not willing to give it up, which has resulted in a lot of come backs by Rockets opponents this year.
You are right. He is really risking to be labeled YOF when he demands more pass from Sura, our new Frachise guard and our new member of 1-2 punch duo.
Those stupid labels are so lame and pretty childish. This is why I don't post much b/c you try to put forth a logical well thought out take and are immediately labeled. I can play that game too, I charge you of being a SOF (Sura only fan) b/c you jumped to his defense. Do you see how childish that sounds?
Sura isn't the best passer on the team but I don't think he is blatantly not passing to Yao. There are situations where Yao is open for a split second and someone with exceptional court vision could hit him, but the window closes so quickly it makes it very difficult. Barry does a better job at this than Sura does no question. Teams are making a very strong effort to deny Yao the ball. Even if we had an exceptional passing point guard I think we would do better to let Yao play further out from the basket. What would help is if we had a rebounding 4 that could play inside and let Yao come out from under the basket and take his shots.
I think happyricky was being sarcastic. After all, he did call Sura the new franchise guard and 1-2 punch with Tmac and that's way over the top.
I think Jon Barry is doing a very good job to try to get the ball to Yao. I have also seen him jumping up and down on the sideline many times after Yao made a good play.
If Rocks keep playing Yao like this with Sura as the PG and JVG as the head. Rocks will lose Yao. Mark my words.
THIS FORUM GETS DUMBER AND DUMBER EVERYTIME I CHECK A NEW THREAD. HOPEFULLY, THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING THESE POINTLESS THREADS ARE GOING INTO THEIR POCKETS TO HELP SUPPORT THE SITE SEEING THE RATE YOU GUYS USE UP BANDWIDTH.
Make your argument, don't just bashing on other posters. The guy wrote 3 paragraphs to make his point, and your response seems to be the dumbest in this case.
i was going to start a new thread called "yao arguments...to use bandwidth or not to use bandwidth"...but decided against it
