That's rough! Yikes! I know Yao isnt doing well rebounding wise, but I am still willing to give him some more time to adjust to things. He is trying to overcome a lot of the things he has learned his ENTIRE basketball life in China so it is not easy to convert to the american way of playing in the paint. He still needs time.
As much as last night's game was painful to watch, hopefully Yao will learn that he's not often going to get fair calls from the ref. He was literally getting manhandled consistently with arm locks, elbows in the back, full forced shoves by Seattle last night. Pretty ridiculous that there were not more calls against the Sonics. I almost want him to just lose his cool sometimes. And if he's going to get called for fouls, it better involve taking someone's face off or causing some serious hurt or else players will just continue taking advantage of him.
You are right. Defenders are always hanging on to Yao to keep him away from rebounds etc. It is the way all defences are going to play against Yao from now on. He has to be tough in there also, and pull them around with him. The refs do suck, since he is so big they don't call many fouls against the guys guarding him.
I agree that teams are manhandling Yao in the post and it's hurting his offense because he hasn't figured out how to play against that kind of D. But what about on the boards? Why's he losing all these rebounds and tipping them back and forth instead of grabbing them? Again, I'm not saying he's soft (see my post above), but he just seems a bit slower/less sharp than last year. Hopefully, it's just part of the adjustment phase to the NBA. However much we'd like for Yao to adjust to and dominate the NBA in two years, realistically it might take 3-4 years. I just hope there's an "inner dominator" somewhere inside him ...
Its clearly the weight gain. Its causing fatigue problems. Yao was fairly aggressive against the Lakers, and he held his own against Shaq, but he was clearly worn down and even had to be taken out at the end of the game. This is something the team is going to have to address next off-season. Do you want the quicker Yao, like the one who scored 30 points on the Mavericks last year, or do you want the Yao who can hold his own against Shaq, but clearly not for an entire game? Since we have Cato, I personally prefer the quicker Yao. He stays in the game longer.
That's what I'm saying. He's not the same as last year. that Mavs game seems like came from a Yao 10 years earlier in his career, but it was last freaking year. Last year I wanted a slightly bulkier Yao. Now I'm not so sure.
Yao showed a little attitude last year when he dunked straight over Theo Ratliff and yelled straight into his grill. That was funny as hell, moreso listening to Calvin Murphy commentating it. I watched that over and over last season (taped the games), and it's great to see the bench get up and cheer him on. I was hoping that Yao would try to duplicate that state of mind he had, but I'm very disappointed so far.
I wish Yao would just b****-slap somebody in the game for no apparent reason. At this point I dont even care if its one of the Rockets players.
I've always thought that in order to succeed in the league, you first have to be mentally capable. That means you have to have mental toughness, discipline, smartness, and heart. Yao, in my opinion, is seriously lacking in mental toughness and heart. Those are internal attributes and you either have or you dont. The Rockets should make a decision on Yao Ming by the end of next year. If he gets his acts together and develops some toughness on the court, we sign him to an extention and all is good. However, if he keeps doing his best resembling of Shawn Bradley every game, we should just give up on him. He wont be worth the max contract extention that he will likely to get somewhere. In that case, we should try to package Francis and Yao to get a true franchise player. A team go as far as its best player would lead it to, and I see little hope for the Rockets if our best players are boneheaded Steve and heartless Yao.
The guy on the left, losing that rebound to Shaq, was Rik Smits. In his best three or four years (1993-1997), he averaged about 18 points and 8 rebounds. He was 7-4 and fairly soft, with a very good mid-range jumper. He ended up being a significant role player on a series of competitive Indiana teams with Reggie Miller. Ladies and gents, I present to you: the Dutch precursor of Yao Ming.
Exactly!! I hope everyone reads what Jazy said which I quoted above. If you read it you will get a better understanding of Yao Mings present mind set. The Question that comes to mind is that all this didnt happen when we played the Lakers. The Rockets ran special plays for Yao Ming in the first half and he showed every bit as good as Shaq. What happened in the second half is anyones guess, at times Yao Ming was even avoiding being involved in the play. What is it that causes Yao Ming to become almost invisible and still be on the court? Is it because he is tired or is it out of respect to other scorers on the Team?
There are two possible reasons for Yao's rebounding problem: he is either physically deficient (too slow, can't jump, not strong enough, can't push, etc.) or he is technically deficient (not having proper techniques to get position and leverage). If it's the latter, than it's the coaches' job to teach him. Frankly, I don't know what Ewing has done with Yao. I don't see any technical improvement. I think Yao developed better under Rudy than under JVG's staff. Anyway, techniques can be learned. Yao is smart enough to learn it eventually. If it's the former, that might be a bigger problem. Physical training might help a little. But it's hard to change a person's physical abilities. I just hope that he'll learn enough techniques and with his size be a decent rebounder.
Yao is NOT Smits. I know I'm a homer, but I've watched enough basketball to tell you that Yao already has more post up moves than Smits. I wish Yao would go back to the hook shot. He'd get much more work done in the post if he started throwing up that hook more. Anyway, my point earlier wasn't to say that Yao gets hacked in the post. We all know that. BUT, if the refs are gonna turn a blind eye to Yao getting manhandled on offense, they better swallow their whistles when he gives a little bump on the defensive end, too, or else they're giving us a competitive disadvantage. Yao got 2 TOUCH fouls called on him in the very beginning of the 3rd, which made him sit a good 12+ minutes in the 2nd half. If dudes are pulling his arm off and shoving him in the back all game on the offensive end, surely he's allowed to give a little bump on defense.
I'm not trying to bash Yao by comparing him to Smits -- I really liked Smits. If he hadn't had nagging injuries, he would have been a lot better. Smits, by the way, had a nice little hook shot, and he could really score inside. His main problems: (1) you could only play the guy about 25 minutes a game due to the nagging injuries, occasional foul trouble, and fatigue; and (2) he was usually not agro enough in the paint. I'm willing to give Yao a few years, to be sure, and he's *way* ahead of Smits' game when Rik was in his 2nd year. However, at the present time, Yao is playing a very Smits-like game, at least statistically and in terms of impact.
im wondering WTH Yao is learning from Ewing if anything. How to flop? fall on the floor? defense? what is he supposed to be learning? I think Yao is flopping more this year than last year.. I think we should lose Ewing their style of play is too different. Maybe Ewing is trying to make Yao become Yewing! haha which doesnt suit him. I dont know it just looks like Yao is picking up some weird bad habits (flopping) and not correcting other mistakes like (rebounding). any thoughts on how well the Wizards big men did under Ewing? J
Ewing actually had pretty good range for a center. (Of course I don't remember him draining a 3 at the end of a 4 game sweep in the finals like a certain #34 of the Houston Rockets!) Still, I think Ewing had similar offensive weapons in his arsenal. And I think they're doing a good job of getting Yao to try to play low. With time & practice he'll really feel the low post game. And it won't matter how dirty the defense plays him. I'm still curious why in the first quarter of last night's game (vs. Seattle) we stopped going to Yao down low after he drew 3 fouls and shot 2-2. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unless, of course, he was tiring from the abuse.
