U say excuse, I said its the way its been forever. I've never said it was right, I'm just saying that's the way they've always called the game. They always allow more physicality down low than on the perimeter. The only post guys to get fouled a lot were mailman,barkley,moses,shaq, and now howard. The common theme of those guys are that they initiated a lot of contact all the time and made the ref blow the whistle one way or the other. Go and look through the history to about 79 and look at the ft attmpt leaders and match it up to their games.
I don't mind the teardrops or open jumpshots that he sometimes misses. What bugs me is when he pulls up on transition for a jumper. He does have times when he shoots early in the shot clock when he shouldn't. I agree though with a lot of what you say, he is not as bad as this board make him out to be.
Rafer Alston is personally responsible for taking 10 years off my life with his horrid decision making in the clutch. Everytime he does something well, he immediately negates it with a bonehead play. I dont care how nice his statline is at the end of the game. When it matters most, he needs to have his ass planted on the bench.
I am really proud of this team. We have been playing hard every night starting from the game against the Lakers. We play like this we have a great chance of winning every game we play especially when we get Ron and Tracy back.
I agree. We are overachieving right now. Look at our roster: C Yao PF Scola SF Battier SG Wafer PG Alston Landry Brooks Barry Hayes That by no means is an upper echelon team in the league. We have one star and a number of good playres. How many teams in the NBA would Von Wafer start on? Let's just hope that they continue to play hard when Tmac and Ron come back.
O.K., I missed a part of the second half; in the first, he was certainly good offensively and at least appeared to be holding his own defensively. This is an area he needs to work on. But it is not like TMac is a defensive stopper.
barry had a smart foul and i'm glad nene didn't get away with that left arm. playing well...i'm digging it
I am not dogging him at all. He's a really nice find for the Rockets. It's amazing how much desire makes a difference. I prefer that McGrady returns and wants to be out there and have Wafer be part of our second team.
So was that last offensive foul on Nene for clearing off with off arm or on Kleiza for the charge? If it was on Nene it was a BS call (but considering how many BS calls the Rockets seem to be called against I'd take that).
Those guys never had to battle hybrid zone defenses that allow defenders to front (wrestle) with Yao to try and deny him position. The defenders get away with all sorts of grabbing, pushing, clutching while they're down there, the refs feel compelled to swallow the whistle when there is less (but still illegal) contact on the shots. The thing I hate the most about it is that the refs are basically trying to neutralize Yao's height advantage by allowing the defenders to get away with more against him than they would against other big men. Why? Because Yao is basically unguardable once he gets the ball with good low-post position (unlike Dwight Howard, who still has to rely on his quickness and jumping ability). Would they have neutralized Jordan's jumping ability by restricting how far out he could jump from? Would they neutralize Bird's shooting by saying he can't shoot 3's? Yao is tall and gifted. This is a virtually anomaly in the history of the game. He should be scoring like Kareem and Wilt did when they were giants among midgets... instead, his game is neutralized for the sake of competitive advantage. The only good thing about Yao's low-post only game is that if he stays healthy, he should have no problem maintaining (and adding) to this type of game as he grows older. Its not like he's at risk of losing his jumping ability or speed.
That's my point. When refs look at bigs down low, its uneven. Shaq shoots 0 ft's one game and 12 the next after he bitxhed. How can that happen? Through it all, shaq stays aggressive. If yao stays aggressive , he will score,get fouled, or both. I just want him in the summer to just get really,really strong so he can withstand and play through the non calls better. He'll be ok.
He's strong enough...in fact, sometimes he's too strong. If he loses the ball more and flails his arms with contact (like Dirk does), he likely gets a ton more calls. He's strong enough to the point that guys push, shove, and slap him and his arms and body hardly move... despite his shot likely getting affected. I did like how he got frustrated and started dunking the ball in the 4th. Just that simple act caused the Nuggets to sort of back-off the aggressive defense (in addition to that string of foul calls on Kenyon). The difference between Yao and Shaq is that Shaq can't shoot over anybody, and even if he gets fouled, he doesn't hit free throws (thus other teams don't complain so much about him going to the line). The opposing coach would be pulling his hair out if his defenders were getting called for fouls on Yao as much as they should be... as Yao would be getting 14-18 points from the free throw line ALONE. Sometimes, the fact that he's 7'6, can SHOOT, and is somewhat coordinated is a big enough advantage that he should be allowed to do whatever he wants out there.
