Good positive talk, good encouragement for us but some of what you said is completely disproportionate. We are good on paper but not good in real time. Yao is NOT an excellent defender. Regular season is the time for change and improvement, we don't wait till post season then figure out what is wrong. We find out now and fix. And if we dont worry about regular season we won't be able to even play in post season. But otherwise,
In pick and rolls, Yao is not a good defender. You also can't ask him to guard guys way out at the three point line. That being said, his impact on the defensive end is large especially on a team with good perimeter defenders like Houston. By just standing in the paint, he alters tons of shots. He is also impossible to post up on. All you have to do is look at the game Yao missed this season against Dallas. The Rockets gave up more easy baskets in that game than I have seen in a long time. Dallas didnt have Josh Howard and they didnt really have any problems scoring when they had to. Atleast last year we had Mutumbo(one of the greatest defensive players of all time) when Yao went down.
Oh, That's different. I still beg to differ. I think some of the passes he makes look easy and that is why they go unnoticed.....but it is pretty nice to have a guy that can catch the ball in the post, draw a double team, and just look over the defense to find the open man. There is no one else in this league who can do that as consistantly as Yao. When compared with other players at his position, Yao IS a very good passer.
