The guy is just not himself, he is getting blocked routinely by other players, doesn't LEAN INTO his shots to stop the defense from blocking it, and basically has gone into a shell on both ends of the floor. He looks confused....and dejected.... Do you guys think it is his foot, or is it his confidence? Because he is just not right..... I think it is a confidence and aggressiveness issue, he needs to forget about fouls and just play harder....more aggressive basketball. If he gets fouls...then he gets fouls...but he needs to go back to dunking the ball, and leaning into opponents on shots. Because right now, he is playing fairly badly and the team looks better with him on the bench. We need a return of Yao Mean ! DD
It looks like he has just lost confidence. I was SO happy to see him get that three-point play at the end of the Blazers game, because it was -exactly- the confidence booster he needed, but then Roy hit that miracle shot... I just hope he (and the rest of the team) don't let it get them down. I think Yao has just hit a temporary slump. He will be back soon. He knows how much his teammates count on him.
He has lost his lift. he has fractured his leg three times in three years. i think he is slowing down. his body is betraying him much like tmac's body is nowhere near what it used to be. with yao you knew with the amount of stress on his body, his career would be shorter then the more conventional big men.
See this is what I am worried about, but if he uses his height better, he doesn't need that much lift. He looked better in the Olympics than he does now....much more active.... I think it is confidence, and not understanding his role on the team with Artest.... Tinman was right, if you lack confidence concentrate on Defense and rebounding and the rest will come. DD
I think he's having a hard time with T-Mac and Artest in the low block as well. It's just seems that if he doesn't get started going first, he just doesn't get in the flow of things. One thing i also notice was he's good for the first and third quarter. He doesn't score much in the fourth at all. All in all, we need yao and we need him to lead this team.
He didnt look good in the olympics at all. besides the game against angola, he looked about the same. yao will have a great game here and there, but dont expect him to play like that consistantly anymore. i think the wear and tear are catching up with him. it's a darn shame to
Yao lost serious hops. Crouching Yao, Hidden Rebounding Even on jump balls, I don't even expect him to win them. I'm not sure he was ever a good jumper, but to date, it looks like he has lost more than an inch or two. That said, there's no excuse for better boxing out. I know Yao can crouch more b/c he does these squats from time to time ahead of jump balls. Why he can't use his body better to box out and rebound on the basis of better boxing, i dunno. Maybe it's just not first instinct with him. theSAGE
seriously Yao hasn't looked this bad since his rookie season. I think alot of it has to do with the fact that the offense is discombobulated and has no identity. There's no real consistency on what they're running. They need to establish who the first option is and get some sort of identity and structure. It's only a matter of time before they get comfortable with each other and the offense will click. Last year it took about a month as well.
Thats something he'll have to learn now with the decline in physical ability. he needs to use that body much better on offense. clear out some space for himself. offcourse to be able to do that, yao needs a mean streak. i dont think he has that in him.
I think this is it as well....and Yao not fighting well for post ups...he is getting outworked.....which is very un-Yao like. DD
I'm not sure about his body wearing down. He looks great running compared to the first couple of years where he looked soo winded. I really think the "BIG THREE" need more time together. KG, Pierce, and Allen spent a lot of time together last year and it helped them win a championship.
It is definitely something, not just "he's having a bad game". All preseason and the early season he's looked slow. Maybe he is not 100% yet, which would explain a lot, and would make me more comfortable about his play right now. Only, he said he's 100% and ready to go before the preseason. Maybe it was lip service, at least I hope it was. If it is psychological, then, that would be troubling. He's been in the league for a while now and he knows what he can do, so he shouldn't be thinking so hard about it. You see how long he holds the ball when he gets it in the post? Thinking way, too much. He makes yourself more guardable. When he goes to the rim as Hakeem says, he's making himself way too small. You got to punish people for trying to block your shot. It may be a combination of physical and mental, he could be struggling mentally with the fact that he can't do what he did before he got injured last season. If that's the case, it may be awhile before he gets back to playing like that.
Yao has reverted back to his old habits that mirror his non-aggressive personality. Just look at some of the comments of the TNT broadcasters, Reggie Miller said that if Shaq caught a ball that close to the basket he would dunk it and not put up a soft layup like Yao does most of the time, Fratello said on one of Yao's rebounds when he went up and ripped the ball out of the air, that the RB was one of the most aggressive he had seen Yao make. I think Yao misses Tom T. and his personal workouts because without them he becomes Clark Kent on the court.
