Should Yao Ming Continue to Shoot Despite His "Slump" ?

Yao......................keep firing away.


Let him shoot until his hands fall off. All the other superstars do it.

 

I think some of the superstars would shoot even if their hands fell off - please see Paul Pierce

 

I always thought that baseline spin move looks weak, who's he beating on that move? I've only seen him successfully dunk the ball a few times, more often then not the other guy recovers and Yao gets fouled. Sure he gets to the FT which is a good thing, but still...I'd love for him to finish off the play and dunk it but alas he's too slow...bash me but its the truth.

Let's not keep using the "he's not back fully, wait until the playoffs", "He's got the messed up finger, that's why the bad shooting", "He's not getting the calls, whoa is him", etc. etc....

TMac to me has responded to the challenge JVG put down, Yao has not. He's played hard but inconsistent and alot of it is on him. Sure all the excuses for him are legit, but still Yao leaves alot to be desired. JVG is right about the rebounding and defense, Yao has wondered why the team excelled while Deke was in there during the injury, those are 2 major reasons. And stop fumbling the ball while in the post is another good thing to improve on.

These playoff games will be a good indicator of where Yao is a bigtime player who responds...no, EXCELS to internal and external challenges or just another good regular season player, at the same time it will tell us if we're going to be title contenders for years to come or just playoff fodders during the MacMing era.

If by chance Yao was the rightful MVP and someone else got it and they meet in the playoffs, you ever think Yao would say "He's got my trophy" and destroy his opponent and leave no doubt? I dunno...

 

I'm not worried about his shooting...I'm dissapointed in the other areas of his game the last two games...we would have beaten n.o if he would have played better.

 

Not too concerned. It's the reason why we have two superstars on this team, so if one has an off game, the other can pick them up. Tmac had shooting games of 7-21 and 9-24 against indy and detroit last week and the rockets won both games.

 

but tmac still passed and dominate other aspects of the game. that's why he's tmac.

i want yao to know when his offense suffers, he can still dominate on the boards and defensively. yao still hasn't reached that level yet. offense should not be the only reason why yao's good. yao can be a dominant defensive player and rebounder.

 

Are you serious? The dude was out for 3 months, he's been back 3 weeks. Let's not call him completely back in shape yet eh? We're lucky he's doing as well as he is.

Do you honestly think there are any other 300lbs players who would be in this good of shape three weeks after being on his arse for nearly 3 months?

Yao will be fine. His shooting, defense and rebounding will improve. My prediction is that he will get a bit better in each and every game from here on out. The guy is probably sitting in a hotel in LA watching every game tape of Deke while he was gone again to figure out how the old man gets so many rebounds.

 

The baseline spin move was very effective before the injury. I think he is still not 100% confident in his knee, which causes that move to be slower. The finger is a non-issue, I agree, he shot 10/17 and 10/19 against Indiana and Detroit with the same contraption.

"The Rockets have excelled with Yao out." Well, now with Yao back in they're 8-3 since he came back, and one of them was the first game when everyone was kind of disoriented. What was the record with Yao out, 20-12? 8-3 beats 20-12 any day. Sure Yao can play better, but the team is doing fine right now.

His defense and rebounding have been subpar recently, but it isn't causing the team to suck, so it's not so bad. McGrady was in a slump shooting too, and he sometimes zones out on defense and forgets to guard people, and the team is still doing fine. Sure these areas can be improved upon but it's not exactly causing the team to fall into the lottery.

 

THANK YOU! It's absolutely ridiculous to make asinine statements like Yao is not affecting the game like he should. Gosh just let him work himself back before placing such unreasonable expectations on him. Deke sprained his knee and has not rebounded like he was causing him to sit out a couple of games ... what do you think coming back from a broken weight bearing bone will do to your movement on the court? All that should be expected out of Yao is to work / try hard because it will come.

 

He can't stop being aggressive despite his mental and physical problems either on offense or defense. When the shot is there he must attempt it. He also needs to get down in the low post and rebound better. The free throws will get better if he has a positive attitude.

 

I think it's more than just bad shooting, he did not rebound well either. Plus he had too many turnovers, which may make his teammates stop feeding him. I'm more concerned that he'll lose his confidence and also his teammates' confidence in him.

 

I'd love to believe that Yao will be fine, but so far his body language doesn't tell me that.

I expect more from Yao if we want to go deep in playoffs. I'm not talking about stats, I'm talking about a burning desire to exceed (yeah that's corny but true). To kick @ss. as JVG said. I know Yao wants to also, but his body language says otherwise, and I'm not talking about his recent injuries.

All this "Well it's only his whatever game back from injury, what do you expect" is lame. If fatigue is a problem then he should jog around the Toyota Center 20 times a day until the playoffs start.

Hayesfan, your kind of post is the kind that says it's ok just to be "good". You already have a built in excuse if Yao falters in the playoffs.

I expect more from Yao, I don't want him to be a Charles Barkley/talented loser type of player, instead I want him to be a Dream type of player who willed his team to greatness and championships....that's all. Is that not asking too much?

(I expect the same thing from Mac, if any of you want to throw him into the argument)

 

Hmmmmm, so Yao isn't at the pre-injury superstar level on a consistent basis right now so we should do what??? Sit him down???? I am not following the logic. If Yao's confidence and the confidence his teammates show in him insn't study enough to withstand a short reorientation period we have A LOT bigger issues. Yao has shown flashes of performing at the pre-injury. I don't think two below-average performances (based on his own lofty standards) should even be discussed much less obsessed over. The real question is what level will he be playing at come April 16th? I'd bet he will be his dominating self by then. Want to bet otherwise.

 

You're right, his career is over. He can only be good now, not great - his body language is all wrong. He is hopeless and should just retire. Oh, and T-Mac too, right? He's never made it past the first-round. He sucks.

 

Yao needs to be more agressive at the begining of games. If he goes into the paint and makes someone pay by either dunking it down their throught or grabing a rebound in traffic and throwing an elbow than he wont have to worry about getting pushed around.

I am not worried about T-Mac and I think we can get enough from the roll players but in order to win a title Yao has to grab his sac and dominate.

 

It is very very strange that Yao had such terrible shoots in the last 2 games among his NBA career, but clearly JVG trusted Yao, that's why he kept Yao playing on the pitch even in the last few minutes, in order to let Yao get his shooting feeling back.

Yao is getting better and better since his injury, the last 10 or 11 games are for practising and getting ready for the tough playoffs.

The only question is that it seems that we dont have much playoff experience in this team except JVG? Yao has 2 times' 1st round and Tmac has N times' 1st round, never used to get to the 2nd round...

 

I don't think we are expecting less... when we say he's still getting back to being completely healthy. If he's still playing like this on April 16th, then I'm going to be ticked. But I wouldn't expect players to be in peak playing form during the first month of the season. So I have to give him a little leeway to get into the groove.

Obviously Yao does need to be pushed... otherwise JVG wouldn't get on his case so hard. But the guy does work hard to improve, so I don't think he's going out there and saying.. "hmmm my first five shots didn't fall, I might as well coast the rest of the game"

Or the next night "well since tmac is scoring for us I can just let Juwan get the rebounds and let tmac shoot the ball then I don't have to work"

You are just looking at it from one perspective, yes it stinks that he is doing poorly, but its not because of lack of effort. It's because of lack of mobility.

Something I noticed when he was jumping out on the pick and roll against NOK was how slowly he got back in the middle on defense. It was like watching a lumbering bear walking on two legs trying to keep his balance. That is not what we were seeing Yao do in late November and early December... so I have to conclude its a result of coming back from the injury. He knows he's supposed to get back after that pop, he attempts to hurry back after the pop, but its harder for him to do so.

That's why I think the "he's not completely healthy" argument is still valid.

 

Throw it Down Big Man!

 

Your post absolutely sucks, you shoud stop posting.

Or at least learn how to read others' posts...