The "totally different society" crap is really wearing thin. Do you think that Ming is the prototype of Chinese culture? First, it is clear that Ming is extremely intelligent, that is given. We are not talking about someone who is so immature and naive that he is clueless. Listening to his comments, reading his remarks, and so on has proved this to me. Second, I used the words "appears," "seems," and admitted that no one but Ming knows for sure. However, as a former player you can usually tell when another player is "dogging it," that is, "taking games off" or parts of games "off," it is not that hard to spot. And that is what Ming "appears" to be doing. Intensity is shown by exerting effort, by movement, by demonstratable aggressiveness. You can see it, you can feel it, it is really not that great a mystery. Look, I love Ming as a player. I know what he can do. I want him to succeed. I want him to be respected and honored. I hate it when he "whimps" out, when he looks weak and ineffective. I don't want him traded. I want him to care enough to give his best. I am convinced that he is not doing that. And, based on their body language and their comments in the media, the other Rocket players know too.
I was thinking in a NBA context, and was coming up with blanks. As an Astro fan I have a vague memory of him which is not a good sign.
It is fair to say that Yao seems like lost in some nights. He played tentative or lost when he is in foul trouble or challenged hard by opponents. He is slow to adjust to different strategies IN THE GAME. What he needs is a little bit more experience and some guts and determination. It is unfair to say that Yao played uninterested and not hard enough in some nights. IMO, it is just not ture. This guy is always chasing every ball, wise or not. You have to respect his intensity on the defensive end all the night. He shoulders much more defensive duty of this rox than everyone else, including T-mac. When he doesn't shoot well, he looks indetermined or giving up some chances to his teammates, it should not be defined as uninterested.
It's really not hard to see how much Yao affects each game, even when he's struggling. Without Yao, the Rockets are no better than last year's Orlando Magic... a team that won 21 games in the East. Watch the games. Why does Juwan Howard get wide open 12-15 ft jumper? Because his man is sagging down on Yao. Why do the all of the guards get wide open looks at 3's? Because their men are sagging on Yao. Whether or not he is scoring, Yao draws so much attention from the defense, it makes the game that much easier for the rest of the team. The next game you watch, concentrate on Yao (even without the ball) and take notice of the attention he receives. It opens up the floor for everybody. Defensively, yes, Yao is slow to get to his spots sometimes. But look how much he brings. The entire defense is schemed to funnel things into him. He picks up so many fouls trying to help all of his teammates out defensively. Whether or not he is, he seems to be one of the better Rockets at rotating to help the next man. He just needs to avoid silly fouls. Without Yao, how good would the Rockets defense really be? The one thing I wish Yao would do on offense is pop out for a jumper after he sets a pick. I haven't seen it once this entire season. Once he really begins to mix it up offensively, I think we'll see a more confident and better Yao. Give him time.
here's my two cents. most people considered Yao to be the next great big man, a center to carry the torch from Shaq one day. while Yao's stats have been much better than most centers in the league (Shaq's are better and Z is close), he is not putting up numbers that you need from a guy who is expected to be the MAN on your team. the fact is that Yao is somewhere below the true greats at the pivot (Dream, Wilt, Russell, Daddy, etc.). Yao will get better, but truthfully I can not see him ever being a dominant player the way we have seen the great centers of the past. now, with that all being said, Yao is going to be the best center in the league in a couple of years (unless this Oden kid has a LeBron-like transition to the L or Bogut translates perfectly from college). I could see Yao having a couple of seasons at around 22/10/3, but with the slow progression and the fact that people of his stature have shorter careers I am not sure if we can truly expect much more than such numbers. i compiled the stats of good/great centers when they were 24 for comparison. Yao 18/8/2 Dream 23/11/3 Shaq 26/13/3 Robinson 24/12/4 Ewing 22/9/2 Mutombo 17/12/3 Ilgauskas 15/9/1 Smits 11/5/1 I know that stats don't tell the whole story, but they do tell how well a player is playing against the L. given what Yao is averaging now at the age of 24, I would say we are looking at a player closer to Mutombo or Z than Shaq or Dream.
Yao's number is never a concern for me. Given enough shots, he can be easily a 20-22 guy. What concerns me is that some of his weaknesses are hard to improve imo: Stamina, Slow reaction, and gentle personality. I am not saying he can't improve in these areas, but I don't expect him to change them dramatically. One more point I want to make here is Yao's influence on defensive end is largely ignored by many posters here. We are lucky that both of our two centers are really good at defense because our pf position is just too weak on defense.
Short and to the point! Yao needs to learn if someone is in front of him don't try for the rebound or block let it go, get position. The reason we lost last night was b/c Gundy took James out at the beginning of the fourth, and the turnovers then piled up. When we were making our comeback we were spacing the floor and therefore wide open jumpers. For Yao to be great he needs less fouls=more min=more points and he'll be in the flow of the game. The sad thing is though tonight when we made our come back Deke was in the game
That's all you got; the best you can do?! I guess when someone has no argument or no rebuttal of your argument, simple sarcasim comes in handy.
I truly believe you love Yao. But what's the reason that Yao appears as a lazy player on the court? Do Yao care about rockets? I think people should think about that a little bit before bashing Yao immediately. Maybe Yao is frustrated with the referees, with his teamates, his coaches and even himself. One thing I strongly believe in is that Yao wants the ball, wants to win championships. But he might feel sorry to his coach, his teamates for his weakness, his turnovers, his unique treatment from the referees. He is frustrated, right now.
This happens to Yao every single year almost exactly at this time of year. He has a stretch where he's playing unbelievable basketball and the team is doing great. Then March comes around, we play a tough back to back (I'm talking last week), a couple of tough guys are matched up against him (Collins always gives him trouble, Haywood holds his own), and he doesn't play well for longer stretch than we would like. It's just a phase that unfortunately happens every season. Our reaction is almost as predictable. Yao hasn't lost his ability to play. He just has this regular funk that will likely last a couple more weeks.
WOW! I knew Mutombo put up good numbers, but not this good! So I guess Mutombo had better numbers than Yao at 24 yrs of age. Those numbers are impressive for a guy who does nothing that can be called "smooth" with a straight face
This is true. And if he plays roughly the same way as last season, then he'll have one more "good" streak coming and then slump again right before the end of the season/play-offs. It is very predictable.
SF, I watch the game, a lot, I said it because in my opinion its true, its more than the shooting touch. His instincts and footwork are amazing. Smits was a good shooter, so is Ilgauskas, so was Daughtery if I remember correctly, but how many of them had the complete game he had out to 20 feet.
I don't think its true. Yao has more endurance this season than last, he's holding good post position. The only thing holding him back the past few games is the foul trouble (and that ain't completely his fault) and the butter fingers. If it weren't for the fouls, he could have had a few 25-30 pt games in the past 5 games. His shooting touch has been hot during this slump except last game (and even last game, he had a couple of in and outs). Work on them hands Yao... someone make him play dodgeball with Roger Clemens.
My major problem with Yao, why in a stretch of games once awhile, he would play so badly. It's not the Rockets. When he was with CNT, once a while he would perform so badly that his teammates just quit on him. It's not that he doesnt have enough shots and we are premiter team. It's frustrating to see him turn around and shoot that hook, then all of sudden seems something comes cross his mind and misses short. You figure it should be pretty easy for him. When he play badly, he tends to put more fancy moves and reult in TO. His baseline spin move is awesome, but when he dribbles the ball, you just ask for trouble. When you are 7'6 and you have thick legs, there is no need to do that. Just turn and shoot, if he miss that, I can live with that. Good thing about he doesnt leave his foot much is he is not injury prone. Defensively, he is 7'6, why he likes to use his body, lot of calls on him because he is a step slower.
SCREW THE ASTROS!! They can't keep any good players. They keep these crap farts like Bagwell and Biggio. And Bagwell is on roids! Baseball sucks and the Astros are cheap. What's the point of bringing back anyone but Beltran? at least Yao doesn't use steriods!! Leave Yao alone, wait til the playoffs, then you can judge Yao.
Everyone has to realize that YAO is still young. There are a number of reasons why he hasn't developed as quickly as everyone would want and they are 1) he hasn't had the coaching like the other big men of the past 'cause he's been coached by the CNT. If he had gone to college for a year or 2 you would see great improvement. He's basically learning on the fly, especially without having any summers off because they prepare more for games during the summers and don't practice to improve skills. 2) the game has changed so much the last couple years. The new rule changes and the disappearance of the traditional center has forced YAO into something else that he isn't yet prepared for. Zone Defenses, not allowing players to back people down a la Charles Barkley, ticky-tack fouls, etc. 3) the watering down of the league with the expansion teams has reduced the number of good shooters in the league that would open things up for the big man. Poor defense that has guards blowing past defenders and getting into the lanes 'cause YAO to pick up the ticky tack fouls. Give YAO a summer off and have some good coaching from someone like Pete Newell plus another year in the league and you will see dramatic improvement. If he was in the league 10 years ago he would have adapted a lot easier.
