I mixed up the injuries, last year was a stress fracture, i meant the year before when a player came down on his leg, that's was the freak accident. Then the stress fracture was mostly due to overtraining and should have been detected by trainers earlier before it got worse. I think many people take that accident and the stress fracture as "NBA giant injuries", when they really weren't, which makes him look fragile and seem like he's having functional injuries yearly. Perhaps it will come true later and I agree its the norm for NBA giants, but lets wait until its turly happened before we stick that label on him. He could easily play 70+ games every year for the next few years, its not a case like Tmac had, when you just KNEW his back would flare up at some point during the year. Now that i think about it, his toe injury was basically an infection, which isn't a big man injury either.
i think yao should not play for china during the summer either. that wears him out, both mentally and physically. no to mention international games have different set of rules.
Did Kareem have foot injuries? Did Shawn Bradley? Did Manue Bol? This whole fallacy of NBA giants having more foot injuries is silly. MJ had foot injuries, Yao has had 2 foot injuries...one...he was stepped on....and the 2nd was a stress fracture. He looks pretty good this year...and only missed one game.....out of precaution...he seems to be doing ok.... If his career ends because of foot injuries.....then we should talk, but one or two freak injuries is not the same as chronically injured. DD
Norm is the wrong word, maybe i should have said "more common", but it doesn't matter because i actually agreed with you in my post, I was just trying to note that I do see the point of view of others even if i don't share the same view.
and I'm refering to leg injuries in general, or lower body, not just the foot. Bradley had hip and knee injuries. I'm pretty sure Muresan did as well. Bol had knee problems too. Jabbar is closer to Deke's size, not in the class of Yao, Muresan, Bradley or Bol, so i dont really consider him a giant in the NBA.
i've noticed this, too. this year yao started to lean in often times, something many had wished he'd do for long.
it takes yao a month or two to get into the flow of the nba game and then you consistently see what we see now. it happens every season, and it's the reason why i laught at the people who worry about him in november. the reason for that is that he's usually ending the previous season early due to injury so he's just rusty coming back. the only thing that keeps yao from legit mvp discussion is injuries and officiating. the fact that the second one is true is pretty sad. if he stays healthy, knock on wood, we should see him continue to sustain this play through the playoffs.
That's twice in the NBA, but just to be clear, he's apparently also broken his foot twice in his teens, while in the CBA. According to wiki, this info comes from Ric Bucher's biography of Yao.
I wouldn't doubt anyone who shoots 50% and this year 55% from the floor, 87% from the Line and gives everything he has Yao can easily get 22-24pts per game at 50% shooting, its all a matter of giving the ball to him in his favorable spots and putting guys around him who can shoot and make plays, its that simple.
I can buy that and some people are nice by nature. Yao in terms of attitude is like David Robinson. I don't think you go from robinson to moses. He's a good player and has played well really the whole season. I've said before that with yao you will get 30 games of mvp play, 30 games of all star play and 20 games of scrub play. So for 60 games u get mvp/all star guy.
today was the best yao looked this year. he got low position and made quick moves to the basket. then again it was the nuggets and they are probably one of the least disciplined teams in the NBA. the reason you dont see this Yao in the playoffs is because we've played the Jazz twice and their big men are great at bumping Yao and cutters away from position. i'll be happy if we play any team besides the spurs and jazz.
Just like people said if robinson was a mean sob like barkley, he wouldve been the best player in the league. You don't have to be a tough ass like chuck, but you can be a quiet angry man like Dream. The older ring winning dream was different from the angry man fighting all the time early on. Yao plays well when he's angry, so its not a skill thing, its mental. It would be nice if the switch was on more.
As long as Yao perfects his moves then it doesn't matter how nice or mean he is. He can get his turnaround jumper and hook off anytime he wants, as well as his face up jumper. As long as he keeps expanding his arsenal going towards the rim, then it won't matter if the defenders are being physical with him. Which reminds me, Yao has been doing a GREAT job in the last week or so of receiving the entry pass. He use to go and set up and just stand there like a statue with his arm out and wait for the ball. Now he's backing his man down, then he actually goes and gets the entry pass, even if it means giving up some positioning, but as soo as he gets it he starts to back his man down immediately. If he keeps putting everything together like this then that takes away a lot from the defense and leaves them with limited options.
Yao have been playing great recently, especially his moves, fadeaway, spin and shoot, fake and dribble. I hope he can keep it. Glad to see him dunk after he got the technical!
I agree. Because of Yao's size and skill, there is really no way to stop the Rockets when the team runs the inside out game to perfection. The key word, though, is team. I think more than any other star player, Yao's effectiveness is dependent upon how well the other four guys are playing their roles. When they can't or aren't doing their jobs, there are ways for the opposing team to render Yao pretty ineffective.
I doubt Yao's ever going to be a mean sob. It really wouldn't be fair for the rest of the league. But he seems to be learning to use his emotion better, and I think it's connected to his feeling that he needs to be the go-to guy for his team right now. Hopefully, this isn't just a temporary thing and it will carry over to the playoffs, when the team will need this kind of energy from him the most.
