One thing I saw from Yao that I liked was a couple of times last nite he did not jump into the shooter instead opting to raise his arms and absorb the contact. If he can do this it will help greatly with his foul trouble.
DD, Kobe used to get a lot of easy dunks like that for Shaq. But Shaq was still the 1A option. Shaq/Duncan all had teammates create easy shots for them. You don't want your Franchise center/PF to work hard to all his points.
Summer Song Giver, I know you are a Yao-hater and all, but at least you give credit when its due. Yao is still being taught how to play American ball. I remember reading in the Chron a little while ago that he was working on absorbing contact instead of instinctively jumping up (and usually into) an attacking player. You said that Yao needs to put up numbers. I say he is beginning to do that. He needs people to give him time. It's not as tho he doesn't try or he doesn't have heart. He needs positive reenforcement (like from that black lady that bought him lunch) instead of JVG and his grumpy little clones on this board that jump all over Yao when he makes the slightest errror and are equally as quick to shrink back into their ratholes when he plays well. I believe that Yao can be a 20/10 guy. He won't be a hall of famer but he can achieve 20/10. He's been more physical as of late and it's shown in his FTAs and his boards. I hope he keeps it up.
Quakes, I also noticed two of his Shaq-like dunks last night, where he hung onto the rim and could have ripped the rim and backboard off the stancheon had he held on a little longer.
how many TRULY GREAT big men have there been in history? By truly great, I mean flat out dominating the competition. Wilt, russel, kareem, hakeem, moses, walton, shaq and you might be able to argue for Drob and Ewing's cases. I think Yao will do fine considering every other center in the league sucks ass right now.
i was thinking the same thing when I saw that last night. Apparently, Yao listened, and responded with such smart defensive plays. He just gotta use his height advantage to the limit. I totally believe Yao is getting better and better.
Nice post, R2K. I don't agree with Almu about knowing yet how Yao will pan out, because every player progresses at a different rate (although I've seen several great centers who "got it" from the get-go, like Elvin, Moses, Ralph, Akeem and so on and so on...), and I've seen plenty of brilliance from Yao, scattered through his brief career with us. I wish some of his fans weren't so quick to dismiss any criticism of his play. For example, you are dead to rights about him not being prepared for passes like one would expect by now. I think a lot of his problems, including that one, are related to more of a weight gain than he should carry. Where's the quickness he had in year one? Where's the great passing from him? He is having some problems adjusting to the huge turnover of players, but I think he will make that adjustment. I think he should lose a few pounds. I'd rather have the quickness back, instead of seeing an attempt to turn him into "Shaq II." He has to get used to two new points, which takes awhile, but are damned better than who they're replacing. There is a lot that Yao needs to work on, and I think he could use a different mentor now on the bench with him. How much more can he learn from Ewing? He's learning from Deke now, which is great, but I think he needs more. In short, the jury is still out. I still optimistic, just more concerned. Last night was a great experience.
The one play i liked was when Duncan went right at Yao, and Yao jumped straight up with both hands straight up. There was contact, but it rightfully was not called, and Duncan missed the tough shot. All shotblockers jump straight up and do not get called for contact. Only Yao has been a victim of that consistently. I'm just glad they let the guy play for once. Yao should not be penalized for having position and going straight up. Against Dickau of all people, Yao was called for this. Just remembering all the things Francis used to do, if the refs called a foul on the center everytime he jumped to stop Francis, then he would have averaged 35 points.
I can not agree with you any more. I just don't understand what you guys talking about here? Yao played great with toughness yesterday night. You guys said he played soft. This is so far the most agressive game I have seen from yao. Instead of making jump shot (he did only one time yesterday). He attack more on the basket which can be seen from his FT. I just do not understand why there are so many Yao haters? Ok, trade him! I would rather watch him play for lal instaed of boring rockets and you stupid f@@@@@s.
Don't pretend that you're a Yao fan. You are not. If you are going to nitpick everything negative about a player, every player has long sheet you can fill the negative things with. For example, you can say Tim Duncan is a bad free throw shooter. Jordan does not hit his three pointers consistently. Why does Jabbar playing so soft and avoiding contact and try to get a hook shot off, why didn't he just brute his way in for a dunk. Why is Shaq so sorry looking at the free throw line? Why was Wilt Chamberlin running away from much smaller guys trying to foul him because he's sorry at the free throw line. If Yao is soft, why was he pick his battle with Shaq last season and go head to head with Shaq, and won that battle. If nobody gives a damn about Yao's defensive presence, how come I saw Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, and many other great offensive players stop and choose to kick it back out when Yao rotates and defend against them in the paint. As for rebound the ball and getting the rebound knock out of his hand, I wonder how a player can be sandwitched between two opponents, and did not have space to grab the rebound cleanly and a chance to hold it in. I appreciate the effort of Yao fighting two or three guys for a loose ball, and you're nitpicking him being strip (by the way, most of the time it's foul, guys hitting on Yao in all different angles) when he fights his life out for that loose ball. Where's our PF for helping Yao out for that board? As for the sorry games Yao had this season, it's pretty bad but the whole freaking team is in a slump, not just Yao.
Yao played a great game.. He scored efficiently. He defended well without fouling even blocked 2 shots. He pulled down 10 rebounds (6 offensive) over Duncan and co. I saw some differences in this game too.. He defended better on the PnR He seemed to move his feet better especially guarding Duncan I loved the authority of his jams almost shook the rim down. I think its incorrect to say Yao doesnt play with heart.. he plays with heart every game but yesterday he played with authority. J
I was thinking the same thing on that same play. Way to watch you're man stay after the ball Yao. He had a pretty solid statistical game, but it's hard watching the tallest guy in the NBA get outrebounded by guards, get his shot blocked 4, 5, 6 times a game and turn the ball over numerous times by putting the ball on the floor unnecessarily. People need to take off their Yao-colored glasses. He's a good player and is still young, but it's going to take alot for him to be mentioned with the greats when his career is done. BTW, it's amazing how negative Yao threads are always rated poorly no matter how good the discussion is.
i don't disagree with everything in the original post, yao's charmin soft for sure, but i think you picked the wrong game to use to blast yao. he played strong against the best defensive team in the league.
I'm hoping Yao will get more aggressive when he gets more confident. He still seems hesitant/awkward. He just needs to stop thinking about what he's gonna do and start playing basketball.
I think a characteristic unique to Yao is that when he fails, he always looks especially awkward doing it (arms flailing, tumbling bow legged on to the court, head lolling, expression of hurt and disgust directed at officials) and that has a tendency to stick in one's memory more, thus making his failures seem more prominent and frequent than they actually are.
Another problem with Yao, as JVG pointed out, is the HUGE difference in stats for home games and away games. Speaking of stats, it is amazing to see Yao grabed only 10 rbs in 35 min, and Mutombo grabed 8 in 13 min!! I won't say Yao is soft or anything. But he definitely regressed while Amare and Lebron both made GREAT progress at the same time.
Sam, Interesting comment. Gang, No one here is bashing Yao, at least I ain't. I love the guy, I just think he is too nice to ever dominate, that does not make him bad, just not a franchise player. I think Tmac should be the leader, and Yao should be the side kick. Carry on. DD
I think alot of people are misinterpreting the posts from people the call "Yao-haters". Okay he had a great game but he is still making some basic mental mistakes that he has had problems with over his career. In order to take his game to the next level he needs to correct those issues. He also has to be consistent. For ever great game he has he somehow takes a couple steps back over the next fews games.
I wouldn't say regressed - more of a flatline. Between season one and season two, there was a big difference in Yao's play - he was more physical and more aggressive in the low post. But now, between season two and three, I can't really say he has noticeably improved in any area of his game. I won't say he has peaked, but he has definitely slowed down in improvement.
