what's all this talk about "tmac is the leader/no, yao is the leader"? Why must there be a "leader" for a team to succeed? Shouldn't we be glad we have two players who could be unstoppable on any given night? It's very rare that both players are off their games on the same night, so we would have at least one guy playing well. Why are there so many haters on this board? We all know Yao is going to give us 20/10 by the end of this season and probably every season after this for the rest of his career. I don't know what you guys want when you want Yao to "dominate", but I'd be happy to take 20/10 from my center ANY DAY of the week. And another thing...anyone who still thinks Yao is still comparable to Rik Smits should be shot for stupidity.
BS post. Bringing up a scouting report from 2002 is like reading a scouting report on Penny Hardaway from 7 years ago and measuring what his performance is now, its not relevant. Best evaluation of his talent is by the players he plays against, Almu have you seen what Shaq, Brad Miller, Chris Kaman, T-Mac, Vlade Divac have said about Yao, all positive. And how if he is a the second coming of Shawn Bradley, is every team doubling/fronting him, thats respect in my opinion. Yao is improving, I liked his aggression against the top defensive team yesterday. I don't ever remember him doing an alley oop like he did with Bob Sura yesterday. He definitely appears intent on taking it strong to the hole. I think he has some problems that can be fixed that would make him an even better player, he seems to have some problems catching passes, I would do drills with him where quick passes are thrown to him to improve his reaction time and hands. I think he needs to learn better positioning on rebounds and I have actually seen an improvement over that last several games, for example he needs to be on the weakside of the basket if a shooter puts up a shot from the corner on the strong side. His conditioning can be improved and he definitely can play more minutes now than when he came into the league. It is up to Yao to motivate himself to want to become the dominant center the Rox want and I think he has the pride and motivation to do that. Hell if it was me and I saw that the endorsement dollars and max contracts that hinged on me being becoming a superstar, I would be motivated.
Except cheaper house and that old African lady who bought a lunch for Yao, give me one single reason why Yao want to play for Rockets after he becomes a free-agent ( Coach, fans, growing Yao haters on this BBS even after he pplay a great game) ?
Sometimes I think we fans are a little critical on Yao. It's good to hold him to high standard, but we need to be fair. For example, Yao does get his shots blocked every game, but he still shoots a respectable 51%, which is as good as Dream. Yao has a lot of stupid TOs too, but again, if you check the TOs of Shaq and Dream, Yao's even slightly better in this department. Make no mistake at all, Yao has touched the ball a lot this season. What if we had a bbs in the Akeem era? I am pretty sure Dream would have been crusified to death in early 90s.
You are right. Yao himself is not feeling well for those haters (on the chinese website). I think Yao will consider leaving after this year.
Good post. I wanted to add that he seems to have gotten better in not picking up stupid fouls early in games. Over the past 3 games he has stayed out of foul trouble (and we won all 3). Additionally I think he will improve on his turnovers as well. Like Keepkenny said, he will eventually improve on catching the ball and not losing it out of bounds or to the other team. I am still not convinced that he will become a dominant center. BUT as long as T-Mac can play the role of Batman we only need Yao to be Robin.
Really I think Yao has taken Steve's role on this board. That's if anything goes wrong, it's Yao fault. If anything not goes particlarly wrong, there's still something wrong with Yao. Every Yao's mistake is 1000% zoomed. That's ok, I think it's what happen when the honey moon period is over and expectation is higher and higher. I just hope fans here would one day realise that 7'6 still may have his limitations. He cant jump. He's slow in both physical speed and reflection speed. His stamina is bad. Just like maybe u r 5'10 but KG may still much quicker than u. Once u recognise his limitations, then u would make your criticism more accurate. Really can "aggressive" make u jump higher to grab rebounds and to block shots and to dunk the balls? Can "aggressive" make u move quicker to defend or attack? And please dont conclude his limitations as being "soft". I am really tired of it. U dont move quicker than KG not because u r "soft". It's the limitation of your physical attributes. Maybe u should consider trade Yao for Keyon "I am roaring after every dunk" Martin. He has grand total of 13.5pts, 7.8rebs and 1.0block with his MAX contract. But that's ok, he roars after dunks that means he's not "soft". Many fans seem like style rather than substance. It's not like I ask u guys to accept yao as who he is now. He should improve and he must improve. After this season, I feel confident that his stamina can improve ultimately to play 38-40 effective mins ( may need few more seasons). I dont feel confident that he will ever greatly improve his quickness and vertical leap for the rest of his career. His development will be greatly limited by these weaknesses. But still he has his strengths: mostly his offensive moves. My only concern is: Can JVG develop a system to give him the ball at low post CONSISTENLY? Or any coach can develop a system like that for that matter? If u think JVG cant or no one can because of his limitations (lack of quickness to play against fronting), then I think to trade him while his stock is still rather high is the only way to go.
Don't you understand that's what we americans do. We used to hate the Russians, now they are no longer a threat, so we need to find a replacement, that's why the communist China had the luck. Same thing with the Rockets, we got to find someone else to pour our fraustration on after Francis' departure. TMac is new here, JVG doesn't play, so Yao is the easy target.
Give me a break. Yao being Chinese doesn't have anything to do with this. I don't doubt if we had Eddy Curry on our team instead, he would be getting the same treatment.
Hey, read again. I know it's confusing, but I wasn't drawing any parallel in Yao as Chinese. Yao is a scapgoat as Steve was, China is the same as the Russian was. Yao just happens to be a Chinese.
Men!! Talking about dunk that statistic has say that Yao rank 7 in most dunk for NBA PLayer Leading the rank is Amare and Shaq. So shut the F***k up. If anyone fault is the role player surround ing T-mac and Yao. They score 21 out of 81 all together against the Spur.
I agree that constructive criticism is helpful but bashing is another thing. If Yao is just another Franchise-esque scapegoat then he's better off playing for some other team. Houston fans are probably too good for him anyways. I mean, just look at all the love they show their team through hard times with all those max capacity crowds at home games.
Growing up in collectivism is only one factor, the other factor is Yao isn't actually what I call a full fledged grown man, yet. Doens't mean he's soft, just not seasoned enough up to the point of taking matters with sheer will and tactics in his own hands. Growing up in a protective environment like the sports school, and keep living in the green house with his parents hindered the development of his individual sense. Also, Yao's been relatively having a smooth career. Making the all star and starting over Shaq in the rookie year etc... The hype has made it easier on him until now. Nothing makes a man grow up like adversities. The leadership role, the losing, the hassling of the refs, the offensively stubborn coach, the media criticism... sometimes I feel all these tests are going to pay off one day for Yao, as long as he keeps his chin up. Living in America has changed his personality somewhat. People say he's being Americanized after he openly blasted his team after the losses in the Olympics, something the Chinese athletes rarely rarely do. After several years of age and being more Americanized, I'm sure his mental makeup will change with the degree of change in his own hands. That's a reason I'm opposed to trade ideas for anything less than a top 8 player or two all stars with Yao until he reaches his prime in skills, and becomes more like a full fledged man inside... like maybe around 27. I wouldn't confuse being blocked and TOs with being unable to dominate. Those are things that make a player look less dominant. Just like I wouldn't say Darvin Ham is dominant because he dunked over defenders 5 times in a game. Yao will always look less dominant than he actually is because of these detriments.
Yao ain't going anywhere, and all you sensitive people need to take a chill pill or leave. Nothing wrong with constructive criticism. Yao could be MUCH GREATER than he is...all he has to do is WANT TO !!! No hating, just the truth. DD
Hard to believe. Do you have a link? If that's the case, then why do some of the guys here keep b****ing that Yao doesn't dunk? Is it because they don't watch the games or what?
He had 3 or 4 last night, mostly on passes from Barrett or put backs. I liked his aggression last night, he was really into the game, too often he settles rather than being involved. It is all up to Yao, he can be as good as he wants to be. DD
A center who can manage 27 and 10 with this offense and no shooters (well, with one exception) kicks a lot of ass.
Just one more thing, has anyone else noticed that YAO has not missed a single game since he became a Rocket? In contrast, Shaq has not had a single season when he did not miss games ...
