It will be, should be, a long and potentially productive summer for the Rockets. Here's a few thoughts and opinions for JVG, Dawson, and staff. Yao Ming : Yao is only 24 years old and has only competed against this level of competition for three years now. Not much different than a young player drafted out of h.s. or early college. Absolutely great potential! But if there's a legitimate knock against Ming, it's his strength, or lack thereof. Plus his lack of aggressive attitude, a cultural thing that's difficult to change, but, IMO, is a requirement for the long term. Yao really needs a dose of the "mean", which unfortunately, doesn't come in a bottle. Maybe a summer spent playing against his peers at Fonde might help? As far as the strength issue, he can and must do something about that. One of the reasons Yao isn't a good back-to-the-basket post player is the "gorillas" in the league just muscle him out of the way and deny entry. You don't see Shaq pushed out of the blocks very often. Yao averages about 8 rebounds a game, but primarily only when no one else is around the ball; he's quite capable of doubling that 8 rpg. He's quite often easily either pushed out of the way or stripped of the ball. Those 12-15 lay-ups the Mavs scored in Game 7 are somewhat Yao's responsibility. He has to learn to follow the ball, ala Deke, and prevent those easy buckets from happening. We have to get a bigger, stronger 4 who can defend and not be an offensive liability when Howard is out. I would love to see a guy like Shawn May in Rocket Red, but that's a pipe dream, I know. But that kind of player would be ideal. A younger, faster PG is needed. I love Sura and Wesley, but neither appears to be capable of truly running an offense, particularly one involving the inside-out strategy. Rockets in general: get well and get in shape. You've got four months to heal and adjust your attitudes. Winning is about 90% mental, and at times, particularly when playing the "lesser lights" in the NBA, we didn't have tha mental toughness. It would be nice going into the playoffs next year with a "full tank" of energy!
Mutumbo: revisit fountain of youth, apparently it did wonders for you last season. Damn how can a sixty year old play that good...
we do have mike james as a quick point guard, but he really needs to be taught to calm down more. If he is the #1 offense option, go nuts...but if Yao or Tracy is on the floor, be a PG please. you are option #3 at that point.
what to do in the off-season... Yao and Deke can continue to try and teach McGrady how to use chopsticks.
I'm not a Yao apologist, but this isn't accurate. Yao isn't too weak, he's too slow. Aggresiveness is one thing...he definitely needs more of it. But muscle...he's fine. I've seen him get deep position against anyone trying to guard him. The problem is, he isn't quick enough laterally to maintain this position. He's worrying about people trying to front him constantly, which they can, and gets pushed out. The same can be said about rebounding. He generally boxes out extremely well. But he is not quick enough to get rebounds not in his area, or shots that bounce quickly off the rim. If I was coaching Yao, I would have him maintain his weight through training, but spend as much, if not more time on footwork, agility, and speed adjustments.
No worry there, the Rockets have finally found a way to make Yao the most dominant player in history of the league. They are going to trade for Josh Howard and have him stare Yao down everytime he's fouled and falls down.
Yah, T-Mac really needs to work on his chopsticks skills, it is the only weakness in his game right now. He can't meet Asian chicks like that I need to work on mine too
Yao was an absolute beast in the playoffs this year as far as aggressiveness goes. The refs screwed him and he STILL b****-slapped Dallas' frontline. That was the best thing in the playoffs this year, in that we got to see what Yao can do when he is playing with constant aggressiveness on the court. Sure, the refs will try to stop him by calling fouls on him so he would back off and be less physical, but hopefully next season we can add an enforcer-type PF who would take those fouls away from Yao when guards penetrate inside.
Check to see if a similar thread you can post in already exists before starting a new thread please : http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?threadid=96092
