I've seen Yao make some really nice passes. The main problem I have with Yao's passing is that he does it sometimes when he should be shooting. His defense is lacking in some of the basics. He doesn't box out enough, though I have seen some improvement in that area. He does fall for some ball fakes that he shouldn't, but he's made progress in that area too. I don't doubt his ability in either passing, or defense, or scoring. The only doubts I have concerning Yao are in his willingness/ability to take over consistently when the game is on the line. Even those doubts don't rise to the level that I think we have to abandon ship at this stage of the game with Yao.
Yep... Part technique (timing and blocking out), part desire, part leaping quickness.... Size is a bonus. If Yao doesn't average more...we'll know what the problem(s) were.
Makes many of the points I was going to make. I was also going to add that the amount of times that Yao's passing is thrown off by poor entry passes to him are extremely miniscule especially during the playoffs when much of the plays where Yao was a designated passer occurred with Yao playing the high screen and roll, or set ups where Yao was out away from the basket. I would also like to add that I mostly disagree with the idea that Yao was a poor passer either through his own fault or the fault of others.
I'll always remember a quote by Moses Malone on rebounding that was in my old YMCA basketball players handbook. It said something like "To be a good rebounder, you just envision where the ball is going to go, and you go to that spot, no matter what" It sounds so ridiculously simple so as to be stupid, but it really is true. It's about getting to the spot and not letting anybody stop you.
Sometimes I wonder if Yao was so used to just tiping the ball to himself (in the China league) that he really didn't have to develop a "desire (always had an advantage)" I remember back in his rookie season he would do the "tip the ball thing" more often than not. It was terrible. Many times he'd lose the rebound to some quicker 6'7" guy. Last year, it wasn't so bad because he would actually go "get the frikin thing" with both hands! Other than a lot more desire, he still needs to block-the-frick-out! That's the last thing that bugs me about his rebounding....little improvement in that respect. Funny thing is, the few times that he did block out, someone "pulled the chair on him" and he landed on his butt. Heh... P.S. Eduardo Najera is Yao's greatest nemesis in rebouding desire.
Yao has not learned many basic skills like boxing out,rebounding and defense. There are players who are faster and stronger than him as well. He is just starting to learn things that he didn't do before he joined the NBA. This doesn't excuse him from letting a guy like Boykins grab a rebound from him. I'm concerned about his mental attitude. When he doing well he is very good but when things start to go wrong he looks very ordinary and is not able to put his skills to any use. I think he will get better with experience but he needs to stop overthinking everytime and try to play his natural game. I don't think there is any reason to trade him. We need to surround him with players who can help to overcome his weaknesses to a certain extent.
If you were going to trade Yao, couldn't you at least think of better players to get back in return? Unlike most ppl I like reading trade threads, and there have some creative (and some ridiculously complex) trades suggested in the past. But this is just pathetic.
you're trading a franchise player for a bunch of scrubs or above average players. van exel WAS good, now he's old. He has about 3-4 years in him. The rest of the players are role players at best. Yao's only 23 and still improving.
1) Well...you have to fire JVG first for this line up. 2) This line up is worst than MAVS and Kings, and you know those two teams end up. By the way, I hate this "I know I'm going to piss you off, I still want to say it or do it" attitude.
I think Yao can definitely improve his rebounding, if he just changes his technique. Whenever the ball goes up, Yao always looks at his man to make sure he doesn't get around him, and he often doesn't turn around until the last second, when the ball has descended to where he can reach it standing up. This negates most of his height advantage because anybody can jump up over Yao if he is standing still. Am I the only one that notices this. What he should be doing is when the ball goes up, he quickly bodies up his man, looks up at the shot, and anticipate to the spot he thinks it will go to. Then time his jump so he gets the ball at the apex of his leap. This would easily give him 2-3 more rpg. I'm not one that always blames the coaching staff for Yao's deficiencies, but I don't see why they aren't addressing this bad habit of Yao's. I mean, JVG and Ewing will talk about how Yao needs to get more aggressive on offense until they're blue in the face, but I've never heard them address Yao's poor rebounding technique. Oh and to the thread starter, I don't care how overrated you think Yao is, you don't trade him for a declining Van Exel and role players. In fact the more overrated Yao is, the better his trade value, so trading him for Golden State's junk is just ridiculous.
I won't even defend Yao's lack of rebounding skills. IMO i think it's just because he never had to actually box out and fight for rebounds in china. there's no ben wallace, shaq, or even najera over there. i haven't seen any asian games yet so maybe i'm right maybe i'm wrong. but all i know is he volleyed that ball a lot until that good month he had (feb? mar?) and then he went back to his volleyballing ways.
I can't wait this trade to happen. Yao can't play "big". We can change our slogan to "Be part of something dribbling". Wow....I am so excited that I feel dizzy when I even think about it. Toyota center will be full every match. Lets get real here, PG Stevie/Van Excel SG CAT/Van Excel SF JJ/Dunleavy/Boki PF Cardinal/MoTaylor C Dampier/Cato what can u say, "Dynasty". Who doesnt want to see this team play. Let us all hope that warriors will be stupid enough to do that trade. Otherwise let's hope Yao will walk away after his contract is up, then SF will blossom w/o yao pulling his back.
I blame a lack of passing from Yao on the offensive system. In other offenses, you see big men like Webber, Malone, Divac just holding the ball and making pinpoint backdoor passes to cutters. In our offense, Yao gets the ball, and is sometimes doubled, which leads to swinging the ball around the horn for 3's. He rarely has much of an opportunity to hit cutters because there either are no cutters, or they are too small, or they just don't finish. So many times Yao has actually hit the cutter for them to blow the wide open layup. Cat missed one in the playoffs, and Boki, Pike, etc. missed several during the season. Despite the lack of many good passing opportunities, Yao has impressed me with many incredible passes that come out of nowhere, like the jai alai pass during his rookie year. I believe he definately has the potential to become a prolific passing center in this league.
I'll sweaten the deal, if GS also sends J-Rich and Murphy would the two sides do it ? Houston lineup PG Steve/NVE (or speedy if NVE is too expensive) SG Richarson/Cat/JJ SF Dunleavy/JJ/Boki PF Murphy/ whoever C Dampier/ whoever GS lineup Yao Or does this make both sides worse? Just for fun.
wow. hadn't read this until now... and dayum that IS outside the box. tell you what though... in the short run this ain't really that bad a trade for Houston. you are getting quality players back in return. and how good is Yao anyway? but here's the reasons I wouldn't do it. 1. just spent a whole season adjusting to build around Yao. this throws it away, and next season we have to re-adjust. 2. the new team will never challenge the upper echelon of the west. whereas say Yao actually becomes better, then we have a chance.
Yes, that worked tremendously in past seasons. Just look at all the rings the Kings, Mavs, Grizzlies and Nets have racked up .
