Throwin' Elbows: Yao's hitting the rookie wall a bit early

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Throwin' Elbows: Yao's hitting the rookie wall a bit early
By Sean Deveney - Sporting News


When you shake the hand of Rockets center Yao Ming, unless you've got a palm the size of a tennis racket, his fingers wind up clenching your wrist, yet another reminder of just how massive this guy is. Which leads to an obvious question, one I asked him before Wednesday's game against the Magic in Orlando: What the heck does a guy his size do to get such a sweet-looking jump shot?

Yao's answer was typically humble: "Well, my jump shot has not been too good lately, so ..."

Indeed, Yao slumped entering the game against the Magic, shooting 7-for-22 over the Rockets' previous two games, part of a wider, 37-for-84 (.440) trend that has caused him to slip out of the league lead for field-goal percentage. In the coming weeks, most rookies will hit "the wall," that time when they feel their legs deaden and find energy tough to come by.

Yao is familiar with the idea of a rookie wall, but he is getting there quicker because of a brutal offseason schedule. He began traveling with the Chinese national team at the beginning of August, in preparation for the World Championship in Indianapolis. He played in the championship tournament for two weeks, too, and then went back to China for the Asian Games.

Yao admits to being tired, and Rockets GM Carroll Dawson said Wednesday night that fatigue is a concern.

"It's something that you can see with him, maybe not having as much energy sometimes," Dawson says. "It's something that you know is going to catch up with him, because of the schedule he kept before the season. And just being on an NBA schedule, with the travel and all, is tough on anybody."

The fatigue is badly timed for Yao. Opponents are being more physical with him, and he's finding it tougher to fight for position. When Yao was first breaking through in the league in late November, teams were faced with the question of whether to double him or leave him one-on-one. Teams that chose to double paid a price -- at 7-5, he is tall enough to pass and shoot over double-teams. The Spurs found that out, as they doubled Yao and watched him still get 27 points and 18 rebounds.

Instead, opposing teams have found success by putting a strong big man on Yao and muscling him out of his comfort zone within 10 feet of the basket. The Hornets alternated Jamaal Magloire and Elden Campbell with this task and held Yao to 7-for-19 shooting. The Knicks did it with Kurt Thomas, and Yao shot only 5-for-12.

"He'll get stronger up top," one Eastern Conference scout said. "When that happens, he won't be moved easily. Even now, he's not easy to move. But you've got to push him, shove him, whatever you can get away with, to not let him be comfortable down there."

When facing the Magic, Yao had little trouble setting up shop on undersized center Shawn Kemp, who got two quick fouls and was a non-factor. Reserve Pat Burke fared slightly better, but he did not have the strength to force Yao off the block, and that allowed Yao to get that sweet stroke going again. He was 8-for-14, for 23 points.

"I probably let him get too deep," Burke says. "I was trying to be careful with him."