[TrueHoop] Remember When They Considered Yao Ming Soft?

Once again I have brought out yao mings publicist in IBM. Its cool, we can always have hoops discussion and never get personal.

What I said was that Daughtery and robinson were considered finesse players. They were on winners and Robinson is hof. Daughtery if not for a bad back was a good center also. I'm saying its not anything wrong with being soft or finess which is what yao is.

When I say smaller players challenge him too much, its the fact that Yao doesn't earn his fouls. When those small guys jump into his body, get ur moneys worth and put a guy on the ground. Its all about intimidation in the paint. Players need to know just like when a young shaq manned the paint is that if I go and try to dunk it, I might get my back dirty. Has Yao ever had a flagrant or hard foul? We know players have fouled him and thrown him to the ground without retaliation.

If yao isn't considered soft, why does so many people want the rox to have someone to watch his back? Yao should be watching people backs, not getting people to watch his back. The Rox traded thorpe for clyde and basically played a 3 at the 4. No one ever thought about getting someone to watch hakeems back. No one ever thought someone neede to watch shaq,hakeem or duncans back.

Have u noticed no one has called the spurs soft since duncan has been there? From 89 till 97 people called the spurs soft. Since Duncan has been there, there haven't been any mention of soft. Action speaks loader than words.

 

Look at the last sentence of the article, he compared Shaq to a dog.

"He may not be the bull mastiff Shaquille O'Neal once was, but he's no toy poodle either."

Where does it say anything about Alpha Dogs? Thanks for the history lesson on the meaning of the phrase. I really had no clue what it meant.

 

Mentally, Yao is not soft. Yao wants to win and tries to compete. He doesnt take the easy way to score either.

Physically, Yao has his limitation. Name another guy taller than 7'3 in the history of NBA was as tough as Yao in his days.

At the end of the day, Yao's averaging 22 some points, 11 borads, 2 and half blocks, a couple of dishes, ton of intimidation and indirect dishes. There is nothing soft about his game. He is working his tail off out there for us to have some fun. Be gracious.

 

Thank you for making sense, unlike some posters in here (leebigez). I think what the resident hater in here wants is Yao to knock down every guy driving down the lane so we can lose him to foul trouble in the first quarter. If you watch Yao play, he tries hard NOT to pick up the foul. Ironically, when you try not to foul, you can't also knock the guy down. You'll be the first one complaining if Yao actually took your advice and patrolled the paint with the mindset of breaking bones.
Also, people don't call Duncan or the Spurs soft because they win. People don't call Dwight soft because he dunks the ball every time down. Yao, on the other hand, doesn't dunk and hasn't gotten out of the first round. No one calls him soft for the idiotic reasons you posted.

 

ya look at all the playoff series/rings that guy has won. for sure.

 

I don't think it's fair at this point to call Yao soft but he definitely is not a power center like he could be. He still rarely goes to a pure backdown like Shaq and tends to shoot fallaway jumpers when he doesn't get the ball in close. Remember, there is a big difference between being soft and being finesse.

 

That's funny, everyone that ever played with or against Yao did not think that he is soft!

Only a few of you Yao haters on this board say he is soft, you haters why don't you go and masticate on each others!

 

i didn't come here to change your mind. neither would you change mine.

2 points.

#1, from webster online -

publicist

Main Entry: pub·li·cist
Function: noun
Date: 1792
1 a: an expert in international law b: an expert or commentator on public affairs
2: one that publicizes; specifically : press agent

l love the label you put on me, but apparently, according to the dictionary, you used a wrong word.


#2, it's all about intimidation. true. i agree. but how many times do we hear drexler and worrell say yao INTIMIDATE an opponent on a nightly basis? obviously your opinion is not only different from mine, but from the ones of the majority in this thread and of drexler's and bill's. keep in mind that intimidation does NOT equal throwing someone to the floor; nor should it equal a fist fight in a game.

yao always needs someone to "watch his back"? since when? who is currently on our team "watching his back"? that is funny, man.

 

the ball gets stripped. hehehe I keeeeed.

 

mm.... maybe next time you should watch the game closely and count how many times people go inside and see/feel Yao and decide to go back outside.

 

I do think Yao sometimes plays a bit too cautious. It's not like most fans want him to play like a jexk, but if he shows his aggression more, such as using his elbows once in a while and doing more hardfouls the defenders will learn to back off a bit and give him more room. I think he has improved in this season, but you still see in some games once he's got an early foul he plays cautious, and as a result the defenders swarm him more and Yao receives more ticky-tack fouls. And unfortunately some refs tend to be more strict on those rule-abiding players because they give them a "passive" impression. There's a fine line somewhere Yao just has to learn that to be "reasonably mean".

 

how many NBA players have ever played with or against Yao? and How did you know their opinion on Yao?

 

Well I definitely remember post-games quotes praising Yao from Gerald Wallace, Duncan, Shaq, Avery Johnson, Stephen Jackson, Hawks' coach, etc... I can go on and on.
He obviously doesn't mean EVERY single player who played against Yao. But, there has been an increasing trend of people realizing that Yao isn't the same 'soft' guy in his earlier days.

 

Well said.

 

yeah.. I am sure most centers, coming from a different country, learning a new language, at 5 years in the league would have won at least 3 titles by now especially considering the all-star talent he's had surrounding him the first few years. /sarcasm

 

Say what u want, but late in the game and during the playoffs u can't give up a layup! This is the nba! If u stand with ur arms up and guys jump into u, its going to be and 1.

There is a code of hoops that eiither yao doesn't want to grasp or is too much of a gentleman. Either way,its called no layups. Late games and playoffs u can't give up layups,bottomline.

I don't think yao is rik smits or divac soft, but u can't watch the rox without saying yao is going up soft. I still like him on the rox just like the spurs enjoyed robinson production. That still doesn't discount his softness.

 

okay, yao is soft. happy now, "hard" (i mean tough) guy?

but if you want to convince people, you'd better make some good arguments with facts and reasoning to back them up. in my 2 months on this board so far, i haven't seen too many from you.

 

That's the old NBA, when teams had power forwards like Maurice Lucas and Rick Mahorn who would hurt you for coming down the lane. Rule changes and league discretion have virtually outlawed that kind of defense.

 

Yao is certainly not soft: mentally, he's one of the toughest players in the gme. He never quits, not when hes tired, notwhen we're losing, notwhen he's hurt or sick. That's the definition of toughness to me.

I think what a lot of people are conflating with being soft is the TECHNIQUES Yao normally employs to score: Layups, hooks, and turnarounds instead of dunks. It may LOOK soft, but it's also effective (see: Yao's shooting percentage).

Would it be nice if he dunked more? Yes, of course...

But it's harder for Yao to dunk than other guys--I KNOW he's 7'6", but that only helps him with the VERTICAL aspect of dunking. His LATERAL (side to side) jumping ability, while absolutely superb for a guy his size, is also very limited. He can get UP enough to dunk, but has trouble covering ground while airborn.

So when other players (Amare, for example) might be able to dunk a ball from way out, or jumping at a wierd angle, or coming off balance, that's a LOT harder for Yao. It risks failing and it risks injury. So let the dude shoot layups.

Calling Yao soft is like calling Jordan soft late in his career for shooting turnarounds instead of dunking on everybody--its a question of TECHNIQUE USED, not of being SOFT or TOUGH.

 

ibm- I think u watch hoops close enough to believe what ur eyes tell u. Tonight, monitor how many times within 5ft of the basket the yao has a chance to get a bucket plus a foul.

Also late in the game when james starts to attack the hoop, check the cheap fouls.

The poster say the old code is dead, that's a lie. The really good teams don't give up layups in the 4th. U foul the guy and make him earn it at the line.

I guess my expectation of yao is higher than a lot of people. The yao that played against gsw and phoe should be here every night. Its not the numbers, it was the ferocity,determination and the intimidation that he played with. That yao can help the rox be a contender. The ok to good yao isn't good enough to help this team overcome their flaws.