off the top of my head Mark Eaton Ralph Sampson Kareem Sabonis Georghe Muresan averaged 9.8 rebs one year and he is even slower and less athletic than Yao. The only other players that didn't average at least 10 rebs a game, who were at least 7'3'', are Ilgauskas, Bol and Keith Closs.
Agreed. The problem is when tmac on court, the guards had a second guess of passing or not passing the ball to yao. When yao went up and down court without even touch the ball, he would start to question himself "am i the man of the team". When that happens, you will see the yao you saw last night. If the couch think yao is the key, he need to set to feed yao the ball. VG has to have two seperate plays for yao getting the ball low post and high post. Not to force yao to receive the ball at low post, which make defense easy to surround yao and deny his chance to get the ball. I remember Divac of Kings had more assists than their guards in couple of games last season. Rockets can use yao similar to Divac did in Kings when yao have the ball at high post. VG, please be open-minded on offense, and not put yao in the position to fail. I would like yao to take VG words very seriously and have a talk with the coach. "Coach, i think you are right. from now on, I will be very assertive. When I post up and call for the ball, i want to make sure I get the ball. Let me make the play. If i have chance to score, i will do it. If i don't, i will pass to the player have better chance to score." Will see how JVG reponse
agreed! i feel it is time for yao to talk with coach for the issue. If we can not make full use YAO's offense potential, we are just turbo houston Magic.
The first time down the court Yao had a 6'4 guy on him and never got the ball. we put him into a coma early. I agree with what was said. Rocks doesn't look to Yao until they are down 20. Then all of the sudden it's Yao time. Yao should have responded, and he didn't, but the fact still remains the team just doesn't look to establish him early in the game. And it hurts us night in and night out. Last night down 11 without Yao really getting a touch. It's absurd to me. Even when Taylor was popping his 4th point, Yao was wide open under the basket and jackson did not give him the ball despite the fact he was 2 feet from him. I just don't get it. I will agree, Yao played like crap, but if the offense is supposed to run through you and you don't get the ball time and time again. It's just ridiculous.
The only thing I don't like is that sometimes Yao gets decent position in the post, but the team doesn't pass to him right off, I think it is JVG's way to use more clock, but Yao then has to bang through the paint and get even worst positioning on the other side.
Eaton averaged 7.9 rebounds in his career. He has 2 seasons where he averaged more than 10 rebounds. Sampson, at least before his injury, was indeed a 10+ rebounder. And he was definitely more athletic than Yao. In a way, perhaps that actually hurt his ability to stay in the NBA. Kareem is only 7-2. I know this is a bit of a cop out. As for Sabonis, I have no clue how his numbers in his prime would look like had he played in the NBA. But during his time with the Blazers, he had only one season of over 10 rpg. Yao has two years. Rebounding numbers are 8.2 and 9.0. However, that's not the whole story. The Rockets under JVG are notoriously slow. So there are a lot less opportunities. I'm not saying Yao's rebounding is great. But it's certainly not horrible.
Agreed. Yao is still pretty effective from 6-8 feet out (where he usually establishes the post), but it seems that JVG doesn't want Yao to have the ball unless he is DEEP in the post. I would like to have Yao deep in the post as well, but everytime Yao touches the ball, defenses have to react no matter where he is. They'll double Yao even if he taking a 10ft fadaway, we're not making the defenses think enough.
I said this earlier in the season, and I'll continue saying it. Some of his (JVG's) plays are pointlessly useless. A lot of wasted motion to give someone the ball in even worse position. I think JVG is worried that if they just call a play that is try to post Yao on the left, but Yao's defender is fronting, then the offense will bog down. So JVG gives them more complex plays that also try and post Yao but also have other options in case the post doesn't work. The problem with this theory is: those plays SUCK. They aren't working and the offense IS bogged down. Just post Yao or just post Tracy. Don't spend 10-15 seconds running them through ineffective picks to get them the ball. If Yao is being fronted aggresively, just play smart basketball. PF runs to the high post, Yao goes out to set a pick. It's NOT that hard.
Do you think Hakeem would have accepted the team not running the offense through him? Great centers absolutely demand the ball and dictate the offense. How many backcourts do we need to go through before we stop blaming the guards? The meek may yet inherit the earth, but they don't last long in the NBA.
Come on! This is too easy: Season rebounding averages by Ralph Sampson as a Rocket: '83-'84 11.13 '84-'85 10.40 '85-'86 11.13 '86-'87 8.65 '87-'88 9.05 Ralph averaged 10.46 rebounds per game as a Rocket. After the '85-'86 season, Ralph was fighting injuries, and wasn't the same player. Sampson was 7'4". http://www.clutchfans.net/playerinfo.cfm?PlayerID=150 Yao needs to be consistent and he needs to step it up on a regular basis. I have no problem with Van Gundy saying something about it. If JVG made a habit of it, that would be a different story. I prefer that the team air it's dirty laundry behind closed doors, but sometimes, as an old Houston Oilers coach once said, you've got to bust the ***-****ed door down. Maybe he got Yao's attention. edit: hell, a couple of you beat me to it. I saw the post and knew it was, uh, wrong. Should have finished reading the thread!
Again watch the games, early and often Yao gets his player sealed off and gets position. I have yet to see the players look for him early and often. It seems when we look for him its like they are being told throw it in there. Why not realize he needs the touches. Let him make some mistakes, believe me he will, but he has demonstrated he can get his points. The same goes for TMac. We need to be more concerned with getting them off each night. This everybody can get their shot off stuff is wrong. Role players wake up and ride the big dogs. It was nice to see our role players run the score on NJ but do you think we are going through the season successful with that formula? Not against the top 10 teams in the league. Better get your chemistry right now early on feeding Yao and TMac. We will find out who the key role players are after we find out how good our horses can be together.
Couldn't say better myself. JVG is a clueless on the offensive as he good on the defensive end. I don't want JJ taking a shot unless he wide open or has a clear lane to the basket. Why do we run plays for him? There are times down the court when Yao and Tmac don't touch the ball. That is rediculous. They should run a two man game with Yao and Tmac and the only other players that should be able to take their man one on one are MoT and Lue.
Isn't Sampson more athletic than Yao is? He was 7-4, but only 230 pounds and more of a jumpshooter. He left the banging for Akeem. Ironically, Sampson might be the example of why Yao shouldn't be going up too much for rebounds. Yao play pretty grounded to the floor for a big man, which seemed to me is a deliberate way of keeping him from being injured. He is much heavier than Sampson, and would likely be more prone to knee/ankle injuries in the future by trying to be so explosive. I'd take a 20/9 guy for 10 years over a 20/12 guy for 5 years.
WHAT???? A COACH TRYING TO HOLD A PLAYER ACCOUNTABLE??? COMMENTING ON HIS PLAY ON THE COURT??? OUTRAGEOUS!!!! WHAT DOES JVG THINK WE'RE PAYING HIM FOR...TO MAKE THIS TEAM BETTER??? TO ACTUALLY COACH??? Put back on the cheerleader uniform, JVG!!! Your criticism, constructive or not, is unwelcome here!!!
Besides Yao's problem of rebounds, his assistance number is decreasing every year. Don't know if it is a good sign or not.
I think we are making alot of good points about Yao rebounding, but here are just a few observations I have noticed: 1) Yao alot of times sets up too close to the basket, leaving rebounds that ricochet out over his head. Alot of the rebounds he gets is because he boxed out another foot away from the basket and jumped towards the ball. 2) Yao is, as we all know, not the quickest jumper. But, I think that is expected out of someone who is 7'6. 3) Opposing teams run plays to take Yao away from the basket, getting him out of position and behind the offensive players boxing out. 3) Yao, being taught in a system of pure fundementals growing up, worries too much about the 'boxing out' aspect of rebounding rather than just going after it. The good rebounders are never the most fundamental, they just want the ball more than anyone. Reboundng is not about size as Barkley showed us. Yao just needs to get that mentality of doing whatever to get that ball. I think he will over time as he is still getting accustomed to the league. Anyway, that is my two cents.
Winning in spite of Yao Ming, if this team is going anywhere, we better get used to it. For every point he scores on the offensive, he costs us atleast as many with his terrible defense, get used to it, Yao will be one of the most frustrating players for years to come. He will look like he can be a dominant guy on some nights but those nights are indeed the aberrations, not nights like tonight. I quite frankly can not stand watching him lumber up and down the court and miss defensive assignment after defensive assignment but he's a Rocket and probably not going anywhere so I've got to deal but for Christ sakes can we stop this eternal wishing that he will be anything more than what he is. I can accept what Yao is but for Christ's sake leave it all on the floor just once you overgrown b%^&h. I promise you that for everything good he brings to the team there are atleast as many negatives that cancel out all the good, he is a wash at best most nights on the court and most other nights he is a downright liability. I wish we would have sent him and anyone who didn't like it (JVG YOF) off to Orl for TMAC instead of Steve and Cat. I guarantee that core would have won just as many games as this bore of a team ever would. F*&% Yao in his goat smelling arse //feel the love
JVG's calling out YM seems like a motivational ploy, and an appropriate one. Speaking of which... I wonder if Boki will play tonight.
