I saw him dive after a ball once. He may have gotten his knee messed up on the floor after doing that. Other than that, I don't know.
The only negatives I can see on Ming is basketball smarts. He needs a summer camp with Divac, and learn the smarts of playing center. Most of the fouls were on bonehead plays. He dives into 5 players trying to recover a ball (stupid, let the little guys do the diving). He has his feet planted PERFECT to draw the foul on Andre Miller (?), and he decides to jump at him last second. ((He jumps he gets the foul, stays planted and draws a charge)) Also, why in the hell was Bateer and Ming on the same side of the court, calling for the ball down low. Boy talk about the galleria traffic. How many times were all 10 players under the basket, when china made its bonehead move? Talk about stupid coaching. For postives, nobody can deny the impact Ming will have in the NBA. Just imagine the Hakeem days when the court was nice and spreadout and Hakeem got the ball (with ease) every time he called for it. We all know that Ming can probably hit 80% of those kind of shots (with the spacing of the NBA). He kind of reminds me of Purvis Short, with one of those high rainbows shots (during his fadeaway). Anybody know if Francis was there?
I don't know about that. If he didn't go after iit, he'd be labeled as having no heart. As for the other fouls, he usually had to guard 2 or 3 guys all in one area, and he got some fouls. When someone drove, he either had to contest him or stay with his man. IMO, he did the right thing in contesting the drive. I think with better teammates, he won't have to guard that many players so his fouls will go down. I too believe Yao could do very well if he had the ball. Don't know if Francis was there.
Bottom line IMO-Put some teammates around him, and you've got a dangerous team. Everything the US did had limiting Ming in mind. They'd have 2 guys on him BEFORE he got the ball. Their game changed completely when Ming was in the middle, and when he was on the sidelines. Put some athleticism around him, some guards who can handle the ball, take it to the hoop, and shoot, and someone who can swat shots alongside him, and you've got a team. Look at how much Ming affected the shots taken. EVERYTHING was either outside, or a play designed to take Ming away from the basket. Put Griffin there, with his natural shot blocking skills, and pogo-like athleticism, and Ming becomes more effective. When the guards did just decent in the first quarter-ie, hit open shots, China could build a double digit lead. This year is going to be fun.
RC, while I agree that not diving for balls could be labeled as lazy - Ming has to look at the bigger picture. He destroyed Algeria (?) while he stayed out of foul trouble, and was useless playing Germany (from the bench). If he is going to take the risk on picking up fouls, then do it by protecting the basket, not by diving into 5-6 players for a ball moving away from you.
I don't think not fouling is that easy. From what I could tell, he always had a tough choice: stand ground and give up layup, or contest shot but give way to open man to basket. Sometimes, he would try to do both. When he did, he got a foul. Might I add that 2 or so fouls were borderline, imo. The other players were getting away with more. I don't think we will see how much trouble he has with fouling until the season starts. He shouldn't have to worry about a guard driving in the lane every other play. And if they did, Griff may be there with him. edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he did seem to be less aggressive after getting 3 fouls. He could of had an additional 2 or 3 blocks, but stayed on the floor to prevent getting a foul.
it is all about heart, and desire...if he doesn't have those, he won't even make that far..(see bradley)..his instinct let him diving to the floor, I like it
China's perimeter defense was terrible, but is it really that much worse than the Rockets? We were the worst defensive team in the league last year by far. Ming may get in foul trouble with the Rockets because he'll face the same stream of penetrators getting to the basket that he did against the US team.
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Oh it's MUCH worse. And you're forgetting, Ming will have shot-blocking help, Griffin and Cato, so he won't have to go after every shot and get into foul trouble.
