Today Yao is disappointing, did you notice how hard for him to just shot one basket. clearly he is running out of gas from past 5 games in 7 days. Look at the minues he palyed: Nov 17 Spur 41:53 (longest in the team) Nov 18 Piston 37:23 ( 1 second less than longest) Nov 20 pacer 42:09 (longest in the team) Nov 22 dallas 37:08 ( 2nd longest) Nov 23 Sun 27 ( already struggle for the first half) It's rare to play your big man so much, especially when the schedule is so tense. I am not sure how JVG thinking, maybe he want a win so much. But on the flip side we saw Yao's efficiency droped dramaticlly. We know Yao should increase his minues from last season, but that add is too much for him all of the sudden. so sit him more when he is struggle, give more time to swift.
The reason why yao is failing in so many peoples eyes is because we had unrealistic expectations. i myself fell for this media hyping trick. the media built him up as the next dream or shaq, and the reality is, he is nothing more then a slighty better version of Rick smits. BTW, Us Rockets fans have been spoilt rottenly with great big men, like Ralph Sampson, Olajuwon and so on. we had this false expectation that yao is gonna carry on the tradition.
I absolutely agree that Yao has played way too many minutes and Van Gundy depends on Yao to carry the team far too much when he's just not someone you want to give too many responsibilities to. There are just certain teams that Yao doesn't match up with well and he's likely never going to match up well with. The team played better in that second quarter with the small ball lineup with Swift at center. He should have stuck with that lineup more in the second half, instead of trying to force Yao to have an impact on the game when it was clear it just wasn't going to happen.
I would say Yao's minutes should totally depend on his comfatable zone. Probably 5-6 mintues the first quater. He agreed himself once he has to take a rest after his initial start. This has been his habit when he played CBA in China. After that, every 7 mintues he should take a break. Not a long break, just breathe. So far, JVG is just abusing him. Maybe for the purpose of looking into his potential or something, whatever. But to me the current problem with rocket is on JVG. Remeber he had the same problem last season after the big trade of SF3 and TMac. JVG is obviously a guy who like to do everything together. Ajustment of a team should not be done in such a hurry. Spur never did that. Swift, DA, Alstom, Head. I agree these four have very good skill and potential. But I have to say for the current situation, the 8 player's rotation should include Yao,Howard,Bowen,Barry,Moochie,Wesley. They should form the starters also for whoever is faced. Then put the other new players in just for substitue. Head and Anderson will be good choice for their current state. Let swift and others wait on bench and watch and think how rockets win 50+ last year, how the system runs. I really don't like Head yesterday on one scene that he just didn't want to throw the ball to Yao. He is just a rookie who happened had a breakout the other day and got 28 points. He thought he had reached a level of superstar.
Did you watch last night's game. It's not Yao. It's Luther Head. This kis forgot who he is after the game against Mavs. He is a loser.
Really? The last time I've head, the media including most of the member on this board had predicted him to be a stiff and a bust ala Shawn Bradley. Did I miss something here?
Stiff? most people were calling him the next dream. foot work like the dream.i cant really remember anyone perdicting him to be a bradley. anyhow, JVG needs to stop over working yao on defense. we know he lacks stamina, yet instead of masking his weakness, we expose it.
