Q: When Rudy was coaching, when was the last time that YM got the single digtal point? A: One month ago when Rockets played Celtics. Wait a minute. YM was double-teamed in that game from the first minute, and he played 40 minutes and contributed to the win of Rockets. OK. Take that game out, the last time when YM got a single digtal point is two month ago when we played pistons at home. Q: When was the last time that YM played less than 16 minutes in one game? A: Jan 11 when we played Nuggets at home. YM played 11 minutes. Wait a minute, He was injuried at the first quarter. OK, take that game out. The last time when YM played 16- minutes was almost 5 months ago. It was Nov 15 last year when we played Suns on the road. That was a long time ago. Q: When was the last time that YM's FG % is lower than 25%? A: Let me check. No. Cannot find one game that his FG percentage was lower than 25% WHEN RUDY WAS COACHING. I do think the new coach should take some of the responsibility about YM's bad performance recently. Since Smith bagan to coach, in 7 games, YM has had three games making single digital points, two games shooting FG less than 25% and his playing time is less and less. From some Chinese reports, Smith likes "strong center" and once criticized YM about his "soft". It was always Rudy or some other staff who trained YM at the practice. If that is the truth I will begin to worry about YM and his future. YM played all of the four games with Spurs. He had one strong game with 27/18, two decent games with 11/8 (in only 24 minutes)and 14/9. All of the sudden he became a bust and got only 2/3 in the fouth game. What's wrong with YM?
I think that Yang Yi guy has become ridiculous. The reason Yao didn't play much in the Clippers game is obvious. The coach wanted to rest him for the next two games.
If Yao is the type of person that I think he is, he’s going to use Larry Smith’s benching of him and labeling of him as being soft as motivation to start playing basketball the way he’s capable of playing. He’s had people coddling him for long enough.
Does anybody remember when the Springfield Power Plant was playing in the championship game, and Darryl Strawberry was up to bat? Mr. Burns yelled, "Strawberry, hit a home run!", and Strawberry did it? Man, that was some great coaching, right there... Next time Yao has the ball, Smith should just yell, "Yao, make a basket!!" Whenever Steve has the ball, yell, "Steve!! Don't turn the ball over!!" Next time Mobley dribbles the ball in one spot on the wing, yell "Mobley!! Swing the ball around to the weak side!!!" I mean, come on, coaching isn't THAT hard....
What does Larry Smith have anything to do with Yao's lack of aggresiveness. They are running the exact same plays. Yao, for whatever reason, cannot, or will not, take it to the hole anymore. When's the last time Yao spun to the baseline or made a jump hook. I think Yao is tired and he's settling for the turnaround jumpshot which requires no physical exertion - and he's missing them. If Yao is unable to play well, bench him until he regains his strength. What's good for the team is good for Yao. if Yao is hurting the team then there's no reason he should be playing 35 minutes. This is about the Rockets winning, not padding someone's stats.
Yao Ming was not aggressive at all the last two games. Granted, we are talking about Shaq and Duncan here, he was playing soft. He just can't play that way and expect his teammates to keep going to him.
Oh man that was a funny post A-train. You can't blame Mr. Mean's coaching. Yao just ran into the the Daddy and after the beating lost confidence in his abilities. If Yao is sucking on the floor and missing all those jumpers, he shouldn't be playing. Cato was playing better then him.
The dude was 1-9, he was stinkin it up on Offense, and was very slow getting back on Defense, resulting in many easy fast breaks for Spurs. And u could tell, he wasnt mentally in the game, but who could blame him. Its 2 words, and it aint Ruy T, its Shaq and Timmy! thats all folks. I actually liked how he was a little aggressive taking shots even when he kept missing. Thats fine. But when he stopped doing that and stopped getting back on D, thats what created a problem. Mean has had other rotation problems for sure, but i dont think this has had any effect on yao's play. It was just Shaq and Timmy.
It might be Shaq. It is certainly not Duncan. Yao played Duncan 3 times before last night and he did pretty well. I agree that we cannot blame the coach too much about players' performance. But w&s has a point in asking why Yao is not playing well under Mean. My guess is that Yao is still in shock about Rudy's sudden leave. I think we probably underestimate how much Yao is attached to Rudy psychologically. He just needs to come out of that funk and adjust to the new coach.
Teams are being very physical with Yao in the post and he is not responding well to it. They are pushing and leaning on him the entire game now. When he gets the ball, he's always at least ten feet away, and he's not strong enough to back his man down. When's the last time he took a shot in the paint? The Rockets need to adjust and have him move without the ball like Cato. Let him be a finisher. Instead of initiating the offense through him every time let hiim face up and get some jumpers off penetration to get some confidence back. The bottom line is, even if Mean is getting on him about being soft, that's exactly what he needs to do. If he's having a bad shooting night, he should concentrate on the other things. Go get 20 rebounds and no one will care that your shot is off. Seal off the lane, block some shots, do something to make a positive contribution. I think he was tired. The whole team was. It was their 7th game in ten nights with six of them being on the road. Let's see how they respond.
Right on brother!!! may be Yao does not get use to Mr. Mean's mean system yet... Rudy always has a good "psychologically' talk to his players. That's why they miss (love) him so much
Cato was playing better than Yao in last a few games. But come on, everybody knows you won't win nothing with Cato as your C. You would finally play Yao anyway. He's not doing well, that is ture. But the coaching staff should find a way to utilize him, to build up his confidence. What about some PnR, or use him as a spot shooter a few times? The 22-year old to-be-great rookie is frustrated, and the best thing a coach can do is to bench him?
He complained Yao's play time had been greatly reduced since the Clippers game. see <a href="http://sports.tom.com/Archive/1019/1042/2003/3/28-66971.html"> here </a>.
