From The Gulf of Houston story: "For example, management liked Kirk Snyder, but Van Gundy considered him a mistake-prone player and didn't trust to use him in the playoff rotation. After losing to Utah, it didn't help the coach's case that Yao expressed frustration to a Chinese newspaper about Van Gundy failing to play Snyder in the series." ---http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nba_experts/post/The-gulf-of-Houston;_ylt=Ajm9OBmQb5cbvXkGTLn4CAu8vLYF?urn=nba,33123 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I find this part of The Gulf of Houston story very interesting. In the beginning of the season Kirk Snyder was getting a lot of playing time and was decent, but after his injury he struggled to get back in the rotation despite glimpses of good play. What surprises me the most is Yao Ming. First, I would have expected any news involving Yao to be reported and all over this BBS. Second, for Yao to be frustated over Snyder's lack of minutes surprises me because in Luther Head, Yao has a guy who he could kick out for a three. Why would Yao want prefer a guy on the court that crowds the paint more? Is it because Head wasn't dishing the ball to Yao on a couple of possessions?
Your link no work and it's almost impossible to understand the context of these alleged comments. You get one:
I think the Chinese report was the one by Wang Meng. Some people on this board said that report could have been made up, so what Yao said in that interview could have been made up also. Anyhow, in the report, Yao mentioned that he couldn't understand why Snyder didn't get any playing time and Yao thought he could have helped. For instance u look at head guarding AK47. I don't think he was upset with Luther not passing him the ball or anything. It was probably more about having a guy that play physical on the floor and wouldn't get abused defensively like head. Again, after reading that report, I had the feeling like, did Yao just say that? Normally, Yao wouldn't throw people under the bus, especially towards Van Gundy's coaching.
