I was watchign that old video that was compiled with Yao's highlights in the cba/olympics before before he was drafted and I noticed something interesting. I never followed him during his CBA days as I do now but all the moves he was doing back in his CBA days is EXACTLY the same moves he does today. I saw the base-line spin TWICE. I saw the post fadeaway shanghai shake like three times. I saw his running hook shot a lot too. Even scarier he looked more athletic, Doing behind the back dunks and stuff. I used to be a strong believer that JVG taught him every move he possesses today but I'm starting to think otherwise. Now i know why half of the people feel that JVG hindered his development. I brought this up because i was just curious, other than his new improved stamina did Yao always have these moves? His game looked really good back then as it does now. How was he like during his rookie year besides the fall in his first game? What changed about him? Was it just his mental transition comming from china to america and gaining a few pounds?
We all know Ewing taught him those moves To answer your question, it's pretty much Yes. I think CD showed him baseline hook, half-hook. That's pretty much it in terms of his major arsenal. What allowed him to use his moves now are the increased strenghth, up to NBA speed, stamina, etc.
We all know Yao had those moves since his rookie years. They were the reason we believed he can become dominate. The problem is those are finese moves that compliment the center, but when it was Yao's entire arsenal, he was slower, taller Nowitski. It's also the same reason that people are labeling him as soft, since he plays more like a Rik Smits finese center rather than a dominate force down low. I think Yao has adjusted very very well, and is trully a punish force in the block these days, part of it has to do with Van Gundy, to the chagrin of many posters on this board, of forcing Yao to operate inside and inside only. Once Yao become adjusted to the physical nature of the NBA and learn to play like a true center, he's become the player he is today.
Sorry buddy but your post is off mark in many aspects. Rick Smits didn't nearly have as many post moves as Yao. Smits was a good passer and had a decent mid-range jumper, but he was never a bona fide post player. Yao on the other hand was a true center to begin with. The key problem with Yao was not so much in his speed -- he showed more than enough nimbleness in his various post moves for a man of his size -- it was his stamina and upper body strength. Spin moves, fadeaways, baby hooks, and Shanghai shakes are all part of what made Yao such a special talent, rather than the one-dimensional Shaq or Smits. There is no universal law in basketball that a legit center in NBA has to play with his brute force like Shaq. Credit to JVG and his crew on helping Yao improve remarkably in his area of weakness, but to say Yao was a poor/rich man's Rik Smits smacks of ignorance. Nowitzki is not even a center, so stop comparing apple to orange.
I said like Rik Smits" to point to the fact that early on he uses more finese in his game. He tend to play more like a 7'5 PF rather than a 7'5 center. For the record, I still feel that Nowitski plays like a 7'0 SF even if he is playing in the PF position which is why I don't think Dirk and the Mavs will make the step change to the next level. But Yao has trully became a center and I think that's what has gotten a lot of excited the past few months.
Yao is so great recentlly mainly because of increasing playing time, which gives him the opportunity to show himself
There's a big difference between doing those moves in the CBA and doing them in the NBA. Yao has improved tremendously from when he was a rookie. It's fairly obvious.
Was Yao playing through constant doubleteams and being slammed to the ground by opposing defenders without getting foul calls in the CBA? Were those defenders even comparable to the size of NBA defenders he has to deal with? Was he even averaging 28/11 without all that? Everybody knew Yao had the offensive moves from back in his rookie years. The question was whether he was strong enough, mentally and physically, to dominate NBA defenses. THAT is the difference. Yao has come a very, very long way.
Amen. I was watching the ApocalypseYao videos yesterday. Tis a joy to behold just how good he was then (the 'flashes of potential') translated into just how good he has become today. Now one (or more) of our creatively inclined clutchfan brethren need to come up with some vids of Yao now. That would be sweet to watch.
This is weak. Yao Ming had just as good of a year last season. He shot 56% from the floor for chrisakes. That's unheard of, except with Shaq. The only thing with that was he was in foul trouble most of the time and we only got to see him for 30 minutes a game. Now his minutes have increased and his shot production has picked up because of T-macs injury and we are going to somehow turn that into a bad thing and lay blame on JVG. Basicallly what you were saying is he should have been doing this earlier.. well he was doing it earlier and has been doing it all along. Ever since JVG has been here Yao Ming has been extremely productive and shown improvements, but this isn't some great leap. If you are a point w**** than of course you say oh yeah see he is a different player. but in reality you know minutes have increased and field goal attempts have increased and one could argue that Yao had a superior year last year shooting nearly scoring 19 in only 30 min. while shooting 60%, so is this when JVG started to hinder Yao's progress? Or was it right after his rookie year when he went from a weak physical rookie shooting under 50% to a stronger more determined post player who will always now be a 50 + % player from the floor? I really don't understand your point. I think this has more to do with a YOF not wanting all the praise and attention taken away from their main man Yao when it comes to his stat production goo-goo and ga-ga-in'. You can do that without trying to blame and attack something else especially when that something has done nothing but never take credit for Yao's progress and given Yao sole respoinsibilty for his present day success. The only person who will credit JVG around here is Yao Ming himself but who the hell is he I say. He's just a dumb oaf not able to think for himself and his fans know better. Because hey, there was that one behind the back pass to Moochie and that one face up jumper he hit in his rookie year against Indiana, boo to you JVG, for taking that a way, you killed Yao's creative genius. whatever man.
When Yao Ming succeeds, it's Yao Ming and only Yao Ming who is responisble. When Yao doesn't succeed, whether it was in the past, or in the future, it's someone elses fault, in this case JVG, and has nothing to do with Yao. I don't get that.
Also, "YOF is a myth. We're not YOFs, you people just like to throw around labels." I don't get that.
YOF. Why should anyone know Yao's stats before? I suggest to create some other terms such as "dumb only fan" or "Ignorant only fan" so that who first use those labels win the argument.
