Yao is a much improved player this year...that's obvious from watching him. His inability to deliver down the stretch looks to be a product of fatigue, not lack of effort and not heart. Sure, he's slow to react but that's what comes with 7' 6". Best I can recall, no one in the NBA this tall has ever been this good. And, on top of that, JVG's defense has him showing, trapping, and running around on every defensive posession - just isolate on him and you'll see what I mean. It simply wears him down over the course of a game. Forget the abuse he takes from defenders and trying to figure out inept officiating. Until TMac gets back, you can't really judge his progress. Last year he was usually money down the stretch, but this year he's struggled. Last night he just look totally exhaused in the last few minutes. Let's relax and quit bashing. I'm not sure that last night's game wasn't our best game this year...considering the schedule, and considering we were playing without our #1 and #2 PG, and without our franchise player. Head looks to be the real deal and may never leave the starting lineup. The one I can't figure out is Swift - but I have confidence that JVG will either fix him (Coldplay) , or he'll go down as another FA disaster and rot on the bench. I'm disappointed but still hopeful. It's a long season. D R
Yao right now is putting up 19/9, an improvement over last year. He is a top 20 player, may make it to top 10 in the next 3 years. Top 5 is doubtful. Gundy has him playing Ewing ball 80 plys a game and 100% ignores Yao's skillset he brought with him as a rookie. I think Yao is a lot more versatile and while learning traditional post play should have added to his skills, another coach would be using Yao in much less predictable ways, and providing more opportunities for Yao and Tmac to play off of each other. What we have is the reality of a big man with a limited ability to be Hakeem/Ewing but who could add so much more if the play calling was a little more robust. Gundy is a great defensive coach and predictable as hell on offense. He needs an offensive assistant with an imagination.
Bull****. Neither Yao nor T-Mac can do it by himself. If they exchanged places, we definitely would have a similar record. He is not the one to blame, our role players are the ones to blame, especially our guards. Wake up, guys, wake up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yao has been more aggresive this season, he's on track to average 20 pt and 9 rd. Yao gets very few calls in his favor and tons of terrible ones. Yao has been playing more minutes this year and the fatigue is hurting him in the 4th. I have no real issue with Yao's play now.
i've been happy with yao's play this season. he seems to be demanding the ball more. last night against the mavs he waved off DA so he can go one-on-one and then scored. yao would never (and never did) in past seasons wave off a teammate. two seasons ago he was fouling out trying to steal the ball from guards. last season he was picking up all of his fouls on moving screens. this year, most of them are offensive. he is attacking now. he is pushing guys out of the way to make room for himself to dunk. it's a great step that i'm happy he took. now he just has to realize that creating too much room is a foul. once he gets the hang of it his power game will be unstoppable. sure he still gets tired and misses easy shots, every player outside of rip, kobe, and KG do that. you know what? the guy is 300lbs! he's gonna get tired. if you really wanna know why he was better in the 4th last year it was because he didn't have to carry the team for 40 minutes. yao has gotten better every year, and i'm looking foward to him getting even better in the future. where he might end up, know one can tell, but we should all know he will be much better than he is right now in 2 years. just look at the improvement each year.
1st quarter he is superstar; 2rd quarter he is Rik Smith; 3rd quarter he is Damper; 4th quarter he is bradly.
Please all the Yao haters are so annoying Yao is avg. really pretty good and decent numbers he hasnt shown up in the 4th yet key is yet it will come around, but to say the guy sucks thats absurd when the guy is avg. 8 pts. and 2 reb. in 30 min. and looks like bradley on the floor then talk your crap but Yao is goood and hes better than anyone we could get for him in a trade excluding Duncan and KG, but hes not going anywhere.
I have no idea who any of those players are. Rik Smith? Damper? Ok, I think you're referring to Michael Bradley with the last one.
you know the only thing yao has been exposed for is his horrible ability to finish games when the burden is on him. he has also been exposed for his consistency thru the games. the thing that is so frustrating about yao is you continue to see this ability to completely dominate opponents but then it just turns out to be a tease that he would be able to consistently dominate (aka 25/12/3 in 35+mpg).
By you logic, Amare was exposed last season. Phx lost 6 games in a row when Nash was out due to injury. What happened to KG last season when Sprell and sam i am decided to quit ? Even a superstar needs help, let alone Yao. If you look at the teams we lost to, Marvs, Pistons, Heat, Spurs are all top teams in the League without any major injuries. Even if Tmac is healthy, I will not be surprised if we lose to those teams. You guys are just pathetic !
I don't know what has been exposed about Yao this season that we didn't already know in the past. I guess the only thing we didn't know for sure was whether he could carry the team without another star player. Now we know he can't. What has changed: 1. He has clearly made progress in terms of being more aggressive and more decisive with his moves. 2. He is scoring more and getting more rebounds. 3. In the past, he usually started out poorly and was money in the 4thQ. This season, it's the reverse, for whatever reasons. 4. He is consistently getting good position. What has not changed: 1. He is still foul prone. (Hopefully, he'll learn how to avoid stupid fouls, and the refs finally give him some respect.) 2. He still loses the ball a lot. (Hopefully, he will finally learn how to protect the ball in the post.) 3. He is still slow. (Not much can be done.) 4. He is still not good at catching entry passes from difficult angles. (Probably not much can be done.) 5. He is still inconsistent. (I don't know whether this will be changed.) I agree with those who advocate using him in a more diverse way offensively. More PnR. More midrange face up game. More passing from the high post. His primary game should still be in the low post. But mix them up. Be more unpredictable. We have some good slashers on the team. Free up the lane once in a while to let them cut in. In the past, I can understand that he had to be forced to fight down low to establish his post game. Now he has got his strength, and has got his positioning down. His post game just needs refinement. It's time to free him and let him use some of his natural abilities to help the team.
Barkely said if you are doubled you should get 20. Yao does that. He's being doubled. Getting 20 against a double team is a biotch. Especially when it's new to you. It's up to the rest of the team to hit open shots. I actually like what Yao has been doing despite the horrible shooting. He's getting points.
Awesome thread... . This team is in chaos right now, and its just not yao. We have major injuries, a whole new starting rotation each night and to SOLELY blame yao for each one of our losses is rediculous. Ive never seen such rediculous threads posted after 10 games...wait I have, and its all come from the overreactions of this board. Did yao disappoint last nite, yes he did, and on a few opportunities he cost us the game and i was very frustrated and disappointed. But this will be a learning experience for him to come that will benefit him and the team later on in the future. Good job on starting the one hundreth thread on this subject though. This couldnt have gone anywhere else.
Last night was very disappointing, not because we lost, but because it was a winnable game. Everyone played decent, Yao played pretty good in first half, but the fouls brougt him out of rythem, and he was exhausted on the end, that's why he couldn't finish or rebound. I just think people jump too fast. It's not about excuse, it's about reality. You want him to be the next Shaq or next Dream, if he can't do it; it's not his fault but yours. Max or not, it's not your or my decision, it's the owner's and GM's. Since 90% of the owners and GMs will give him the Max, I don't see any necessity to even talk about that any more. Some of you said he's not the go to guy, well, you are wrong. He can be the go to guy, just he can't be the go to guy for the whole game. It's not about his desire, not about his IQ, not about under sex, not about mental toughness, it's just about his height and weight. We all know he lacks of stamina because of the 7'6 frame and 310 lbs. Nobody can really play that physical for 40 minutes non-stop. That's why all super stars, including TMac will try to set other players up in the first half, and remain the energy to give a final push when it's 4th quarter. That's also why other 7 footers like KG, Dirk and TD, took lots of face-up jump shots. Not because they are better jump shooters than premieter players, just because that's easy. Yao had to bang and deliver from the first minute, and he's not a atheletic freak like Dream or Shaq in their primes. He leads the charge in first half, then he needs someone else to lead the second, he can still contribute when you run PnRs for him, get him some easy jump shots. He just can't bang down low all 35 minutes. You like it or not, that's just reality. Talking about clutch, well, there are already lots of posters gave you guys stats to dismiss that claim. It's frustrating, but I still see encouraging positives in the game, and it's still a long season. BTW, by claiming that you were a YOF, but now this and that, want to trade him, doesn't give you more leverage or credibility or sympathy. You can say you want to trade him all you want, whether you are a fan or not.
Nice post. JVG needs to wise up, he has got Yao playing this Shaqesque low post power game and he isn't Shaq. Every other good offensive big man and I include Yao in that category gets a chance to play from the high post and beyond, I am surprised that JVG hasn't used Yao more creatively because Ewing played for him and he took a ton of midrange shots.
I love Luther Head but calm down...He had ONE VERY good game...Yao has put up above average numbers this season. He probably will never be Dream, Shaq, Wilt or Kareem, but then again those are once in a generation all-time great centers. I am happy with Yao putting up 20 and 10. There are only a handful of players who do that these days. Put those numbers with a healthy T-Mac and we are contenders again. Have you forgotten how good Yao was in 5 of the 7 games in the playoffs last season. Dude made crucial baskets down the stretch of games with soooo much pressure put on him. He and T-Mac (BOTH) carried the team down the stretch in a hostile playoff environment. He has proven he can play BIG and the biggest of games.
Talking about rationale. Really, it's time for some senior members with more bball knowledge coming out and calm the crowd down a little. To me, it was understandable to let out some frustration last night. But another 100 posts name-calling our own players on the own fan board, that's childish trolling and so-not-fan.
I would hate to see Yao play from the high post, he just doesn't seem to have the speed or agility to drive on his opponents. Amare and Duncan can go around you when you are in front of them on the high post, Yao will dribble and risk turn over every time.
Slow guys like the old Divac and Sabonis were very effective on the high post. They were good passers and can shoot. Those things are what Yao can do very well too. High post big men don't have to threaten to drive. If you can shoot, your man has to come out to guard you. Then the lane is freed up for your cutters. Of course, Divac and Sabonis were used exclusively there because they weren't a low post threat. That's why they were not max players. Yao can dominate down low and then pop out high to do the Sabonis things.
