Is Yao getting enough points? No touches, no points. Yao still has the highest PPS among all starters on Rockets, and is among the leaders in NBA at drawing fouls. Is Yao getting enough rebounds? Leading team in rebounding, blocks out more than anybody else on the team. Unselfishness is not rewarded here. Is Yao getting enough blocks? Yes as long as not getting ridiculous foul calls, also changes shots more than anybody else in the league except maybe Shaq. Is Yao getting enough assists? Again, no touches, no assists. For most part of the season, Rockets players keep missing no matter how open there were until recently. I do care about Yao's team winning more than Yao's stats, and Yao is partially responsible for lack of touches. But I also feel this is not going to be good for Rockets in a long run if Yao keeps being a garbage guy. With the new rules in favor of offense, that's a huge waste of Yao's offensive talent. Yao being 2/9 so he should not get touches, how about he only got 12 shots per game for the entire season so far despite shooting over 51%? Do you ever see Tmac stop getting the rock when his shots were not falling? Tmac deserves to get the ball even if he is shooting badly, so does Yao. On average, they have a better chance to score. I remember on many nights Yao started off bad like 1/6 but eneded up with like 8/15. Thursday night Sura was hot, so I can understand that, but hopfully this will not be a trend.
So what is your suggestion? Wait a couple of years before he is consistent and then pass him the ball? That does not make an ounce of sense. Yao is an allstar and is the second best center in the NBA... show him some respect and confidence even though sometimes he struggles a bit and can't find his rhythm. Thus, it's the sole responsibility for the coach and teammates to help and assist Yao. There would be teams dying to have Yao on their team... why? Because he is a good player with skills... If nobody wants to pass the ball to Yao, why not just trade him if he's invisible on the court?
I hope we stop the knee-jerking reaction on Yao's performance. Myself included. It's really getting oooooooold.
Another question I propose is similar to choujie's. Why Tmac plays poorly why does Sura, Howard, etc. continuosly pass him the ball? Yao is the second best center and Tmac is the second best guard. They are of the same calibur.. Please write that down somewhere because they deserve the ball equally and right now, that is not happening... big changes needed.
Yao is getting plenty of touches. Factor in that Yao is on the floor 31 min. compared to Tmac's 41 min and the difference between the amount of shots each one takes is not that big of a difference. (i.e. ~24 to ~19) I think a more telling stat is Yao has 4.7 TO per 48 while Tmac has 2.9 and Bob Sura has 3.6. It is absolutely incomprehensible that Yao handles the ball so fewer times yet has so many more turnovers. Some of the YOF posters on this thread are ridiculous. I bet some of these YOF posters are the ones that voted for Yao on the nba.com alltime Rockets great poll. I think true Rockets fans are slowly coming to the realization that Yao is a great player, but he will never be an elite HOF type of player. However, with that said, Tmac and Yao comprise the best young inside-out tandem (excluding shaq-wade) in the league. This very fact will propel us to championship contenders when a properly built team is surrounding them.
I agree Yao has too many turnovers. But I don't know that Tmac 24 shots, Yao 19 shots part. For this season, 20 is the highest shots Yao has taken in a game, and that happened only once.
You said that he is getting plenty of touches.... Since Yao plays 31 minutes, he should be getting even more touches than Tmac or Sura.... Yao needs more opportunites in that short time span.. The team as a whole needs to realize that and take advantage of Yao when he is playing...
Herm Edwards: "You play to win the game!" Who in their right mind would have given the ball to Yao in the Nets game that was hanging on a thread? If the Rockets had given the ball to Yao more in the Nets game, it would have been disastrous for Yao if they lost. Until Yao learns how to put the ball in the basket without layups and dunks, his teammates should not dump the ball down low to Yao. Follow Herm Edwards' advice. "You play to win the game!"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for telling me. Man, every rockets fan should check out the nba.com site for the rockets; that sheeitt is hilarious. And Tmac, along with Yao ming, is just as ridiculous; he's only played 34 games, for GOD sakes!!!! Sheesshh. Tmac and Yao couldn't carry Hakeem's jock strap. 31,842 responses (a lot crack cocaine going around these days ) The poll question is: Who is the all-time greatest Rocket? Hakeem Olajuwon 49% Yao Ming 23% T-Mac 22% Clyde Drexler 3% Charles Barkley 2% Moses Malone 1% Rudy T. 0% Ralph Sampson 0% Elvin Hayes 0% Calvin Murphy 0%
Who's fault is it that Yao's skills has regressed? It is a combination of factors, but Yao ultimately decides what he learns. Yao is the opposite of some of the defiant punks out there. That is not good. Rebellious attitudes aren't always bad if the rebellious person truly knows what is better for him.
T-mac gets more touches because he's less turnover prone. T-mac is 2.5 TOpg while Yao is around 3TOpg with LESS touches. Imagine if Yao had t-macs amount of touches.. Yao could be turning the ball over left and right, not to mention foul out in the first half with all the bad officiating. T-mac is more agile and can playmake more efficiently than Yao. Yao would get twice as many touches if he had his jumper back, but when he's only limited to deep post plays (which the league already knows how to defend against) it's going to be very inconsistant play for Yao ming all season. He'll shine for a 3 game span and we all think he's living up to his expectation and then he will crash. Plus t-mac will get more touches by default since he can last almost a whole game while yao cannot. Im not a Yao hater, I'm a true Rockets fan that only wants the best for the team. I don't want to trade Yao because I believe him and t-mac will be unstoppable once Yao is more comfortable, everyone is different. Some may take 3 years to get comfortable some may take 5. However long it takes I want to stick through it, that's what makes it worth it when we finally do win the big one. This is what I think Yao should do to allow trust in his teamates to get him more touches. 1. Quick shots at the basket once he gets the ball in the post. (Low chance of getting a TO or Offensive foul but also a Low chance of a Offensive Rebound) 2. Yao must take the open jumper EVERYTIME his man gives him room. EVERYTIME. He has to go into the game with that on his mind. Forget the plays, just like T-mac, and take that jumper with confidence. I garuntee he won't miss it 3 times in a row. (His jumper has been non-existant this season but I doubt he lost it completely. He just needs his confidence back. Doing this might sacrifice offensive rebounding but hey, we are the worst offensive reounding team anyway, no where to go but up.) 3. Attempt fake out moves off the ball to get post position. I know Yao lacks quickness but just one change of direction could be enough to free him for a easy dunk. I'm tired of seeing him go from one side to another, it does nothing to distract the defender and it just uses more of Yao's energy for nothing if they dont end up getting the ball to him. (This would most likely have to be practiced and pre planned.) 4. Have him set goals of 4 shots a quarter or something like that. He did good with goals his rookie year, why not tell his teamates, especially t-mac, he has a goal of attempting atleast 4 per quarter. I'm sure T-mac would smile and get something done to help Yao with that goal. (4 shots a quarter = atleast 16 shots a game, that would be an improvement) 5. More vocal leadership, remember that game where he told his teamates where he wanted the ball to go and BAM perfect connection easy bucket for Yao.. Where does that kind of leadership go every game? I think there is not a lot of communication between the players and Yao. I think this will improve as time goes on and everyone is closer to each other. If you were ever on a league/school team you know there are always some players that you didn't talk to as much as others, or even at all. I'm kind of under the weather right now so Im going to stop typing.. I hope my suggestions are good ones and would like to see opinions on these, are they realistic options for Yao?
The game has changed. NBA does not encourage the player on offense to engage in physical contact with the defender. Yao is trying to invade in the paint area where the defender is. The defender is trying to maintain position. The game has changed, and Yao has no jumpshot or hook shot which allows him to engage in minimal contact with the defender.
I remember saying that Yao's statistics will go down as the season goes on even with the faster paced offense. Remember my words. They will hold true as the season progresses.
One thing about Yao's turn overs. In his previous two years, getting balls stripped was the main cause of his turn overs, this year offensive fouls and 3 seconds, dropping passes become major concern. That's a result of Yao trying to be more aggressive and his unfamiliarity with new teammates. Of course, if Yao is treated fairely by refs, his turn over should be a lot less.
Yes, indeed there was something wrong - very wrong. Yao sucked like a hooker working overtime against the Nets. He was terrible. Saying the answer for that particular game was more shots for Yao is like saying to sober up fast, drink alcohol. Dumb. Yao is averaging 12.6 shots a game. Sura meanwhile is at 7.7 a game. He has shot the ball 10 times or more in a grand total of 6 games (wow, ballhog) - an overall average of 13 shots per in those 6 contests (or basically the same as Yao all season). Better yet, in those 6 games, Sura is averaging 23.2 points on 64.1% shooting and 45.5% from long range, 7.7 boards, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals. In not a single one of those games did he shoot below 50%. Should Sura get more shots than Yao? Normally, no. But good luck making the case that Sura has hurt the team when he's put up more shots. Bottom line: Yao has been way too passive this season. The shots are there for the taking, he's just not taking over. Will he ever? I sure hope so. But the Rockets have made the changes around him and given him every opportunity. He just doesn't seize it. His problem is mental, but it is very much his problem. We're in Year 3 now ... time to start taking responsibility.
Do people ever get tired of posting these types of threads? Can't we find something else to talk about? How about a discussion on uniform colors or something. Clutch, do us all a favor and ban threads that contain any of the following phrases. "<insert player> Sucks and Should be Traded" "Yao Not Getting Enough Touches" "TMac is a BallHog" "Yao too Passive" "Trade Yao" "It's JVG's fault that Yao Sucks" Also, how about instead of the tagline "member", can you change it to "Trade Yao for Odom and Butler" for Charvo? We'd all appreciate it.
Only 1 or 2 times? He got enough touches to shoot it 9 times and turn it over 5 times. 9 shots?? Only 9 shots for one of your best players? This is hardly enough. and 5 turnovers.......Offensive fouls count as turnovers so it isn't like he threw 5 balls away.
