We will find fast-tempo power-forwards and small-forwards that will complement Yao. And if Yao improves along the way, then it was a bonus.
Not sure what you mean. Let him go? If you mean, let him progress at his own pace without forcing. Then, yes. If you mean trade. No.
I agree with your approach, but JVG is not a kind of person. He will trade him for winning right now, rather than developing him. Again, Yao's problem is himself.
I am not sure Yao can fit fast-tempo system or not. As his statement, he wants a defense-power-F. I mean " leave Rox", But I am not sure. from his book, I don't think he is the guy always want to be BLUE
I'm sure the Rockets & JVG want to develop Yao by playing him more, but not at the cost of winning the games right now. You can argue that playing Yao more, even at the cost of the team winning, will pays out over the long run, but coaches don't get paid to win in the future, they have to win now. Plus, how can they be sure Yao will turns into someone who can carry the team to the top? It's easier said than done. Just look at the fans posts after we lost early in the season, people jumped all over the place, wanted to trade every single part of the team, fire every coach and CD. The other thing people need to understand, especially, for Yao's Chinese fans, is that NBA culture is different from anything you know in China. It's even dramatically different from the NCAA games here. In China or NCAA, coach is the god, players has to do whatever the coach wants them to do, but that's not going to happen in the NBA. In NBA, players need to earn their share of respect by their on-court playing. If you cannot deliever, you won't get the ball, regardless what coaches say.
Well, let me rephrase that. Not necessarily "up-tempo PF/SF" but rather a rebounding SF/PF that is athletic (quicker, higher jumper). By the way, if Yao's leaves because he's having problems with his quickness and technique. It will be following him to any other team he goes to. It's a bad idea if Yao leaves a team that's winning just because of PRIDE. That's what Kobe is experiencing. Bad Karma!
that's the key I think. if he still can not take over this team, I would agree with you. But he is not guy can run 38 mins with fast tempo either
I have to disagree with some of the posters here. Sure, Yao is in a slump, his jumpers and hook shots are disappeared for some reason. I also agrees that Yao has problem to catch balls and create unforced turnovers. However, he still has a pretty high FG%. I see some of the scenarios in this thread, that after a few misses and turnovers, that the team lost couple of possessions, and the opponents capitalized on that. That's the reason, the ball no longer goes to Yao. But the problem with that logic is, it means that only players who are hot in the first 5 mins will get the ball, which is clearly the case for Yao, but no one else on the team. Sura is a great hustle guy, at the time we got him, I cheered for the move, because he would bring great energy. But he also have 0-7, 0-6 nights, pretty inconsistant in shooting. T-Mac is the best player on the team, no argument about that, but he also had more than 1 or 2, 5-20 nights. Will Yao have those kind of nights? NO. Because after 0-4, he won't see the ball again. He can't bring the ball up by himself, so his shots are on mercy of the guards and the coach. If you want to utilize him, have faith in him, through bad time like 0-4, he probably would still reward you. Coz he's still 51%. Until he made 3 out of 5 in the beginning, he wouldn't be the focal point of the offense, that's what bothers me. Not necessary from Yao's percpective, but more from a team perspective. Coz Rockets don't have the luxury to go far without an ineffective Yao. On the other hand, if we can go far w/o him, there is no need to keep him anymore. Theoratically, you always play by percentage. a 50% shooter, even he misses 5 shots in a row, his next one is still 50%. When you look at the whole game, he normally takes 12 shots, as a 50% shooter, he would normally make 6 out of it. So missing 4 or 5 in a row is not a logical reason to stop to go to him. By no means am I advocating to force balls into his hands, but deliberately avoiding him is just plain wrong, even if his early shots are missing. The same logic is not applied to anyone else, why should be on Yao? My take is, we just need to find open shooter, no matter he's struggling or not, include Yao. Yes, how ironically, including this kid who's supposedly a better center in the league and a 50% shooter with potential and skills, with whom T-Mac wanted to build a championship core. Just want to mention one incident in the Spurs game. Sura drove to the lane, despite an open Yao two feet away and two feet away from bastet - which means an easy dunk, he kicked out to T-Mac for a 3 pointer, of course T-Mac made it. Everything seems fine, but not for me. I do have problem with that. Maybe Sura never played with quality big man, and Yao's play lately didn't inspire him enough to give him a pass every once in two games. Yao needs to be vocal with it, with refs, with JVG, with his teammates, and himself. People normally appreciate things more when they no longer have them. I don't want that to happen with Yao.
real_egal, the issue isn't his shot selection. It's getting him the ball, and the fact that soooo much of the offense will go through Yao that when he's having problems holding on to the ball, or getting position, that time wasted hurts the team over a long period of time (3 or 4 possesions in a row). His FG% will NOT go down if he never gets the shot off in the first place. So, his shot is not the problem. It's about what he does before he gets the ball (or when dribbling it; which he does for balance). So, it's not about this FG%. That's at 50% and it's great. When you say that we are only going to a player that is *hot in the first 5 minutes* all you are looking at is the first part of the game. What about if a player is *struggling in the first 5 minutes* then again about *3 minutes later.* And again in the 2nd quarter after the *first 2 minutes?* What do we do then? Keep going to him? NO, we change the game plan and try again later. But we don't keep going to him just for the sake of going to him. And that's how Yao is able to squeak out some 20 point games even though he struggled early in the 1st quarter. We don't stop going to him completely (just because he wasn't *hot* the first 5 minutes). We just delay it for later in the quarter, or game. It's selective. Also, have you ever noticed that Yao gets better as the game progresses? He contributes. But it take a while for him to get warmed up. That's something to think about. Yes, there is. Look at it like this...the Rockets want their cake and they want to eat it too! TMac/Yao (playing, but struggling) = good play-off success TMac/Yao (on the bench) = good play-off success You might ask, what's the difference? I say, nothing. But then...I say, give it a few more years when Yao develops slowly...then we have this... TMac/Yao (playing and making consistent contributions) = excellent play-off success Trading Yao just so he can go struggle on some other team is pointless. Keep him on this team, bring him along slowly and it will all work out.
