I don't really agree. Yao doesn't play soft so please stop this nonsense. To me Yao doesn't have the mobility of a 6' 9" to play aggressively or else he'll be foul prom. Why are people want Yao to be like Shaq when Yao doesn't get call from the ref? We all know Shaq play illegally with his bumping and pushing people under teh basket without getting call and dunk on people. When Yao does it he get fouled. The reason is that it doesn't look like Shaq is fouling anyone since it doesn't look like he's pushing anyone but realistically he IS.
Hmm, maybe the league has become too athletic for a player like Yao to be dominant or maybe Yao just isn't athletic enough or strong enough to use his size effectively.
Banging bodies isn't being Shaq-like. Centers bang down low all the time. Centers take the ball up forcefully and get fouled. If you take it up weak, you're not going to always get the call. I've seen Yao take it up to jam on somebody and get fouled. That's fine. He can live at the line at that rate. When he fades away, he's not going to get too many calls. Yao tries to avoid the contact to get separation. He needs to learn that getting that contact is a good thing - maybe painful, but it's the law of the paint. It's how big men down low are supposed to play. On a side note, I think that the guards stop going to Yao when they see he's got a defender behind him and is fronted. I don't have a problem with that - that's too risky a pass. When Yao gets the ball in that position, it's more than likely going to be bad news. I do have a problem when they just stop going to him forever after that even when he's being single-covered. They seem too scared to attempt the lob pass or maybe they know there's no way Yao's going to be able to go up and get it - I don't know. Then again, maybe they're just knuckleheads or it's a combination of all these things.
DoD your second paragraph is exactly how I feel. Excellent communication of a point I couldn't clearly make earlier. I need to think about this more before I respond.
Yao scored 20 points leading the shooting accuracy of the team and you still bash him of being "affraid" offensively. Dude, you sure know how to dig bones out of an egg. Besides him & Cato each grabbed 12 boards (5 on the offensive end), tell me who else on the Toronto team grab more rebounds? Toronto is a pretty good rebounding team and tonight, the Rockets just outrebounded them. Danjojo, let's continue to dig out more bones from the egg, you're good at it.
Hehe...too bad your Amare doesn't get the kind of respect people have on Yao drawing the double/tripple teams. By the way, the Suns lost again lastnight to the Pistons.
For those "defending" Yao - you guys are pretty blind. JVG even says that Yao is not aggressive enough and that view hasn't changed. The reality is that it's more complicated than that. I believe that it's technique that's the issue. See MacBeth's great analysis: The Art of the Entry Pass
DOD... That rarely happened today. O'Neal preaches straight up defense, somewhat like JVG does, and the doubles weren't coming until Yao had the ball, and even then they often came slow. I taped the game and am going to go over it later, so I'll check, but I'm 95% sure that the situation you describe was extremely rare. I will say that Yao seemed to want to wait for the double tonight, seeming to prefer having to pass out. That could be just an impression, but I got it more than once. That said, when the double did come he made smart passes out of it, and the offense worked that way...but the doubles are going to be sluggish, faked, or non existant if he gets the ball and then stands there waiting for them. Yao seems to be stressing slow developing moves right now; a series of fakes, feints, etc. That is a very good way to go about things....if you compliment it with times where you just go up strong. Yao had one or two quick moves tonight that got him fouls, but not enough. You need to balance it, or defenders will saty back/down on you.
Man, you need to be more realistic. Just because you are 7'6", doesn't mean it's automatic 20/12 every game. NBA has Monul Bol, Bradley, Mueruson(sp?), but none of them had a career remotely close to 20/12. 20 and 12 is an all star stats in this league, which is slightly above where Yao can consistently deliever IMO. 25 & 14 would be MVP in the league, Yao is not even close to that level. Yao is who he is, a 7'6" finess center with good skill, great court vision; but he is slow, cannot jump much, his condition only can allows him to play ~25 quality minutes. The Rockets can achieve great things with Yao if they can play as a team. Right now, they are not there yet. --daoshi
Well Yao's going to need to learn teh ART OF PUSHING people like the way Shaq does without giving the slight knowledge that he is. IF he pushes someone he needs to follow through with his pushes or else it look like one man is rolling right at the other person and one is moving and the other isn't. So push the person in and move along with the body is what Yao need.
Just wait till Yao is Shaq's size...then he'll be pushing ppl around ...I wonder how much Yao can bench...I think 150 MAX
This isn't the game thread so I wasn't necessarily talking about just today. I'm speaking more of the reaction our playmakers, specifically Steve and Cat, have when they lose confidence in Yao's ability to convert or get position. Look in previous games. Today's game I saw JJ not pass to him because he was being fronted by a defender with a defender behind him.
therefore the more the Roc rely on the guards the less touch yao get and the worse the Roc play. I have watched the games. I think the guards don't want Yao shin and dominated at game. many time i watch the guards prefer to TO or loss the ball instead pass the ball to Yao. I don't understand why. and why u guys always blame Yao. there are nothing Yao can do if the guards ignore him all time.
I think Yao played pretty good tonight, and was less afraid of contact than in previous games. But please don't pretend like we would have won if we had gone to Yao in the 4th and OT's. When we did go to Yao during crunch minutes he turned the ball over several times, including the 3rd to last possession in the first OT. I think Steve played selfish ball and they should have passed it to Yao more, but don't act like the guy was flawless and we would have won if only Yao had the ball.
Fair enough. I don't think it's an either/or situation, though. I'm not saying you do, just clarifying my take. There can be times when Steve et al have legit reasons for shying away from Yao, but that desn't alter the fact that at other times they seem to do it for no apparant reason.
I think these are great statements. I often think I expect too much out of Yao. I'm willing to wait a couple of years to see how he progresses, but the the reality of the matter may be that "this is it - this is what you'll get". That doesn't mean that he won't be a very good player (he already is). It does mean that the offense must click with him as a member of that offense. It may also mean he won't improve a bundle from here - who knows. Regarding your statement about the other 7 footers. None of them combined the skillset Yao has. Bol was a twig that made Shawn Bradley look obese. Muhresan was slower than a snail. Shawn Bradley has the closest skillset to Yao, but he lacks the bulk Yao has and maybe the passing ability. Yao has gifts none of these guys combined. Hence the #1 pick and the high expectations. Maybe we need to re-assess those expectations?
Re-read what I typed. That's exactly what I said. I know there are situations where they can't and shouldn't pass to Yao in the post. However, I've seen more often than not, they stop going to him completely. That can't be allowed, either. I don't know if they get frustrated with Yao's occasional turnovers, with him taking too long to establish position in the post, or what. In fairness to them, there are times when Yao is just too fatigued to even battle for position. That doesn't mean you stop going to the guy when he's open.
