Also, Yao being the 3rd man in the team: 3rd in scoring, 1st in rebounding, 1st in shotblocking, generally their best shooter. How poor can he be? If he sucks, then the rest of the team no question is suckER. And what's this comparison thing of him with Shaq, Duncan, ZoD who just lost in the matchup to Yao), Robinson? They got into the league and pretty much the automatic men in the team. They are one of the very best of the best players in the history of NBA. Their background, culture and everything is just completely different. That's pretty bad comparison. So if Yao is not as good as those guys then he sucks. Oh my god.
But I'm not sure Hakeem was definitely ready before the fact, do you remember how 'raw' he was considered, and truth be tld, often played, early on...same goes for others. I think it might go :ball comes first, development later when you're talking about franchise centers. There is only one way to learn to be a dominant center, according to everything we have ever seen in history: to be given that role and allowed to grow into it.
Macbeth take a look at robinson and ducans stats in the 1997-98 season they both had stats comparable to their carrer averages. A truly great player will get good numbers no matter who else is on his team, take hakeems rookie year for example he certanly wasnt the focal point of the offence but he still got his numbers and helped the team greatly.
Look at Hakeem's fga, or Duncan's...and then look at Yao's. His current 16ppg won't seem so bad in comparison then...
But this dose not explain his lack of rebounding and shot blocking Yao is 7 5 he should do these things
In agree that his rebounding has been somewhat sub-par, although stamina/minutes are likely a factor...but his shotblocking/min is pretty impressive.
Many of the posters here seem to be expecting Rockets to win every game, and want Yao to dominiate every game. But being big and tall and skillful does not mean you will dominate already. It is very obvious Yao is still learning and adjusting - can we at least give him some time? We know that he can be aggressive, once he gets comfortable with being aggressive we will be fine. The season is still young. Patience and peace. SS999
If Steve and Cat are not passing the ball to Yao like tonight in the overtime...then YAO should be getting every single offensive rebound and hammering it home. He is FRICKEN 7'6" and he plays like he is a scared deer at times. His balance is also severly lacking as smaller players EASILY knock him off center, and he loses the ball. Yao needs to get stronger at holding his ground, or learn to FLOP when he gets hit..... The Refs are treating him like Shaq and not calling every ticky tack foul because he is so big...Yao could take advantage of this, if he desired. Yao is far from a finished product......he needs to jump earlier on rebounds and get a LOT meaner with the ball. It will come....Hopefully ! DD
As I said before, try put Stevie & Mobley (same altitude, same personality) into a team with Hakeem/Duncan, then make the two big fellas the 3rd men in the team. See what happen.
If Rockets have made their mind to build a team around YaoMing, they will have to pay the price. It could be this year's playoff hope, which is certainly not affordable. To make the playoff this year, Steve and Cat have to take their shots. I just hope Yao can grow fast with less FGM. This guy made a miracle last season. It'd be sweet he could make another one.
Stats doesn't tell the whole story about Yao. He must've alter many shots with him in the paint. Look at this year and last year, our defense been pretty impressive and that partially having a BIG man in there to control teh paint. Cato stats been impressive also due to both helping out one another out. Cato wouldn't have this easy without Yao and vice versa.
Dude, you sound so funny with your statement that Yao should be getting every single rebounds of the Steve/Cat miss and dunk it back in. Are you sure you're not watching the SciFi channel? He lead the team in 12 boards, 5 from the offensive end. I would be so damn happy if the Center gets 12 boards in a game. Calling him a scared deer? Hm...getting to the freethrow line 10 times don't really convince me of him being a scared deer. In his rookie season, he got average a little over 8 boards per game. So far in the season it's 9 boards. I remember the other 7-footer foreign rookie Dirk Notwizki, a good rebounder, didn't get the kind of rebound during his first 2 years in the NBA.
DJunior. Is Nowitski 7'6" and a center who is ALWAYS posted down low. Yao plays like a panzy at times....to soft.... I swear it is like watching Chris Mihm play at times. Yao has to get aggressive or he will never reach his potential. If teams FRONT him, like the Raptors did, he should be getting the rebound.....almost all of them !! DD
This is another point I can make being a fan of both teams... What peple who haven't seen Vinve play this year aren't aware of yet, is that this is an entirely new Vince Carter...agrressive as heell, taking it to the rim with authority several times a game, alays looking to attack. Tonight, right from the get go, I could see Yao's presence was having an effect on Carter. Hoe would beat Mobley and turn into the lane as he's been doing to his man all year, looking to attack the rack...see Yao...and pass off or more often alter his shot, try a lst second switch to a hook, arch his shot higher etc. Carter is such an amazing athelete that he can do these things,and unless you know what he usually does,you won;t notice that he was making mid-air adjustments...all because of Yao. It was so obvious.
In my opinion, if he is never given that chance, no one knows he is not ready yet. I agree that he is not so dominant as Shaq, he is just a different type of player for now. But I still think he is capable of getting 22/12 per game. We always said that stamina is his big problem, but his best performance came late in the past 2 games(not only past 2 games actually). Such as 3 quarter today's game.
Dude, being tall doesn't mean should be getting more rebounds than shorter players. Does Detroit Piston's Ben Wallace tell you something? He's 6'9" and has been for couple years the rebounding leader in the NBA. Does that mean the 7'1 Shaq, Duncan and the rest of the 7+ footers suck because they too could not get more rebounds than Big Ben? Rebound doesn't necesarily have to much to do with the height.
What's all this talk about Yao having to get 25/14 to make you happy?? That's Tim Duncan's stats - you want Yao to be the best player in the league already?? Come on! 20-12 is enormous! I'll take that from Yao this year - to be honest I really expect 16-10, but I'm willing to be proved wrong
If Yao had Ben Wallace's heart and hustle, he would be getting 20 rebounds a game. Wallace, Rodman, Hakeem, Barkley, Moses Malone...all went up and GOT the ball......Yao does not do this...he waits for it to come to him. If he jumped half a second sooner he would get a ton more rebounds. He is clearly suffering from playing all those years in the CBA where he did not have to work for position or jump for rebounds. DD
Yes, most of us have unrealistic expectation on the guy. We need to take a step back, re-assess those expectations. If you recall the common expectation before the draft, 13 & 8 would have made most us happy. This year, Yao averages about 16 & 9, better than last year. Can he do better than that? I think so! But if he can average 18 & 10 this season, I'll be more than happy. Remember, Yao is different from all those great centers people here tried to compare to. He doesn't have the power or athletic ability of those guys, nor does he have the stamina of those guys. The one I'd like to compare him to is Bill Walton, a guy shines in a team oriented system. Too bad, the Rockets is not that kind of team. About the Bol, Bradley comparison, my point is that being 7'6" won't automatically gives you 20 & 10 every night. I just want to tell people that it's much harder to play than it looks. Yao is a typical Shanghainess, who usually doesn't have the normal aggression by nature. You cannot change someone's personality overnight, in Yao's case, he may never be able to do it. We need to remember that Yao has been trained to play this way since he was 13(?), be a team player, scarify your personal interest for the good of the team is what he has been told through his basketball career. Now, people want him to be the man, demand the ball when he is just a junior on the team with two ball dominating senior guards. That's just not realistic! Yao has been trained to be a system type player, who will shine in a more structured system. Unfortunately, the Rockets are more of a freelance type team, which makes it much harder for him to adapter. I really thought Rudy T. did a masterful job with the way he used Yao last year. The Rockets have proved that they can only be a .500 team with Francis & Mobley running the show, how far their can go solely depends on how they going to use Yao. --daoshi
