Yao has Softened

btw, how long did it take you to type that?

 

If I'm Yao, I'd walk over to the guards, scream at their face for the f**k ball. I'll definitely not going to just wait to get all the offensive rebound. Yao is no Rodman, or B. Wallace. He needs to be involved to play the whole game, not used as a rebound machine.

Actually, that's the way he is supposed to be. You don't expect him to move like 6'10" players, do you?

FLOPPING is an art, which takes time to learn. He is not getting the Shaq like calls. Quite contrary, he is getting the short end of the stick in the last few games. I have a conspiracy theory in another thread.

Could that be because he is 7'6" & 310lb, so he will always slower than others? Jump earlier is a bad idea for a 7'6" guy when going for the rebound, it takes too long to make any adjustment once you commit youself. Yao's problem is blocking, not jumping.

BTW, if you guys are not happy with 20 & 12, and 5 offensive boards, what do you think he should get with 12 shots?


--daoshi

 

Daoshi,

I think he could get 12 shots on his own on offensive rebounds if he wanted to work at it.

Yao is far from a finished product......my points about jumping is that he seems to be tipping the ball a lot....why not just jump a bit earlier?

His timing is off.

DD

 

I noticed the tipping people often mentioned here. I didn't bother to respond because those people really have no idea about they are talking about. If you look closely, you'd see that most of the tipping happened when the ball was over someone else heads. Yao had no choice but trying to tip the ball towards him, or to a teamate.

As a 7'6" center, you are told to keep your hands up all the time, not bend your knee much since it'll take much longer for a 7'6" guy to get up than a 6'10" guy. Now, try to jump with your hands up, leg straight. You cannot, can you?

The best way for Yao to get more rebound is to block people away with his big body. He is trying, but still not good enough with his arms & hands.



--daoshi

 

Now we have reached agreement.

He needs to work at getting better position.....especially when the other team fronts him.

If he could just learn the alley oop slam dunk other teams other teams would have to stop fronting him.

DD

 

I really expected to see him do a lot of that this year. Cato has gotten pretty good at it and you would think it would be far easier for Yao. Is it his positioning? Or is it that they don't have designed plays for it yet using Yao like that do with Cato. Maybe they will sart doing it as the season progresses. Should be an easy 2 points.

 

(no edit) I meant to say:

Or is it that they don't have designed plays for it yet using Yao like they do with Cato. Maybe they will start doing it as the season progresses. Should be an easy 2 points.

 

I don't think that will ever happen for Yao. You have to be a good athlete to be able to catch & slam in ONE single motion. Yao is not that kind of player we know.

To beat fronting, you need good spacing, and acurate passing. The Rockets don't have good spacing in their half court game, especially will Cato at 4, who is always around the paint area, that makes it hard to pass over the fronting defender since the weak side helper is too close to come over. The other problem is that most of the frontings are not 100% overplay, meaning the defender only fronts 1/2 to 3/4 of Yao, this requires Yao to use his arm & hand to lock the defender away, keep a small pass lane open. Unfortunitely, this requires timely & acurately passing, which we are solely missing right now, and Yao is not good at using his body to pretect the ball yet.


--daoshi

 

Amare? Are you kidding me?
The kid could not even earn the respect to be double teamed.

 

haha, i agree with this. Steve is not nearly as good as marbury when it comes to setting up his teammates. If Amare were on this team, we would lead the league in awesome dunks, but we'd have about 2 wins.

 

As far as I know, Yao demonstrated he has that ability to do exactly that in his Chicago workout.

 

Yao hasn't mastered the use of knees,hips, butt and elbows to hit his guard before he makes his move. When going for rebounds, he must hit, hold or push before the other guy does to create space or establish position. You must get respect from your opponents or else, they will try to overpower you each time, especially in the case of Yao where most of his guards are more powerful than him. When you've built a reputation for hitting, opponents would think twice before making an attempt to steal the ball or contest you for a rebound. This makes rebounding and getting the ball easier.

Also, Yao tipping the ball to get rebounds especially if the ball is under an opponent is OK with me. I remember Rodman would always tip the ball to get offensive rebounds. But you've got to have quick hands to do this. At this point, perhaps Yao needs to practice more on having a quicker right hand, a jabbing motion, to get rebounds and receive passes.

When you play inside the paint, there's so much pushing and hitting going on (you'll see this and hear the grunts when watching closely near the goal).

 

Yao's biggest problem is that his reaction is slower than most of the players in the NBA and he is just not a quick jumper. When he sees a rebound and jumps for it he's already a step behind other players. Yao Ming has great size, but honestly he is not a very good athlete. Great athletes like Jordan or Hakeem have that natural ability to do things that others cant do. And Yao doesn't have that kind of athletic ability. That's why I'm not as optimistic as some people about Ming's future. However, if Yao Ming learns to be more aggressive and develops better stamina, he's going to be a fine player in this league for a long time.

 

Yeah you're right, i remember that Mugsy Bogues guy, he used to be a great rebounder...probably would have outrebounded Yao too...

 

Wallace, Rodman, Barkley are just crap. Yao does not need to be like them. Yao is already aggessive enough, and can be better. But please tell Francis to stop his dribbling. He is no vince Carter.

 

We lost our Yao has been smothered. That's what I think is the problem. I think losing Mo Tay was a real big problem as well. Our front line up is weak when both cato and yao have to play the entire game because there is no one else we can depend on.

 

Whoa that last post was funktified cause i was tipsy... Anyways.. I believe our Yao hasn't been playing as strong is because he's got people smothering him. He's also playing more extensive minutes because with Mo Tay out we've lost one of our frontcourt scoring threats. Cato isn't there for front court offence. Braggs is only Braggs...... With Van Gundy's system I really think Mo Tay coming off the bench was an essential part of his rotation and system.

 

There two instance I can recall from the game where Yao got the offence rebound, where he is right under the basket, but instead slam the ball right in someone's face, Yao just tipped it in.

I just wish Yao can throw the humble side of him away on the court, let others to be feared of him. That was the difference between Hakeem and David Robinson, no one feared of Robinson cause they knew that he's a pushover, but when the Dream go to the basket, everyone will step out of the way cause they don't want to be postized.

 

Yao isnt No.1 rebounder and blocker of Rockets now?