How do you think defending Yao is treated in practice? I understand that he's a superstar and we don't want to get him hurt, especially in practice. But do you think that this team is being as physical with him as they could be during their scrimmages? If I was coaching this team and seeing Yao's demeanor in the games, I would be throwing people at him--pushing him around, throwing him down, SOMETHING to get him accustomed to it--because every time he takes contact in game situations he seems shocked that the opposing player could do that to him. The guy is ENORMOUS. As such, he's going to take more of a beating than a normal player because it's much less obvious when he's getting pushed around. I would beat the hell out of this guy (within reason ) if I was coaching the Rockets. He needs to show some more aggression than he is. Maybe that's why I'm not a coach, though.
I've also wondered about how Yao performs at practice. Is it similiar to games or is he less or more effective. At the end of the day though, while aggresiveness if clearly a problem with him, shooting percentage is as well. If Yao played exactly the same game last night, but shot 8-11 instead of 3-11, things wouldn't look as bad.
First of all, Yao may be one off the court because of all the hype He is not an superstar yet on the court yet. Secondly, I do not think Yao is that easy to get injured. Yao's lower body and legs are so strong and I have not seen anoone else like yet. Also Yao does not have, or has not getten, the kind of explosiveness that is likely to lead to an injury. Yao also does not have any iinjury history as TMac has. So I would assume that they usually run in full force in practice with Yao.
I agree completely. I think a lot of the shots he's missing will start to fall and and his percieved struggles will end when it happens. It seems to me that most of the shots he takes are very good, high percentage shots. They're just not falling for him. I think a lot of it has to do with the arm brace. He's complained about it and it's very obvious that it affects his FT shooting. Another thing that's holding him back is the fouls. The guy gets hammered and it's seemigly never called. I think the coaching staff should put together a tape and send it in to Stern and Co. You can see it in his face. He's disgusted and fed up with the non-calls and it's affecting his agressiveness.
All Yao needs is the last part of my name. I dont want to see him to pick up the opponents after they fall. I dont want to see him joke around with opponents even after they hack him. It's a freaking war out there for everybody else, and you dont want to be nice in a war. Off the court, he can do whatever he wants.
This is why Moses Malone or Bill Russell should coach Yao, not Ewing. Moses would battle Yao every day in practice, rough him up, teach him how to rebound. There might be a communication barrier, since Mo doesn't speak english, but i think they could work it out. Russell would definately help Yao improve his defensive technique. He would teach him how to use the angles to block shots and control a game defensively. Ewing does neither of these things. He looks like a corpse sitting on the bench, and he does not do anything to challenge Yao or fire him up. From what I have seen of Ewing's coaching, he passes Yao the ball so he can practice turnaround jumpshots. Nearly every great big man of old has publically stated that he would love to coach Yao. Why do we settle for Patrick frikkin Ewing?
The only reason Ewing is here is 'cause probably Van Gundy has a say so in hiring his assistant and CD not going to let JVG mad at him. Honestly, I would much rather see Dream or Russell or Jabar or Moses teach Yao than Ewing. If I'm the coach, I would have all these great big men, each of them can teach their best moves to Yao.
Yao did this once against the Hawks, two seasons ago I think, on Theo Ratliff. They were playing the Hawks, and Yao literally dunked, knocked Ratliff over, and yelled at him. He got a technical for taunting. I've been waiting for him to do it again ever since.
The funniest part of that story was that the league rescinded the T just a few days later. I think Yao still does not have an official technical foul, but I could be wrong.
I think this could by one of the reasons why he does so poorly against fronting defenses. Deke is old and slow - Yao does okay against guys like this. The problem is when he is guarded by guys like najera - who are fast and ready to slip in front of Yao to knock the ball away. In fact, why don't we get najera! If for nothing else, he would be perfect in practice.
