I have a problem with Yao Ming. He is a great player, I understand he is 7'6 but he is becoming easier and easier to guard and even to be shut down. We are without McGrady which means he really needs to take over and step up, because right now he has to carry the team, not only in the season but also in the playoffs. One thing I can say - he has really STEPPED UP defensivly. He is having probably his best defensive stretch of his carrer right now, and even when they sometimes call a foul - he usually stands straight up. I also understand that he is really slow, his feet are not quick at all and he is probably just too big. But sometimes it seems too easy to shut down Yao. He has played 7 years in the NBA and I do think he is still making rookie mistakes. He cannot catch the ball, and he still doesn't realize that teams send another player from the baseline which usually leads to a turnover because Yao doesn't keep the ball high and he doesn't protect the ball. What's more, I do belive Yao doesn't use his strength and elbows. We can blame refs and sure we should, because it is pretty tough to play for him when everybody in the league flops. But Yao needs to command his space, because it is so hard to pass him the ball. And I am also blaming the team for that. We should do a better job of finding ways to get Yao the ball in positions where he can score and can be effective. And not only on the post, there should be more drives and dishes to him. We just can't give up so easily when teams are fronting him or doubling. He is our adventage over ANY team in the NBA and we should use that. He is shooting well, the problem is we can't get him the ball enough and he is only scoring around 18 ppg. We have to start doing that right now, because we will have to have big games from Yao to succeed in the postseason.
If me, a 6 foot dude can push him and get a blocking foul I think its a easy way to play him. Way to look at the other aspects. And how was this a 1 star thread without any replies, dont you have to reply to rate? Awful, lol.
You are pretty right on that. That is why I said, right now refs are not helping Yao at all, they just let his opponent flop every single time. Btw, you don't have to reply to rate.
Yao needs to develop a decisive post move with one or two power dribbles. He usually had that quick jumper to the middle after bumping his defender which was pure money before. Sometimes he also looks weak dribbling the ball, Yao should learn to POWER DRIBBLE, dribble the ball hard and move the defender back. And he shouldn't hesitate , Yao should just go with his strengths and make a decisive move that will take him one or two dribbles to execute. Yao was at his best when he had Thibbudeau before, he would regularly put up 27 points during that stretch. The rockets coaching staff should study video footage of the post moves and positioning Yao was executing during that stretch he was putting up those monster numbers.
Even more than that our PG is too easy to block at the end of games. The league took the aggression factor out of Yao from the beginning. They are afraid of Shaq arresting them.
They still can't throw a jump ball to him much less officiate him worth a crap......oh and in AMERICA it is better if there is a #1 center from the country he plays in...... you watched the olympics.....you know who you rooted for. NOT A CONSPIRACY.......just human nature.
All these threads about Yao this and Yao that. I hope Yao would get traded next season and go to a team with level headed fans. Honestly some fans on this forum are borderline psychos, manic depressive and mentally disturbed. Yao deserves a better class of fan. Not riffs raffs bandwagon twits.
You pretty much just described every fan base with a team that has not lived up to expectations for more than one year.
Michael Jordan played every game with the enthusiasm that it was his first game in the NBA. Yao Ming's lack of development and regression of fundamental basketball also makes him look as if every game is his first in the NBA. Honestly, why are we still calling for Yao to "develop" anything at this point? He's at the stage of his career where good players KNOW how to play. Some people have it, some don't. Yao doesn't. He's a very average center in a league full of poor centers. That's the best thing we can hope out of him, that he continues to look "average" and the rest of the league's poor big men don't catch up to him. He is NOT a team leader and should not be seen as such. He's our starting, average, "we hope he helps more than he hurts us" center. Let's look elsewhere for leadership, clutch play, and superstars. As the front office elects to go with unproven PG's, this is not a serious playoff run guys. Let's look at it as "mailing it in" for the rest of this season. I'm hoping we can at least find a true clutch player that can will his team to win close games between now and the start of next season. I wonder if the Rockets will then be willing to trade the "good business" by having Yao with the "great business" of a serious championship contender?
stopped reading your wonderful post right there. i don't know why an "average" center has been commanding the most double teams amongst any position in the entire league.
I think its because double teaming Yao is more effective than double teaming other superstars. Yao gets so flustered sometimes with double teams. Its so easy to create turnovers with Yao. That's why they do it.
Because our next best scoring threat are guys like Battier and Artest? Seems obvious to me why Yao gets double teamed. Honestly dude, the worst teams in the league have guys that get double teamed. This does NOT speak to that player's greatness, it speaks to the best way to defend those teams. Do you even watch sports?
yeah, it's so easy to generate turnovers out of yao that he's averaging a measly 3.2 turnovers a game - under constant doubles.
i barely finish reading your posts, much less watching any sports. i'm just here for the sake of arguing.
Yao doesn't handle it well. His shot attempts aren't were it should be because of it as well. Seems like Kobe watched tapes of what works against Yao and had some good steals off him.
