I dont mind if he gets a lil slower, as long as he is not Sabonis slow! but he does look heavier i just want him to not be push around in the paint like last season.
I remember hearing the Chinese coaches talking about how he had lost a lot of quickness when he started lifting weights. Bucher mentioned that his vertical decreased when he started to do serious lower body work. It'll be interesting to see how he plays next season. Keep in mind, Van Gundy's offense won't exactly be "up-tempo"
Good observation. Are you sure that you weren't watching the game in slow motion? I watched Yao for his total playing time in two Asian games and it doesn't seem like Yao is noticably slower or jump lower. I even think that Yao can afford another 5 lbs of muscle without being bogged down. Oh well... Falsone was trying to battle Yao's fat, not his muscles. Yao doesn't look fat to me right now either. Maybe the diet worked. Hopefully.
Momma always said, "stupid is as stupid does." ".... non-existent vertical," ; he's 7'5"!!! Why does he need to be able to jump through the roof? ".... and he doesn't move up and down the court nearly as fast as Cato." In all honesty, I really hope you are being facetious. Yao Ming is a half of a foot TALLER, and outweighs Cato by at least 40lbs. And with the base that Yao Ming has do you really expect him to be so nimble. And finally, the strength of a human does not coincide with whether that person has muscle definition. Utter nonsense!! Last time I checked, offensive linemen in the NFL are not the most physically gifted people on the field. But I can guarantee you that they are all as strong as an ox.
I think you should look at his stats, if he's racking up those rebounds, blocks and points, I dont care how much more weight he gains. I think he'll be more in shape then everyone on the Rockets roster when the training camp starts.
Yao looked slower could be because he was playing with the CHinese NT team against other asian teams. Their tempo is slower than in the NBA.
