I had been under the impression this was to be a summer that Yao was to not have to play for anyone, now I find out he has to play for the national team. He has played for I believe almost 4 years straight and now more? Everyone knows you get better during the off season when you can practice and get into the weight room. That is true during high school, college and the NBA. Looks like it will not be happening with Ming. I have not doubt he is willing to work hard and give his all, but it can not happen while he is playing in the NBA and China National team year round. He will continue to hit the wall as he did several times this year, he will not get any stronger as he will not have time for the weights. If this is what we have to expect then what we saw this year is the best we will get from Ming. He will never reach the level he could have, he will be an average post player without the improvements that will have to happen during the off season that he does not get. I have no problem he wants to do what he can for his national team and his country. But reaching the level to help them will not help him in the NBA, an I am concerned with what will help the Rockets and not the China National team.
We'll just have to hope for a career that burns brightly, if not necessarily as long as the typical career.
I have said numerous times: Rox should trade Yao when his trading value is high. Proposal one: trade Yao for Curry and Crawford. Proposal two: trade Yao for Darko. After two years when teams realize that they can't get hold of Yao during the summer, teams are only willing to trade for him for role or marginal all-star players.
Can any of you guys name me a 22 year old big man who was a finished product!? I'm the biggest pessimist on this board, and I still totally disagree with the idea of trading Yao. You guys act like Yao is only going to DECLINE! My goodness.
Just a thought: Maybe Yao, as a Super star for Chinese fans and China's national team, backed up by Stern and NBA marketing machine, HAS some influence on how the China's national team trains in the summer. Think about it, Ming and the Yao team can bring new training methodologies and concepts back to China. And the Chinese team will probably like to hear it, because their old way under the previous coach Wang Fei was proved to be sh*tty in last year's World games. If this is the case, maybe there is hope that Yao would have a effective training summer.
Trade Yao for Darko, Curry? Lol Only players I would move Yao for, KG, while dumping Mo- T's contract and giving them capspace with Rice. It works, we'd be capped out, but hey, we get KG. Prolly the most realistic since it would help out both teams. I would trade him for Duncan, but don't see that happening. I would trade him, Rice and moochie to the clippers for S&T for Brand and Odom, another actually realistic trade, and sterling would love the cash Yao would bring, epsecially on a rookie contract. I would trade him to orlando for T-mac and Gooden, along with Rice and Moochie for to make Salaries match, but I don't see that happening. That's almost all the trades I would pull with Yao Ming, with the Wolves and Clippers actually seem like a possibility.
I actually feel bad for Yao. The guy does have some potential that will never be reached, but I don't think he would ever be dominate either. Dominate players dominate from the begginning, and the big game is the norm for them, not the other way around. Obviously this does not apply to highschool kids, but they still have plenty of time to grow and go through the off-seasons. Their bodies and minds are just not ready for the NBA at such a young age. Wizkid, I would trade Yao for Curry in a heartbeat. Curry is 20 and has shown more potential and consistency in the past 2 months he started getting playing time than Yao has shown yet. He is dominate like dominate players should be. He is the next Shaq. Yao is the next Divac. I want a dominate post player, not a passive one. I doubt the Bull's would do it though, unless they wanted the fanfare and not the rings.
If there was time to lift weights and practice during an 82-game NBA season, then there will definitely be time to lift more weights and practice more for a tournament that lasts all of ONE week I think. Aside from the one week of the actual tournament, and we'll assume that there's practice before that for 2 weeks, Yao will have nothing to do for all but 3 weeks or a MAXIMUM of one month during the summer. As long as he manages the rest of the 3 months properly, there's enough time. He has 10 days off before he goes to China. Then another few days off in China. He also has a couple of weeks off after and before the tourney itself, and he also has 3 weeks in Houston to rest before camp. Basically, during the summer, only practice with the national team, and rest 100% of the time available to rest. leave his training and weight lifting to training camp and preseason, and he'll continue the same weight lifting program he had during this season. I think that's good enough. He really doesn't need that much more weightlifting. He just needs to get solid in the upper body. It would be nice if he did a lot fo swimming while he was in China.
I only want Yao to get bigger, if it doesn't make him slower. I'd like Yao to work on his agility and explosion.
I think Yao will improve a lot this summer. First, the national team training will be a walk in the park for him after experiencing the toughest four months in his whole career. Secondly, I suggest he take it easy and put a 50% effort in those traing (Yeh I hear you it's unprofessional), but you do what the best for yourself and your country in long term. Thirdly, He and Yao team know what weaknesses he needs to focus on, after 82 NBA games. But we should not put an unrealistic expection on one summer and wait for a new Yao "dominant" Ming next season. Almost everyone needs more than one summer. Of course you guys know this.
Kidrock8:- Yao Ming cant get too much BIGGER as he is the wrong body type to be bulky! He can become STRONGER and more DEFINED(RIPPED) which will give him a small body weight increase. I think that he needs to change his mental approcah to the game, although I think he will never play the banger traditional type of Center, he should become more demanding of his SPACE and wanting the BALL. If he doesnt get the right coaching(Moses Malone) this wont happen.
1. The trainning camp of China NT will begin at the end of April or the beginning of May. The officials of CBA has asked YM and Battier to join NT as soon as possible. 2. The Asian Championships will be held at China from September 6th to 12th. So the China NT will have a four month trainning camp to prepare for the Asian Championships.
one whole season of NBA and then Chinese team training camp? man.... I am just afraid that Ming will wear out b4 30 or somewhere there...... hopefully next season won't be as tiring..... but Olympic will be next yr right? no rest for Ming again........
It depends on how Yao is going to be trained at NT. If it is more like his summer sessions he would go through by himself, it does not hurt. And I think Yao's contract states he would NEVER be traded. Forget about trading him, although he might be better off playing for other team. This Rox mess is going to create some interesting issues in Yao's third year when his extension comes up. The management got to make some very important decisions for next season. As far as I feel, Yao is extremely frustrated and unhappy now from reading his interveiws with Chinese media. He might just bolt if Rox is the same for next two seasons.
as worried about yao's schedule as some of you guys, I'm not THAT worried... just some points I want to say: 1. as busy as yao's summer is, he can't be busier than the season. and look at how much yao has bulked during the season... seriously, we might not realize it, but find a pic of yao now, and a pic of yao during the early season, you'll be going "wow"... 2. if all player train hard during summer, yao playing and training with NT will not be the reason to exhaust him. should not, at least... 3. what I'm concerned about is... will chinese NT training be enough proper training to stress yao's weakness and prevent injury? --again, rox send some assistant coach AND SOME EQUIPEMENT with yao back should be mutually benefitial to both side... anybody hearing anything about that? I still remember wangfei was talking about how some bandage (or something) can't be found in china and he bought several thousand dollars of it when the chinese NT team stayed in US last time... well... best luck to YM. that's all I can say.
Don't you get it? Yao has no freedom once he is under NT team. He is not allowed to do his own things. He has to follow team rules in terms of breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleeping time, training time, training method, weight lifting or not, jump shooting or not. Can he watch a movie? well, not in team time. Team time means at least 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, plus you have to get up and sleep at the right time. Anyway, if NT team is so good at training players, won't you think at age of 22, Yao Ming should be at least as good as Duncan when he came out of Wake Forest? Let's face it, the NT team trains players for the Olympics and World Championships, the team is not interested in training players for 82-game a season. The methodology is different. Plus, it does a lousy job at doing that as well. Trade YM for Curry or Darko if Rox can. Well, I don't think Rox has the gut to do that anyway.
Don't forget how much money Yao Ming has earned for Rockets. Rockets has increased their profit from the last second in NBA (last year) to the SECOND in NBA this year. Rockets will never trade Yao. So don't dream about it.
So the best way for Rockets to do now is: "......put him(YM) in every position to succeed and there is just no way they are going to let him fail because if they do then it makes them look bad because of all the publicity he's got being the No. 1 draft pick." (JASON COLLIAR) OR ".....put him (YM) in every position to succeed and there is just now way they are going to let him fail because if they do then it makes them look bad because they will lose all the money he could bring to them."
