Well said. I agree with you and have confidence he will develop. Why??? Because he will eventually put the 22 years embedded into him, behind him!
I agree with Doc completely here, and I believe the most Rockets fans and fans on this bbs feel the same way. I am getting sick of hearing the people on one side that think Yao completely sucks and should be traded away. I am also sick of the people that think Yao is a God and cannot have anything bad said about him. Yes, Yao is a very good player and very good players cannot be traded away. They are too rare. He should be the cornerstone of this team, but he does have flaws that need to be worked on, and I can't name a single player in the NBA that doesn't need to work on certain areas. Yao and T-Mac will be the face of this franchise for a long, long time. I'm just glad I'm here to see it.
You mean he will put it behind him eventually after 22 years? All kidding aside, known that it's so hard for Yao to change, or he may never be able to change it (like an old Chinese say, it's easier to conquer the world than to change one's personality!), why don't the Rockets try to work around it, use it to their advantage? It's not like you cannot win with his nice/soft personality. I always like to compare Yao to Brad Daugherty, there are a lot of similarities between their games and their personalities. Brad is a well known good guy with a nice/soft personality on & off the court, he was a finess player with a variety of post moves, and he could hit the 15ft consistenty. He did have Mark Price as his PG, but he had a soft PF in Hot Rod Williams, too. At the time, people questioned about his toughness, etc, but he was a dominating player in his own way. Without a doubt, Daugherty would be a HOFer if the injury didn't short his career. Here is his stats prior to the injury, keep in mind that that team had some players who could really score, like Larry Lance, Mark Price. Year Ag MP FG FGA FT FTA TRB AST STL BLK TO PTS +-----+---+----+---+----+---+----+----+-----+----+---+----+----+ 1987 21 33.7 6.1 11.3 3.5 5.0 8.1 3.8 0.6 0.8 3.1 15.7 1988 22 37.4 7.0 13.7 4.8 6.7 8.4 4.2 0.6 0.7 3.4 18.7 1989 23 36.2 7.0 13.0 4.9 6.7 9.2 3.7 0.8 0.5 2.9 18.9 1990 24 35.1 6.0 12.4 4.9 7.0 9.1 3.2 0.7 0.5 2.7 16.8 1991 25 38.8 8.0 15.2 5.7 7.6 10.9 3.3 1.0 0.6 2.8 21.6 1992 26 36.2 7.9 13.8 5.7 7.3 10.4 3.6 0.9 1.1 2.5 21.5 1993 27 37.9 7.3 12.8 5.5 6.9 10.2 4.4 0.7 0.8 2.1 20.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad came into his own in his 5th year. Many believed that the Cavs would have won the title if not for MJ and the Bulls (I know it was said about many teams/players).
All you want to do is hoping Yao to play in LAL, right? Man, Yao doesn't have to be in LAL for you to watch all the games. Just spend $189, and you can enjoy League Pass.
Originally posted by choujie: I guess that has more or less to do with our PFs not able to get offensive rebounds. Last year we had Cato , who could grab offensive rebounds off Yao's mid range miss, this year, Yao is the only consistent offensive rebounder, he'll have to stay close to thr rim for Rockets to have 2nd chances. -------------------------------------------------------- That's what I'm talking about, to have 0.2 more 2nd chances.
Mentioned it in chat tonight, so thought I would mention it here too. Yao seems to play better when the guards are attacking the basket, rather than when they play an inside-out game. It pulls the big men off him for easy baskets.
WHAT!?!?! I'm not the only person on this board that feels this way about Yao left!?!? Thank goodness!
Yao's Conditioning is Excellent this Year I'm surprised nobody's made mention of this to date but Yao's putting in some quality minutes. By my observation, JVG's substition patterns haven't appreciably changed. So I figure it's YAO who's in better shape. He's getting up and down the court and not huffin' and puffin' and better still, we haven't heard any talk of "I feel so tired." Anthony Falsone has done a great job... esp. knowing the time he put in following Yao overseas and working with him in China. Tonite's (the Knick's game) last minute heroics by Yao with that nice 8 footer speaks to his better conditioning. Gone are the tired legs and here is the clutch shooter we need in the last few minutes of the game. Anyone else notice Yao's improved stamina too??? theSAGE
I believe his minutes are actually down. I'm not sure it's due to his recent foul trouble, or stamina. I guess it's the combination of both. I believe his extra work out over the summer will pay out in the longer run, meaning he won't have the dead legs coming into April.
More Positive Takeaways about Yao Since I'm still glowing over tonite's win, I'll just take the liberty to glow some more over Yao's performance of late. Looking back, I absolutely marvel over how "calm" Yao is in critical situations. Make no mistake folks, Yao is no Ewing. If I were to compare the two head to head (and I've watched Ewing since '84 in G-town and then '85 and on with the Knicks) this is what comes to mind. 1. Yao is a much better overall shooter than Ewing 2. Yao has greater defensive prowess than Ewing 3. Yao is a better team-player than Ewing 4. Yao is a more mobile center than Ewing 5. Yao takes higher percentage shots than Ewing To Ewing's Credit... 1. Ewing had a wider arsenal of post moves than Yao 2. Ewing had a bigger ego and visible competitive fire than Yao 3. Ewing had more clubhouse leadership qualities 4. Ewing had better rebounding ability. Yet from these past few games, I am absolutely awed at Yao's offensive efficiency. If I were JVG, I'd be absolutely peeing in my pants for having such an efficient player. I was a little worried at the beginning of the season that Yao may have been peaking, but NO MORE. Yao has additional growth potential. All the talk about giving him that high post shot is but one of many things Yao can do. The question though is will JVG allow him to do it? theSAGE
That's true. I nearly forgot about that! Yao really petered out late last season!!!! Late March/April in Rudy's last year (God knows what that drill sergeant Larry Smith was doing) and then April of last year with JVG. Hopefully, we'll see Yao in good tip top shape in April. theSAGE
The single biggest difference? Yao passes the ball when someone else has a better shot; Ewing only passes when he had no other choice.
This is the whole point! He's the best player ever in the NBA above 7-4. What drives me mad is that he doesn't play like a 7-6 player, he's trying to play like another Hakeem or Ewing and that's wrong! Is he slow? Yes! You can't expect him to be quicker than what he is now, there are certain laws of physics that apply here. He's still much more agile than Sabonis, yet I woudn't say he is nearly as effective. I admit, Yao is unique talent, there's no template on how to coach him, but so far Gundy and Ewing have failed miserably to utilize the big falla.
