Yao's performance was comical... it was funny because it was preseason and he didn't get hurt. Plus i think he knows he can play better and i don't think he went all out plain and simple. He played like the Yao we know in the NBA Allstar game.
Is it me, or does it feel like Yao probably got hurt again and they are trying to cover it up to avoid the mass disappointment. When he walked to the locker room, it looked like he was trying to hide that he was hurt. Ill cross my fingers....
One thing I want to point out. From the very beginning the Magics players paid a lot of attention to yao. They are denying him the ball and trying hard to front yao if possible. Then when DW had him going against yao in a few occasions, Magics bench kind of exploded each time. I was like "WTF are you happy about? Don't you guys know yao is just back from an almost career ending injury?" However, there's a lot of respect for yao in that matter. They still treated him like the old yao IMO.
talk about being stabbed in the back by your own fans...... give the guy some time. he only started full contact a few months ago.
He looked bad but i know hes gonna get better and as far as the injury everyone keeps talking about when he went to the locker room it was right after that dunk attempt and looked like he hurt his hip or back nothing to do with his foot.
What some of you have to realize that even if he was a remote control dummy, his size in presence is enough to make whoever is in the post or paint think twice when on defense (of course unless your superman). And on offense, he will mostly be double teamed, take your pick who they leave open when they try that, and that will be bank. He built a reputation from past seasons that most coaches do not want to take a chance this season and make plays catered to defending Yao regardless if he has his worst season ever.
Also gang, Brad Miller did not play last night..... Yao will be fine...give him some time to get his groove on... DD
It is definitely too early to pass judgment on Yao. It was his first game back. He was able to play twelve minutes and is slowly getting back in the swing of an NBA schedule. He is still not in basketball shape. Let's see how he's doing in late November/early December.
More importantly, I liked how those 12 minutes were distributed, it seemed he played his normal half of ball even though he didn't. So, 24 just might work out...... DD
he's out of shape and rusty. he said as much in a recent interview. i don't think he'll be back in peak game form till well into the season; which is to be expected for a guy who's had several foot surgeries and has been out for almost two years. I'm not really going to evaluate him as a player until mid-season because doing so before-hand is just not fair.
There is a difference between being disappointed in Yao, and having hoped that he would come out a little better. I did not expect him to be great, but I expected him to play near potential for a short period of time. I don't think anyone is saying that Yao's not putting forth the right effort, just that you can't say that Yao is back so our interior issues are resolved. Honestly, the only player who really impressed me was Martin. He played aggressive and was committed on defense. I thought Chase, Lee, and Hayes did a pretty good job too. We will get there, but we need to improve on our team offense and defense. The player I'm most concerned about is Hill. He needs to play well this season not only because it'd be better to have him play some minutes at 5, but we need him to retain some trade value at the very least. It just seemed like we couldn't hold his ground at the 5. Even he can't cut it, then we have to move Scola to the 5 at times. Personally, I'd rather have Hayes back at the 5 at times if it comes to that.
In any case, the starters looked good with Yao out there and despite what we thought about Hill, he played well against one of the best in the league.
Man... Some of you guys are way out of touch. Yao or ANY player is not going to come back after a year and a half off, especially off of a major surgery and just pick up where he left off. It doesnt work that way. First off, his body is not yet conditioned for real game action, that takes time. Next not only does his body need conditioning but his foot does as well. It takes time... Simply put... I personally endured 4 knee operations during my college career. I played football, not basketball. But let me just say, when I came back from my 3rd knee surgery which was my most major operation, I freaked myself out. I didnt move well, I was slow and I honestly never dreamed I would be the same player I once was. I kept working and by the 3rd game of the season I broke the starting line up and was as good as knew, or at least I felt that way. It took some time and it took some patience. RELAX!!!!!!
hmm so your saying he wasnt extremely slow before? he had lift? and never got destroyed by an athletic big man?? man all this time i was watching some sort of alternate dimension rockets team. what i saw last night was basically what i expected, he is still gigantic, slow, and doesnt really jump. He didn't take many shots, it didnt really seem like the offense was necessarily going through him. I am not really worried, but then my expectations for yao are pretty low (reasonable).
All we need now is for Charles Barkley to say he would kiss Kenny's ass if Yao scores 19 points in a game this year. DD
BTW, not having Yao was not the reason for the loss. Not having Scola and Brooks was. Hill did well enough.
Just watched the video and Yao looks very rusty. Its great to see him out there though and trying to make plays. Once he gets his timing back I think we will see something approaching the Yao of old.
He only took one damn shot. It wasn't like we saw anything on the post. He got double teamed once and kicked it to AB. I liked that he changed guys shots that drove the lane. He will help us on D. Dwight just had his outside shot going.
