OMG...what lamed strategy. Yao has such a nice outside shot even from the 3 point line and now you're going turn him into someone that can't shoot from outside like a forgotten art? C'mon now! That is just lamed idea. I mean i don't mind if a majority of plays for Yao is in the post, but for god sake, let him shoot from outside too, the man can shoot as good as anybody in the Rockets' team. That's what i am trying to say, expand his game instead just posting him up. Let him shoot a couple from outside. Heck maybe he'll go 21/21 FG from outside and nobody can stop him.
Explain how this will happen? Do you think that he will forget how to shoot from the outside? Do you think that he wlll stop taking 500 a day from the outside (in practice). Do you know what you are advocating? A specialist. And I'm NOT saying that Yao wont use outside shooting in his game. Just not now (rookie season).
"That was my worry at the start of the season. I DID NOT want Yao to become an outside shooter. " Dont worry about that he is not even looking to shoot a 15 footer. I guess once he has improved the rest of his repertorie, Yao would just come in one day and shoot the hell out from 15 feet and beyond. Why do we need to put Yao's offensive arsenals on hold while he's improving the rest of his game. Would someone please explain. May be we should also put SF's jumpshots on hold until he improves his passing and defensive abilities.
Well, obviously no one is very happy with the recent lack of offensive output on Yao's part but I think it is actually a good thing that he defers to the veterans for the meantime. This serves to lower expectations that were blown sky high after his break out games and it helps to cement his relationship with team mates who are still feeling him out. If Yao started taking 12 to 15 shots a game, he may well alienate some of the vets who feel that rookies need to bide their time no matter how much potential they have. If the current situation results in wins, then it really doesn't matter if Yao only shoots 6 times a game. However, if the vets continue to underperform and losses mount, then Yao may well be given the red light to shoot more without the pressure of feeling he needs to look to pass first. Let's all remember that the season is very long and there is still alot of ground work to be done yet with this team.
Yao Ming should not resort to only shooting outside jumpers, but I think he definately should be taking some at least. It's silly to say that Yao shouldn't be shooting from the outside because he must work on his inside game. He can do both at the same time. The object is to develop Yao as well as win games, and Ming shooting from around 15-18 ft like CWebb did tonight can help us win games. By no means am I advocating him taking a lot of jumpers from the outside... just enough to keep the defense from saggin off him and maybe even open up the lane for our guards.
Fast food for you! This is you... Five years from now, if we took your advice, this is what you would be saying. "Man, Yao sure takes a lot of outside shots. He should work on his inside game more. That way he'll be a more balanced scorer. He takes too many outside shots. Rudy should be fired for not working on Yao and his inside game."
reptilexcq, I hear your pain. Rudy's go-slow with Yao Ming plan is making me sick now. Ok, the guy is a rookie in NBA, but he is not a high school kid. He has played in China for Pro for 3 years and played on international competition with NBA players. The go-slow plan maybe worked in the first 10 games when Yao was intimidated. But not now please! I feel Yao is playing very tight games, no free-form. He seems to be following one set plan from the Coach. I am surprised with his league-leading field goal percentage, he never took an 15-foot shot (not fadeawys). With his height and good agility and acurracy, no one can stop his outside jumpers. It time to let Yao take over the game offensively. Let him has the ball to start offense once ball get half-court. He can choose to pass, drive to basket, fadeway jumpers, quick jumpers. He need to get a LOT more shots off. It is just pointles not to use his abilities. When he get more points like that, his confidence and his teammates confidence in him will grow. He will be more double-teamed, thus opening up a flowing offense.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. Yao is a smart kid and doesnt want to alienate his teammates. With all the diplomatic comments he has made so far, you could see he is aware of that.
"Man, Yao sure takes a lot of outside shots. He should work on his inside game more. That way he'll be a more balanced scorer. He takes too many outside shots. Rudy should be fired for not working on Yao and his inside game." Please dont misquote me. I never said Yao should shoot the hell out from the outside now. Yao has both inside and outside offensive arsenals, they complement each other. It has no basis to separate them, develop one and put the other on hold. It's almost like asking a boxer going to a match to stop using his strong hand until he develops the other. Yao is not even "looking" to take any 15 footer, for God sake. By making those, he could draw out the defense, open up the lane to improve our offensive flow. This is very basic basketball know-how. It doesnt take a NBA coach to see that.
Sorry, I disagree... Yao needs to work on his weaknesses. Yao should not waver from that just to please gotoloveit2. Come back to the game next year. You're just mad because Yao is not getting 20ppg. Stats. Your argument is the same as saying that Francis should shoot more because he's the leader (instead of running the team). Do you remember the ISOs? All you think about his offense, offense, offense. Like that's the be-all-end all of wining. We know that Yao can shoot from the outside. He's not going to lose that skill. But he needs to learn the other stuff that make a great basketball player (center) and not just another shooting-guard. We already have enough of those.
They just need to get Yao MORE involved. Start moving the inititiation of the offense from Steve to Yao...and by the end of the year, it should be almost exclusively Yao. I mean the guy shoots 67% for crying out loud. DaDakota
What do you think will happen to the 67% if he shoots more 15 footers? Or worse, 18 footers! Go up? So, don't use that as a measure. We're not talking about three pointers. Granted he's the best shooting center since Sabonis. Most of his shots are short jumpers, hooks, and dunks. Not 15 footers. This "exclusively Yao" is making me nervous. It's completely opposes team play. What we will have his a single man carrying the team, and a bunch of scrubs. But, hey! As long as we get on ESPN highlights, right!?? What we really need is more defense. And some consistancy from KT, MoT and Griff.
I don't think his FG% would go down much because he can nail shots out to 20 ft. If you ever watched him play before the NBA, you would know that he can has great range and his gawdy 75 FG% in the CBA and international play consisted of alot of mid range jumpers. I started an thread on this before about him passing up the open 15-18 ft jumper and everyone excuse was he was just getting comfortable. Well he is comfortable enough now, and needs to take this shot. It will help break up the zone and clear driving lanes for our talented guards.
Man, you kept missing the point. We are talking about proportion. Yao only put up 3 shots in 20+min. Anyway you slice it, it makes no sense. Do I have to say it again. I never said Yao should shoot the hell out. Just get him involved more during the offensive flow. I dont demand him to score 20+ points. As a matter of fact , I like to see him to have at least 5 assists per game, more rebounds etc. Yao should continue to improve all aspects of his game, put more emphasis on his defense, but not totally forgetting about his offense. The other point is Yao is being ignored repeatedly in our offense , even when he wanted the ball down low, or cuting to the basket on pick n roll. SF is already shooting the hell out from the outside, why would I agrue for him to shoot some more. I want SF to improve on his defense and passing and cut back on his shooting. You gave a totally wrong analogy to my agrument. Yao has been shooting only 3-5 shoots over past few games, and do you want him to cut back more and just work on his defense. Your arguement dont hold waters at all. Finally, I am just an average guy with an average BB IQ, lurking around here on my sparse time to have some fun. Why would Yao want to please me. I sure dont have that kind of power or ego.
DavidS, I think you are missing my point. I do not want an exclusive YAO offense, I want him to INITIATE the offense. Let him make the pass that gets the defense off balance. Right now, he commands a double team...guess what? Someone is open...right? So, get him the ball and let him make the good solid BASKETBALL decision, since our PG is not capable of doing it with a pass. DaDakota
Just so you know where I stand with Yao... He could be getting 25 points a game, right NOW! Yes, that's right. I see that in his game. But, he's not going to do that because he's always been a team player and Rudy telling him to work on the other parts of his game. It's a combination of two things. As time goes on, and his other skills catchup, and he starts to gain the trust of his teammates (that he's not a spoiled rookie), he'll make more of a offensive contribution. Don't forget that some games he wont show up on the stat board because he did the little things to get the win. That's when you know you have a TEAM. When you don't know how many points a player got (any player for that matter).
Dont get me wrong, I always advocate teamwork. I am not interested in Yao getting 25+ points. If that happens, great, but I dont see him involving that much at all in our offense, while the rest of our team suks on that. SF just shoot himself out of trouble to GET his 25+ points. You need to take Yao's comments with a grain of salt. He is a smart and humble kid. I am sure he wants to improve on his defense. I am not so sure he wants to put his offense on hold. You could see that he does want the ball during our offensive flow, but he wasnt getting it most of the time. What would you expect him to say to the media. Pass me the damn ball. Doubt it very much. He sure doesnt want to alienate some of his teammates. Even when he wasnt getting the ball during the World Games, Yao wasnt saying much at all. He always commented that he needed to improve on this and that. That was his nature, and that's why I like him so much.
Its very simple, Yao doesnt need to be more selfish, or take more shots. He just needs more touches !
