Yao should stay the way he is. But whenever a ref or player treats him unfairly, their pet should coincidentally disappear the same night. And Yao should appear at their doorstep the next day with a bag full of ribs and BBQ sauce all over his mouth and say, "So...I hear your pet went missing....can Timmy play? Yo!"
I remember my 2nd or 3rd game in college a guy after my shot would start to box out before I got to the ground. I told the refs and they did nothing about it. Coach to me on the follow through, come down with ur elbows on top of the guy collerbone. I got a foul called, but the guy didn't slide undder me again. In fact he had to go to the lockerrom for treatment before halftime. Sometimes you have to get guys out of ur space. Does anyone else remember Dream when teams used to send a bench player in to intentionally foul him hard to get him mad? Later in his career he was known as a ambassador of the game, earlier he used to get into altercations a lot. People knew not to mess with Akeem.
Yao should hire a boxing or a Martial Art coach. Pick a time, beat the **** out some ass, let them know: Don't mess up with me!
oh there'll be a reason... plus guys its been 5 seasons, if you wanna take out the first 2 cuz he was developing than fine lets count 3 seasons and Yao is still the same when it comes the the main topic of this thread. Just like people say that players like Nash are naturally talented when it comes to passing or T mac has natural skills when it comes to athleticism, Some players have it and some don't (Rafer is a great ball handler and it seems easy to him handling ball and making plays where as Head struggles and has been for 2 seasons even after all the training) My point is Yao is just never going to be like Shaq or Hakeem they all have different personalities and Yao is a different person no matter how much you preach him to go out there and throw some elbows. Some times we have to look at them as a person not only as a basketball player. He probably feels guilty for throwing elbows at other players, yes he may do it at times under frustration but I think thats all you are gonna get out of Yao. Another thing I think may play a role in this is the fact that he was brought up in a different country and away from all the NBA hype we have in US. Its different watching and enjoying a NBA game in a foreign country compared to here in US where its natural to talk about NBA, NBA players, teams, etc. in our daily lives and Yao was brought up playing Chinese Basketball (which is so much different than NBA) You may never see Yao as the type of player you want him to be (Shaq, Hakeem,etc) so what we should talk about is how can Yao get around all the calling against him and get the respect that he deserves from officials without being someone else. Do you remember when he didn't even get respect from NBA players, Media, public his first 3 years?!
Ha-ha, You made my day, Man. BTW, I heard rumors saying that some of Refs' pets are really SPECIAL. They might have Crocodile, Tiger, Lion, Boa or Elephant.
Does anyone have the vicious one of big bad Cage in Seattle? I have only seen that one the day it happened.
I think the topic or problem is not whether Yao's playing soft or tough. I think we all need to change our mindset on what Yao has been playing these days. Listen fools, Yao is not playing soft. he is playing tough every game and given his efforts everynite on teh court. The problem is.... ready? .................................................... Yao is not playing dirty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, you heard it first in here. Yao's problem is not him playing soft, but rather he is not playing dirty. give couple of deke's elbow and send couple of guys to the floor. soon you will find defenders trying/playing less and less "physical defense" on you.
Another move I want to see: just bowl through defenders and take the foul sometimes. Remember how Malik Rose disappeared from the picture (and was inside the circle under the basket)? Even farther from the basket, if someone is ready to take a charge, just go full steam through the guy and let him feel it. But yes, Yao definitely needs to connect with a solid elbow one time and just maybe get pissed and threaten someone. Remember Shaq clubbing Yao on the head? Shaq pile driving his elbow down on Kirilenko's head? Both were fouls, but they made their point.
I agee with you. I believe that refs are waiting Yao to make a move before calling fouls on them. If Yao doesn't mind the aggresive play from oponents, refs probably will pretend not seeing the fouls too.
I think this is only going to come with time. IMHO, I think that Yao has shown his emotions more and more on the floor and its only a matter of time before someone really pisses him off. You've seen him be more agressive with dunks, and emotional on 3 point plays. He seems to be getting more testy with the refs in recent years, so I think he is building that toughness that so many writers, naysayers, and fans have clamored for since he began playing in the NBA. Wait till the playoffs when the play gets dirtier, and I think Yao is going to show us some of that toughness/anger that has to be building up.
If Yao got into a fight with a 6'6 - 6'10 player who's well coordinated, I firmly believe that he'd get his ass kicked. He's way too slow to keep up with them, they'd pepper him with blows to the head before he could react. He should get into a fight with someone like Zydrunas Ilgauskas or someone like that.
I never called him soft, I think players feel like they can do anything to him. I get pissed when opposing players treat yao this way. Believe it or not, I think its partially his fault. I cited the Mason play from last as well as another poster talks about the shaq play. It never seems like yao ever gets his money's worth on a foul. The play by D. Howard when he was pulled down should have been returned with a hard foul across the shoulder or arms.
are you kidding me? have you seem yao fight? go to youtube and search it. it was during a summer internation game where I think it was a guard who pushed yao around. Yao pushed him back so hard that he went from the freethrow line all the way to the 3pt line and more. Yao needs to throw couple of punches for sure. take fine or even a suspension. come on kick some ass!
Oh I remember seeing that. Yao was pissed and really taught that guy a lesson. But I think Yao grew up trying not to be the big guy who hurt people, which doesn't serve his NBA game well. But I agree that he shouldn't be expected to be the second coming of Hakeem. I think SF3 can help him be more aggressive because Yao seems to respond to his energy.
Agree with you 1000%. Yao needs to bring more aggression to his game and especially if he plays down in the block. He needs to be somewhat of an enforcer down there.
I agree with the idea that Yao should be more physical but the elbow fight? Hello? Yao should be fighter not boxer
