Let me first bash the the belief that Steve could not play on the court with Yao. In Yao's first year, Steve had his best statistically efficient year according to NBA.com. I believe he was #16 overall in the NBA that year. He was tops among point guards. In Yao's rookie year, he was #38 or something around there which is pretty good considering he was the 3rd or 4th option on the team. Look at some pre-draft analysis which includes comments from Jerry West. As Yao was warming up for his NBA Audition, he was knocking down outside shots from all angles. His first four shots were 18 footers from the baseline, and touched nothing but net. It didn’t take long to realize that this kid has a soft touch and can definitely shoot. Jerry West would later say, “the most impressive part was his shooting touch. Some guys can practice and practice without developing touch.” As mentioned earlier, shooting is one of Yao’s great strengths. His range extended all the way out to NBA threes, and he showed the ability to shoot off the catch as well as off the dribble. For one drill, Yao would grab a rebound off the glass, pass out to the point guard, fill the wing, make the catch on the perimeter, and shoot an 18 footer. Pulling up on the break for an outside shot is not easy for a guard, not to mention a 7'5" center, and Yao converted on about half of these attempts. Yao also demonstrated great consistency from the free throw line, he may have missed 2 out of about 30 free throws. Other strengths for Yao were his ball handling and passing. Under pressure by a defender, Yao dribbled up court utilizing both hands as well as behind-the-back dribbles to change direction. Jerry West was really impressed by Yao’s passing. “He was really sticking his passes,” said West. “He was putting them where you can catch it and shoot it.” West put Yao’s passing skills in the category of a Shaquille O’Neal and Vlade Divac, both coincidentally have worn the laker gold. During post-ups against Christofferson, Yao’s lack of strength was clearly evident. He will have a hard time getting good low post position as well as finishing in the paint against the strength of NBA power forwards and centers. He made one nice up and under move, demonstrating smooth footwork. However, you would like to see him making a strong drop step move or hook shot from the low block. He attempted a few hook shots without much consistency. He also did not make much use of his left hand around the basket. At this point Yao is clearly more comfortable and effective when facing the basket. His postup game should greatly improve with increased strength and NBA coaching. Defensively, Yao also has his shortcomings. On Christofferson’s first low post move, he put his shoulder into Yao’s chest, and he gave way for an easy layup. Yao is clearly susceptible to the power game at this point. One can imagine Shaq backing in on Yao, giving him a bump or two, and then lights out. Out on the floor, Yao is tough to shoot over. Nonetheless, he can be easily beaten with a jab step, fake, or change of direction move. Once he bites on a fake or a jab step gets him back on his heals, he does not have the quickness to recover and contest the shot. He may have difficulty staying out of foul trouble. He also has a tendency to not keep his arms up on defense, which is especially important defending the post. Yao needs to gain strength and learn to use his size more effectively in the paint. As far as intangibles, hoops guru Jerry West says, “he has a great feel for the game...looks like a wonderful kid...and one of the most impressive things about him is his demeanor. You can tell he has worked hard on the fundamentals.” When asked if he had any gut reaction similar to when he saw Kobe for the first time, West responded, “He wasn’t Kobe Bryant, that’s for sure.” So, Yao’s clearly a top three pick, right? “He’s definitely a top 7 pick.” C’mon Jerry. Overall, there were few surprises. Yao is a skilled shooter, passer, and ballhandler. As is the case with most players from overseas, he needs to work on his strength, defense, and low post game. One cannot dispute, though, that he has a very unique combination of size, coordination, and skills. Then the Rockets fire Rudy and hire JVG who flips the teams over its head making Yao the primary option with Steve and Cuttino becoming secondary scoring options. Steve has the worst year of his career excluding the injury-plagued one. Like a good soldier, Yao does what JVG tells him to do. He takes on physical contact from guys who are stronger than him. He has lapses and inconsistencies at times, but he manages to have a pretty good year. However, I think the 2nd year was just an illusion. JVG was pushing Yao in a direction in which it was clearly his biggest weakness according to draft reports, and it would be sooner rather than later that his weaknesses would raise their heads. Then you got this year when every single NBA team has the scouting report on Yao. With the zone defense and aggressive, physical defenders, the NBA has basically muted Yao on the court. Yao's weakness as a low post presence has definitely come back to the forefront. I argue that it is Yao's grasp of the game of basketball which allowed him to even have a pretty good first year mostly in the low post even though it was definitely a weakness of his. I think Yao has learned a lot on how to score in the low post. However, I think it is time for Yao to go back to what was fun for him and what made him the player he was before the draft. Look at Steve. Last year, Steve was definitely in a role that emphasized a weakness, and it showed. Now look at him this year basically reprising his role as the freewheeling gunner. Going back to what one's strengths are after a period of weakness will bring a renewed vigor to one's game.
"It's never going to be over as far as an endpoint," Francis said at Thursday's practice. "He's going to coach the way he wants to coach, and I'm going to play the way I want to play. There's always going to be conflict. In hindsight, Steve was right on the money. Steve knew that JVG was trying to get him to do stuff that he wasn't skilled at. He had learned all his life how to play basketball a certain way. The way he learned how to play basketball fits well with body type and mindset. It's one thing for a coach to ask for a little change from the player, but it's quite another for the coach to ask the player to totally change his play on the court to fit into a "system". Look at TMac. He's already said that it is taking him much more time to get in sync with the "system" JVG has. Sometimes you gotta look deeper than just the "TMac sucks" and "Yao sucks" in order to really find out what the heck is wrong with the team. I've looked at the situation objectively, and I think it is JVG at fault. "It's out of my mind," he said. "As far as prolonging it, I could care less. I don't have any bad feelings against him. I've still got to play for him, God knows how long. I have no problem with coach at all." Whether Yao is religious or not, Yao should be thankful that he is not tied down to a long-term contract with the Rockets and JVG. If Les Alexander does not bite the bullet and eat JVG's contract, his entire team will be lost.
