because KG can make them, and he made them. thats why we say KG is great. Yao is not. on the other hand, Yao tried many jumpers here and there, he missed 80% of them. and he sticked to the soft jumpers again and again.......not wise. the trend started from last season when everyone calling him MVP, best center...
actually, Yao SHOULDN'T just shoot more.. he should take the shots that he usually makes and NOT force shots like he did yesterday.. Yao was straight up jacking up shots with 2 people on his lap yesterday.. this resulted in our horribly slow start, and this probably was why we came up short in the end.. not that I expected us to win the game, but I truly believe that we don't have a place for mental mistakes like that.. He has been known for having good judgment and unselfishness.. now if he is gonna mysteriously decide to go ape$hit one day and stop passing it to his teammates (and take fade-away jumpers with Pollard and Garnett on his lap), that's not what I call "developing" his offensive skills..
I'd say Shaq in his prime was doubled more often than not. I certainly acknowledge that the lack of offense around Yao contributes to his problems getting the ball, but when he is fronted he can be almost completely taken out of the game, which is much harder to do against a more mobile big man. Yao is one of, if not the best centers in the game, but the league doesn't exactly have many good centers so that isn't as glamerous as it once was. He is obviously key to the Rocket's success, but I don't see how you are realistically going to get him a ton of additional shots on a nightly basis when there are so many possesions where he struggles to get open at all.
I'd say so for any American player. But...just take a look at Yi vs Durant, both rookie of the month. Durant really enjoys unlimited ball handling&shooting, while yi could only get a few shots when he's real open. Durant is 'developing' his game redardless of his lower percentage, but Yi is afraid of the mistakes and only doing the defensive work and shooting open jump shots. Yi is just like the early yao. On the other hand, it's really difficult for yao/yi to demand the ball and learn from the mistakes. They are both from China and humble and team first and rather avoid TO's without realizing they are opportunities to develope.
Yao Ming dislikes physical conflict. He is hesitant and deferential. No coach or teammate makes him play that way. It's just who he is. It's the #1 reason why the Rockets of this era haven't achieved what many of us hoped for, and probably never will. We blame McGrady for failing to play every night like a superstar, having long ago accepted that the other half of the duo can't even be expected to play like an all-star. He's had the training, the coaching, the practice, the competition. The man has no one to blame but himself. I respect his work ethic. But in the end, that's all it is.
There's something to that, Will, but he overcomes his innate personality from time to time, enough to drive us crazy thinking about what he could do if he'd just let it all hang out every game. My biggest problem with Yao right now is that he's missing shots he should make. Sure, he took some he shouldn't have during the last game, but he's missing point blank attempts he normally nails. What gives?
Problem is he's forcing shots right now. Takes too much time on the shot-clock to get him the ball and lately all it's resulted in is a turn around fade-away jump-shot 12-14 feet away which is obviously not going in at a high rate considering he's shooting a career low and frankly not efficient numbers for a big man of his caliber. I'd love for him to be a first option, a guy you can throw the ball down into and 8 or 9/10 times you know he's going to score, but it's proven he can be stopped and he still makes the same mistakes he's done in thee past (passiveness and turnovers). I don't really see him being mentally tough enough to be a first option on a championship caliber team and the problem is same goes for McGrady. Sad that we have two of the softest stars in the league.
i agree that had he shot better early on we might've won or the path of the game would've been different. and i said it right away after the game last night. but again, those are not bad shots. they're the shots he normally makes. and for the most part i believe he was under single coverage in the 1st quarter (could be wrong on that one). and i thought we all would like to see him getting more aggressive and split a double team and shot tha ball?
Sadly, I think this is very true. With McGrady playing, Yao will often play tantalizingly well, but with him out, he looks very much like a 2nd tier player. It's hard to believe that Yao will ever get better than he is now.
Kenny, Mario, Robert Horry, Clyde, even Matt Bull were all very good entry passers. Especially Horry, he's tall, with long arms and a good 3 pt shooter. Defenders won't dare to give our guys much room becuase they would made 3 pointers after 3 pointers. However, when Matt Maloney started to pass the ball to Hakeem, Hakeem also had problem. Hakeem usually have to take two steps out from the paint area to get the ball. That made Hakeem has to operate further away from the basket after receive the ball. It give him much trouble as well. Please note that was before the rule change. As for lob pass to Yao, more often than not, it was the defender from the weak side that intercept the ball or knock the ball out of Yao's hand. Head is our best spot up 3 point shooter, but he just can't make a decent entry pass. Head is too hesitant to make the entry pass. We all saw him holding the ball for 4-5 seconds before pass to Yao last night. Maybe the reason for Head's hesitation is that he's not tall enough to make a good over head pass. That is also why he always try to bounce pass the ball to Yao. Unlike Brooks who has the skill, Head's bounce passes are low and slow. Novak could be the solution but he's too slow to chase other team's guard.
Recent slump in %FG by Yao is mind boggling and only he knows why. Yao was sharp shooter within 5 -10 foot range and I still remembered where there was a game last year, the shot clock wind up to the last second, he received a pass from the boundary line at the corner (the ball was out of play), Yao just swished the ball in with opponent player hand on his face. Only when Yao was tired, he started to miss. Whether it is fade away, dunk or lay up, Yao is extremely efficient and that's why he can be a clutch player. However, all these are the old Yao we knew. The Yao this year is different and I don;t know why.
At present Yao is playing too many minutes versus his stamina ability and also playing while he is ill. One should not make too many judgements about him at this time as he is trying to be what Coach wants him to be. One of these days the coach is going to say to Yao- go out there and score as many points as you can. Then he is going to tell the team get the ball to Yao. At this moment the Coach will be indicating to Yao that it is his team and that he expects him to be the main scorer. This occasion has not occured yet.
Because Yao is just like Rik Smits only larger with a slightly better touch and physical presence. If you can win with Smits then you can win with Yao. But trying to copy the showtime Lakers won't work. Copy the blue collar Indiana Pacers and ya got something. We need a deadeye shooter. We could use a Michael Redd or Kapono. That's what we need to take the pressure off Yao. We could also use a better supporting cast at PF and SF. Scola is servicable but I'd also love to have a David Lee in our lineup too. That would be three guys who could be beasts in the low post and they would be rebounding monsters.
Horrible argument. Who else is gonna handle the ball on the Sonics? Durant is the only legit scoring threat on that team. The Bucks have Michael Redd and Mo Williams, not to mention Bogut who also plays in the post along with Yi. Sorry, but while Yao is a great player, he is not a one man show. Double and triple team him and he turns into an instant team turnover leader. As for this starting this thread, good timing being that on the night Yao took 20 shots and missed 13 of them.
As for this starting this thread, good timing being that on the night Yao took 20 shots and missed 13 of them. [/QUOTE] That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Most of his misses are from first half, and yao quickly adjusted himself to a good 2nd half. Yao always fight back given the opportunity. Stick with him in good and bad times(We are not doing that in the past, since he's not the 1st option.), and he will elevate to the next level sooner.
