i guess that clears that up - thanks. I think it's a good read, but no way in hell did a Rox employee write it. At least not if they want to keep their jobs. The article is very critical of JVG, and a subordinate wouldn't write that much criticism of his boss. It sounds more like an informed opinion, with a tone an HR department would come up with, than a proper scouting report. dharocks: I took that second statement to mean from the competition DA was allegedly playing in, not other NBA teams, though your read makes sense (I was thinking "Yao's not even there..."). Almost enough to make me re-evaluate my belief it's a fraud... almost
Good read. Yao Ming,Yao Ming,Yao Ming,YaoMing.!! Whatever happened to the soccer style cheer by Chance is it still played at games?
Good read, I don't care if it's a true scouting report or not because we rarely see some quality post this days, it's always we should pick up so and so in free agent. Although it did not tell me anything we did not know. I agreed with almost all of the things stated in the "report". Here is some points: 1. Yao is the most unstoppable offensive player one on one. 2. JVG's offensive set does not involve Yao as much as he should, and often times JVG allow the defense to shut down Yao with fronting, and we still coming up with nothing to counter that. 3. Although it's effective to have Yao come out on top to help the guards to stop penetration, it's bad to run Yao out of gas and put him in foul trouble because no big man can truly rotate back down low in time to grab rebound and block shot (well, maybe KG can if he tries really hard). 4. We should push the tempo more than JVG's slow it down, Yao is very good in transition and has good speed and movement for this kind of attack. 5. As for the age old question of: should/can Yao be the no.1 option? It's hard to tell, he does show a lot of heart and leadership in leading Chinese National team, he also seemed contend to play second fiddle to TMac.
so after reading this "scouting report" i have decided we should...FIRE GUNDY! haha, it was well written but i think van gundy is doing a decent job coaching. sure yao isnt getting his touches or whatever, but he is still doing a lot of learning. im sure jvg knows what he is doing? i hope...
who cares if its real...this is the most unbiased and accurate report on yao's game that i have ever seen. good read and good assessment of yao.
Good find. Most of the analysis is spot on. Not sure about the authenticity though. I don't know how many scouting reports would make 5-6 references about how Yao gets "absolutely no respect" from the refs. But I think we can all agree that it would be nice to see Van Gundy take some of the article's advice and help make Yao a more aggressive and dominant force in the offense. By the way. We always complain about how Jeff misuses Yao. Does anyone have any idea bout how Patrick Ewing faired under JVG versus Pat Riley. Or under those two as opposed to previous coaches? It would be interesting to see how well Van Gundy is at using a center. I know Yao and Patrick aren't the same player, but it may give us a better picture.
Real or not, it does bring up some interesting points. I've long thought that Yao fumbles balls away (especially towards the end of games) not because he has stone hands, but due to a lack of concentration. And this part was absolutely spot on: It probably is a "fake" scouting report though. The "Yao fending off 2-3 players on rebounds" is straight out of Yao's mouth and is oft repeated on various message boards, including this one. And it makes no mention about specific Yao tenancies that you would find in a regular scouting report. Stuff like: "Yao can set up on either box, and can shoot a turnaround jumper over either shoulder. If he catches the ball in good position and rhythm, he often goes for a quick jump-hook. On the right block, if the defender leans into his back, Yao likes to do a quick spin move to the basket. On the left block Yao has started to utilize a pumpfake and dribble drive left for a finger-roll, or one-dribble reverse pivot for a jump-hook. He's got an effective drop-step but doesn't nearly use it as much, and his face up game is practically non-existent."
I would not have him chasing out to the 3 point line for the screener. I'd rotate the defense so that would be the PF's responsibility. Make the offense have to park both big men outside to even have the opportunity to draw Yao out. I would make the gameplan where we go to Yao early in the game........period....on every posession to force the foul count on him to go up and get us into FT territory earlier in the quarter and put the opponent's big men in foul trouble. I would require Yao to make the move to the basket and take the shot, unless the double was obvious, and then he should be able to find the open man easily and we still get the easy buckets. But even a that, he has to get up at least 5 shots minimum in the first quarter. I'd even make him take on the double team to get those shots and put the pressure on the defense and the refs to call the hack and slap fouls on the secondary defender. Even with 2 guys on him, the only way they can stop him is to get him while he is still on the floor. On offense, move him back and forth from the low box to the high box constantly and let him have the freedom to take that 17 footer when the defense gives it to him. He starts nailing that shot, and he would, the defense has to adjust. Then take him right back down to the low box. Especially with the fronting defense, he needs to move out high and create more backside space for the lob/dunk. Part of the problem with throwing him the lob is he is too low in the box and the spacing is limited when the defender can front him below the circle. Bring him out to the FT line, and then force the defense to play face up. They can't front out high........unless they're stupid. The other factor defensively is for him to not challenge driving guards in the first quarter. Our opponents constantly drive the paint because their game plan is to get him in foul trouble. If Yao stays out of foul trouble, he is a wall defensively at the end of games, and can get real aggressive mid third quarter on. That's what we want, the ability to crank up the D in money time. The biggest factors are 1.) take the pressure off him defensively by allowing him to roam a little bit on the inside and not have to run down the pickers. Offenses intentionally run him from one side of the floor to the other because they know Van Gundy is gonna have him chase the whole floor. We shouldn't play into that. Maybe with Swift, it will stop. This will increase Yao's endurance and delay the fatigue considerable. 2.) Get him off early and make him the first option in the first quarter, so he gets going good, and he gets the opponents in foul trouble where they have to play tentatively for the rest of the game, or they have to play scrubs on him, and we get into FT city. We should go to him early in every quarter to get the foul count going in our favor. 3.) Make him passive early in the game especially against the driving perimeter players. No fouls first quarter...1 foul tops at halftime. If he takes his foul, keep him on the floor except for rest and tell him to let players go, unless he can come weakside and block something without any threat of contact, and keep pounding him the ball. Then second half, let the dogs out. He should challenge anything.........smartly.
interesting reading, thanks for the post, the article obviously include a lot of the stuff that most of us agree with... In the forum link, apparently some due wrote "Yao couldn't jump 26 inches if his life depended on it" as one of the reply, anther guy posted the reply "If he "can't jump 26 inches if his life depended on it", then how do you explain this photo genius??? http://www.nba.com/rockets/photogallery/Photo_Gallery_050705-141123-34.html photo number 3 with Yao and Dampier the photos brought back some good memory... untill of course....
Great read, the writer is on target with all of his observations, even the ones about Yao not being used correctly.
Dead on analysis of Yao's game; and, no, I don't think Ming has been properly utilized thus far by either Rudy or JVG. And I don't really understand why? Rocket's guards don't do a good job of getting him a well placed and well timed pass and in several ways already mentioned, JVG's system doesn't seem like his best fit. Otherwise, personality factors and stamina are the keys to his game. Is Ewing gone yet? I hope so.
I didn't know he had a 26 inch vertical. Probably really needs to concentrate and bend his knees to do that though.
Yao does look like he's got a decent vertical in some of the pics. Last year the Rockets did a poor job of getting Yao the ball while he was near the goal. How many times did Yao get good possition before he had to get out of the lane to avoid a 3 second call? Just look at how many touches Yao gets and that will tell you we don't have the best game plan for using him. Early last season JVG used lob passes to Yao while he was in motion to get him the ball to keep teams from fronting him and to make decent entry passes and it worked, but the Rockets didn't stick to this strategy. The pick and roll with T-mac and Yao was pretty much unstoppable in the playoffs and Yao did get to touch the ball, but can you imagine what Yao could do if he had a Steve Nash on the floor with him or a John Stockton? Using Yao to rotate out to guard the perimeter and then collapse back to the basket is crazy. That's asking to much from a guy his size and causes him to get tired and pick up silly fouls when he's late getting back to the basket. Hopefully JVG will use Swift in this role next season and leave Yao close to the bucket on defense. My last point involves how the Rockets don't use Yao's passing ability. In the all-star game Yao made some sweet passes to Kobe for easy buckets, but the Rockets haven't used Yao's passing since Rudy T was in Houston. If Swift will cut to the basket he'll get easy dunks all season long because Yao will hit him with a good passes. JVG is a good coach, but he has problems adapting his system to the strengths of his players.
