Yao will NEVER become dominant if he continues to rely on jumpers as a significant part of his game. Kevin Garnett is the case to study here. Although he has posted similar numbers as Duncan, ask any coach in the league and they'll tell you that Duncan possesses much more dominance when he's on the court, mainly because KG is more perimeter oriented. Duncan has won three championships, and is the player most coaches would like to build their teams around. Also take Shaq- he can't shoot for his life and he's still regarded as arguably the most dominant player in the past decade. This is where Yao's perceived "softness" takes its toll on his future impact as a player. It's common knowledge that jumpshots are subjected to streaks, and no one can make their jumpshot at a high percentile on a consistent basis. By definition dominant players maintains their impact on the game night in and night out, unless they get into foul trouble of course. But they cannot maintain dominance if their shots don't fall during cold streaks. Like almost all big men, Yao is vulnerable to foul trouble, but he's also vulnerable to streaks because of his tendency to settle for jumpers. So the whole point of this is: do not get so hyped up and make unreal expectations of Yao to become dominant like the next Shaq. Yao is will be a great player in his own unique way, much like KG. As of now, the odds are against it, unless Yao takes it to the basket more and get to the FT line (which he has done poorly in the last couple of games).
Since when does Yao rely on his outside jumper. He is always trying to take it to the hole now. Very rarely does he spot up at 18 feet like Garnett. His shots are just not falling right now, however they are good shots. These kinds of threads make me feel stupid for even responding, so thanks for making me feel stupid.
Give him some slack after he beat Shaq in that hard fought bleeding(for real!) game. The last couple of games he seems a little exhausted at times. JVG should've play bench more while Rox suffered late game collapse with beat-up starters struggling on the court. You'd notice Yao today played 38 mins! BTW, Yao wouldn't rely on jumpers when he could get fair treatment under the basket: if he doesn't get any whistles at all when working near the basket, it'd be better for him to just shoot a jumper.
The Spurs have stars at three of their positions, Parker, Ginobili, Duncan. Also, they have a coach who lays the law down firmly on his players, making them more disciplined than most other players. Garnett only had Spreewell (he went mental) and Cassell for 1 year, that's it. He had two good players around him and went all the way to the WCF, just losing to the Lakers. Don't underestimate Garnett when he has the right players around him.
after observing the 2 games that he struggled in (I ignored where the ball is on every play and I just focused on watching Yao move without the ball), I found out that Chicago messed up his rythm by playing him physically and not allowing him to get in a posession to post up.. I think Yao should work on his overall body strength (which has improved notoriously in the past 2 years) and on the "mental" part of the game (by that, I mean his judgement of plays, which also, like his strength, took great strides towards success) the worst thing is when Yao tries to "force" something.. like force a shot up, or force a post up move when he is not comfortable... it just messes up his whole game and his the kind of guy (kinda like me, even though I am a guard ) that loses confidence in himself after he misses a couple shots in a row..
Exactly. Well, I am tired about this. I will never defend either Yao or TMAC again. Since Yao is a person who always wants his game speaks itself. I can at least learn this from him. I have been waiting them to win for us for 2 seasons. I don't mind to wait one more season.
i agree. he settles too much for jumpers, half the time he's fading AWAY from the basket. wtf is up with that? charles said it right. yao averages 26 pts, but it's not a dominant 26 pts. guys like duncan, shaq, garnett, they COMMAND double and triple teams and make their teamates better. the bulls played yao in single coverage and ben wallace was owning him. he's not a dominant center right now and won't be if he continues to rely on shooting fadeaway jumpers.
I was worried that Barkley's idiotic comments on Yao would sneak into the heads of some of those less sophicated fans. Boy here we go. First there is no such thing a dominant 26 pts average vs a non-dominant one. I dont know how to call it then. If a guy scares shiat out of his opponents when he catches the ball, and the only way to stop him is to hack him hoping no call, that's dominance. On top of that, Yao is averaging 26 pts/night. 2nd, how does Yao not get people around him better, it's up to those guys to hit wide open shots, if they cant do that, not much you can ask from Yao, he cant shoot for them. 3rd, what's wrong with Yao's Jumper. If Shaq can shoot, he would be still eating his lunch at this point of his career. Please. Give me a center who can shoot lights out as well as can power move over a guy only uses physical advantage. Stupid.
God forbid Yao should have a couple bad games, after scoring 30+ three times in his first seven games, and shooting a ridiculous 60-70% from the field several times. Scoring is not Yao's problem. Ever since he entered the league, Yao has been a very efficient scorer. BTW, "dominant" Tim Duncan takes a greater % of his shots outside the paint, and has had quite a few seasons where he shot under 50% from the field.
I'm just saying jump shots don't always fall. Shaq was so dominant because he backed down his opponent and shot at point blank rage. Here we have a 7'6 guy shooting fadeaway 15 fters. Notice a difference? If the jump shot isn't falling Yao is ineffective. We know Yao isn't the type to back down and outmuscle his opponent. I think T-Mac's giving Yao a little too much credit.
Problem is that Yao's jumpers are not helping the team because he shoots them at a very low percentage when he is tired in 4th Q (JVG's fault here). No team can afford a 7'6" No1 center shooting like 2/9, 2/11 with 0 or 1 rebound, 2 or 3 turnovers in 4th Q. Yao HAS better way to dominate a game than taking 10-15 feet JUMPERS relently. And I hate his always-missed-slow-motion-badly-refereed layups too. That alone makes every game disgusting.
where were you when he was shooting 70% not long ago. So you are suggesting Yao puts on Shaq suit? Yao is Yao, Shaq is shaq, Dream was dream, Kareem was Kareem. Were they all measured by the same dominance defined by Shaq?
Your definition of dominant is: Big bully. So your definition of being dominant in basketball game is: big bully beating up others with big muscle, big butt, or sharp nails. Wait, is this basketball or wrestling you are talking about?
