Hi guys, I am a newbie to this site and have been reading a lot of analysis on Yao's performance lately, so i'd like to throw in my two cents, though they may sound like cliche. IMHO, Yao's major weaknesses are: 1. Stamina: evidenced by the last few games when he always performed well in the 1st quarters then went missing for the rest of the games. Because fatigue adversely affacts the concentration level and plays a major role in missing easy shots and drawing stupid fouls; 2. Upper body strength: that's why he couldn't hold onto the ball and couldn't secure the rebounds 3. Mental state: it's not like that Yao is weak mentally, but he cares too much and burdens himself with the high expectations from coaches, teammates and fans, that's too much pressure which makes him afraid of making mistakes, which in turn makes him hesitant on court. He always blames himself for letting others down, and the more you were upset with yourself, the more fatigued you would feel on court. the reason why he played so well in the Olympics was not just because of patriotism, but because he KNEW he was the best in the team and everyone else looked up to him to carry the team on his shoulders. He knew he was the one, there were no others. I think the first two can be overcome with training programs during the summer break. The last one can only be solved with time. Confidence level can only be boosted slowly with a series of successes. What you guys think?
I think his mid section could be stronger. He won't be as easy to push off balance if he can keep upright easier.
Yao can turn and get a short non-jumper almost any time he wants. He just needs to decide that contact on the shot is the other guy's problem, not his problem. Show the refs the same move every quarter, every night. Lean in a little. Lobby when you don't get the call. Stop being afraid.
welcome redcapital. i mostly agree with your opinion. but i'm not sure i want yao to bulk up more. He is pretty strong, and if you bulk up to much your quickness decreases. so i would like him to train his quickness, and not his bulk.
Thank you, arno! I think strength is not necessarily proportional to the amount of muscle on your body. It also comes from coordination of muscles and speed. For examply, Andy Rodic can serve the ball with a speed of over 130 miles/hour. that massive swing requires a lot of power from your body, but you don't find his body very bulky. however, if you ask shaq, the most powerful player in the NBA, to match Rodic's serving speed, he may not be able to do it. Yao has got the muscle, but he needs to be trained on how to utilize those muscle to generate power and withstand outside forces imposed on him when opposing players try to push him out of position or attempt to snatch the ball from his hands. I remember someone even went as far as suggesting Yao to take some Kung Fu lessions to fend off the opponents. I once thought it was really funny, now I started to think it might not be such an crazy idea!
A lot of this stuff has been debated endlessly but what would an internet forum be without endless debate. I'm about 5'7" and have bad knees and a bad back so I can't jump much anymore or run very fast. I was playing basketball last night and was guarding a guy about 6" taller than me and a whole lot more athletic. I think he figured that with the size and strength difference he would hang out under the hoop and post up on me. Well what happened was I pretty much shut him down inside because all I focussed on getting and maintaining position on him. For in the paint scoring we finished the same even though I took about half the amount of shots he did and I outrebounded him. Everytime a shot went up I moved in front of him and set my feet. When he leaned in I leaned back and put my shoulder and back into him. When he tried to step around me I moved laterally to keep him from coming. So even though he could reach over me to get the ball he was never set enough to control it so he would end up tipping it away while I could take off forward clearly to grab it. Same thing with D on him. He would catch it and try to back me into the basket. All I needed to do was stand my ground or move laterally and keep my hands up. He would run into me and either he would have to run me over resulting in a foul or he would have to push off resulting in a foul. Anyway my point is that size and strength are big pluses in basketball but knowledge and tenacity make up for a lot. At this point I'm not sure Yao getting stronger will make much of a difference as opposed to playing smarter on getting good position and being tenacious about pursuing rebounds.
Yao's probems stem from the system of JVG, which exposes his weakness instead of taking advantage of his skill. How come to ask him to grab rebounds while chasing small guards out of the low post. Webber is another good example.
It seemed that he is ignorant or unwilling to initate contact on his shots. I recalled last year 1 time only that he faked a jump shot and as the defender is going at him, he jumped quickly again and had a 3 point play.....That play was never tried again by Yao.
I'm sure if you put KG to replace Yao in JVGs system he would still get a lot of rebounds. Yao's not that bad of a rebounder! i see him miss getting about 2 rpg he could get if he had better position. You know, those ones where he jumps and stretches for it but he just cant grab it. Better knowledge of where the ball will bounce out will give him a lot more rebounds. Experience will help in that area. Rebounding drills would help a whole lot! I wonder what exactly goes on in practices!
Right on! It's all about BALANCE, DYNAMIC BALANCE. Many fans saw Yao's butter hands, then pinned on his upper body strength. IMO, Yao lost many balls coz he couldn't well control his center of gravity. His weak mid section(comparing with his bulk) and his poor tactics of body contact are the true weaknesses. I seriously recommend Yao better try some basic WRESTLING training, which is the miracle drug(not a joke).
Hey, IF, you can take your new-fangled "common sense" and well-reasoned wisdom somewhere else. We're not buying your snake oil here! Get the torches! Yao's getting away!!
