Yao's not dominating. Whose fault is it?

Its really all on Yao at this point. He'll improve his conditioning soon enough, but he needs to be more aggressive. I think it was during the Miami/Rockets game last week one of the abc said that playing in the nba is such a change for him and that the competitiveness in the nba is something he has never experienced and in fact goes against everything he has learnt and experienced in china growing up. 2 1/2 seasons in the NBA will not change 22 years of the chinese culture. I do believe Yao will learn this but it will take some time, giving the massive roster changes this past year it will take some time. He needs to become more comfortable off the court with his teammates and build that bond that he had with SF and Cat. I honestly believe that next year there will be a much different Yao, one that is more aggressive and more vocal.

The refs of course do not help Yao's case. There have been numerous ridiculous calls on Yao, so much in fact you'd think he was a rookie in the league and not a 2-time all-star and one of the league's most promising young players. Yao also needs to learn to stop the silly reach in fouls and not to be timid even if he gets called for 1-2 offensive fouls. Sooner or later the refs will start respecting his aggressiveness and give him more leeway. I mean look at amare, a good portion of his one on one drives to the basket he using his off arm to create space and hold the defender off and is never called for it (or rarely is).

Give it some time, Yao was considered a project when drafted that would takee 3-4 years to develop and just because he has exceeded all expectations his first year with a great season people expect equally great things subsequent seasons. Yao has improved steadily in each of his seasons in the nba is already paying huge dividends. I'll take that from a "project" pick anyday

 

Can I say it is his opponents' fault?

 

sigh...just great. Rox go on a winning streak, so we make a post rehashing the same old same old. Why not a poll on how come the Rox didn't win with Barkley or Pippen? Cant you just enjoy the damn present?

 

he vomitted cuz we choked

 

In Walton's championship year (77/78), he scored 18.6 points, grabbed 14.4 rebounds and dished out 3.8 assists per game. Yao probably will never get us 14 rebounds a game, but he will almost certainly score way more than Walton did. And Yao's assists will improve as he gets more touches. In his prime, I see Yao averaging 24/12 and 3 assists, for years. That's more than enough to win lots of championships and get him into the hall of fame.

 

YOF sez it's Sura's fault. Everything is Sura's fault.

 

Once he starts to get better calls from the refs and gets his mins up (increased stamina and less fouls) then i think its safe to say that he will become a 20 pt and 10 reb type of player. He has played more mins in the past 2 games and has stayed out of foul trouble since the Miami game and as a result his stats are up.

 

All of above. Yao himself, the system he's played in, never played with good true PF and PG, and refs all played a part of it.

 

I think it's a little bit of the 1st and the 4th option.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I'm just absolutely fed up with the no calls when Yao gets hammered. I really hope that JVG send tapes to the league office for review. One of the worst was the game against the T'wolves when Eddie had that great block..... on Yao's forearm.


No call.


Also disturbing is the phantom fouls called on Yao. Refs, it's not a foul on Yao when he holds his arms staright up, doesn't move, and someone barrels into him and flops to the ground. Pathetic.

I think the calls, in effect, have a lot to do with Yao's soft play. He probably thinks that if he's any more aggressive, he'll foul out. It's a psychological challenge for him.

 

I read somewhere that Yao “felt like to vomit” after the Laker game. I guess he didn’t. He also said he never fully recovered from the last flu and lost about 22 lbs. His weight dropped from 312 lbs at the beginning of the season to 290 lbs now.

 

Yao doesn't have the physical tools (other than size) to be "the" dominate player on a team for an entire year. He can step it up for a game or two then he comes back down to earth. It's best to think of Yao as a great supporting player to the team's star --- in the Rockets case that player is obviously Tracy McGrady.

 

Great posts moligity, Willis25 and The_Yoyo.

Good read and on point.

 

Actually, I have trouble thinking of Yao as a "supporting player" when he attracts more defensive attention than T-Mac does. Yao is lethal down low unless he is heavily defended, and every team in the NBA knows it.

Please note, I am not calling McGrady a supporting player either. Why can't a team have more than one leader?

 

I see that my earlier message may have been a bit confusing. Since I have a touch of insomnia tonight, I will expand on it.

I wanted to say that you don't have to be a 20/10 player to enter the Hall of Fame; Bill Walton wasn't. Walton was just an 18/14 guy, but the numbers don't begin to tell the story. He was overwhelming, dominant on both ends of the court. He could block and rebound better than anyone else of his time, he could pass like a point guard, and his shooting touch was legendary. (In the NCAA championship game of 1973, he drained 21 of 22 shots. Repeat: Walton did this in the championship game of the NCAA tournament. That had to have been one of the greatest clutch performances in history.)

Unfortunately, just as Walton was beginning to pass Kareem in practically all statistical categories (except scoring), his foot injuries caught up with him. Walton basically had only four good seasons in the NBA, and only one championship. John Wooden, who coached Kareem and Walton at UCLA, always maintained that Walton was the better player. If Walton had stayed healthy, the evidence might be unambiguous. As it is though, we can only wonder.

I doubt that Yao could match Walton defensively; the Mountain Man was a beast. But Yao is a better scorer because of his post game, and may eventually be just as good at passing. If he only matches Walton overall, as an all-around player, I will be more than satisfied.

 

I hated the poll choices.

I don't know think there is only one reason and but I would've liked an option that stated that he isn't dominating because he's still learning. I think he can still dominate because his game still seems to be developing. The way the topic is presented just opens up the field for bashing. "Whose fault is it?"

 

Only Yao himself, nothing else.