I watched recent games and I found yao is working very hard for his position. everytime like a wrestle. Yao's stamina is not that good. so how to use his energy and use it in smart way is what yao and his coach need to think about. Aggrassive is not just fight or wrestle, it should include when to and how to do it. I do feel yao need learn from Duncon or Garnnet. Let give some sugestions to our struglged center. Go Rockets
I have been saying the same thing all year, move Yao from the top more often. Have him slip a screen every now and again and give him the ball on the roll. Fighting the other teams biggest bruiser is more tiring than running up and down the court. DD
I think that instead of playing Howard high all the time, what they could do is have him go low and screen for Yao coming across the box, which will help Yao even if they switch because he'll be going against the PF.
Its all about timing. The team needs to get Yao the ball much quicker when he has established position and then he needs to learn how to catch and shoot rather then trying to dribble to gain his balance. He is usually getting shoved by the defender and is off balance when he gets the ball. That is why his shot has suffered and he feels the need to dribble to regain his balance. The scouting report around the league is to hammer him and unfortunately the refs don't ever give him any calls. This is correctable with practice and execution though so it will come around as the other players learn where he needs to get the ball.
" Yao Ming gets hammered and doesn't get any calls from refs" That's been evident for 3 years now. That the reason why people are so upset with Yao---Why doesn't he do something about it? like show some anger and squeeze the ball as tight as he can and go up strong inside the circle and not caring how many defenders he put in the hospital the way Shaq does it.
I think the worst thing for Yao to do is to fight the refs. You don't fight someone who has the whistle. Yao flops. He gets charge calls. What the heck is the ref supposed to do when the guy defending Yao flops when Yao lowers his shoulder into the guy? If you want to play like Shaq, don't flop. Shaq doesn't flop, so he doesn't get too many flop calls against him. If you are a flopper, you better have a jumpshot since you are going to get charging calls all the time. It's tit for tat in this league. When a player has a jumpshot, he doesn't have to think one bit about whether or not the ref is going to give him a charging foul. Yao needs to get a jumpshot because I think he's going to flop and fall down all the time.
Yao doesn't seem to get much love from the refs. It seems to me that he has the most trouble against hacks who aren't afraid to use their 6 fouls (like Jason Collins). Many times, however, it seems that refs don't call the fouls so the hacks don't foul out and Yao has a crummy game. Oddly enough, Yao seems to do well against guys like Duncan and Shaq who don't resort to such methods (elbow in back, push in back on every shot, etc.). Either guys like Shaw and Duncan feel that they are too valuable to risk fouling out - or they are just more "honorable".
I agree that Yao is being limited by JVG. Ultimately, he is still responsible for his own development. He cannot just say "JVG is telling me to change my game" and be done with it. He needs to pull out tape of the 1st 3 games against the Lakers last season when he schooled Shaq. He needs to pull out the tape of his beatdown on Dikembe last season. That's the Yao he should go back to. He wasn't trying to outmuscle his Dikembe and Shaq. He was allowing his skills to do the work for him. If he wants to be an awkward oaf, keep on the same path. If he wants to be a great skilled player, he needs to get back on the path he was on in his 1st two season. He has strayed.
One of the keys to Shaq's game is he comes down the floor and establishes position early and the ball is immediately thrown into him while he is establishing position. The Rockets need to practice this and work on Yao catching the ball and not fumbling it and losing it. They have to get it into him early and he has to catch it. Once he has the ball, the fight for positoning is over. He's already got it and then he can throw the ball out, reset and receive the ball again. The big key for Yao though is holding the ball. He seems to have trouble holding the ball with 2 hands not to mention one hand and because of that it causes the perimeter players to have doubts with his ability to catch the ball. Shaq consistently catches the ball with one hand, on the move. He will be in the air actually coming down with his pivot foot not established yet in the low block and catching the ball with one mitt. Yao just can't seem to do that. It seems like he has to have 2 hands on the ball to be able to grip the thing. Maybe his hands are that small??? I just think it's a matter of practicing the play. Run down the floor with the defender on your hip after a made basket, go to the left block with the guard dribbling the ball down. The guard throws the ball in and you jump up and catch it and come down with the post position. After seeing this problem for how many games now it makes me wonder what they work on in practice? They should have Yao doing a couple hundred catches a day. Just a drill with 4 players, the guard and Yao and the 2 defenders. Start at half court with the guard dribbling the ball and Yao at the top of the circle extended. Take a couple dribbles down and throw it up for him to catch it against Deke.
When did Yao say before the draft that he watched tapes of Shaq and tried to emulate his game? Shaq was in the league long before Yao was drafted. Yao had many years to see Shaq's game. Dirk didn't come into the league saying Hakeem was the guy he modeled his game around. I didn't hear Shaq say before he was drafted that he wanted to copy Bill Walton's game. Yao is being strung along in a manner which is going to make him an inconsequential mark in NBA history.
All relevant posts. JVG needs to adjust how Yao plays depending on the team/team defense that is employed, the Nets always play physical and Yao does have a harder time with that style of play. JVG should switch up and instead of pounding it into Yao in the low block 90% of the time, let the PF get low position and let Yao shoot the jumper. Yao's outside game is being ruined this year because of all this emphasis on developing his power game, when he came into the league his soft touch and outside shooting was one of his strengths, they need to free Yao up so he can get that back.
There is a play Spurs use often on Duncan, Duncan gets to the right side of the post, guard pass the ball to high post and run to the baseline to set a screen for Duncan, Duncan come off the screen and gets a deep position on the left block. This play is very effective to get your big man the ball, and I was really excited when I saw the Rockets ran the exact same play last game and results in Yao gets 2 free throws. I hope JVG develop more plays like this.
We just need someone like Avery Johnson to come in, say, "Yao, you have a huge butt, use it to clear space," and then get him the ball the second he has established position.
YEAH !! I would love to see Yao take it to someone, like Kandyman and Nene did. I don't usually advocate fighting except in Yao's case. He needs the excitement. This team needs Artest, or someone like him.
One thing i wish they teach him is whenever he get the ball in the post...he doesn't always have to back down and dribble and instead hold the ball up turn around and face up against his opponent and try to do a fake and shoot from the same spot..or drive...like Duncan did. I think he is just too good a shooter to limit his skill to just bump and grind. He should face up whenever he gets the ball in the post.....that way he can see even better when double team is coming and it's hard for players to steal the ball from him too. How many times have you seen Yao face up against opponent?? None! It's always backing down. I think he's just a deadly by facing up and shoot from that spot like Duncan. He is such a good free throw shooter..i have no doubt he will be hard to stop by facing up and shoot like Duncan as well.
I watched tonite's game against the Spurs. When the refs called bad fouls on Yao he almost cried. He didn't get offended, he didn't get mad, he didn't take it out on the other team, he got his feelings hurt. He's a whiny baby. Those calls took him out of the game. He just quit trying. Is that something he will grow out of or is that just the way he is always going to be?
