With all the things that Yao does well this early in his career, his two most glaring deficiencies have to be his reluctance to get aggressive physically and his near-complete lack of vertical leaping ability. I have to think that the latter is being addressed by JVG and Ewing, but it may take some time to sink in given the huge differences in the basketball culture here vs. the one in which Yao grew up. As for the vertical, surely there's a way for a player to increase that, right? My guess is that Yao is probably unaccustomed to HAVING to jump much, due to the competition he's faced in the past. So he needs to learn that it's crucial for him to start doing it now, and he probably needs to work with a trainer of some sort who is experienced in that area. There are techniques and exercises you can employ to increase that, and you can't tell me that there's not someone who does this for a living, much like Pete Newell teaches the other aspects of big man play. Does anyone know if the Rockets are doing anything in regard to that? If not, that should be. Now then, I'll try to cheer everyone up since we're all distraught after tonight's ugly Spurs game. Here's an idea: Maybe we could all pitch in and buy Yao this book as a holiday present: http://www.jumpingadvantage.com/ He could also look through those "Building a Better Body" and "The Art of War" books while he's at it, right? And he should definitely pass "“Winning The Head Game" on to Stevie.
Yao probably has a pathetic vertical (<20"), but he doesn't need to really improve it. He needs to be more aggressive first. It's not like Shaq jumps high when he dunks on everyone. Yao hardly has to jump. His mindset needs to change, and I don't know how long that will take (if it ever does).
Sorry, I don't know and I'm not going to google my way into an answer, that's cheating. So I'll let somebody else take Kitty Carlisle for the block.....
topfive, you are really nice saying Yao did a great job in his early career. You pointed out two shortness this guy has: lack of aggresiveness physically and lack of vertical game. Yes. This guy can not jump. But I think his lack of aggresiveness is first mentally and then physically. Aggressiveness by the meaning has nothing to do with physical. I say JVG is an aggresive man. He want him and the team to be better every passing minute, second. Yao simply does not have a brave heart. Yao is probably the only one who is at ease with his lack of "die hard" attitude. As a big man with his skills, he has to shoot the ball every time when he is single covered and score again and again, and again. As JVG said, Yao is a great shooter. But every jump shooter has off-nights. When your shot won't fall, with such a big body, you curtainly should fight toward the paint to dunk or draw fouls. At the defensive end, you simply can not let others to dunk over you again and again, and again. You have to knock them down to the floor. Also, as a big man, you have no excuse not to rebound well. Friends, how many times have you see yao doing the things I just said. Very very rarely. What bothers me most is that he is not even trying. After several games trying powerful play inside, he quit easily. I was really happy to see he player that way, though his inside shooting was terrible. You know what. At least he was challenging himself and challenging the opponent. Now he settled with his jump shoot again. He simply can not face his challenge. Believe me, if Yao is going to settle most of the times with his jump shoot, nobody in this league is going to double him anymore. Yao, you are great at the skills you have, but you have to learn other essential things that you lack. And this attitude is AGGRESIVENESS!
Wow, the English language police and philosopher guru's are attacking. Whooptydoo. Yao doesn't jump very high. If he bends down and really tries to jump, he can get up decent, but usually he is flat footed when going for rebounds. If he would bend down, bend his legs, he'd get higher, but his jump would be even slower than it already is. I'm sure it can be improved, but I don't know if they are working on it.
As a learned individual, former parisien, albeit briefly, and lapsed francophile, I'm shocked and ashamed that SNL was my first reaction. I'll take Dinah Shore for the win...
macbeth, 1 if you call a 10'' jump a jump, then he can jump 2 it's about the attitude, the aggressiveness,that's my explain about lazy
I hope the staff is addressing the issue. Yao can be so much more effective inside. He really does need to bend more. Not sure what his knees can take.
From your wording: *Yao can't jump (you are stating that Yao cannot jump) *Reluctant to jump (you imply that he CAN jump if he chose to, which contradicts the first part of your wording) *He is just lazy (you imply that if Yao were not lazy, he could jump, and he wouldn't be reluctant if he weren't lazy) Some people can't stand incorrect sentence usage. I got the point though, which is all that really matters.
No, but if I recall correctly, I was once quoted a price for "faire le pompier" for around $100. Seemed like a lot at the time...
