Yao's potential is scary period. Can you imagine him with upper body muscles? The guy's already got some pretty built legs.
Yao needs to work on his conditioning.. I think that's the bottom line. This season he was playing about 33 minutes a game? If he plays closer to 40 minutes a game, and more consistent every night (not being so tired all the time), he would probably be averaging 20 and 10 easy.. Though it still surprises me that a guy who shoots 52% from the field only gets 12.5 shots a game, especially since he shoots 81% from the line.
u can thank the supposed leader / point guard that shouldn't be playing point guard, but move to the SG spot: Steve Francis.
Yao takes more shots per minute than anyone on the Rockets, if he gets his minutes up you'll see him lead the team in field goal attempts...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao takes more shots per minute than anyone on the Rockets, if he gets his minutes up you'll see him lead the team in field goal attempts...</div> That's true. To me, Yao's biggest weakness is his inconsistency. He can go 9-11 on one night and 2-14 the next night.If he can be a 60% shooter each night, there's no doubt he would win the MIP.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">That's true. To me, Yao's biggest weakness is his inconsistency. He can go 9-11 on one night and 2-14 the next night.If he can be a 60% shooter each night, there's no doubt he would win the MIP.</div> I agree... I think it's because of fatigue, he tires out a lot, especially at the end of the season...
Can't really blame the guy. He's been playing basketball like what, 360 days out of 365 days in one year since he was 10 years old?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">Can't really blame the guy. He's been playing basketball like what, 360 days out of 365 days in one year since he was 10 years old?</div> Still, he is not consistent enough to be a factor with his play each game.
I would like to see Yao work with Kareem rather than Patrick. Ewing's a very hard working guy and very talented, but he didn't win anything, not even MVP or DPOY. Kareem knows what it takes to get to the championship and is argueably one of most dominant ever. Patrick shot jumpers and thats what I see Yao doing. I think Yao right now is still getting the feel for the NBA, and next year he should be more aggressive because he's 3rd year...Kareem would really help his game and take it to the next level. A better point gaurd would help to...Anyone thinking Gary Payton is willing to sign with the Rockets? Yao needs to learn more about positioning for rebounds. He doesn't have good lateral quickness or is athletic enough to sky for rebounds, so he should learn about positioning. Charles Oakley was good at this. For the arguement that Shaq had Kobe...On that '94 team where he went to the finals, he had Starks, Charles Smith, Derek Harper, Charles Oakley, Hubert Davis, Anthony Mason, and Greg Anthony. Granted none of these players individually is better than Kobe, but give that to Shaq and he still win titles.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Captain Quicks:</div><div class="quote_post">Kareem is a nice guy and imagine Yao with a sky hook........ scary..... he's already dominating and starting in the all star game over shaq imagine what he would do to the league with a sky hook. Like RocketLaunch said it's up to Yao and his determination if he is truly going to improve or not.</div> Yep, he is, he always was a quiet gentleman so I don't see him affecting Yao's toughness. He'll add more finesse to Yao's game, Jabbar had class on the court, he did everything with grace, he'll just add to Yao's ability for scoring and maybe even rebounding. Jabbar wasn't all that strong but he was great at defense and rebounding because of his intelligence, he'll have to teach Yao his positioning.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting johnny33:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao needs to work on his conditioning.. I think that's the bottom line. This season he was playing about 33 minutes a game? If he plays closer to 40 minutes a game, and more consistent every night (not being so tired all the time), he would probably be averaging 20 and 10 easy.. Though it still surprises me that a guy who shoots 52% from the field only gets 12.5 shots a game, especially since he shoots 81% from the line.</div> Try playing basketball all year long and see how your conditioning just doesn't factor in. Playing as much as he does for both Chinese National Team and the NBA just wears you down and this is why Yao gets all tired and less aggressive. Your body is just exhausted and being that big, your knees and feet must hurt. The rockets might have to convince his government to ease off before Yao's knees break off. Our NBA players going to the Olympics will probably be the same way coming back into next season. Yao has been doing it every year so far and won't get much offseason time in the future.
