I'm going to state right off the bat, I'm a Yao Ming fan-boy. He's right up there with Michael Jordan on my idols list. (And Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, but thats a story for another day) I've followed Yao's career through its ups and downs; from the beginning when Kelvin Cato was the starter and the media was calling for his head. Anyone remember Kobe "Airball" Bryant? Im not a fan of Kobe as a person but I cant deny what he does on a basketball court. He had a rookie year comprable to Yao's, though much worse, I saw him on many occasions airball open shots. Kobe is in his 8th year; it took him 4 years to win a championship and he had an already dominant big man helping him along in Shaq. It's not fair to critisize Yao this early in the season or this early in his career. He holds his own against the best centers in the NBA and often earns the respect due to him by teams in the form of double teams. Yao uses his body and his footwork because he is not that strong of a player. With no real off-season for him to really work on his body or even rest its amazing thats hes still going. (I'll explain the whole national team debacle later). Yao uses his elbows to get around defenders, and like any player its an important part of his shot. That brace allows movement, but not a lot. Thats the entire point of the brace, he isn't comfortable with it, you can often see him take it off when he as the chance and you can visibly see how tight it is on his arm. The restriction of that brace is part of the reason that he's not hitting the shots as he did last year. Another reason is that he's tired, just like the rest of the Rockets team. 4 games in 5 days, not to mention the exhibition games in China. Do you know how badly jet lag affects you? I got back from china and was immediately thrust into football practices and school. With no rest, it took me 2 weeks to actually get back to my normal routine. It must have been the same for the Rockets. They're a tired team right now. Back onto Yao, one thing about Yao is that hes very modest. Hes not assertive and never brags about himself. (Chinese culture) Before the game against the kings you saw Yao defer to Tracy McGrady when the ball was passed to him. You can tell that he's feeling around with Tmac right now, as the chemistry grows the team will. It's all about time. Give Yao a month to heal up, and a time to learn how Tmac plays in REAL GAME situations and you will have a winning team. As I mentioned before, Yao is part of the chinese national team. Its his duty. When Wang Zhi Zhi didnt play for the national team, he entered an exile. The chinese people see him as a traitor and that the Americans are to blame for it. That's one reason why they were so reluctant to let Yao Ming enter the NBA draft. Also on the topic of Yao's assertiveness and how he needs to be more aggressive: he did that this year in Athens. He called out his team, and he was made a fool in China. I was there during the Athens games, you wouldnt believe what people said: "American life has changed him, he no longer cares for his country." Yao is not only a basketball player, he is an ambassador. He has much more to deal with than any other player in the NBA. The Chinese people see such aggressiveness as a defective trait and to call out your own coutrymen and teammates damn near treacherous, but its encouraged here! Van Gundy talked about habit, that its habit that gets you the win. That when you get used to winning you win more, which is why many teams are perenial playoff contenders. Yao was brought up differently; respect that before you judge him.
Very nice post, couldn't have said it better myself. You were right on point with the jet lags and the national team incident, and I didn't realize how much that brace affected him until you explained it. I knew it was bothering him, but didn't know that it was that tight. EDIT: I edited the post to make things easier to read. Hopefully, some people would find the edited version helpful and might learn more about Yao! I can't express again how much I enjoyed that post :thumbsup:
My Analysis of Yao. Sorry i have to do it. Offensive: Yao still has some stuff to learn about scoring in the NBA. The most important thing he still need to learn is to Drive from the post. When YAO get the ball in the post he tries to backup his defender and a Shoot a hook across the lane or a Baseline Jumper. What he needs to do more of is using his footwork and long strides to get around his defender. He can do it i have seen him do it. Personnaly i think Ewing is the wrong guy to teach Yao how to score in the post. Yao need a player who had a game like his teaching him. Another thing yao need to do more of is facing up his defender. If shaq can do it yao can do it. Defending: I dont think yao will ever be a dominate defensive player. He is not quick lateraly, which makes it hard to block shots, even at his height. Yao will change alot of shots and be a serviceable defender, but never on the level of Duncan or Shaq. Yao can be a 12 -13 per game rebounder i believe. The main thing he need to work on is his preperation to get the rebound, He needs go up for the board instead of waiting for it to come to him.
I think Yao is already fairly advanced on the offensive end. Some things he should work on: - a more consistent catch-and-shoot mid-range jumper - establishing solid post position and preventing players from squirming around him - better overall court awareness like anticipating double teams and knowing how to pass out of them - how to hold the ball in traffic and take it up strong without getting the ball stripped or blocked His defense is what needs the most work. Yao is a good post defender because of his enormous size and strength. But quick, mobile centers that face up against him will give him fits. Since Yao will always have below-average lateral quickness, he'll need to make up for this by studying his opponents tendencies and anticipating their moves. Yao has improved his team defense since his rookie season, but he still has his problems in this area. His lack of quickness makes it difficult for him to come from the weakside and block shots (like Dream used to), and sometimes this results in him coming to late and getting called for a foul. To compensate, he'll often move early to contest the penetration, but this inevitably leaves a man open. Yao can struggle on pick and rolls because of his inability to switch quickly. The most glaring weakness, in my opinion, is Yao's inability to quickly run back down the court on defense. This can be a big liability when facing quick, running teams.
i think Yao might be a little over-rated. thats just my opinion. but for a guy his size he's not nearly the blocker he should be. also he doesnt take control of games like all great players do...even when he has good games, they're quite. and that doesnt get the team going as much
I never expect yao to be a 30 pt. player and I think JVG knew that and that's why he got TMac.....Yao will probably be a solid 20 pt. 12 rbd. player.....I don't know about you guys, but I can live with that
Yao Ming will probably be a great player and maybe an MVP candidate some day. But I think he needs to be a better rebounder. At 7'5 someone should be averaging atleast 10 rebs. a game. I don't know why he hasn't. I noticed though that he has improved on how he used to get clowned. Kobe dunked on him and Marbury made him fall in his rookie season. I don't remember anything happening to him last season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao Ming will probably be a great player and maybe an MVP candidate some day. But I think he needs to be a better rebounder. At 7'5 someone should be averaging atleast 10 rebs. a game. I don't know why he hasn't. I noticed though that he has improved on how he used to get clowned. Kobe dunked on him and Marbury made him fall in his rookie season. I don't remember anything happening to him last season.</div> good posts... being Chinese I am a huge yao fan.. he does seem to have trouble with smaller/quicker players, and also I agree he doesn't quite yet have the "team leader" instinct when he can just change the whole rhythm of a game or take control of the game... hopefully he will be able to improve on that... on a side note I'd like to see Yao take on a meaner attitude on the court... sometimes IMO he is too soft. He needs to get more intimidating hehe.
It is not part of Chinese culture to be like Dennis Rodman every game. I can guarantee that had Yao not been the US the past two years, he wouldn't even have lashed out at his teammates during the Olympics, although they were to blame. Also during the Olympics, Yao pushed the New Zealand guy who was talking smack to him. That is aggresiveness, isn't it?
