I assume Yao has an obligation to play for the Chinese National Team now? I wonder how this affects him when he comes back for the Rockets season? Is there a "burnout factor" with the limited down time he has?
I personally think it is best for him to compete in the Olympics. Hopefully, he will gain more experience and come into the next season stronger and more physical. The downside is of course the lack of rest and risk of injury, but I think it is a very patriotic thing for him to do.
He needs to hit the weight room like a madman, and if he does play, needs to work on catching and holding onto the ball...and how about quitting with the soft hook shots and the layups??? i bet he has to have the worst layup to dunk ratio for a big man...he averages like 6 layups for every dunk, and thats crazy...he needs to work on his aggression and actually dominating people and getting a mean streak...
I am so glad and thankful that Yao does not have a owner like Mark Cuban to force Yao to not playing the olympics. otherwise Yao' popularity in China will drop a thousand mile, he does not need to be treated by the way people are treating Wang ZhiZhi.
^you mean popularity right?(sorry i just did not know what you meant) Anyways I think Yao will need to be much more physical. He has the body (weight and height) to be a very dominant force, in the NBA and i noticed that during the Lakers-Rockets series, he was not phyiscal with Shaq, therefore the Rockets only win one game in the series. He could also improve a tad bit in terms of finding a post-up and go to move.
thanks for the correction, i wasnt paying that much of a attendion when i post the post, i already change the word, thanks.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dachen33:</div><div class="quote_post">I am so glad and thankful that Yao does not have a owner like Mark Cuban to force Yao to not playing the olympics. otherwise Yao' popularity in China will drop a thousand mile, he does not need to be treated by the way people are treating Wang ZhiZhi.</div> He would have to play in the Olympics regardless of what team drafted him. That was a requirement of him being eligible to be drafted. The team that drafted him had to allow him to spend x time with the Chinese National Team over x years. Without that guarentee the Chinese government wouldn't have allowed him to enter the draft.
I think Yao's obligations to the Chinese national team is what's plaguing him in the regular nba season. He just lacks aggressiveness and gets tired too easily because of it as the season wears down. I think if he can relax and spend some time not doing basketball for a while he'll get hungry for it again and work hard in the offseason to get better. As far as strength goes, the guy has very muscular legs, now if he can get some of that muscle on his back, shoulders, and chest and play aggressive he'll be a beast. He was very physical against several teams this year and looked incredible as I recall but is just too nice of a guy to throw it down in someone's face. Also I think the only way for Yao to get better is if you get a pure point guard and dump everyone else that can't play defense (Mobley, Nachbar, Padgett, etc.). Then he'll be forced to rebound and try to score on his own and he'll stop worrying about moving out of position to contest shots when a defender slips by or falls out on the perimeter.
Once Yao gets stronger and more physical and aggressive, man he'll be dominating. Especially his fadeaway and post game. He's a class act, so I don't mind him going over there. Any form of play will keep him fit and mentally aware for when he comes back, especially with this including the Summer League. His time to become the new leader of the Rockets is at hand.
Yao is definitely the future. I love how Yao keeps proving naysayers wrong. He's like an underdog even though he was the number 1 draft pick of 2002. Nobody thought he'd be any good and that he'd be another stiff like Shawn Bradley. Gotta love the underdog.
