SportingNews: A center but not a centerpiece

In order to survive as a sports writer, one has to grasp the essence of fair-weather journalism.

Obviously this guy has not.

 

Scoreboard...

 

RIET, nice find!

 

Same old same old. A couple of decent points, but the overall tone is unnecessarily negative (He makes it seem like the Rockets are doing well despite Yao's play instead of benefitting from it.) The writer says that Wesley and Barry's shooting is openning things up for T-Mac. Well call me crazy but it seems like the attention Yao still gets in the lowpost is openning things up for T-Mac also, and has been openning things up for Barry and Wesley as well. Also much of the criticism is becoming quickly outdated by Yao rapid improvement.

Turnovers. Ever since an ugly December, Yao's turnovers are way down. 2.1 tpg in January and 2.3 tpg in February. Averages that would barely put Yao in the top 40 in the league. And those scouting reports could use a little updating. I think it's pretty apparent that Yao has improved a lot over the past few weeks in keeping the ball up high, and making his move quickly before the double teams can get to him. It's no wonder that Yao's fg% is steadily increasing and he's shooting a jaw-dropping .632 in February.

This guy is correct on two things.

1. Yao still gets into foul trouble.

He definitely needs to improve on this. Sometimes Yao just needs to pull back his defense when he's in foul trouble. And some more defensive adjustments couldn't hurt either (instead of trying to get to spots in front of people, he could let them pass, and try to block the shot from the side).

2. Yao isn't the centerpiece of the team.

He's right. Yao isn't the creator, or first option on every play. At this point in his career, he is much better used as a finisher. He moves around and goes to open spots to make himself avaliable his teammates. Intead of going straight for Yao on the block, they are moving the ball away from him and then letting him post up on the weak side when the ball gets reversed to the top.

Yao isn't the centerpiece of the team. But he is the most efficient cog in a well-oiled machine. We've surrounded Yao and T-Mac with guys that can pass and shoot. Everybody is unselfish and the ball moves around. The defense can't key in on any one guy or someone else will kill you. It's just been beautiful to watch. The defense has really shown flashes, and I really fear for the league when we get both sides of the ball clicking at the same time.

I can see it now. We could be a poor man's Kings on offense, and a poor man's Piston's on defense. A dynamic, unselfish, sweet shooting offense combined with a lockdown team-d that rotates and swarms like crazy. When you start putting something like that together, then who the heck cares what anybody is saying. This team is turning into something special before our very eyes. And if some sportswriter wants to downplay one of biggest contributors on the team then whatever. I'm just going to watch and enjoy the journey.

 

Also, as was posted in another thread, Yao is above 20 - 10 when he plays 35 plus mins a game.

 

I think I've been reading this same Yao article for about 2 and a half years.

 

I don't get it! Everybody knows that the streak wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Yao (same argument can be applied to any of our players). Yet he downplayed Yao's game... Hm...He even admitted the Rockets as the hottest team in the NBA right now. So what was his point? Incoherent rant. My writing professor would have a field day over this!

 

Another example of a hack who writes his articles two weeks in advance and then is forced to throw in some compliments when the guy they are killing suddenly starts doing well. We've seen how many articles with this kind of style?

 

No kidding. Yao has been instrumental in the 8-game winning streak. We sure as hell don't win in Minnesota or Indiana without him. And Portland had no answer for him in a game we won by a single point. And keep in mind that through most of this streak, T-Mac's been in a mini-slump. Other guys have stepped up their game, and Yao is one of them.

 

He seems to give the credit to other players, including role players instead of Yao.

The Rockets fans, or those who have watched Rockets play during the winning streak should have no problem in figuring out that Yao has been the most consistent player on the Rockets team during that stretch, averaging 21 ppg on 63.5% shooting from the floor. He has yet to have a bad shooting night. Remember we kept winning when Tracy had a string of 5 bad games shooting from the floor during the streak.

 

We also would not have won against LA, at Boston, at New York without Yao playing a pivotal part in the wins.

 

Not sure why people get so defensive regarding Yao. He hasn't lived up the the hype. "A great passer"? I don't see it. Where are the assist to prove it? "Unable to hold his position on the post"? True. He is only effective down low if he gets the ball immediately. Otherwise he is pushed out. "Slow on defense, a poor rebounder for his size, and too many fouls"? Yes, yes, yes.

The author is just pointing out what we already know. The Yao hype is greater than what Yao produces. Do I want Yao on my team? Yes. Would we be where we are today without him? No. But is he the next great thing? I don't think so.

 

And we kept winning because we have team members besides TMac and Yao that help us get those wins. Early on we also were winning when Yao was on the bench w/early foul problems, Deke was playing more minutes, Sura/Barry were giving us some help on offense.

It goes both ways. Yao said himself that he was sad that the Rockets were winning even WITHOUT Yao's help (early on). And it was true. We were. Forcing the ball into Yao was hurting more than helping; too many fouls, too many turnovers.

I think we need to stop worrying about who gets credit...when it's going to be a TEAM effort in the end.

EDIT: The article is more about "not living up to the hype; i.e. great" rather than "Yao is not helping our team." Forget about it. It's not like it's anything we haven't heard before. Yao will be an integral part of our TEAM and we will WIN because he's giving us tremendous help, i.e. we NEED Yao! But when it's all said and done....we win as a TEAM!

 

He does have some valid points.

The only center who is comparable with Yao in the league is indeed Big Z. They play very similar bball style. And I agree with the author that Big Z has more skills than Yao. He arguably has longer range than Yao and definitely has more tricks in the low post. If you watch enough Cavs' game and are not biased, you will draw the same conclusion.

But Yao is still better than Big Z, because if Yao is soft, Big Z is tissue soft. I guess that is the common problem among international big men. Plus Yao is healthier than Big Z and 4 years' younger than him, so everyone will pick Yao instead of Z.

But it is definitely a big concern that Yao lacks proper training time during the summer. Plus I heard he will attend the national games this Oct and will miss the training camp. Geez, I am speechless. What a stupid decision.

 

To add one more point.

Now it does look like Yao has to overachieve to get the credit due, but don't forget, on the other side of the world, Yao can get all the credits even he is sitting on the bench. So life is fair, don't complain.

 

I think Yao's fans in China are even more critical of his performance.

 

How is that fair? Because he's getting biased coverage no matter which side of the planet he's on? It would be nice if you could read an article outside of the Houston Chronicle to get a fair assessment of Yao's play.

But like I said, there's no point in getting riled up. It's best to just let the players themselves do the talking on the court.

 

I remember hearing the same thing. The hard-core China basketball fan doesn't like it when the USA Media blows smoke up their butts. Remember when Coke put images of Yi Jianlian (PF), Zhu Fangyu (SF), Li Nan (SG) and Liu Wei (PG) all over the city during the vist to China (pre-season)? The China basketball fan thought it was condescending. The hard-core China bball fan knows who is good and who is not good (NBA standards). They know that KG and Shaq are better than Liu Wei. This mentality would fit perfectly with being very critical on Yao more so than elsewhere (even in the USA).

Sometimes I get the idea that Chinese Americans are softer on Yao than Chinese BASKETBALL fans are from Shanghi. Not sure about it. Just seems that way. At least from the reports from the Olympics and pre-season visits.

 

We shouldn't keep getting worked up over all of these articles. Ultimately, it's up to Yao to continue to improve. I find these articles annoying, too, but what's the point? Let the media continue to wallow in their own self-importance. In the end, Yao will make these people eat their words or prove them right. I am convinced he's going to make them all look like idiots. Then he can tell them, "Enjoy my beefed-up below-the-waist area," or whatever his polite way of saying "Suck it" will be.

 

-It is pretty amazing that this guy wrote such a long article on Yao without mentioning the fronting zone defense.

-Yao has had huge calves since his rookie season. Comments like those damage the credibility of these unnamed scouts and executives.

-It would be great for Yao to really clobber people sometimes, but there aren't many chances when he's always in foul trouble because of ticky tacks.

-Big Z has made 3's, so his range is a little further than Yao's. Our offense does not rely as much on the jumpshot from our center, so that is why people do not appreciate Yao's range. Z has more tricky moves, but if it doesn't lead to a higher FG%, then who gives a flying ****? Not to mention that he gets several layups a game simply from Lebron's presence. Yao has been getting more easy shots thanks to his teammates lately.

-Yao needs to stop going to the minor international tournaments. Unforunately, if he can't talk to a ref, how is he going to ask the Chinese government for some time off? We see Duncan and some other players suffering from minor injuries maybe because of international competition, and Yao has been doing that for his whole career.