Year of the Yao? Things are looking good!

Rockets' Yao grows better
By David DuPree, USA TODAY

Yao Ming is stronger, more mobile, in better condition and has more moves than ever. That translates into bad news for the rest of the NBA as the 7-6 Houston Rockets center, who now speaks fluent English, also has a fluent game.

"Despite what people say about wanting more, Yao is a very good player and I don't understand the criticism he gets," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "He has made steady progress. Does he have greatness in him of Shaquille O'Neal? Time will tell. But he doesn't have to apologize for being a very good player in this league and doing something that no man of his size has done, which is to be something other than a specialist."

Yao's scoring and shooting have improved in each of his first three seasons to 18.3 points a game and 55.2% last season. Early indications are this season will be even better.

Going into Thursday's preseason game, Yao is averaging 19.4 points in 26.6 minutes a game. He is showing a variety of new moves inside. In addition to making 51.6% of his shots, he gets to the free throw line seven times a game. He got there only 6.2 times in 30.6 minutes a game last season.

"I still need some improvements offensively and defensively," Yao said. "But I feel I'm more physical on the post and inside. In the games I played, I drew a lot of fouls and got to the free throw line. That's my game. ... I just feel comfortable."

Yao had surgery after last season to remove a bone spur from his foot and had more down time this offseason than ever. He rehabilitated in Houston instead of going to China to rejoin his national team as he usually does. He did play for China in the Asian championships, but he had less of a time commitment than before.

He spent the offseason working out with assistant coach Tom Thibodeau and a strength coach.

"Yao is very strong, that hasn't been the problem," Van Gundy said. "Conditioning, mobility and balance have been, and he's making improvements in those areas. No one talks about a 7-6 guy running the floor well, but he does.

"In his first year, he looked like he was on a downhill slope on offense, but on defense it was like a 50-degree incline. Even though he still fouls, his help is earlier, his pick-and-roll coverages are better."

Rockets star Tracy McGrady is impressed with what he has seen from his fellow All-Star.

"He's looking good. He's staying strong and holding his position," McGrady said. "That's our best offense, getting the ball to him and going inside-out or me and him playing pick-and-roll."

Click here and look at the chart of 7-6 guys!

Yao reaching a level of dominance and success of Shaquille O'Neal proportions is something I'll have to see to believe, but it sounds like he's continuing to improve and will probably once again have his best season to date. I wouldn't necessarily call it a breakout year unless he truly explodes, seeing as though he's probably the number two centre in the league these days.

As a Chinese, I'm very happy to hear that and I believe he can do it.
This man is so hardworking and humble... Now it's Shaq Old'neal who has to becareful..

Yao has improved and got better, but he won't be as good as shaq.
He has his strengths and weaknesses, so he doesn't have to be like shaq.
He's Yao Ming, and he has his own direction to go.

it's going to be difficult for him to have a breakout year. he should improve on last year's numbers: 18/8/2.

expecting a big leap from those though...

damn yao's shooting% goes down if he shoots too much
and he cant catch passes like ones steve nash gives... >.>

my bad! yeah, I should have called the poll: 'Is Yao goign to have his best year in his career?'

"Of course" Yao is a monster now, and he should be posting up 20+ points a game and 10+ rebounds a game.

Yao is awesome he is gonna dominate the NBA this year.
Move over KG

Yao is awesome he is gonna dominate the NBA this year.
Move over KG

Please do not disrespect KG, do you know who's KG by the way? he's the only 20/10/6/1.5/1.5 and yes he will improve his numbers from last years.

I'm expecting a 20/10 and 2 blocks from Yao, anything less is unacceptable, though not unavoidable.

i think Yao will be like a 23/9 player
he doesn't rebound that well..
he has realli improved his positioning . i think he'll explode offensively.. he'll improve defensively.. doesn't mean he'll get that many more boards and blocks tho

23/9/2 is about right..
depends on how many mins he can play.. if he plays about 35.. he'll reach those numbers for sure

foul trouble and the way JVG uses him.. big hurdles for Yao

JVG has him "show" on the pick and roll then asks him to quickly recover to the middle. little things like this leads to fatigue

Hopefully Yao can do good. He has been playing basketball none stop this off-season and looks like he improved his game. I wish him the best of luck year. I want Him and McGrady to be the BEST duo out there.

How does one define one as fluent? I don't get it. They keep on saying now Yao is fluent in English, as if he took a test and they went "yes, now you're a fluent English speaker!" or something. Or is it he just fired his translator or something? No idea. Maybe he took the Toefl?

maybe having the ability to converse using the language with little difficulty

If Yao can be more mobile, explosive and stronger, he'll be a dangerous player, stepping on his opponents for a long armed dunk while jumping 3 inches. I'm not convinced he'll be dominant, but I can see a 20 ppg 10 rpg season coming from him though, which is very good.

Hourston Rcckets center Yao Ming is one of four players 7-6 or taller to have

Man, USA Today doesn't know how to edit. That's shit spelling right there.

Yao ming i guess is pretty good.


i looked up Gheorghe Muresan and saw he was in a movie with Billy Crystal???

http://online.swank.com/publicity/Synopsis/0016737.html

How does one define one as fluent? I don't get it. They keep on saying now Yao is fluent in English, as if he took a test and they went "yes, now you're a fluent English speaker!" or something. Or is it he just fired his translator or something? No idea. Maybe he took the Toefl?

I'd say he no longer needs the assistance of a translator and has been observed to be having conversations in English with correct grammar and terminology. Or to put it another way, the impression is that he seems as comfortable with and capable of speaking English as he is speaking Chinese.

Ming has the stamina of a smoker, and doesn't play adequate defense which will remove him from anything more than 20/10.

Ming has the stamina of a smoker

Are you comparing him to Vlade Divac?

How does one define one as fluent? I don't get it. They keep on saying now Yao is fluent in English, as if he took a test and they went "yes, now you're a fluent English speaker!" or something. Or is it he just fired his translator or something? No idea. Maybe he took the Toefl?

If somebody was immersed in a country with a different language for a year, then that somebody can become fluent in that language by just absorbing and conversing in words everyday.

How does one define one as fluent? I don't get it. They keep on saying now Yao is fluent in English, as if he took a test and they went "yes, now you're a fluent English speaker!" or something. Or is it he just fired his translator or something? No idea. Maybe he took the Toefl?

If somebody was immersed in a country with a different language for a year, then that somebody can become fluent in that language by just absorbing and conversing in words everyday.

Yea, I know that, but it's just weird how it seems that Yao is now "officially fluent" or something. When being fluent can be judged differently depending on people. There are some people that stay in the US for years but still can't speak English at all.

On the topic, I don't think Yao will ever be a great player. He'll just be good, but not great throughout his career.