By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Bill Walton insists he does not see the similarities. He has watched Yao Ming play extensively, has marveled as only Walton can about Yao's array of talents and rare potential. But he does not necessarily join those that would look at Yao and see at least some of Walton. "Not at all," he said. "He's 7-5, I'm barely 6-11. He's a good-looking guy, I'm a goofy-looking, nerdy guy with gray hair, a big nose and freckles." With that, Walton confirmed only that he and Yao are not related. Some might have already guessed as much. But there have been times one almost had to wonder. As much as tonight's meeting with the Pacers offers a demonstration of how far Yao has come since his scoreless season-opener in Indiana, Walton's visit for the national broadcast of the game brings the perspective of one of the game's greatest centers ever -- and one of Yao's greatest admirers. An argument can be made that in style and versatility, Yao is a direct linear descendant of Walton, the 1977 Finals MVP, 1978 NBA MVP, Hall-of-Famer and one of the 50 Greatest Players. Walton would not offer any real comparisons between himself and Yao. But he did place Yao in fast company. "I love to watch Yao Ming play," Walton said, just warming up. "When I watch Yao Ming play, I'm reminded of Magic Johnson. He makes plays like Garry Kasparov, like Bobby Fisher (both chess champions). You sit there and say, `No way he thought of that. That had to be luck.' (Larry) Bird was that way, too, always so far ahead of everyone else mentally. "As Yao Ming develops into more of an NBA player, the anticipation I have for what is to come ... I'm so excited about the whole thing. There is no limit to what he can accomplish. "Yao Ming has the potential, the capability, of changing the future of basketball." Walton might be the first to bring the chess champions into the hyperbole, though for some reason, he did not get into the creative genius of Thomas Edison or Jerry Garcia. But he is far from alone in his raves. On Saturday, Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said that Yao and Steve Francis could become the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Yao predictably would not compare himself to anyone. "All I can say is that I'm very honored," he said of the latest praise for him. Of changing the course of the NBA, he said, "Everything will be based on my own hard work. "Chinese people have a saying that to be successful there are two things you need. One is hard work, and the other is a little bit of luck." So far, 23 games into Yao's career, he and Francis trail Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson by five championships, or Bird's three. But Walton reveled in seeing signs of his era, before nightly cable highlights and the Jordan generation changed the game. Yao, Walton said, "Is light years ahead, minutes ahead, hours ahead of the play that's actually going on. The anticipation, the analysis, the figuring out of what's going to happen next. This is an unbelievable talent we are so lucky to have. "It's harder today. The game is different. Michael Jordan changed the game completely. It wasn't his fault. But the game is played off the dribble, for yourself. Not that Michael was a selfish player, but everybody thought the way he played basketball was to dribble and bail out his team at the shot clock. Now, it's one guy dribbling, nine guys standing, watching that guy get his own shot. "If you play with Yao Ming, like playing with (Arvydas) Sabonis, like playing with Vlade Divac, you have to learn to move, learn to expect and anticipate that you'll get the ball in perfect position. "My main coach, John Wooden, said, `If you dribble once, that's enough. If you dribble twice, you're not open. If you shoot after dribbling twice, sit on the bench next to me.' Now it's totally common for a player to take 15 dribbles on one possession." Shockingly, Walton did not see more than highlights of the Rockets' win over the Heat on Monday when they had just one assist in the first and fourth quarters and all but dribbled the letters off the ball. Yao could not free himself of the Heat's fronting defenses, and the Rockets began to force the ball desperately inside off the dribble. In other games, most notably their win at Seattle or home upset of Sacramento, Yao keyed the offense with sharp passing that became unusually contagious. But at this stage of Yao's career, he cannot consistently enough make himself the focus of an offense for his passing ability to become the weapon that Walton's was. "He's different than Bill Walton," Memphis assistant coach and Walton's Portland teammate Lionel Hollins said. "He's an outstanding player, he can post up, he scores, he can pass, he can offensive rebound. But Walton was a force. He blocked every shot and tries to get every rebound. I don't know if Yao will be that kind of player or not. "Bill wanted the ball more. Yao is trying to fit in and learn English, a new city, new culture, new teammates. You can't compare them. This kid is too fresh, too new to be compared to guys who were in the league for 10 years. "But when you have a guy that plays in the post that passes, you throw the ball in the post and cut hard because you know you'll get it back." Even Monday, there were moments of sharp passing. Francis' game-tying 3 at the end of regulation came after taking a handoff from Yao. The key overtime baskets came on a Cuttino Mobley backdoor cut to an Eddie Griffin bounce pass, and a Yao dunk off a Francis drive and dish. For all Yao's disadvantages compared to Walton's advanced studies under Wooden, he actually has developed chemistry with his high-scoring guards more quickly. "Now that the Rockets have the type of personnel -- you can run an offense through a guy who doesn't have to score -- everything is different," Walton said. "Steve and Cuttino and all these guys are terrific basketball players and also smart guys. They are going to realize quickly how much better they can be with better ball movement. "Yao Ming, what he's trying to do, no one has ever had a more difficult period of adjustment. No one has done anything as hard as Yao Ming. To not have the coaching in China, not have teammates, equipment, the facilities, and deal with the cultural differences ... he's doing terrific. His learning curve is almost vertical. "He's a very special player, a unique person, and he has a chance to change basketball." Link to the article: Yao's incredible, but he's not me, Walton decrees
My respect for Bill Walton has grown with each passing months. Here's a guy who not only WENT to China and greeted Yao back before any of this hubbub started, but also had the VISION to proclaim Yao as special. Moreover, through the summer of mystery and Yao's early struggles in the NBA, Bill Walton was among the few, if not ONLY, staunch supporters, who maintained his view that Yao is STILL SPECIAL. That takes guts and while I never did see Walton play ball, I can definitely see how smart and confident a guy he is. Bill Walton was LIGHT YEARS ahead of the media with his assessment of Yao. Kudos, Bill! gotta love those Tie-Dye shirts!!!! theSAGE
Bill Walton was a great center at UCLA and then with Portland. Too bad he suffered that injury. Otherwise, he would have put up some incredible numbers. Unlike most centers in NBA, Walton is a thinker on the court. If Yao ever comes anywhere close to Walton, he will take us to the promiseland.
I don't want to see any of the Walton bashers come in here and suddenly call him a great guy. You know the ones, they complain about his analysis and his analogies. They beg for him to be taken off the air after every game he calls and call him a stupid hippie among other things. I've always liked Walton, I believe he knows his stuff and he is one of the funniest commentators I've ever heard. This Yao loving isn't going to change my opinion because I've always liked the guy. I just hope I don't spot any bandwagoners. Not because I think these guys were wrong for hating Walton in the first place, but because it seems wrong to me that anybody would let a person's opinion on Yao be what decides their opinion on that person.
I really liked Walton's comment above. I guess it wasn't Rudy's ISOs that have deterioated the game of basketball. Does it make me accept all the dribbling our guards do (Moochie must've loved Michael when he was young)...nope: Once again, John Wooden shows why he is the master of basketball. Good stuff by Bill Walton too.
Rudy needs to tell Mobley this! He need to tell Francis this! "Yao Ming, what he's trying to do, no one has ever had a more difficult period of adjustment. No one has done anything as hard as Yao Ming. To not have the coaching in China, not have teammates, equipment, the facilities, and deal with the cultural differences ... he's doing terrific. His learning curve is almost vertical. "He's a very special player, a unique person, and he has a chance to change basketball." Someone needs to tell Polypus this!
How 'bout that Walton. No one kicks harder when a guy is down, and no one sucks harder when a guy is up.
In my opinion Bill W. tells it like it is. I enjoyed him calling games for us back in 93-94 & 94-95. I would rather listen to Walton than Tolbert any day. Tolbert was a scrub, Walton was a beast. Tolbert makes me sick.
Walton did not become a supporter of the Rockets until after we won the 1st series in 95. Up till then, it is exactly what Will stated...he was kicking the Rockets and hard. It's nice to hear Walton's comments but I still don't like his commentary. He always manages to make a comment or two each game that has me scratching my head in confusion, in complete disbeleif that a professional could say something with no basis or just flat out angered by the lack of respect he domonstrates. Barkley was/is similar but he supports his opinions with reasoning and he is often correct. Walton too often says mindless things that don't make sense, IMO. But in this case, it sounds well thought out so my level of respect has been raised one notch...but overall it is still low.
If you have league pass watch some of the Clippers games when Walton is announcing, the guy is hilarious. He is the Dennis Miller of the NBA. DaDakota
No kiddin. Walton is the man yet some people bash him on here all the time. Don't hate the hippie, hate the game.
Dennis Miller also has a love/hate relationship with his viewership. So good example...I suppose. I don't have League Pass so I only see him on nationally televised games. I cringe each time. Conversely, I love Bill and Calvin. As goofy as Calvin is, he always shows respect and his play by play is always dead-on. I don't know how many times Calvin will say, the Rocks need to run"such-&-such" play and get "so-&-so" more involved. Next play it happens exactly like described. Calvin knows basketball, calls it fair and never disrespects the players even if not playing well.
except this isn't true, because the whole point of this praise of walton is that not only was he one of the first to introduce yao to america, he also stuck by him when he was down. He also started critizing shaq for gaining weight and waiting on surgery this summer when he would have been considered "up".
Walton the Analyst is great. I remember him being on the Jim Rome show a couple of years ago, and basically calling out every big man in the league, with the exception of a few like Dream and David Robinson (who may have a rep for being soft, but never backed down from Shaq), for being scared of Shaq. I've never listened to an interview, and agreed with so many points or changed as many opinions and thoughts as I did during that interview, truly a classic. To paraphrase: 'Why is Tim Duncan playing PF? He should be a C, ditto for 'Sheed Wallace and KG.' Brilliant. But Walton the Admirer is obnoxious. The next time he gets through a broadcast without mentioning Kareem will be the first, you'd swear they were married or something.
I am confused with this sentence. I am not arguing how Barkley bashed Yao Ming on the draft night before he had any "supports", he even did not see Yao play. I don't understand why he kissed Keney's ass's ass. But I thought his "opinion" was to kiss Kenny's ass and it was "supported" very well by Yao Ming's 20 points. Does he always do kisses on ass, even a donkey? I don't think he is correct on this thing and I forgot the reason why he had to do this ass kiss show
