its all up to yao. yao is the only player that can stop yao. when yao stops becoming an object in his own path, he will be better than td or kg. it wont be by letting him face the goal. he doesnt have the ability to dribble drive. if there is no threat of someone beating you off the dribble, a defender could close on him and let him have no space to shoot. but those are part of td and kgs repertoire because they dont have what yao has. they need many different ways to score because they dont have what yao has. they dont have what shaq has. shaq is the one player in the nba who can change an entire team into a contender by himself because he is the one guy who no one man can stop because of his pure power. it doenst even require as much skill, and he makes everyone better. but even shaq doesnt have what yao has. and that is the skill and height combined with the power and free throw shooting ability. that simple thing alone gives yao the ability to possibly be a better scorer than all of them. but its up to yao and wanting to flex abit for the camera. i have seen him go power to power with shaq and win. i have seen the defensive player of the year ben wallace dunk on yao, and then on the next play yao backs him up 5 feet untill ben is practically standing out of bounds, turn and dunk on him with an emphatic yell as if it were by will. i have seen many random post player beat him for a dunk, and yao return the favor on the very next play. if that isnt by will, i dont know what is. in 2002, i saw a group of olympic all stars go out and say they are going abuse him, and leave saying they didnt realize he was that strong and skilled. there is no doubt in my mind that yao is being utilized in the best way for him to succeed in this league, and it is up to him when he claims this league of "and 1" players. when yao starts making it hard on players to guard him, they will start having to foul him to stop him, and hope that he doesnt hit 80% of his freethrows every time. im kinda reminded of the matrix where everyone is telling neo what he is capable of, and that there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. and the scene where he asks "are you saying i can dodge bullets", and morpheus says "im saying that when your ready, you wont have to". now lets hope that january 9th is the night we look back as the night yao walks the path and leaves this disappointing "contributor" role behind him.
I much prefer to see Dream play than Shaq play. Shaq is just ugly all power move. Dream displays the skill as well as talent. I want Yao to be like dream, not Shaq.
In basketball, like a lot of other things, confidence matters. The question is, can people really ever change? Can a shy person suddenly become outgoing? Can an anxiety-prone guy become easy-going? Can an a-hole become a nice guy? Its hard to change who you are. Yao really wants to win but he's a tentative, passive guy. I hope we will start dumping the ball into him and force him to shoot at least 15 times a game so he gets used to it. I think last year, Yao had a pretty good support group with Stevie and Cato thats gone now. I think they didn't let Yao get too down.
Then you are living in a dream world. Yao will never have the atleticism that Hakeem had. Kareem, Ewing, Sabonis, Walton ... these are guys that Yao could hopefully emulate. But the dream? Not a chance.
dream was pretty to watch. he had every tool imaginable on both ends of the court. no player every had what hakeem had. but hakeem had the ability to make a move off the dribble while facing the basket also. hakeem had to use his skill to get him shots. but even hakeem couldnt out muscle and outsize a player like yao can. i dont know how you can argue with 3 championships and 27 ppg career average for shaq.
Shaq sucks. If the refs didn't give him a free ride, he'd foul out every game. F&$! Shaq. That model is for penis envy.
I like Ming, but better than KG or TD, I don't think so. Like ever. The big difference is quickness of movement, not even close. Even if Ming becomes mega-aggressive, he won't get any faster. TD and KG are cat-quick, have great foot work, and are explosive around the basket. They compare more with Hakeem, who I think was better than all three.
I think you should try to get a job with the chronicle, Daddy. You seem to have a knack for starting threads.
he may never have the total package like they do, but i think yao can be way better than them offensively. without a doubt. if yao ever starts utilizing himself properly, i think he could win some scoring titles. i just dont know if he will ever get it. looks like we will have to wait untill january 12 to see if that will be the game yao starts to walk the path.
Dream had more athleticism in one nail clipping than Yao has in his whole family lineage ever, and that is not a diss on Yao.
you're right he'll never get it. if 'it' is the ball you mean. if you think Yao can be a scoring champion you need to get off the ganja. When has a center led the league in scoring...and when has a center led the league in scoring as a SECOND option?
well, as long as you keep thinking that untill he starts to try and take over a game, that he deserves the ball more than the second option, then he wont win a scoring title. thats kinda why i said "if". look at yao. does he look like he is angry for not getting the ball?? does he look unhappy that he doesnt take the majority of the shots?? do you think kg or duncan would be ok not shooting if their team was losing?? but you will keep insisting that the problem starts with everyone else. centers that have won scoring titles: mikan, chamberlain, jabbar, robinson, shaq.
see that dunk by yao moving a powerfull nene under the goal and crushing the rim?? is it a coincidence that the last time he got the ball, he was embarrased on an easy dunk that he should have had?? why does it take yao ming to get mad before he dunks at will. if yao ming could play with that kind of anger and determination every time as if someone just embarrased him, how can anyone in this league stop him?? that is where the disappointment of 19-8 comes in.
centers that have won scoring titles: mikan, chamberlain, jabbar, robinson, shaq. nice research. now tell me whether those players were the PRIMARY offensive threat on their respective teams the year that they lead the league in scoring. they were? case closed. Yao has always been a 2nd option. He's even more of a 2nd option this year with TMac. Now do I think he can be better than KG and Duncan? Sadly no.
To be fair to Yao, he really gets horrible officiating. How many times does he get fouled and never get a call. He also plays next to a couple of really soft power forwards. All that being said I would love to see Yao go into the paint with authority every chance he gets.
i just said twice that as long as he is satisfied with not taking the game over every game, he will continue to be the second option. but he has to want it. if you dont understand that, then you have never played basketball. if you want something, you get it. if you dont, you stay satisfied with whatever life has delt you. i doubt anyone is out there just giving you things are they?? maybe you believe if you go out and get a degree, people are goign to come to your house and give you sweet job offers.
