Rockets want Ming even if it means waiting a couple of years

Mmanal,

Or maybe, just maybe CD and Rudy are a better judge of basketball talent then you.

DaDakota

 

So CD gave an anti-Ming supporter the evil eye, eh?

That doesn't really mean anything. It could mean, "I'm sick of advice from armchair slam-dunk champions."

Personally, I don't understand all this. It seems clear we're drafting Ming. We're going to all the work. Apparently our contingent went so far as to say, (paraphrase) "We see Yao on our team for a long time."

The thing is, Yao and Cato, Mo and EG, in the frontcourt? OK, fine, we'll be good, but damn, we need us a Maybiner Hilario. We need some weight in the post.

If we have to draft Ming #1 and trade him to the Bulls, how else would we work that? Announce on the return from China that we're giving the #1 to Chicago in exchange for the #2 and Chicago's next-year #1 draft pick? Then go on about our business of drafting Jay and making deals from there?

ROCKET!!! and TB seemed to hear the scoop that Krause really, really wants to get his hands on Yao Ming, and we were looking at a way to trade the pick. That deal might be on stand-by, now that we learned that Nixon isn't the only one who can go to China.

Personal opinion? We'd be a better team overall, right away, if we made a deal for the pick. Long-term health of the organization, with or without Ming? That's another question. The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is. Meditate on this I will.

 

Developing to 15-7??? We will definately have to disagree. Every team would kill for him. Are the scouts all wrong? I don't care if you're in Div II EuroLeague, CBA, NBDL, JuCo or high school, 19 rebounds per game is incredible and translates very well to the NBA. To project him as a 7 reb a game guy is crazy to me. Per game averages for Ming this past season:

FG PCT: .721
FT PCT: .759
RPG: 19.0
APG: 2.9
PPG: 32.4

Again, I don't care what level of play he's up against. Those numbers are awesome. As far as him being soft, it's not easy for anybody(Shaq aside) to move a near 300 lb man with great leg strength. Hell even the Stick Bradley has averaged 7.2 RPG in his career in only 26.5 minutes. Ming has a lot more strength and desire that Shawn and with his offesive abilities he'll get a ton more minutes than 76.

 

If we assume that the rumors are the Rockets have received numerous offers for Ming, what does that mean?

It means that many teams feel he's worthy of the #1 pick. Somehow I doubt they're projecting him to be a 15 and 7 guy.

But what do they know, theyre just professional evaluators

 

"Developing to 15-7??? We will definately have to disagree. Every team would kill for him. Are the scouts all wrong? I don't care if you're in Div II EuroLeague, CBA, NBDL, JuCo or high school, 19 rebounds per game is incredible and translates very well to the NBA. "


GregM, go take a look at basically every major HS player that makes the jump to the NBA. Their stats are huge. For instance, Ousmane Cisse averaged 29-16 with 13 BPG against HS competition. I am having a hard time understanding how stats from China translate well to this.

No, all the scouts arent wrong. The majority of them think of Ming as a good but not great center. He is not considered a franchise center by most.


"Or maybe, just maybe CD and Rudy are a better judge of basketball talent then you."

I dont deny that CD and Rudy are great talent evaluators; I never said they werent. However, even the greatest evaluators of all time can make mistakes, drafting is an inexact science, thus I have a right to atleast state my case and raise questions. Somehow, this type of thinking evades you when you consistently trash Rudy for not using Langhi correctly or not adjusting to the zone correctly. Do you think you know more about coaching than him?

 

This guy has been playing against grown men since he was 16 or 17. Parker did it, Dirk played against Barkley on the Nike Tour and dropped like 25 on them. Barkley told Ctton he needs to draft this guy but Nelson beat him to it. Gasol avg 10pt per the yr he was drafted, but he was playing against stronger ,grown men, he came to the nba skilled but light in the ass. After getting game time, his skill level and atheleticism more than made up for his stregnth. People are talking about Ming like he's Shawn Bradley coming into the draft 7'6 245lbs. Ming is 300lbs and most is in the lower body. Once he post and gets his body down a little, its going to be hard to move him without just pushing him. I think people are really underestimating how big this guy is. Whats even more scarier is his high skill level. I think if he starts he should be able to put up a little better numbers than griffin did when he started last yr wich would be a upgrade at center. He will surprise a lot of people when he plays and all the anti ming personel will just admit it was a great pick. I don't care if he doesn't win the roy, whichever rookie goes denver will probably win it because the guy will start and shoot a lot of shots. In the roy, Hakeem didn't win it,neither did Magic so that really doesn't concern me.

 

Well, had Hakeem and Magic won, then you'd be able to say that Michael Jordan and Larry Bird didn't win ROY.

 

Thanks for the clarification heypartner. The information was really helpful, puts my mind more at rest.

MManal, I'll have to agree to disagree. IMHO, Ming will be a top center in the NBA if given the chance.

 

No offense to MManal, but you people do realize your arguing against someone who still thinks Jason Collier (with time) will turn out to be a decent player in this league.

In either case, the bottom line is this:

a) Hakeem Olajuwon is not on this team anymore, and, if he was, he doesn't even have three games in a row of 15-10 left in him, much less a couple of months.

b) Walt Williams hasn't had a hot shooting stretch since that time and to expect that to change would be ridiculous.

So, essentially, the argument comes down Ming vs another player, assumed to always be Odom.

It is my opinion that Ming already shoots, scores, rebounds, and plays defense better than Odom, and passes as well. Odom has Ming on ballhandling, but Ming is a class act and a hard worker. I'll take Ming.

As for the enforcer/banger argument. I think people easily forget how skinny Akeem was when he first came into the league. He was predominantly a blocker himself. For that matter, how many teams in the league have "enforcers" down low. Dallas? No. Sacramento? No. Boston? No. NJ? No. Minnesota? No. Portland? Well...maybe Dale Davis, but one can't possibly use him as a base for the argument for wanting one of those players on the team. Clippers? No. Phoenix? No. Seattle? No.

So, essentially, Detroit is the only team who has used the enforcer defensive strategy successfully. You could argue the Lakers, but if you take away Shaq's offense (and leave his "enforcer" skills) I highly doubt they'd have ever won a championship.

With Ming, MoT, EG, Cato, and KT the Rocket's will be tough enough down low, imo.

 

I think raising questions is fine, and I certainly do not agree with everything Rudy and CD do as well.

However, I happen to think they are right about Ming.

Now as for Langhi....well.......

DaDakota

 

"I still feel Collier's skills fit very well on this team, but the problem is that I may have overestimated his lateral quickness and quickness overall to play at the NBA level. Its still too early tho to tell, I wouldnt rule out Collier yet."

JayZ, how exactly does that statement by me mean that I think Jason Collier will be a decent player in time? I conceded that the odds are against him b/c it appears I overestimated his lateral quickness and quickness overall to play at the NBA level. What exactly do you want me to say? The guy is a complete scrub, he has no talent whatsoever and should quit playing basketball? The odds are clearly against Collier making it in this league but considering some of the centers that have hung around, I wouldnt totally say he's worthless and should retire from the NBA.

 

"For that matter, how many teams in the league have "enforcers" down low. Dallas? No. Sacramento? No. Boston? No. NJ? No. Minnesota? No. Portland? Well...maybe Dale Davis, but one can't possibly use him as a base for the argument for wanting one of those players on the team. Clippers? No. Phoenix? No. Seattle? No."


Theres a difference here.... Sacramento, Lakers, San Antonio, Portland, etc all have players that can defend on the interior. That means not giving up a lot of position defensively. The Rockets dont have that and wont have it with Ming and Griffin together. Contrast that with a team like Dallas. The Mavs have two nifty offensively skilled 7 footers on their frontline but both guys get pushed around on defense. The offense puts up amazing stats, but the frontcourt of LaFrentz and Nowitzki is preventing them from making a serious playoff run.