Jeff, when the team is loaded with scrubs and there isnt enough talent to win many games, one hopes to be entertained by the few that can play well. dont you think?
I have no problem that yao was left out of any team because of whatever reason, such as appearance, team wins and etc. But come on, just apply the same rules to everyone. Those sportswriters just use arbitrary rules to justify their personal views. Unfortunately, it's about free speech. It's about entertainment. It's not about a fair game any more. It will never be.
So Yao carries the team for part of the season (a large part of it) and Marc dismisses it as "well, they're so bad that it doesn't mean as much." He doesn't think that the other team knowing that he's pretty much our whole offense and responding with double and triple teams makes what Yao did this season even more impressive? If that's the case, I never want to hear anything about AI or Kobe winning MVP if their team misses the playoffs.
Couldn't agree more. I sense that Stein and his ilk may be factoring how each team performed - and if that is the case how did Shaq's fifty something odd games elevate his team? Wade carried the heat for the most part. I have more problem with Shaq's selection than Ben's. Oh well I guess it is a way of evening out Yao's dorminance over Shaq during those times Yao eclipsed him in the ASG voting.
I will be fine if Yao is in 2nd Team all NBA, and I guess he will be motivated by that. See my signature
man,yao is definitely the best center this season,and if that(best player of each position) is what all-nba team selection accounting form,yao belongs to the first nba-team,no doubt.
Yao 3rd Team All NBA???? SI comes out with their 1st, 2nd and 3rd Team All NBA this year and this is what they came up with for the NBA centers this year: Ben Wallace- 1st Team Shaq- 2nd Team Yao- 3rd Team Ben- 7.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.21 bpg Shaq- 20.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.76 bpg Yao- 22.3 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.8 bpg Yao also dominates them in FG% and FT% by an absolute ton. I understand the Rockets stunk it up this year and that Yao missed 25 games due to injury, but Shaq missed a ton to injury too and didn't have a very good year at all. I just don't get how they can say Yao had the 3rd best season out of those 3 guys. The stats don't lie- Yao had a great year.
Yao's injuries should keep him from 1st team even though he was better than every other center in the NBA this season, it's only fair. 1st and 2nd team All NBA Center should go to Pau Gasol and Ben Wallace, in any order, 3rd team should go to Yao because he was much better than the other injury riddled elite center, Shaquille O'Neal.
heres one thing i dont get, if they are putting yao at 3rd team for his team's bad record then why isnt the anyone else who is on the pistons like billups and rasheed wallace on the first team. In my opinion they have a much bigger influence on the piston's than ben wallace.
You seem to forget that Ben's invisible defense alone accounts for 30% of the wins Pistons racks up this season. Ben Wallace is the best player on the best team in the league. His 7ppg looms larger than Yao's 22 ppg on a losing team. The whole league will probably argue that his 7ppg means much more than Wilt's 50 ppg because Wilt was mainly a loser in his career.
This makes no sense. With trade/market the way it is right now, you can't have a great winning team without someone putting up MVP worthy stats. Detroit the last few years resembled that, but they still had scorers who put up 20+
I'd like to see both too, but individual performance also has to weigh properly since it's an individual award. Otherwise there is no need to vote for first team NBA. Just give first team NBA to the starting 5 of the team with the best record in NBA. Ben Wallace went from underrated to overrated in a couple years. Yao goes the other way.
Yao is first team no contest, Mark Stein just likes to ride Shaqs nuts, i dont even have Shaq over Ben Wallace. Yao was the best center in the league this year hands down and its not fair that he is getting overlooked because of the circumstances
Macr Stein deserves to have his own opinion even if most of us here don't agree with it. Like someone has pointed out, he did admit Yao had the best season among the big name centers but he also gave his reasons not to give Yao the first team honor. But that Mejia guy is definitely cluelss.
Marc Stein deserves to have his own opinion even if most of us here don't agree with it. Like someone has pointed out, he did admit Yao had the best season among the big name centers but he also gave his reasons not to give Yao the first team honor. But that Tony Mejia guy is definitely clueless.
