I am not sure that it's totally meaningless. Name one true superstar that constantly gets shafted by the fans in all star voting. If someone naively believes that it is the Chinese voters who pushes Yao to the Western all star starter spot, they are sadly wrong. And if people want to blame the media and the league to hype Yao to get more business from China and Asia, I am wondering why Wang Zhizhi is not able to get any hype from the Chinese fans, media, or the league. The bottom line is, Yao is a legitimate all star and the majority of the NBA fans think that he is the best center in the West. The reason that players like TD and KG get less votes than Yao is simply because that they face much stiffer competition at their positions than Yao does.
Nah, fans vote in the superstars. But there are definitely guys who get in on popularity alone. Vince Carter, for one, gets in year after year when he doesn't deserve it.
Unfortunately we are not playing that kind of system. We simply don't have that many great jump shooters on this team. It's definitely legitimate to say that if we were to swap Yao & Miller, the Kings instantly would become the team to beat in the West and the Rockets probably would struggle to make 0.500. Yao would definitely flourish in Kings's system simply because Yao has a deadly game facing up the basket in the high to medium low post. He had been playing that way in all his days with Shanghai Sharks.
Vince Carter is a superstar. He just quit on his Raptor teams ala TMac on his Orlando team. Look at how Vince has been playing the last 2-3 weeks. When he is at his best, he is a top 10 player in the league. Hill used to belong to that elite group. I cannot argue against the fans for putting him in instead of JO which is my choice.
Vince deserves it this year. Maybe not starting, but his inclusion on the team is not an injustice. When was the last time opposing defenders fronted Brad Miller to deny him the ball? High school?
Finally if I were to choose a 12 member team from the league, I would go with 9 of the 10 fan selections. You substract Hill, add Dirk, JO, and Kidd, and you get the team.
Then why don't we play that system? Surely McGrady, Padgett, Barry, Wesley, Howard, and Sura can hit jump shots. The Kings' best spot up shooter is Peja, and he's been hurt all year. And that deserves a starting nod over Jermaine O'Neal, a MVP candidate last year who puts up better numbers for a better team this year? Or Jamison, who's putting up better numbers for a Wizards team that is well ahead in the standings? There have been more deserving candidates than Vince the past few seasons, but the fans keep voting him in. For that matter, Grant Hill is a nice story and a great guy, but there's no way he "deserves" the start given his numbers and Orlando's place in the standings. But again, meaningless exhibition, give the fans who they want I say.
I never said that Miller is a scrub. He is a very good player but not a star player like Yao is. There is nothing to be ashamed of to lose to Yao in the all star voting. Even Shaq daddy learned it from the hard way.
Really? As far as jump shooting goes: Webber >>> Howard Peja > TMac Bobby Jackson > Wesley Cat > Barry Bibby >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sura And now tell me how we can play the Kings's system? And don't forget that that we are talking about offense here not defense, and JVG does not really understand too much X & O in offense.
Did Steve Kerr appologize to Yao about 1 year ago for inappropriate laungage to chinese? It showes what is in his mind. Looks he is decent person, but.......
ROFL. Are you serious? Shaquille O'Neal is much, much, much better than Yao Ming. This year, last year, every year. Play your substitution game, swap Shaq and Yao. Is Miami leading the East with Yao instead of Shaq? In fact that's a perfect example of fans not voting for the best player, but the more popular. Didn't we bring all those players you mentioned in this season? JVG chose those guys. Are you saying he's chosen players and designed a system that specifically hurts Yao's numbers? Mobley's never played with BJax, btw, and Peja's been hurt often. They're starting guys like Matt Barnes and Songaila and Maurice Evans and still winning.
Yao best season? should be so far. B. Miller is a STRONG role player, that's it. whatever, the best way for yao to defend himself is to help ROX more wins, and this is the only way.
You are totally making up that kind of stuff. First shooters are hard to find and they are not cheap. JVG and CD have no choice because Les wants to go cheap; Secondly, Yao can play in any kind of system but I personally feel that playing in the Kings system might max his potential since his biggest scoring weapon had been his game facing up the basket which led to those phenomenal stats he put up with the Sharks. His face up game is pretty much unguardable. A heavy mix of high and low post moves can push his game to another level.
Considering the level of play in the CBA, I'm guessing that Yao Ming, NBA All Star, would have put up dominant stats using any kind of offense. I really doubt his faceup game is "unguardable", because he's not going to take guys off the dribble. He's going to shoot the ball from where he is, or pass it.
You make too many assumptions. You're always talking about how if Yao had Phil Jackson, or Jason Kidd, or Steve Nash, or played in the Kings system he would flourish. That may very well be true, but you make it sound as if it were fact. The truth of the matter is nobody knows how well Yao would play in the Kings system. Nobody will ever know unless we physically take Miller out of that Kings lineup and stick Yao in there. Stop living in hypothetical land, and go back to reality. In reality, Yao plays for the Rockets and Miller plays for the Kings. Both players have had comparable seasons. That is what we KNOW. Any other hypothetical situations about how a player would play if he had certain teammates, or coaches, or were put in a system, or how they would perform facing certain defenses are all just guesses.
1. Let's go out on the assumption that the ASG is entirely a popularity contest (which I believe that it mostly is). What makes a player popular? Is it because Yao is magically 7'6 or is it because of his attitude. I can think of many intelligent, charming and wise players that aren't popular. Popularity is at least partially based on skills. 2. For the lack of a better term, I'll call it marginal benefit (because I can't think of another right now). Which would be higher (which would you rather get)? Yao's MB per additional minute or Miller's MB? To quantify it another way, who's contribution margin is higher? In this case, Yao's MB > Brand's MB > Miller's MB. Now, Brand has the misfortune of being stuck on a bad team, but what do I care? 3. Gee, I don't see how teammates can have any impact on assist number at all. Nor do I see how playing in the high post and not getting D attention reduces my turnovers. This isn't an excuse to cover up Yao's weakness. It's merely the fact that you can only know who turns the ball less between two players had they been under the exact same conditions, which they aren't. 4. It occurred to me to check Brad Miller's assist numbers. It occurred to me that Miller's assists jumped from 2.6 to about 4.3 since moving to Sacramento. And the 2.6 was his career best before the Queens. Prior to that he averages around 2. So what miraculously led Miller to improve at his assist numbers? It wouldn't have anything to do with the Sac system at all would it? 5. I think Brad Miller is a decent passer and a very serviceable player in this league. But that's all that he is. No more, no less. Which means that he, like his passing, is overrated. 6. I have no problems with Miller being an all-star starter, on the assumption that neither Shaq or Yao are present, in terms of both actual skills and popularity.
Feel free to make up your own statistics like MB or RSVP or AYB, without any explanation as to what they quantify, and declare Yao the king of those statistics. Assists - 2 assists per game before the Kings, doesn't that equate to more than twice what Yao's getting this year. Any explanation, other than "Yao's teammates don't hit shots"? The fact is that Yao is a good player, even a star player, but not a superstar. Miller is a good player, but not a superstar. Neither can carry their team anywhere, neither is a first option, neither scores even 20 points a game or pulls down 10 rebounds. Neither are in the vicinity of Hakeem Olajuwon or Patrick Ewing or David Robinson or Tim Duncan or Shaq or any of the great big men who've played in the NBA. That said, Yao's the 2nd best true center in an NBA bereft of anyone meeting that qualification, and Miller's the 3rd best. Ilgauskas is #4 and after that, there's a big dropoff. There really isn't so much seperating the 2 players as you YOFs might think. What Yao has working for him is that he's younger than the others, and still has room to improve.
Whoa, wait a minute, are we comparing Brad and Yao to likes and Shaq and Dream. I thought we are comparing Yao and Brad apple to apple. SamC, answer this, Swap Yao and Miller. Is King a better team with Yao? Is Rox a better team with Brad?
I don't think this is about who the better player is. I don't there's anybody that would say Miller is a better player than Yao. This is about who has had the better season. It's not as clear cut that Yao has had a better season as you guys seem to think.
