Or: Fun Facts for Rocket Fans! Or: Objects in the mirror may have less game than it appears Or: Howdy "Yao" Hi Rocket Fans! Excited about that Yao Ming guy! Lucky us! Whoo look at that shot off the glass! Man, he's really posting up that guy in the polo shirt and khakis! I wonder if he can pass out of a double-team! Too bad he's only playing against one guy! I wonder how he will react when Karl Malone hurls his knee into his abdomen! Shaq's tough too! From the "private workout" footage, it looks like this guy's really good one-on-one against opponents giving up 9-12 inches. Too bad basketball's a team game. Rockets need a guy that can help out now. Is there a national volleyball association? There's where he can dominate at the center position right away. Vote NO for Yao Ming. 1) Yao will not grow and develop quickly on a team that has Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. He will never, ever get the ball in a meaningful situation. Ask Matt Bullard, Shandon Anderson, even Hakeem Olajuwon about this. I don't think anyone will get better on this team until Steve himself decides to do the same at both ends of the floor. Been to that Mayo Clinic yet, Steve? See Allen Iverson, Jerry Stackhouse. Rockets need experienced gamesmanship now, not a project that will keep Rudy sipping from that little plastic cup. 2) Yao Ming *will* have foot, knee, and overall fragility issues. Hey, I can jump to conclusions about this guy, everybody else is. Confidence is another thing. What will happen to this guy's confidence once Kenyon Martin blocks Yao's shot with enough force to bring him to the floor? Will he come back w/aggression and game? Or will he lose focus, fantasizing about jumping off a bridge and floating away like the last scene of "Crouching Tiger"? If you remember, Eddie Griffin's late-season slump began exactly when Kevin Garnett brought him near tears in that little painted area just under the goal. How many players can we "develop" at once? We need someone now, not Yao.* *(c) MrBastard Note on Eddie Griffin: Rudy T's been trying to get Robert Horry back since he traded him, and now he's got him. Meet Eddie Griffin, not the next Kevin Garnett, not the next Antonio McDyess, but the next Robert Horry. Not bad, but not three first-round picks either. 3) Overseas player = no defense. This is almost a given in the NBA. Maybe Schrempf, I can't remember. I cannot wait to see the footage when Baron Davis dunks on this guy. "Dunk on Yao Ming" will be a nightly feature on SportsCenter, maybe even a contest during All-Star weekend. Even Steve may even dunk on Yao because he's in the wrong spot. I'd buy that poster! Just because you are a tall man does not make you a basketball player. Hey, Manute Bol's on "Celebrity Boxing" tonight! 4) Wang Zhi Zhi - Guess what! Wang's our only frame of reference on which to judge Yao Ming! Here's another Chinese sensation that scored 350 points in one game and blocked 30 Chinese shots and arrived with much fanfare who has seen the NBA paint and does not like it. He is a "crowd favorite", like Travis Knight or Bryce Drew or Micheal Madsen. "Crowd favorite" = player that takes the floor to polite applause when the game is no longer competitive. The fans will cheer when Ming hits the occasional three, just like we did for Hakeem and Charles. But after that, it's "get your ass back in the post". Hakeem understood this, Charles often did not. I will not pay $50 to watch Yao stand at the top of the 3-point line. That's Walt Williams' spot, man! 5) The Chinese Government - Yao clearly needs work. Work at a "big-man" camp in the offseason. Chinese say he must return home at season's end, every season. He will not get the training he needs playing with the Shanghai Sharks in the offseason, just as Kelvin Cato would not develop what he needed playing with the L.A. Sparks this summer. Insert ugly joke here. Not comparing the Sharks to women, but there's a similar gap between the NBA and international play. Yes, international players almost beat the NBA players in the olympics. Who coached the USA that year? Hope it's not the same guy that's gonna help Yao learn how to play NBA defense. Yao Ming may be a nice man but he is not the best player available (JWilliams), nor does he have the most upside (JDixon, Wagner, Dunleavy, that guy from Maryland), nor will he help us win immediately (like trading the pick and players for Ratliff and Abdur-Rahim) but he is that guy that everyone will come to see play. Once. Just like the circus. MrB
You judging Ming on his jet lagged workout is like me judging you after seeing just this one post. I think you are a blabbering fool based on just this post. But I give you a few more posts before coming to any conclusions like you apparently have on Ming. "That guy from Maryland"?? Should I give your posts any credibility after a statement like that? You don't even know "that guy's" name. os
Jet-lagged? I didn't know that. He won't be taking many plane trips in the NBA, I hope. I have jumped to several conclusions in my post, just as many of you that assume that he can jump, shoot, block shots, rebound, etc in the NBA just because he's done so in China. China, that basketball powerhouse. To put it delicately, that is a different brand of basketball. The Rockets are in no position to teach anyone else. Let's get a guy (or guys) that know the rules and can play right away if not sooner. MrB
After reading the Horry/Griffin comparison I was about to say the same thing. Nice judgement of the 19 yr old rookie after one season.
Great posts MrBastard. For the Rockets sake I'm hoping management sees the light, and passes on Yao or trades the pick.
http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no11ming.html Hey b*stard here is an article about what Ming had to go through before the workout in Chicago. This is what Old School was trying to tell you. If you would quite trying to be so cute and listen to what some of the people around here are trying to tell you might learn something.
beautiful!!! you're my new hero!! hilarious post...plus your name makes fun of Scott Pippen...beautiful!
Ahhh! Healthy dialogue. Old school - we have absolutely nothing else to judge Ming on, other than an ESPN article. ESPN is a Disney company, so is ABC. Guess who has the NBA next season. Objective? Synergy? One might presume from your single post that you are a disciple of Rudyball that knows that one day this ragtag bunch of misfits is going to win the championship, like that movie with Keanu Reeves and the disadvantaged urban kids. It doesn't work like that, it hasn't worked like that since 1994. Pimp - "nice of you to judge...after only one season" Is it unfair to speculate one's career path after a season of pro ball? The NBA does it every year, it's called "Rookie of the Year". Comparisons to Robert Horry aren't what we want to hear, but 20+ other teams (ok, not the Suns) would want Horry on their team. Horry was a skinny rookie that had shot blocking ability and an outside shot who bulked up and developed over 2-3 years. Griffin is a skinny rookie....who hasn't bulked up yet. If I wanted to be flamed without cause for having a negative opinion, I'd get on the Aerosmith BBS. MrB
I thought it was a very entertaining post myself. Tons of great one-liners -- "He will not get the training he needs playing with the Shanghai Sharks in the offseason, just as Kelvin Cato would not develop what he needed playing with the L.A. Sparks this summer." -- Cmon, that's classic.
While I may not agree with everything in the post I do believe that quite a few posters are drawing conclusions based on a sportcenter highlights and watching a few halfs of the olympics. If you take that in conjunction with the tryout`s he had how can you draw a conclusion that he`s the guy to turn this franchise around? I realize he was jet lagged but you have to admit his performance was sub par, but even if I discount that what type of competition has he seen in the CBA? It`s nothing like he will see in the NBA, not even close. He had some great numbers, but it`s a little different when you have a Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant in your face every night. I get a chuckle when I read comments from my fellow posters breaking down his game as if they have watched him for the past few years. It`s not that I dont want Ming, there`s just not enough evidence to prove he`s worthy of the #1 pick.
haha, i thought the post was funny too, i didn't agree with almost all of it, but i it was a good read. anyways, how does rookie of the year speculate what one's career path is? i'm pretty sure it's given to the best rookie in the PAST year, othewise it'd be "best future prospect" or "dude with most potential" award.
I guess Sir Jackie Chiles loved Yao, remove your mouth from his... mrbastard, you have some points, but why are you so negative Remember, this is a Rockets FAN site. If you hate Rudy, Steve, and Eddie so much then I suggest you stop watching the Rockets because they will all probably be here for awhile. You said some funny **** but don't get so emotional. Most people on this board and those that write for whatever magazine haven't seen Yao play. People say he'll be this great player in a few years, etc. "we can't pass up on this 'talent'" We have to take the risk...All of this from a guy making open jumpshots on ESPN... I don't think so, but it's their opinion so we'll see who has the last laugh. They can say all they want, but we'll all see the truth in a few months. I hope Yao get's his ass over here, so the speculation will stop for good.
Kevin Garnett's stats after his first season (he turned 20 during that season): 95-96 Min 80 games 28.7 minutes 4.5/9.2 fgm/fga .491 fg % 1.3/1.9 ftm/ta .705 ft % 0.1/0.4 3-pt made/attempted .286 3-pt % 1.6 blocks 1.1 steals 1.4 to 2.4 pf 2.2 off reb 4.1 def reb 6.3 tot reb 1.8 assists 10.4 points Eddie Griffin's stats after his first season (he turned 20 during that season): 73 games 26.0 minutes 3.3/9.1 fgm/fga .366 fg % 1.3/1.9 ftm/ta .744 ft % 1.2/3.7 3-pt made/attempted .330 3-pt % 1.84 blocks 0.23 steals 0.6 to 1.6 pf 1.6 off reb 4.1 def reb 5.7 tot reb 0.7 assists 8.8 points I'd say this comparison makes more sense than the Horry comparison. Horry was about 3 years older than those two when he entered the NBA. I think one can use Garnett as a measuring stick for Griffin's development, although they are different types of players - main differences: - Garnett had a much better shot. Griffin really, really needs to work on getting that FG % up. Don't know if jacking up a lot of threes or being encouraged to jack up a lot of threes is the best idea there. - Garnett was a better passer at the same age. - Garnett was more aggressive going for steals. - I think Griffin will turn out to be the better shot-blocker and has the potential to be just as good in rebounding as Garnett is - which means a lot. And if Griffin can develop a few go-to moves and a more consistent shot, he can also become a better scorer. Just try to be as passionate as Garnett. Next year will be extremely important for Griffin. Look at Nowitzki, his first year was tough as well. I am very optimistic that Griffin will have similar improvement through his first few years as Garnett and Nowitzki did. You can see the potential.
I enjoyed MrBastard's post too. Of course, he and I are aligned in our opinions of Ming. I'm just not sold. The player MIGHT turn out to be worthy of a number one pick, but I'm more worried about the baggage he brings. I keep thinking of Clutch's question: There's a loaded question if there ever was one. Hell no I can't think of ANYTHING for sure....the lottery is a crap shoot. But speaking of crap shoots, can anyone think of ANYTHING the Rockets could do that carries more risk than selecting the 7-foot-5 star of CHINA? Of course, Clutch may have just been crafty with his selection of words.......he could be alluding to the very same thing Jeff was saying: Over one billion more people to market Rocket's merchandise too; that must have Les seeing dollar signs. But I'm a Rocket's fan. I don't give a rat's ass how rich or how poor Les gets. I just want a winning team. And I'm not sold that giving a number one pick for Ming is the way to get there.
Chiles - I don't have time to cut and paste, but look at Horry's rookie stats compared to Griff. Spooky. All Eddie needs to do is (deleted, something about Calvin Murphy's daughter) and they'd be clones. We have too much "potential" on this team right now, just good enough give us three good quarters of ball. If we could get some proven young or experienced youthful talent for the #1 pick, that's the way to go. We can do what makes sense now (trading Hakeem, changing the team colors), we've got the arena. Someone - I've read about what Yao had to go through to get to Chicago. Looks like he needs one of those day-timers or something other than an excuse. Paul Pierce went through some stuff too. The list goes on. Someone else - I don't hate Eddie, Cuttino, Steve, I'm a huge rocket fan. To paraphrase then-free agent Chris Webber, "these guys are gonna be fun to play with SOMEDAY". Someday. (breaks into song) MrB
