Our talent back then was horrible. And T-Mac was also horrible in terms of complementing Yao, because he was not a good 3pt shooter, not did he attack the basket once he reached Houston. I have no doubt that if Yao magically appeared in place of Asik right now, the Rockets offense would utterly unstoppable. And Yao would either have gazillion assists or allow Harden/Lin/Parsons to get dunks at will.
Ah the YaoMac days, most of the time one of them was injured, when they weren't injured it was 2 on 5 most of the time, then when the help arrived one of them would get injured again.
True. Generally, perimeter players are more valuable on offense than bigs, and bigs are more valuable on defense than perimeter players. At least that's what this analysis shows.
No, Remember what he said-DUH! and he perfected shots, he had the best touch any Center could possibly have especially in this era, he shot a high FT% RARE this era-I think he was like 90% FT shooter too, that's astounding in it's own right...when Yao was even a tad healthy, as we know that he played through injuries and NEVER MENTIONED A THING...but even a tad healthy, or fully healthy, he dominated, inside, outside, it didn't matter what you did with Yao, yes he wasn't Dream, but Yao was the smoothest big man that brought every move to the table, he was powerful when he needed, yet smooth, and could fade away, could knock down the 20 footer, could give ya the dream pump, pump, pump, shot...Yao was a sight to behold when he was on the court...we were lucky to have watched him for as much as we did I guess... I remember, I was at game 2 of the 04-05 Playoffs in Dallas, yes in Dallas, went to college up in north texas so, decided game 2 was the game, T-Mac was the show in the whole package, a bright sky was bright, after game 1, and T-Mac didn't seem like he was coming back down from that 30 plus ppg average...and in the first qtr. of that GAME 2 playoff game, that was when the light bulb just WENT OFF, I think not only for Yao, but for me, I always thought Yao would be good, but I didn't know how good, ya know...but that first qtr. was INSANE, Yao went like 9/9 and then had some FTs to set the all time points in a playoff game in a QTR. Shaq had it with 19, maybe it was just all time First qtr., but pretty sure it was all qtrs., anyways Yao destroyed them, and that's when I knew, after that qtr. it was just, wait till next year type of feeling, he's just getting started, then Tmac hit the shot in game 2 that made the crowd go silent!- I was in my Yao jersey, my GF her Rockets jersey...and everyone looking at us jumping up and down...and basically running out of the building as did the rest of the rockets team in celebration-it was the dawn of another era, everyone could see it...JVG finally proved his point that putting him in the post was his best position to score, and the future was bright, for a blink of an eye, then Tmac decided to take games off so to speak, and well GM 7 turned into a great game bye Yao and Tmac and Mike James (who I still think was welcomed back bc of that attitude he brought in a GM 7 blowout), but it wasn't TSlack yet, it was a lot of blown calls, while he took some games off "in his head" that series, he still blew the Bleep out the water that series....Game 6 was his, and Dwes, and JBs best games, and got us to GM 7...at the time we had no idea what the next year would bring...then came YAO BLOWING OUT THE GATES, think "LINSANITY YOU LOF's" this nah this was a SIGHT TO BEHOLD...if he'd have been anywhere else it'd have got even more pub. KG after being destroyed by him called him "the MVP and best player in the League, and what how old is he, so yea" I think was his exact quote, that coming from the most "loud mouthed" person that's all about himself, that was pretty humble statement coming from him. Anyways, that Clippers game that this happened in was within a week from the next time we played the Clippers, and the freak injury happened, and out went Yao, his injuries in the beg. were freak accidents, no reason to worry right?- WRONG- CNT kept telling him to play, so he did injured, so sad.... Yao's career I guess is about like Ralph Sampson's except well a lot of different things, but just the what could have been, and ultimate injuries, piled on injuries, that really all took ahold of the body because of their big lengthy nature, and the compensation their bodies took when playing injured...Yao he will always be the Rocket that is right behind Dream, Rudy, Moses, Drexler (Don't care how long he played here he won a ring here, and I think had some greater years here, after being called done), Yao is right there with them, and the history of the Rockets....Yao man what could have been, but it's ok I ain't even mad, bc we got farther then we did in a long time with ya big fella! We got to see some crazy games, and to the OP, and the writer of the article, obviously he missed the Yao Shaq duels from his rookie year onwards...SMH...Yao dominated Dwight Howard who ESPN drools over. Yao pretty much dominated Shaq, Shaq says Yao was best, and toughest C to play against, himself....Shaq is grabbing Chuck's donkey I think right now
Offensive rating with Yao on the court is probably lower because we played at a slower pace, I bet our fg% was higher though. Also I can promise that our defensive rating with Yao on the court was much higher..thus making the overall difference with him on/off the court very positive.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/773129-yao-ming-10-best-games-of-houston-rockets-career/page/4 BR-To add^
BR says it is his second best game of his career top 10-or whatever but Ya, I agree, there were many games before, but it was that game, where JVG's methods, and Yao's fundamental domination just was GLARING SO SO BRIGHT!! 2. 2005 Playoffs: First Round at Dallas Mavericks, Game 2 Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Stat Line: 33 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 13-for-14 from the field, 7-for-7 from the line. Result: W, 113-111. Houston had already claimed homecourt advantage after slapping the Mavericks in Game 1, but it wanted more. Yao delivered. As was the case for much of this series, he absolutely befuddled Erick Dampier and the rest of the Mavericks' frontline. He missed just one shot from the floor and needed only 14 attempts to score 33 points. The Rockets looked dead, trailing by seven with 5:41 to play, but were in position to steal the win in the waning moments. That's when Yao took over. He put them ahead with a layup with 2:49 left. Moments later, he finished a dish from Tracy McGrady to put Houston up 111-109. In the frantic final seconds, Dirk Nowitzki re-tied the score with 10 seconds to play, just before Yao set a screen at the top of the key to free McGrady for the game-winning jumper. Houston went home up 2-0 and anything seemed possible.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/773129-yao-ming-10-best-games-of-houston-rockets-career/page/10 link again even thought posted above in the other one before, sorry...
and my thinking maybe wrong it wasn't most points in a qtr., but maybe it was most consecutive made FGs in a qtr. along with the points with it, which he beat out Shaq, and the holder before that was like Kareem I want to say, I forget...since it was almost 10 years ago...but a sight to behold was that whole game he was 13/14 wow, and put up 33 pts. man wow! That was the last game that the Mavs ever had any respect for the Rockets, after that, it turned to full hatred, to where they are ignorant. I remember all the Mavs fans being in awe after that game, and complaining about Finley taking the last shot lol, Finley was having a horrible game, but he Finley and the Mavs got their advantage and happiness when he was out of bounds, and that ICED game 5 for the Rockets...and that was that...sorry living in the moment of that Game 2, musta been because we had Tslack, Bowen, Wesley, Barry playing around him...and Yao was just you know OWNING THE NBA...I'm still SMH at this article
So...has everyone just forgotten who we surrounded Yao with for the majority of his career? I want to see these same stats only including the games where we started 5 good NBA players, not Ryan Bowen.
The article is laughably bad. One of the biggest mistakes the Rockets made was keeping Juwan Howard for so long as the starting 4 next to Yao. Can't remember how many times Juwan's defender went over to double Yao, Yao passes it to Juwan only to brick his 15 foot wide open jump shot.
If under all the numbers and statistics that Paine's overarching argument is that post players have less of an offensive impact than perimeter players, which I agree with, then maybe the thread title is a little misleading?
I don't see why. Yao Ming was a post player with a reputation for being great on offense. Some analysis suggests post players aren't as good on offense as their box score stats might suggest. Yao Ming is apparently a prime example, according to this analysis. Hence, the question in the thread title.
If so, shouldn't Yao's offense (and all of the other centers' offense) be graded on a curve like batting numbers from catchers in baseball? The fact is, having competent size/rim protector defensively is very important to a team. However, these guys are very hard to find. Many 7 footers are simply bad basketball players (think Johan Petro, Robert Swift, etc.) and many who are good defensively can be very bad on the other end of the floor, unable to even make the opposing team pay through putbacks and offensive rebounding advantage (Kendrick Perkins, Jason Collins, etc.). It is rare, and very useful, to have a guy who is both a good defensive anchor and a positive (or even a non-negative) on offense.
I remember watching a game with the Rox vs the Knicks when Yao got the ball all 5 Knicks players literally went at Yao he just shot over everyone... at will... bottom line Yao was efficient even when faced with double teams... he just shot over defenders... when he got the ball down low... he should have never passed it out... overrated offensive skills no way in hell overrated passer and athletic ability, like being able to get away from a fronting defense then ya...
I dont see why the Rox Tmac was a wing player with a reputation being great on offense... when his time with the Rox routinely would Jack up 20 to 25 shots a game and hit on 33% of them...
Maybe he didn't get assists because he was the best offensive option. +50% fg and +80% ft. **** it, just pass.
i think we should first consider what is being used to measure Yao, adjusted plus minus is not a end all stat. it does not have a great correlation with winning many "advanced statistics" are extremely flawed and do not hold up to rigorous testing rather than face value analysis I know this is just one guy's entry but it seems pretty well versed: http://wagesofwins.com/2011/03/05/deconstructing-the-adjusted-plus-minus-model/
Well, I know Tmac gets all the blame for the Rockets not having playoff success in the past but I think both Yao and Tmac should both be accounted for. As good as Yao is, he had trouble closing out games even though he has great size and talent. With his height and talent, he didn't accomplish as much as I wanted him to.
