Its amazing...You mean a whole team designing 1 defensive game plan after Yao destroyed them in the 1st game on single coverage = doesn't impact the series where Portland constantly left Scola open for his mid-range jumpers because they refused to allow Yao to get the ball or shoot it effectively = not taking over a game. Let me guess, not only should he be sandwich double teamed through non-illegal methods (which was illegal way back than) but you expect him to score 35pts and grab 15 rebounds to really mean he took over the game. Forcing a team to change defensive strategy for 6 games = taking over the offense when you have a whole team designated to stop you Lets not even talk about Yao's underappreciated defense. Its a joke how people continue to think Yao's defense is horrible and itsn't flash because he doesn't block 4 shots a game. Sure he is big and tall but his 1 on 1 post defense is above average, horrible against the pick and roll but just like Shane he does all the little things right on defense. If Yao was healthy in the Lakers series, we had a chance to win it. But O wait without Yao we took them to game 7. If you look at those games we won, the Lakers didn't show up, just look at game 5 and game 7, we didn't even score 80 pts in both games. Our guys played hard no doubt, but lets be realistic in the playoffs, we are going to need someone to do what Yao did for us, it may not be him, it may not be T-mac, but it has to be somebody. Or we are going to see a quick series, sure we may make it interesting but when teams tighten their defensive our role players are going have to respond.
Yes. The trade sucked. We can obviously see now that the Yao/Francis combo was REALLY the championship mix. How could we have broken up the incredible chemistry betwen Stevie and Yao!? The ironic thing is that the same clash between Yao and T-Mac's style can also be said for Shaq and Kobe. The difference, of course, was that Kobe and Shaq were BETTER PLAYERS. Hence, they were a championship mix. Tracy and Yao were not.
02 Laker Roster vs 05 Rocket Roster vs 04 Rocket Roster Rockets 05 Roster Rafer Alston Derek Anderson Jon Barry Lonny Baxter Keith Bogans Ryan Bowen Rick Brunson Josh Davis Richie Frahm Stephen Graham Chuck Hayes Luther Head Juwan Howard Maciej Lampe John Lucas Tracy McGrady Yao Ming Dikembe Mutombo Moochie Norris Stromile Swift David Wesley Rocket Roster 04 NO. PLAYER POS HT WT YRS DOB FROM == ====== === == == === === ==== 1 Tracy McGrady G 6-8 210 6 5/24/79 Mt Zion Christian Academ 3 Bob Sura G 6-5 200 8 3/25/73 Florida St 5 I-Juwan Howard F 6-9 230 9 2/7/73 Michigan 7 David Wesley G 6-1 203 10 11/14/70 Baylor 11 Yao Ming C 7-6 310 1 9/12/80 China 13 Mike James G 6-2 188 3 6/23/75 Duquesne 17 I-Charlie Ward G 6-2 185 9 10/12/70 Florida St 20 Jon Barry G 6-5 210 12 7/25/69 Georgia Tech 25 Moochie Norris G 6-1 185 7 7/27/73 West Florida 30 Clarence Weatherspoon F 6-7 270 11 9/8/70 So Mississippi 32 Torraye Braggs F 6-8 245 R 5/15/76 Xavier 35 Scott Padgett F 6-9 240 4 4/19/76 Kentucky 40 Ryan Bowen F 6-9 220 5 11/20/75 Iowa 42 Vin Baker F 6-11 240 11 11/23/71 Hartford 55 Dikembe Mutombo C 7-2 265 12 6/25/66 Georgetown vs Laker Roster 02 Kobe Bryant Derek Fisher Rick Fox Devean George Robert Horry Mark Madsen Stanislav Medvedenko Tracy Murray Shaquille O'Neal Jannero Pargo Kareem Rush Soumaila Samake Brian Shaw Samaki Walker Lets not even mentioned Kobe was averaging 30 points a game and they are coached by one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. They also had players who step up during critical games Robert Horry and Derek Fisher. Who stepped up for the rockets in the playoffs during T-mac and Yao's years? While the Lakers had help from the Refs in the 02 series, did the Rockets have help in the 05 series......
No I would not say that they were over rated. They only played in one playoff series together and I am not sure if you all are aware of this but this is one the main series that Tim Donaghy admitted to fixing. Therefore, I really dont think anyone knows how great they could have been together healthy.
Really, you'd consider Dwight to be a "maybe" superstar but Yao's not even close? Please tell me you've seen them play against each other. I don't see why you're comparing a PF to a C, bringing up Tim Duncan. I said that he was the best man in the 5-spot for the past few years. Would I take Duncan over Yao? Of course I would, Duncan is possibly the greatest PF to have ever played basketball. But that's not the right question to be asking. I'd take Yao over Dwight any day. It's just unfortunate Yao is plagued with injuries. I agree with the part about Yao lacking clutchness, but let's be crystal clear about that: only the faster and conveniently sized people can carry out stuff like that. Review a few things for me, though: 08-09 Playoffs, WC HOU @ LA, Game 1, 4th Qtr Celtics game in January of 2009, 4th Qtr I also agree that Yao lacks a passing game, hence his smaller Asst Avg. But really, I think that can be much improved. I also think that Yao can improve his basketball IQ too. Other than that, I kind of disagree with you. Yao is great at getting into position, and if he doesn't, he just gets double-, triple-teamed and that helps the team out offensively in so many ways. And Yao's role is not to be on a fast-motion stuff. Yao isn't supposed to go for fast-break. Offensively, Cs are supposed to post up in the paint and either create an open shot (either for himself or his teammates) or take a high-percentage, close-to-the-rim, contested shot. Defensively, Cs are supposed to guard the paint and close off the driving lanes. Obviously, C's are also supposed to get a lot of rebounds (offensively and defensively). In my book, he does that better than any other big man in the world. It's hard to consider Yao as a superstar because of all the great Cs that have come before him. But seriously, give him credit for what he is. He is a tremendous player in the NBA.
LOL. Brandon Roy is NOT a superstar, especially if Yao is not a superstar. Yao, if he never faced injuries, would be a superstar (imo), but Brandon Roy IS NOT a superstar by any means. If Brandon Roy is a superstar then so is Deron Williams and a bunch of other players. Unfortunately, "superstar" doesn't have a clear definition to it, and, imo today, there are very few super stars remaining: Kobe, LeBron, Wade... former superstars of the decade: shaq, duncan, garnett, mcgrady, carter, webber (for a bit), iverson I'm not even sure if Dirk and Nash were ever superstars. Anyway, I stopped reading after Brandon Roy (LOL). If LeBron is a superstar, there's definitely something that should separate him and other stars like Roy, Paul, and Williams. And that is the word "super".
I don't think the style is the problem. A great perimeter playmaker and a dominant inside scorer, that's a combination that has been proven to work time and again in NBA history. One thing for sure, it wouldn't be motion offense if the both of them were healthy. Unfortunately, when both of them were still fairly healthy together, we didn't have Morey to find good role players to support them, and we didn't have Adelman to implement an efficient offensive game.
The curse of TMac will soon be gone! Grant Hill was never hurt until the presence of TM. Years to Rox since trade from Orlando, self explained. We were doing good this season when TM was out. 6 games back....Landry looses teeth, Chase sprains ankle badly, no telling what else can happen... Just kidding...
just goes to show...it takes more than two players. i don't think you can really pin it on just them saying they never worked out. it's a team sport. they were pieces we were to build around...but with tmac running the offense...i think it was a pipe dream that it was ever going to work to the level it needed to work as the rest of the players were basically given the leftovers and not involved enough.
They just couldn't figure out a way to play efficient basketball since Tracy's not the old form of his, everything became unstable and unpredictable and finally it broke into piece. Tracy's gone, Yao's hurt and prolly needs much more time than us expected him of coming back from that foot surgery. The Yao-Mac duo is history. period.
Even when they were healthy, they didnt live up to expectations. Of course the injuries didnt help. While individually I think they are not overrated in the least, the duo is. Didnt work out, time to move on.
To be fair at their very best Yao and T-Mac looked pretty good together. Charles Barkley said that during some of the Dallas playoff games they were so good that it was "scary". And Magic Johnson himself said that Yao and T-Mac were reminded him of his play with Kareem. The problem was that all that potential remained unfulfilled. Kareem and Magic could work together, Yao and T-Mac never could.
