I finally remember who Yao's game/personality reminds me of. Joe Barry Carroll. Before you laugh, look at his career stats: Regular Season Stats Year . Age Team Lg G. Min. Pts. PPG. FGM. FGA. FGP FTM FTA. FTP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO 1980-81 22 GSW NBA 82 2919 1547 18.9 616 1254 .491 315 440 .716 759 9.3 117 1.4 050 121 243 1981-82 23 GSW NBA 76 2627 1289 17.0 527 1016 .519 235 323 .728 633 8.3 064 0.8 064 127 206 1982-83 24 GSW NBA 79 2988 1907 24.1 785 1529 .513 337 469 .719 688 8.7 169 2.1 108 155 285 1983-84 25 GSW NBA 80 2962 1639 20.5 663 1390 .477 313 433 .723 636 8.0 198 2.5 103 142 268 1985-86 27 GSW NBA 79 2801 1677 21.2 650 1404 .463 377 501 .752 670 8.5 176 2.2 101 144 275 1986-87 28 GSW NBA 81 2724 1720 21.2 690 1461 .472 340 432 .787 589 7.3 214 2.6 092 123 226 1987-88 29 HOU NBA 77 2004 0976 12.7 402 0924 .435 172 225 .764 489 6.4 113 1.5 050 106 164 1988-89 30 NJN NBA 64 1996 0902 14.1 363 0810 .448 176 220 .800 473 7.4 105 1.6 071 081 143 1989-90 31 DEN NBA 76 1721 0761 10.0 312 0759 .411 137 177 .774 443 5.8 097 1.3 047 115 142 1990-91 32 PHO NBA 11 0096 0037 03.4 013 0036 .361 011 012 .917 024 2.2 011 1.0 001 008 012 I think those are similar numbers to what we can expect from Yao. JBC was a talented center that had all the tools but never would be aggressive enough to make that jump into being a dominant player. I see lots of similarities in the way they play the game, and I think it's a fair comparison. Yao's a better passer. JBC had a better inside game. Neither were great leapers and both were a little slow of foot. Bothe were big but neither of them extremely strong. Especially if you look at the assists and rebounds you'll see similar numbers to what Yao has done. This is why I don't believe Yao will ever carry a team to a championship and needs fiery, competitive people arround him to make up for his lack of aggression. I think Yao can be a very valuable piece to the puzzle but is not and never will be a natural leader. Much like JBC, I doubt if Yao will ever be very much more aggressive than he is now. I know I will get tons of venom for this but let the emotions subside and look at it objectively. Is Yao the next Joe Barry Carroll?
I would say that this thread is really going piss off the Yao-only-fans, but they probably have no idea who Joe Barry Carroll is.
why wouldn't this thread piss off Rockets fans in general, who knows Yao has more potential? puleeze....represent
I don't know what you expect from Yao, but JBC was basically a 20/8 guy for most of his career. I'd take that from Yao. That's not a out down in my eyes.
Let's open our eyes and see ...................................................................................................................................................
I think Yao will have some years with better stats then that. You have to think though how much it affects Yao Mings game that there are not that many quality centers around at the moment. But i really do think Yao will have some great years in this league.
You're trying to compare a little bit more than one season of Yao to ten years of Joe Barry Carroll. (Otherwise known as Joe Barely Cares) While there are some similarities between the two its way to early to say that Yao in terms of production will end up like JBC. With JBC it seemed, especially near the end of his career, that he just wasn't into playing basketball. I don't get that feeling from Yao. While Yao has some conditioning problems the impression I get from him is that he wants to play. Also Yao has much more innate talent than JBC ever did. He's made some plays already in his short career that JBC couldn't dream of doing.
JB was a loafer with a lot of talent. yao, imo, is timid with a lot of talent. you can't change a person's work ethic, but you can change someone's disposition. just find out how to piss them off and move out of the way. ask the koreans.
You called yao a piece of crap in his rookie season, and now you think yao is a decent but not great player. At this pace, you will become an YOF next year.
I never called Yao a piece of crap. I always said I thought he would be a very good but not great player. But back then, projecting anything less than 30 pts 20 rbs and 5 blks per game, 10 MVP, and 6 championships labled you a Yao hater.
Please. Ever hear of the centers JBC played against? Just about every team had a good center back then. Dream Kareem Artis Gilmore Mark Eaton Pat Ewing Jack Sikma Robert Parrish Moses Malone Alton Lister James Edwards Tree Rollins Bill Cartwright Brad Daughtery Buck Williams A center never played against 6'9 guys back then. So it evens out.
I understand your dissappointment, but I have to disagree. I never saw JBC do a jai lai pass off the floor which was perfectly executed to an open man. JBC was talented, and I expected more from him too. But, he was insecure, lazy, and never had the hard work ethic to excel. Yao comes from a different culture, which is much more polite than ours, and therefore is timid from our paradigm, and in our brute force game. But, do not view them as the same. To this point in his life, he has excelled using finesse, intelligence, confidence, fundamentals along with his size and talent to dominate. You see this, when he faces an opponent, and studies him, then improves the next time they meet. Yao is continually improving, and will eventually adjust to be dominate. Yes, it will take a bit for him to strengthen up, both physically and philosphically, so he dominates. But, Yao steadily improves. He is learning under a new coach, and still adjusting to our culture, and probably going through the sophomore curse, a bit. I think the biggest problem I fear with Yao, is getting too tired. His National team improperly trains him, and uses him too hard througout the off-season. He's going to have to learn how to say "NO," not only to those who come into his domain, but also to his handlers at home.
Difference is that Carroll was being dominated game in and game out by the likes of Kareem, Moses Malone etc. Yao does not face that type of competition. I think if Carroll were at his prime playing in todays NBA against guys like Mark Blount, Chris Kaman etc, he could be dominating.
Some people are Yao haters. He's still raw, but the difference is, JBC came into the about as good as he's going to get. Meanwhile Yao has the drive to keep improving and indeed has improved. I don't think we've seen the best of him yet.
If Yao can maintain his current FTA/game around 7 FTs/game this season, and increases it to 8 a game in the future, he will be better. If not, he only has 5-6 a game, he will be the same as JBC.
