I was going to make the same point but let's be honest. Amare was an MVP candidate doing things no Knick has ever done in just the first half of the season.
I think it was the correct choice. If the rockets hadn't gotten the #1 and had the 9th pick, I really wonder if they would have drafted amare. Yao was a high quality player when he played. He was never a superstar nor a dominant player, but he was a guy who could help win a ring if healthy. As a poster stated earlier,they overreached the kind of player to play with yao and tracy. The guy next t yao should've been a cato type or odom type. The guy in the backcourt with tracy should've been an aaron brooks type. Instead they had smallish,unathletic 4's and non shooting pg in rafer.
He is still performing at a high level. If you assume he were still here playing for us...which is probably a huge assumption not worth making...then you'd have to argue Amare would be the better pick, I think. The man was 2nd team all NBA the last 2 seasons while Yao has been hurt and is contemplating retirement. But that's knowing what we know now...with hindsight. At the time I had no problem with them taking Yao. I do remember being a bit concerned about Mobley's and Francis' initial feelings on that, though.
Even if the question was simply a matter of "when", Yao gave the Rockets a pretty long window to do something while he was healthy. I don't think any fan would regret the decision if Yao followed say Bill Walton's career in terms of duration and accomplishment. Too bad we couldn't follow up with a good enough team around him and subsequently T-Mac. Even with 20/20 hindsight, that team wouldn't have led us to jack squat. That team's window of opportunity was basically until Francis broke down. During that time, that team wouldn't come close to the Spurs/Lakers of the time.
For people saying you only regret drafting Yao because of Amare are missing something. NO ONE CONSIDERED AMARE A TOP PICK!! Thats like saying Do you regret not darfting dirk, ginolbli, etc etc.. It was between Jay Williams and yao.. and clearly drafting yao was not a mistake or should be regretted.
you're missing something, as well....the part where people are suggesting that the discussion centered around the rockets trading the top pick for something else, including a draft pick high enough to have drafted amare. there were rumors of that at the time, particuarly with respect to trading for lamar odom and the clippers' pick...and using that pick on amare.
You know what the funny thing is -- had the Rockets not won the No.1 pick and kept a No.7 or 8 or 9 pick we might have ended up with Amare. I do not regret drafting Yao. He was a top three center when he was healthy and a legit 20/10 player. Injuries are not something that you can predict. Overall Yao helped to elevate the profile of the Rockets franchise even though he did not help us win anything.
I think we could have done better for the TMac trade. TMac demanded to come here, SF3 was an all star and should be enough to get TMac here. Just check this past season, it did not take a lot to trade for superstars like Melo or D Will if they want to leave. Sura(Alsto)/Cat/TMac/Cato/Yao, coached by JVG, with 3 to 4 years windows to contend. I would take that team over Cato-Amar'e-Odom-Mobley-Francis.
T-Mac did not demand a trade to Houston; he just wanted out of Orlando. And, many were surprised Orlando chose Houston's offer and thought other packages were more attractive than ours. You take Mobley out of ours, and there's no way that wins the race.
Why not regret starting Chuck Hayes at PF? Why not regret starting Bowen? David Wesley? Luther Head? Juwan Howard. I regret we didn't have any players capable of scoring double digits when Yao and Tmac were in their prime. Yao and Tmac always get the blames, but they averaged over 50 points per game during the Jazz series...
How many times did Yao fumble a pass and couldn't get a critical rebound less than 2 feet from his head? I think Amare would have been the way to go.
How many titles have Amare won? How many serious injuries have Amare had? Amare is just a black Yao who had his injuries earlier in his career
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Absolutely not. The poor guy just never had a chance to rest those legs and large frame and was ultimately run into the ground, but thanks to him, we have a billion fans in China.
You can make a video showing LBJ being clutch in the 4th quarter. Blocking shots is only part of playing D......... This isn't a debate, half of the NBA who watched him play all say the same crap....his defense sucks.
