<object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZDIJiu3DmII?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZDIJiu3DmII?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZpHo0ZoTC8c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZpHo0ZoTC8c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> These pretty much sums up Shaq and Dwight Howard's career. They just don't have enough talent to be great players. Right? I have the same question like another poster: How old are you? 4?
Most # of seasons with Player Efficiency Rating (PER) > 20 in a Houston (or San Diego) Rockets uniform:
Does anyone know about NBA history anymore? There are some obvious lack of historical knowledge and illogical reasoning going on here. First I thought I thought the Yao fans blamed Larry Smith for Yao not winning rookie of the year. Now it's the "American Media". You mean the same Media who chose not to have the Rockets on the cover of SI, but had a cover ready for the Knicks if they won? Yao should get his number retired because he brought a lot of fans? Hakeem never had this many fans, but the thread "Would we retire Hakeem's number?" NEVER crossed a Clutchfan's mind or subconscious
There were pretty close with Yao having the better season until March when he got tired. I don't have much problem that Amare won it. My main beef is the final results showed Amare won by a landslide, which I believe it has something to do with media people's mindset. When it was close, homeland Kid has an advantage. It happens all over the world and I think it's normal. I believe if Yao was burn in US, he'd be treated more friendly by media and referees.
what conclusions am I supposed to be drawing from that? that kevin martin is a better player than ralph sampson or calvin murphy were? that yao ming was a better player than moses malone was?
that's total bs that there's some anti chinese stuff going on with Yao. because of Yao, we've got way more media attention then we deserve that year. There's no Year of the Hakeem documentary when he was a rookie.
Not Anti Chinese, but anti foreigner. It happens everywhere. Media attention doesn't not equal to media favorite. Media attention was just for making money for themselves and their companies. So many media guys called Yao a bust before he even stepped on the court. There was a thread about that long time back. Did they call Jay Williams a bust on draft night?
By the time of voting, many media guys didn't want to make themselves look bad, and there were glad Amare was there to save their face a little.
He didn't play very well in first attempts. This is said of many players regardless of what country they played for. They booed Robert Horry when he got drafted. That guy is I am Legend now.
the NBA and the NBA media is the most chinese friendly league in the universe. you see the NFL or Baseball playing games there or marketing their players?
Fans booed Horry, not media. NY fans boo everybody. Yao played well enough against US Olympic team before he entered draft. Another example: Yao was not on all NBA first team with a stat line of 25/9.4 in 2006-2007, Everybody said he played 48 games only. That is fine by me. But Shaq was on first team with 20/9 the year before that playing 59 games only, and nobody mentioned how many games he played. Not to mention all those treatments Yao received over the years by refs. When it comes to Yao, it seems the bar is just set differently from most other players by media and refs.
That Yao produced at a high level in a Rockets uniform for many seasons. In fact, by one measurement (20 PER), he produced at a high level for more seasons than all but one player in Rockets history. Nobody is saying PER is the absolute measurement with which to compare players and 20 is an arbitary number. However, combined with other measurements, it's a good shorthand to use in thinking about a player's productivity and efficiency. Re: Moses vs. Yao: Moses had more 20+ PER seasons overall, but he wasn't a Rocket for as long as Yao was an had many great years for another team. Re: Martin v. Calvin or Sampson: They each had 1 season with > 20 PER, so I don't get why you think the measurement says Martin is better. Is it because Martin's name is above Calvin's and Sampsons? I think the solution to that mystery is "alphabetical order." Note that for players with equal number of >20 PER seasons, the website organized them alphabetially by last name. And of course Sampson and Calvin made greater contributions to the team than Martin did. They were on the team for more years (and played very good basketball whatever the PER) and their Rockets teams have had more wins.
Chinese MARKETING friendly, not Chinese player friendly. When it comes to making money, the more you make from foreign countries, the better. When it comes to voting, the more you vote for hometown boy, the better. Again, it happens all over the world. US is no exemption here.
Plus Per is mostly measuring offense, not defense. We saw how big an impact Yao had on Rockets defense over the years after he went down.
I think it's not the media, its the fans who are politicizing Yao. Before the Tmac/Yao era, clutchfans wasn't so polarizing, people were pretty much on the same page. basically if Steve Francis has a crap game, the majority will agree on this observation. if Tracy McGrady had a bad game, a segment would blame the other players, the coach, the Rockets trainer, and the fact he's not wearing an Orlando jersey . if Yao Ming had a bad game, the US media, coaches, Charles Barkley, Tracy McGrady, Larry Smith, anti-foreigners get the blame for it. Yao and Tracy never get the blame for this failures because they came to the Rockets with fans who think they are much better than they really are.
Well said tinman. I agree with every word in your post. What is even more sad is that there are a few idiots whose day job is to polarize the fans here. Who are these idiots? A few names come to my mind immediately are...Rox2010champ (whose first name is 'ben' btw), Spiegel, etc. All of them could be the same person though.
I thought that the difference was that the Suns made the playoff, and the Rockets did not. I watched ESPN, several people said they voted the player whoever's team would make the playoff because the race was very close.
Not really. Mutombo had a significant number of starts in 05/06, 06/07, and 07/08. He had a better +/- than Yao did during 1 out of these 3 years. This happened in 07/08 when roughly 1/2 of his starts and minutes that year came during the 2nd half of the long winning streak. By the way, Dikembe was no joke even at his old age. This was not some Johan Petro or even Zaza Pachulia we are talking about. The guy was still rebounding at a ridiculous rate (14.7% and 28.7% OREB and DREB % in 06/07 at age 40) when he was in the game as well as blocking/challenging shots at a near elite level. He just couldn't last long playing significant minutes-- he tended to wear down when he had to start too many games. There is a good reason why the Rockets haven't really found a replacement for 40-year-old Dikembe yet.
LOL. Search for old posts, Yao/Tmac got blamed way more than any other player not named Rafer Alston. Even Clutch, who usually doesn't criticize players, had several posts or article questioning Yao before he exploding into a 20/10 player. Both Yao and Tmac were good enough to build around when they were healthy. But when they were healthy, the supporting cast was never good compare to other Championship teams. It is just a fact. It was basically two on five against Utah. In one of the those games, only 4 Rockets scored. I can't remember that ever happened in another NBA game,playoff or not. Losing to a loaded Utah team with that kind of supporting cast, Yao/Tmac shouldn't take all the blame if you see it objectively. Yet all the blames were on them after the loss. It is not fans who think they are much better than they really are, it is fans have too much expectation on them. Yao certainly was not on prime Hakeem/Shaq level, but he was good enough to be the best center in NBA for some years when healthy. Yet some fans don't look that way. Anything less than Shaq and Hakeem is unacceptable. Anything less than a championship is a failure no matter what support Yao/Tmac received.
