I think Yao will become a star center in this league but he has to find his most effective niche. He is often expected to dominate in the paint because of his size much like Shaq but it is obvios to me that he is more comfortable being a finese talent versus an athletic banger in the paint. Hakeem was often criticized for the same thing but ultimately, his finese, intelligence, and positive attitude usually got the best of the big men who tried to over power him. Shaq and David Robinson were both awed by his skills. My concern is that the refs are obviously being more conservative in calling fouls this season. Yao, is quite noticeably being pushed and grabbed everytime he catches the ball close to the paint and it is definitely affecting his game and morale. It is as if the refs are allowing teams more contact with him in lieu of his size. They do the same thing with Shaq but Shaq's game is power, not finesse so he doesn't mind taking two guys hanging on him along for the ride while he dunks. However, if a smaller star players like Allen Iverson initiates minor contact anywhere inside the paint, it is an automatic call. Yao's reactions to the lack of calls he gets is not helping. He often flops, falls to the floor or exaggerates the contact which the refs seem to resent. I also see him stop and make confused or dismayed faces rather than getting back on defense. This reminds me a lot of Cato's attitude at one time. Those shows of disgust don't change the call and only hurt the team who's running down court in transition defense. Yao drew an obvious charge from Tim Duncan in the first half of thier recent game and the refs opted to ignore it making it a no call. This frustrates Yao and rightfully so but what's done is done. He will get more respect if he just plays through it. When Yao is trying to establish position in the paint and the defender and he are both struggling for position, Yao is getting a fair share of offensive fouls. Shaq doesn't get quite so many calls even when he throws his man across the court to get his position. And how many times have we seen K. Malone put his head down and charge toward the bucket kicking his leg out to make space for his fade away. No offensive calls there. So when a meek big man of finesse tries to do the power thing, he gets offensive fouls. But when his opponents hang on to one of his arms everytime he tries to rebound it's just overlooked. Bottom line, the refs don't respect his game yet and he's going to have to try and play through it until he either learns how to control his power moves for position or pump fake and improve his footing and ball handling to finesse past the banging. Lastly, he's got to learn how to box out and secure rebounds better. He tends to like to tip the ball or slap it backward as opposed to grabbing it high with both hands. I'd rather see him take an over the back foul a few times than to swipe at the ball tipping it to an opponent who then just puts up a short floater. He'll figure it out. There's a set of written rules for the game and then there's the way the rules are enforced on the court and they are rarely congruent. It may be just a little dificult for him to fully understand that paradox but he will learn. I still think he will one day find his purpose on the team and be able to play his game while letting our gaurds play theirs. Its takes perseverence and I believe that is a quality he possesses. As for getting blocked, that comes from pressure of being expected to take more shots. With 8 seconds on the shot clock and he's dribbling down low with single coverage, he's likely going to shoot. Any center or power forward defender who can get their hands higher than the rim can block him. He needs to work on some fakes, fades or moves to get the shot off and not depend on his height only to get the shot over the defender. I've seen Bradley stuffed, I've seen Shaq get blocked and even Sabonis who had a mere 3" vertical leap would get slammed occasionally. Yao needs to get assertive but creative. Strong, but smart. And offensive minded but prudent. He's well on his way and his work ethic is the key to getting better. Trading Yao would be crazy. Trading Steve would be bad for the team and the fans. Trading Mobley would make the offensive even more boring than it is now. I think Cato and Yao should work on chemistry. A triple team and molested Yao will probably leave Cato pretty close to dunking range. Those two don't seem to see each other very well. It's always gaurds to Yao and back to the gaurds. Cato doesn't even look for the ball when Yao is in the paint. They should watch more vintage Duncan/Robinson tape and work some plays. These are just my observations. Yao just looks frustrated and its mostly because the refs don't call the games as the rules dictate and the variety of officials call the games very differently so their is't even consistency game to game. Personally, I think oficiating is at an all time low. Officials should be the police of the rules, not the judges. Rant complete. Thank you for your attention.
Well I logged in just to see what was going on. I found the most rediculous post I've seen in quite a while. Can't score (16.8 pts a game) Can't rebound (10.1 rbs a game) can't do anything right (22-20). While I'll agree he can do things wrong but are you hi??? no seriously stop me if you've heard this before. WTF is the matter with you? Take away the fact that he's 7'6 disreguard that for just a second. Then disregard that his arrival in houston was more awaited than anything this side of the 2nd coming of Christ. Then look and say man we've got a guy averaging 17-10 in his 100th game of his career. The knock last year was he didn't play enough minutes. Well he's upped his minutes by six to 35.1 from 29.1 and his scoring and rebounds are up by almost 2 a game. Sure he disappears at times (what young player in this league doesn't?) Even your beloved Francis is known to disappear from time to time. As far as shipping him to SA??? Now you're just stupid for that. Les: Hey CD you think we can ship ming out. CD: Hmm.... lets see get rid of a top tier center? I bet there are some eastern conference teams that would give a ton for him. L: No I was thinking SA. In fact I'd like to team him up with Duncan just to see what he can do. C: He's a free agent next year why not do it here in Houston. L: Well I've always liked SA. C: Hmm.. let me get this straight... trade a top tier center, not just to another team but one in the West? Not only that but in our own division? And just down I-10? Hmm... L: Just get it done... C: Remember how we were stuck in mediocrity? L: uhh C: I think its back on our shoes again. Lets not as say we.. actually lets just pray that doesn't happen. Mike
Yetti, I was just joking becuase the tone of the thread had gotten so poor. I'm sorry if you were offended. I respect you and Fegwu in the sense that you have a point that's based on logic and you are consistant. Not to mention you are one of the most frequent posters on the board so I thought it would be obvious I was joking.
Trust me. I bleed Rocket red and have probably been a Rocket fan longer than you've been alive. I've seen at least 90 percent of the games over the last 20 years. I remember when all the Rocket home games were on HSE and most people didn't have it so you had to listen to Gene on the radio. I remember Bobbie Jo Reed, Al Leavell, Rodney McMray, Jim Petersen, etc. I don't have to prove my loyalty to you or anyone else. And trust me, Yao is not so important that people from other teams would spend their time over here because their jealous. Outside of Houston and China no one even talks about him any more. LeBron is a newer, better model as far as they're concerned. Yao is old news.
The offense has been HORRIBLE this year. Basically unwatchable. And my point is not that Yao isn't a good player. It's that he's not the kind of player to put a team on his back and carry them to a championship. And it's not that I want Yao traded at all costs. I just really believe that with the plethora of perimeter scoring options on this team if we had a true, won't be denied low post scorer/rebounder on this team, it would be better. You may disagree, but I have never, ever called anyone here a name. I have never made it personal. I have always kept it about the basketball. And everytime I say something critical of Yao, I get four pages of basically hate mail. So, to all the Yao minions, I will assimilate. Yao is great. Yao is God. There can never be anyone as wise, as magnificent, as wonderful as The One. Yao is the only hope for humanity and the universe.
I can see you aren't a Rocket fan. Even without Yao, this team would have gotten a good coach for one. Larry Brown would rather coach Detroit than the omnipotent Yao, remember? So it's not like having him assures us of our choice of coaches. Did you even watch the last game. That was the ugliest Rocket game in team history. Starring the omnipotent one himself, Yao Ming. But, I forgot, he's only a second year player so he can't be blamed for anything but at the same time the only reason why we win is because of him. Last year they went 41-41 - the had a better record a couple of years before WITHOUT Yao Ming so I don't think he brought such a great presense. He is a good player, but don't confuse that with a great player.
You do know that Yao is not the first big man in the league to be double teamed. Every other decent big man in this league is double teamed.
WTF?? Hakeem was NEVER considered a finesse player. Dream NEVER shied away from contact. He was always trying to take to the rim and when he got close you can bet you a$$ he was going to flush it. He never laid it up when he could dunk it. He had spi moves to the bucket from either hand. He had "up and under" moves to get to the hole, and he seat everything up with a jump hook. He only developped his "fallway baseline" move because the officials were letting him get killed inside. But he kept going there. Dream would bank with the best of them and was also one of the top five rebounders of his generation.
I never said to ship him to SA for one. For two, it's not so rare that someone is averaging 17 and 10 in their second year. A lot of people do it in their first year. So I don't see what's so special. Also, Yao disappears for two, three quarters at a time. Until the Yao project started, you could never say that about SF. He was always getting into the interior of the defense getting their big men in foul trouble.
You mention the abundance of perimeter scoring on this team. Are you saying that the outside shooting on this team with just Cuttino being the consistent shooter and Piatkowski being decent now is better than the championship crew that brought the championships to Houston? Where's the Kenny Smith? Where' s the Matt Bullard? Robert Horry and Mario Elie weren't too bad too at knocking down the 3. This team has a bunch of brickers. Just as Yao is no Hakeem, this team is nowhere close to the 3 point shooting crew in 1994 and 1995. For $4 million, what other center in the league are you going to trade Yao for to get that dominant low post presence? If this team is go anywhere, it is on the back of the guy who makes over $10 million and takes up 20% of the payroll like Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, and Stephon Marbury. Those guys make max money and they have demonstrated that they can put up numbers to justify them. They are all in the NBA.com top 25 in overall production while Steve is not even in the top 50. FYI, Yao is #18, and there are no scrub players in the top 25. Please find a center making $4 million who is in the top 25. http://www.nba.com/statistics/default_regular_season_leaders/LeagueLeadersEFFQuery.html
So everytime someone on the rockets team has a bad game we come up with trade suggestions. When Yao peforms poorly again you guys will want to trade Coline Pine for Lucy Lui. I dont have a beef with cause you werent the one that wanted to trade Yao for Zach Randolph. Dont read in between the lines. I was merely reacting towards people who are extremely critical of our players.
Going by those rankings, then we should definitely trade Yao at 18 for Zach at 4. And Zach actually makes a lot less money so he is definitely the better deal.
I'd trade Yao for Lucy Lui any day Also, why wouldn't you trade a player for another player that has better numbers across the board, is younger, and makes less money? I'm sure you would trade SF for Kidd and would point out Kidd's better assist number and lower turnover numbers. But if I suggest to trade Yao for a player that scores 7 more points a game and grabs two more rebounds, is younger, and makes less money, that's a stupid trade? And any talk about potential is equal at this point because both are young and no one knows how good either of them will turn out to be.
Again your're not seeing the BIG picture here. The guy that you're talking about ( Randolph ) doesnt have the same impact as our big man. Either you're a Yao hater or just plain IGNORANT.
I think juugie is actually Jerry West. We know you really want Yao. All kidding aside, and despite the fact that I completely disagree with your original post, you have unintentionally created one of the more interesting threads in a while. Some very good discussion of Yao and SF roles. ...and you can't have Yao, Mr. West.
Because he doesn’t play the center position. No team, other than Jordan’s Bulls, has ever won a championship without an all-star caliber center. Power forwards that put up big numbers, like Randolph, quite frankly are a dime a dozen. It’s the deepest position in the NBA. 2 or 3 great power forwards come out every single draft. Hell, the Blazers landed Randolph with a late first rounder. Trading Yao for him might help short-term, but the Rockets would never win it all without a legitimate center. If you truly think he’s a better player to build around than Yao. Fine, trade Steve for him, or Cat, or anybody else other than Yao. Because I can guarantee you it would be a whole lot easier to replace them, than getting a center to replace Yao.
