Did I mention Zach averages more assists than Yao? Yao does impact the game more on the defensive end but a lot of the Rockets improved interior defense comes from having an improved Kelvin Cato. There is no comparison of their offensive games, however. Zach is a much better offensive player. Also, Lionheart, let's use our brains here. Quit being emotional. I know you love Yao Ming and that's fine. But the bottom line is, what are you actually producing? Production wise, it's not even close, the NBA's own numbers state this. So give me some tangible evidence of this "impact" that you are talking about.
The All Star caliber centers you are talking about are a HELL of a lot better players than Yao. They also happened to be the best players on the planet - bar none - during the time when they won their championships. Not to mention that the Spurs won a champioship last year basically without David Robinson so a top PF can definitely win a ring. I agree the Center position is weak, but you can play a PF there and get 17 and 10. I can see and respect your reasoning, but I think your center has to be a true impact center. And while does impact the game at times, he seems to disappear for long stretches - especially in the biggest games in my opinion.
dont pay anymore attention to this guy hes obviously not a fan. Look at his original post he just wants SF to have bigger stats, he doesnt even care that were winning in the toughest conference in the league.
everyone needs to chill out, because evertime the rox win a game or two everybody is on the bandwagon. as soon as they loss one, everone hates on SF or Yao. so just chill and let them play their game, and watch them make the playoffs.
Notice how Juugie responded to almost all the other posts directed specifically at him, except mine (I wonder why):
Which team has a true impact center? One. LA. I'm sorry Juughead, but your anti-Yao crap has gotten the best of me...its obvious you've hated Yao from the beginning(thanks to olliez) and with crap after crap of every Yao-hating thread you've posted its only gotten worse. Yao isn't going to be a top 5 center, I think we figured that out last year, but you feel the need to constantly compare him to those great players. You want Yao traded yet you haven't even come close to a reasonable(aka do-able) trade situation that would make us a better team. Its laughable that you'd trade Yao for Zach Randolph. Randolph take 5 more shots a game than Yao and scores 5 more points. He has 1.5 less blocks per game than Yao. He has about the SAME assists and turnovers as Yao. Offensively he is better than Yao, but defensively he's leagues worse, which is a BIG difference in his importance to a team(see Ben Wallace)...unless you're a Yao-hater of course. Zach has a much better big man to play next to in Wallace than Yao does and he also has better point guards. Stoudemire and Mcinnis combine for 24ppg/11apg compared to the impotent Steve and Mooch 20/7. Oh and didn't Zach's team lose to Yao's on Tues? Isn't their team playing .500 ball while ours is 13-8? You think those great offensive numbers Randolph is putting up his helping his team more than Yao's D is helping ours? Are you really that biased? Yes, you are. We can(and have) argue with you all day until we're blue in the face and you'll still keep trying to throw out these silly exaggerated facts of why Yao sucks...but its not worth it anymore. I'm putting you where you belong, on the ignore list. I hope you'll be around in 2 years I'd love to see what you'll be saying about Yao when he's bagging 21/12...hopefully we'll have a competent point guard by then.
Everyone will have more assists playing for another team than for Rox. B. Miller moved to Kings and suddenly started averaging 5 assists a game. How many assists you get depends more on your teamates and the playing style of your team, than your own passing skill. Yao will easily average 6-8 assits with Kings. But he is not going there! We beat sixers three times in a row and AI said his game is taken away because of Yao. We also shut down a lot of teams in the paint this year. And for god sake, we missed playoff by one game last year, and we are 13-8 this season. Cannot you see the impact? If you say we could have got this without Yao, every GM will put you in the "ignorant" list.
Larry Brown wanted to stay in the East and that is why he didn't come. Yao showed him what he is missing the other night. JVG gave up $35mil + ownership offer to come to Houston. Dunlevvy even said he didn't care whether he was the 3rd or 4th options. You think that could be possible if not for Yao? Rox is on national TV 5-7 times (don't remember the exact #) more than before, and you think that has nothing to do with Yao? The west is much stronger now. don't compare the record 3-4 years back to last year's 41-41. If Yao is just a good player, then the rest of this team can be rated "fair" at best. I really hate to see Yao getting injured, but every player does in their career. Sometime down the road, Yao sits out for 4 weeks, then you will see how much this team will struggle, and you trolls will shut the fvck up. But I do hope Yao never ever get injured.
This has to be the most honest and accurate post about Yao Ming that I have read . All in good English and no street language. Best POST of 2003.
If you were mearly reacting towards posters that are extremely critical of our players, why quote me? I dont get on here after every loss and scream for trades.. I dont come on here and bash and criticize the players after every game. I spend alot more of my time on here defending the team and tryin to introduce some common sense towards our problems. I dont have to read between the lines...when you make a post complaining about these things, and quote me...then it tells me that you are saying those things directly to me. and that you think I am that way.
Nice post - whether I disagree or not, you at least had something intelligent to say which is more than I can say for a lot of these posts. The quote above I pulled out of your comment is one I'd definitely disagree with. Hakeem (back then Akeem) was nothing but raw power when he came into the league. He was a freakishly quick, fast, jumping freak of nature. His game had very little finesse. If you put a giraffe in front of the goal, he'd try to dunk on the giraffe. It didn't matter - he was going to pulverize you down low if he could. When Hakeem began running into people equally as big and strong, if not bigger and stronger than he was, he knew he had to do something differently. He knew he couldn't bang away against the likes of the Mark Eatons of the world down low forever. Especially when he was often outweighed by anywhere from 20-40 lbs and was 2-4 inches shorter than the people he played against. That's when he started developing the wicked baseline fadeaways, the spin and counter-spin moves, and ball fakes that no man his size had done to that point. It was at that point he became a finesse player - he was nothing but a brute diesel truck before that. All he wanted to do was dunk on you. It wasn't until later that he became the all-around player everyone remembers.
It seems like people is forgetting that this team was leaded by SF to three lottery seasons!!!!!! And now they are demanding to continue in the same path!! Incredible!!
Juugie, I had to post here since your other thread was locked. ....continued in response to your other thread. No, what I am saying is exactly what I said. Meaning, I just don't think you are going to get and intelligent conversation by proposing silly trades involving the most talented center in the NBA for inferior players. Yes, we "are" dealing with unknowns, and it is true that no one knows how Yao's career will turn out, but I just think it is a bit childish to jump to conclusions about Yao despite his early vast improvement, as well as him being only 23 years old and just 21 games into his second season. If you are looking for Yao to be the next Shaquille O'Neal, in that his physicality and mass alone will dominate the game, then you will be disappointed. But in saying this I am not saying that Yao will not dominate the game, just that he may dominate in a different style. Kareem didn't have to be Shaq to dominate. His superior passing and talent alone allowed him to dominate. And let us not forget that both Shaq and Kareem are/were surrounded with great individual players as well as great role players. I think that Yao has the talent and skills to be great, but utilizing and harnessing one's talent takes time. It's not going to happen overnight. But as we stand right now, Yao is the second best center in the NBA. Is he going to shut down Shaquille? No! There is not one player in the history of the NBA that can take on that task. But from what I saw in last year's contests, Yao was at least a formitable opponent. This as a 22 year old rookie. I am not expecting Yao to shut down O'Neal this year but I am excited to see his improvement in this match-up. In the 94-95 Finals everyone here remembers Hakeem giving Shaq a lesson. Hakeem was able to use his fade away and "dream shake" moves to score effectively, but he was in no way able to go through or over O'Neal. Nor was he able to shut down O'Neal defensively either. Shaquille bumped and used his mass on Hakeem then just as he does to centers now. There is no way to stop the most dominant player to ever play the game, but players can score on him and utilize other talents, in Yao's case his passing, to beat him. To fully exercise Yao's talents, as well as any other great NBA center, he must be surrounded with the right cast. Prime example: the 94-95 Orlando Magic. Orlando had the centerpiece in O'Neal, but they were not able to put together a supporting group superior to the supporting group of the Rockets. The Magic just encountered a better team that year. Yao has the ability, IMO, to lead this team to the playoffs but whether we have the right mix of players remains to be seen. If you have read any of my posts you would know where I stand on that. You also have to account for the era in which Yao plays in. An era in which "illegal defense" is made legal in an effort to allow double teams on centers without the ball, i.e. Shaquille O'Neal. The rule that was changed to allow teams to try and stop O'Neal also has an effect on a player such as Yao, who is nearly as much of a focal point as Shaq. I believe that if Hakeem was to face this, he would have been greatly affected. So much so that he would not have had the impact he had on offense. But this is all moot anyway because you cannot reverse time and say "what if". Also in saying this I am in no way trying to take away Hakeem's greatness. So therefore, I find it hard to compare a player such as Yao to the players of the past. That was a different era and the game has changed by leaps and bounds. I don't see Yao being a "second tier star". In fact, I think he is already in the upper echelon of players in the NBA. The only way I see him not living up to his potential is that if the Rockets waste his talent by not surrounding him with the proper players. Imo, like what they are doing right now! Square pegs, round holes. I think there is not a team in the NBA that would not kill to have Yao Ming. He is exactly the player that any team would love to build around. His size alone would give any team what they desperately need. Not to mention his abundance of talent. We can toss around ideas but the ideas will not be well recieved if they consist of trading our team's and one of the league's best players and foundations for our future.
I don think you dont you know what the word impact means. You got a dicitonary beside? Make use of the old dictionary inside your closet. Me Emotional? I dont think so babie. Its more you than me thats being emotional.
egn You and I may disagree about Yao's current or future staus, but it's good to have some one come back with a point of view and back it up intelligently. And regardless of our views, as Rockets fans I know we both hope Yao goes off for 30/20 and we kill the Spurs. Thanks for the rational, intelligent response.
You do know Maurice makes $8 million and he plays power forward for the Rockets right? He's signed for 3 more seasons after this one. Portland would trade Zach for Yao in a second. Paul Allen would love to be able to commercialize Yao in China is his many technology ventures. Zach Randolph is a great talent, but there's already an anchor in Houston making $8 million playing power forward. Zach is also a weed smoker. How many more weed smokers do we need on this team?
