You want to keep him if he returns to his bad habits and his "stock" drops? Why? Because he's a "nice guy." Why? Tell me.
I didn't want to go that route even when we had Hakeem. That's the best way to win just ONE ring (that's why we got Drexler). They knew even Hakeem couldn't do it alone. But the key was what quality of players did you put around Hakeem. You just don't put average/decent specialist around your *single* star. You put very, very good players. Complete players. But still know their roles. Also, you get *another* star. The core would be McGrady/Yao. A better lineup is this: PG: Hinrich SG: McGrady SF: JJ PF: Bosh C: Yao (This line up! Even though Yao is still improving) Minus Francis's TO, this is a better team even if we didn't have Hinrich or Bosh. A team build around Francis/Yao, no matter how much additional talent you add, will still come with Francis's bone-head turnovers. It's baggage we don't need.
Do you think we didn't get the joke the first time? Is this your contribution to the BBS? Standing there and repeating after every post, "I know you are, but what am I?" I was under the impression I should respect you. Live and learn.
I think the bottom line is some people have become attached to Steve and remember the good ol' days when we'd run ISOs all day and he'd get his stats, but we were "young and inexperienced" so it was okay to miss the playoffs. Now we don't have that excuse and Steve still plays the same. Couple that with Yao's softness and inconsistency and some are reluctant to leave the team to Yao. Other than Jordan, what teams have won without the team built around a star post player? Steve and Yao don't fit. Steve is not going to lead us to championships unless he changes. He isn't. I used to hope he would, but he's not. Yao is soft. Can he change? Have that attitude to take over consistently? We don't know yet. If he isn't then we're screwed. Trading Francis for something like Snow and Harpring is not stupid. It's the idea of having good players who know their roles (Spurs). You either do that or trade superstar for superstar (Francis for Brand, etc.) and have mediocre role players (i.e. Lakers before this year).
You Yao fans are the only ones obsessed with having one player on the team. Someone could offer you Shaq, Jordan, and Bird for Yao and you would come back with some "He's 7'5" BS. I want the team to win. If you can get TMac for Steve - do it. If you could get LeBron for Yao, do it. Maybe I don't think it's a good idea for a team to be built around a 17 and 9 guy that has less balls than Tina Thompson. Maybe THAT is the issue. I would love if you and Sane and DavidS would address the fact that Yao plays like a wuss and why he doesn't find a way to compete every single game. He's an average rebounder, average shotblocker, gets a average number of assists, has below average quickness, below average leaping ability, and below average competitive nature/heart. The only thing above average about him is his shooting touch. Let's leave Steve out of it for now. Can you and the Yao crew please address these issues and explain why you believe he will in a couple of years develop his Jordan hops, Hakeem quickness, and Bird determination and rule the league. Just to get started, I know "It's only his second year." and "He's 7'5" I'm listening.
don't answer me or attack me...I'm just writing this for fun. I don't live in the BBS. 1) Steve will rule the league in a couple years. 2) when did Sane, Davids become YOF? 3) YOF wants Yao got traded more than you do.
1. Yao is not much better than Rik Smits 2. Yao has the same attitude problem with JBC - softness JBC also averaged 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds a game as a rookie against MUCH better competition at the center position. Yao has yet to average either of those sets of numbers. 3. Zo Morning had Tim Hardaway at point who is much better than Kenny Smith, and how many Finals appearances did he make. Also I was doing Yao a favor by mentioning him in Zo's league. 4. It has a center that takes more shots per minute than anyone else, and has less hear than anyone else in the starting lineup. MFW, do me a favor. Make a list of the starting centers in this league that have never blocked one of Yao's shots... So much for the size advantage...
FEGWu look around to other 7 footers in the league and tell me who makes 2m and he benefits in that he is hustling more. . . and getting more minutes Rocket River
First, you talk about how Steve is the worst player and biggest loser ever, then in the same breath think you can trade him for an MVP candidate. Second, TMac wouldn't play second fiddle to Vince Carter, so he sure as hell isn't going to come here and just dump the ball down to Yao. He's going to play his game and Yao would become his caddy. Third, there are lots of fantasy type trade ideas that would make the Rockets better. And believe it or not, some of those trade ideas could involve Yao. SF CM Odom Amare Cato With NeNe coming off the bench for one... SF LeBron JJ MoT Cato SF CM JJ Dirk Cato The list goes on and on. You want a traditional PG. I want a traditional big man. As much as Steve's turnovers and shooting percentage bothers you, Yao softness and turnovers bother me. To each his own - I guess. I just think it is at the very least a stretch to think that surrounding Yao with LESS talent will make him dominant.
TMac/Lebron? Sure... I love that method of team building. Tmac/Yao is awesome! The next line up players should be very good, but still role players. The bench should have specialist (like Pike, Pag, and Spoon). Cat might be gone. JJ should be kept. And I would love to keep Cato as our backup C. But the issue is getting a core star group: Tmac/Yao. TMac is the anger, aggressiveness, cockiness, attitude! He's also a scoring machine. Yao is the foundation, anchor, the balance. Now that's s core group! The rest of the players are intermingled within this core, and are used to complement those two. One of the weaknesses of our current team is passing. So, we'll need players that know how to make accurate passes. Not "court vision" passes like Kidd, but just simple, accurate fundamental passes. This will cut down on team turnovers and give our offensive a higher probability of scoring every-time down the court. Yao does play like a wuss sometimes. But it's a physical thing for him. I'm watching his improvement. And how good he turns out to be is a factor in his aggressiveness. That's why I want to see how well he improves in this department around his 4th year. But nevertheless, I still want go to the route where you bring in a team that can play together. Even if that means that Yao isn't the main scoring weapon. Lets say that Yao in 6 years, averages 24ppg/12, or achieves the ability to do that. I STILL WANT a player like McGrady on our team. Why? Because I don't want a single star carrying the load and maybe squeak out a single ring. I want a DYNASTY (3-4 rings!).
Who said he'd play "2nd fiddle." Have you seen McGrady play yet? And I disagree that he wont pass the ball to Yao. He's good enough passer to accomplish this. One help is his height advantage, and two, notice his 5.5APG and only 2.7 TOPG. Oh, and he's a shooting guard! Also, TMac's PPG might drop a little. But that's ok. You never know... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...wNlY2w-?slug=sk-orltragic&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
I never said he wouldn't pass to Yao, but he's not going to dump it down every time and wait for Yao to throw it back out either. Your average Yao fan would be compaining that TMa shoots too much. Doesn't play the big man game. Isn't helping Yao's confidence, etc...
Well the "single star" method is a novelty at first. Like I said, even if Yao did average 24/12, I still want another star to play along side of him (not Francis!). I'm not saying that this is the only way. There are other methods of building a team with Yao. And getting passing players are a possible way (not high assist, but efficient assist players). But I'm more interested in shoring up the scoring responsibility of Yao and this TEAM. We struggle to score too often. Oh, and defense wont be a problem as long as we have JVG and Yao. That's almost a given. By the way, I think that the "Your average Yao fan" would be happy if we found a way to get this TEAM playing together and scoring at a higher rate. Espcially if it means winning consistently.
There is an easy answer to that! Steve Francis orchestrated the result of this season just to show that very thing! The very reason why Steve Francis has deliberately avoided helping Yao Ming to develoip is because he didn't want our new idol to outshine what he had acheived in previous seasons.He wanted to prove to all that Yao Ming was unnecessary to make the Playoffs. From the very beginning through his cohort Mobley he stated that he didnt want Yao Ming. Of course it was his team and no new star was going to take it away from him! When Francis is gone and we get a Playmaker Point Guard then and only then will you see Yao Ming develop into a great basketball player. Yao Ming will not exert himself to be the Rockets STAR till Francis is gone! Its his way!There is a Time and a Place for Everything
I can answer you about this and clear up your misconception. Yao Ming will never be another Hakeem, or another Shaq. He will never be the player that you imagine he should be! But he wil be the only Yao Ming a great NBA Player. So far he has been stymied by our present Roster and in particular our non Playmaker Point Guard. You should give him a chance and stop expecting him to be the THUG that you have in mind!
Not as much of a joke as just a way of me explaining how ridiculous your position is. Honestly: You write well, and your words were easy to flip around to argue against you. Not trying to be a smart-ass or whatever. yipengzhao - Comparing Jordan to Steve is about the same as comparing Hakeem to Ming.
DavidS - Is there really much point attempting to discuss basketball logically with someone who thinks Steve Francis is the best basketball[/u] player on the Rockets? Serious students of the game already know the answer.
