As they are having series of GM surveys. Today is Rookie special. http://www.nba.com/preview2003/gm_survey_index.html Hope Yao will become the player he's capable of being of this year and help us to Playoffs. Also, interesting vote for best international players. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas 87.5% Pau Gasol, Memphis 7.5% Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento 5.0%
the thing I don't understand is, if Mehmet Okur was voted to be "most likely to have a breakout season in 2003-04" player for 14.3%, how come he only receive less than 9.5% in "international player is most likely to have a breakout season in 2003-04"? this is weird...
one reason for yao's higher % in the international poll versus the nba-inclusive poll could be that gm's who voted for, say, eddie curry in the inclusive poll switched their votes to yao in the international poll.
Those who voted for Curry "and the others" must've also voted for Gasol,Ginobili,and Turkoglu as well as Yao instead of Okur. Another oddity to me is how Gasol and Peja were not only voted as better international players than Yao,but the fact that Yao got ZERO votes! I guess they were voting on who is best based on production right now,rather than probable down the road production. But still,how can anyone vote for Gasol or Peja over Dirk?
since the percentage is based on the number of GM replied. I guess the 5% that voted Peja might be only 1 vote which might be the King's GM. (if they are allowed to vote for their own players). Then again, why wouldn't Yao get at least one vote if that's the case.
Yao not getting any votes for best international player isn't surprising at all - he's not. Yao tieing Okur for best breakout candidate may imply that a lot of GMs think that Yao broke out as rookie - if you obviously believe he was at a high level before his strength/stamina vanished at midseason. I see Yao as a 20/10 guy easy this year, but that probably won't qualify as a "breakout" for some GMs - expectations are high. I said this early last season, but after seeing Yao's game I think his "breakout" year will occur under a lot of radar screens because the way he will start to dominate won't jump out at you from the stat sheet.
Regardless of JVG saying all the right things, so as not to bruise SF's feelings, quite honestly, whatever season YM has this year, is what he could have had last year, if the guards had not shut him out. SF has two ROY awards. The one he earned himself, and the one he stole from YM. Raven
I just don't see it that way....At the last 20-30 games of last season, Steve(and Cat) started to feed the ball to Yao early, but Yao was running out of gas...His stamina really needs to improve.
