He didn't say that, he said he hated people who wanted Yao to succeed because they identify with him racially. I'm not agreeing with what he said, be he didn't say he hated all Asians. As far as I'm concerned, I had my doubts, but who else were we going to draft. Actually, I wanted the Rockets to try to trade the pick to Chicago, who clearly wanted Ming also, for Chandler and their pick, but I knew that was too much. Looking back, I'm glad that didn't happen even if it was never on the table.
Same here. I'm so sick of those people that say they want to see Francis' scoring average go down 5 points, and they want Yao's to go up 5 points. What difference does it make who scores more? It's the TEAM that scores more that walks away with the win. Francis has his flaws, Cuttino has his flaws, but Yao has just as many flaws. They're just afraid to open their eyes and see that.
Well, the only Yao-Only fans I hate are the ones that don't give a damn about the Rockets or the other players. They also give us "legit" Asian fans of the Rockets a bad name.
Stoke didn't say all or even many Yao-only fans were fans because of their common ethnicity. He said he didn't like Yao-only fans and he especially didn't like the Yao-only fans who are motivated in their fandom by race. And, if you think the phenomenon of some people preferring a player based on their ethncity or origin doesn't exist, you're fooling yourself. I'm not condemning it, but I think it needs to be acknowledged. As for Yao, around the time that Mobley was suggesting we trade the pick for Odom, I was leaning in that direction. But, when it was obvious the Rockets thought he was untradeable, I changed my mind.
Darnit! I am Asian. I like Yao a lot. He is the reason I watch Rockets' games. Obviously, I was not a hater. I am not a Yao only fan either. In my mind, the major indication that Yao is a great player will be his team wins a lot of games. If he averages 20-10 and the Rox goes to the lottery again, Yao should not be any better than the key players from the 16 teams that make it to the playoffs. However I was a big time "doubter". I did not think Yao deserved to be at number 1. I had my reasons to doubt Yao. The level of Asian basketball had not been very admirable. People were generally short and skinny. Occasionally, a tall guy was found. But he would either too clumsy and slow or too skinny and weak to be competitive. I thought Yao could be such a player. I read a lot of scouting reports, and lots of NBA scouts praised Yao a lot. I still thought he would be in the moddle of the first round at the best. I changed my mind when Barkley kissed the donkey on TV, though. No more doubt from this big basketball fan. After I found out Yao was for real, I felt I had lost the expertise in Asian basketball. I used to watch Asian basketball games ten to twenty years ago and very familiar to Asian basketball. About twenty or so years ago, it was lucky if you found a 2 meter tall (6'6 1/2) player in Asia. At that time, the Chinese national team was the tallest team in Asia. They had a center who was a 7'7 (official listed since he cried whenever heard people say he was taller than 7'8. Privately, people said he was 7'9) guy named Mu Tiezhu. He was like a slow moving 400 pound giant that moved back and forth on the court. He would have been just at the mid court while the guards had already completed the offense and returned for defense if he had been in an NBA game. But the guy dominated the Asian games for years. Comparing with Yao, at least, he had a BIG body to be effective at the defensive end while Yao was like 290 lbs while at similar height. After Yao's success in the NBA, I have paid attention to Asian basketball again and mostly Chinese players. Right now, they have a handful of 14-17 year old 7 footers (4 of them currently on a Olympic hope team touring in California). The best of this group of young 7 footers is the 16 year old Yi, Jianlian. He has been playing in the CBA professional leagure for more than a year now. This guy seems really good. He just finished playing in the national city games in China and averaged more than 25 points and 15 rebounds in the final few games. Very impressive. Remember he has been playing against adult professional basketball players. By the time he reaches 18, he has a chance of being better than Milicic...
Well, think about it as a basketball fan (regardless Yao ro SF). When you have two players on the court playing together, your team did not win. You found out that one of th etwo had a FG percentage of 60% and the other at 44%. The you think a little hard about what would happen to the team if the one shooting 44% scores 5 point less and the one who shoots 60% scores 5 point more. After you reach your conclusion without your emotion impact, please let us know would it brings more win for the team? prefer ... Again, I am talking about this as a basketball fan... regardless of SF and Yao...
This thread got pretty extensive with Yao haters. Quite a collection. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39911
I had my doubts. I thought Yao would be good, maybe even great, but I saw an opportunity to trade the pick and get something of value. Yao has developed much faster than I thought. Again, I knew he'd be good, but I admit, I was wrong to even think about trading the pick. Hey, I was bored at the time. Personal crisis and such. The BBS was an outlet. It....it isn't my fault. The check is in the mail. The sun was in my eyes. I didn't get the memo?
I was never a Yao hater, but had my doubt. The biggest concern I had was whether Yao would be able to adapt the NBA pace. I thought the NBA game is much intense than any of the games he had played before, it'd take him at least 3 years to get comfortable in a good environment, and I didn't think the Rockets was the right team for him (guard oriented) to get enough play time. Yao's first year performance confirmed all of my doubts, but I didn't realize that the Rockets put that much hope on him, namely, played him enough minutes regardless his performance, or production. I'd say Rudy T. was the No.1 reason (of course, other than himself) for Yao's success so far. --daoshi
Only until I saw him play for the first time and then I wouldn't say I was hating as much as I was doubting.
I was excited but nervous about the #1 pick. We knew the guy had to be a phenom, since the concept of a 7'5" Chinese center seemed so novel to many of us that we just HAD to see what he could do. When I saw Yao for the first time, I was afraid he'd break when he got in the lane with Shaq and others. He proved tougher than I thought, even if he wore down severely at the end of the season. I think the moment I became an out-and-out Ming fan was after that infamous sweep pass through the lane to the baseline. After that, I was really relieved, because it was obvious he was going to be the **** as soon as he adapted to the NBA pace and physicality.
i certainly echoed some of the concerns about drafting him....but i was persuaded i was wrong. i was. i freaking love Yao.
i hated it when people were praising him as the TEAM and dissing Francis for him before he even proved himself, but as JDIDDY said i love the man for those reasons
Good points. Yao's rookie year was sort of like a honeymoon. If we don't win this year, with more of the emphasis being put on Yao, then I suspect the honeymoon will be pretty much over.
I was a Yao supporter all along but I to didn't think he would adapt to the game so quickly. It remains to be seen how dominating he can be. The more pressing question on my mind is how is Yao going to change the game of basketball. Already in next years draft there will be the likes of Pavel Podkolzine 7-5 303 C (Russia) 1985, Ha Seung-Jin (still growing) 7-3 300 C (South Korea) 1985. New York already drafted Slavko Vranes 7-5, as a project, in the 2003 draft. One has to question how many more near 7ft 5 players there is going to be in the next 5 years. Players such as Bradley/ Bol wouldn’t even have a chance in this league cause it will become the norm 10-15 years from now to be 7 ft 5. Of course this will redefine the game at the center position and the idea of Shaq being the most dominating center of all time will make us all laugh.
You just lost all credibility with this post. Mu Tiezhu was not his name, it's his nic. He was also NOT 7'9. He's 216 cm. Figure it out. 400 pounds, that's a joke.
