Man I'm such a huge fan of this guy especially after listening to his interview. I may be pushing this statement, but he reminds me of Hakeem with the way he talks about leadership. Someone that believes in leading by action instead of talking about it.
Yep. He is fast becoming my favorite non rocket. They guy is a stud. I would trade any rocket not named Yao for him.
Why? He's a stud, but the Rockets have a better then the Jazz. It's just a case of people wanting what they don't have. Then once they get it they want something else. First people want Francis. Now they don't want him, build around Yao. Now build around Kirilenko.
Barkley said after the interview he would choose AK47 over both Dirk and Peja because his game is so complete, and I have to say I agree with Charles.
Do you really think the Rocks are much better than the Jazz. They are more talented but I don't think they are much better. Utah is only a few games behind us with AK being there best player. Their second best player (Harpring) is injured and they are still winning. They managed to beat Dallas which is something we haven't done in a long while. I didn't say that we would build around AK. I said AK would be great along side of Yao. He plays both sides of the ball and he plays both sides intelligently. He can pretty much do everything Francis can do except dribble for 20 seconds and he can also steal and block shots. He also knows that he is a complimentary player. AK is a better, bigger Pippen without the ego. I trully believe that this team would be better with AK on the team minus any player on the rocks besides Yao. Can you imagine a line-up of Yao,Cato Cato, MoT, AK AK, JJ Mobley, JJ, Pike Anyone that can dribble and pass, Wilks
AK-47 is the man. It's kind of strange that I find myself liking the non-American players more than most of the U.S. guys but a lot of them like Yao and AK seem humble, which is a refreshing change. AK seems like a real good guy that could care less about scoring but will do whatever to win. He also gets points for the insane mowhawk/hedgehog style haircut he had. Kenny Smith had AK as the 7th best foreign player and I was thinking how absurd that was. I agreed more with Barkely, but I think that Peja and Dirk might hold the slight edge still. I think Kenny's list was something like this... #7 AK #6 Tony Parker #5 Steve Nash #4 Pau Gasol #3 Yao #2 Dirk #1 Peja
The man is 3rd in the NBA in steals and blocks and is the leading scorer on the Jazz averaging 16.1 points a game in a role where he's not asked to be the primary scorer. He gets his points in the flow of the game, and best of all is only 22. He's definitely versatile enough to create his own shot, and could atleast contain guys like Garnett and Nowitzki with his unique size, and speed. I'm not saying he could shut them down because no one can, but he could sure make them work for their points everytime down the court. I could only imagine how much more tough the Rockets defense would be with him in the starting 5. Having 3 guys in the top 10 in blocks in Yao, Cato, and Kirilenko would be tremendous. I'm one of the guys that would be all for trading Francis, and considering that this guy averages almost as many points as Francis on 5 fewer shots per game is really impressive. I don't think he's a guy you build your franchise around but then again Francis isn't either. Arroyo or Lopez with Andre Kirilenko would be a steal.
You still gotta go with dirk even if he's having a sub-par season. 1.dirk 2.ak 3.peja 4.yao 5.nash 6.ginobili 7.gasol I love ak, but I think he would flourish even more if he were playing second fiddle with another star. I'm not sure if he can lead a championship team with him being the #1 guy. Team him up with a J. O'Neal or a Brand and let him feed off them. That would take the focus off him and allow him to do the little things that help a team win.
This is why I like A-Train. Great point. And yet you'll hear trade proposals for him like he's expendable. [sarcasm]Oh yes, I'm sure Sloan would love SF. Yup, he'd fit right in with his style of play.[/sarcasm]
EXACTLY! People, this man almost killed Rocky and you laud his skills? For shame! To hell with how well rounded his game is, the man is on the Jazz, and that's all you need to know about whether or not to root for him.
i remember the tnt thing. Charles and Kenny were also concerned about yao's softeness. And i am not bashing yao, i am a yao fan.
I like AK too.. but the list should read. 1. Duncan 2. Dirk 3. Peja 4. Yao 5. Nash 6. Gasol 7. Parker I think people forget Duncan is from the Virgin Islands. He is considered a foreign player and sometimes a US player. I know its the US Virgin Islands, but nba.com had him listed as a foreign player before when they ranked foreign players. J
I think the reason a lot of people forget to include Duncan as a foreign player, and sometimes Nash for the same reason, is because he went to college here and played basketball in the NCAA pre-draft, so people were very familiar with his game and skills entering the draft. He didn't seem like such an unknown commodity as guys like Gasol or Dirk were entering the NBA.
