"Yao for MVP? If people are going to seriously argue that LeBron James, the first pick in the 2003 draft, should be in the mix for the league's MVP Award this year . . . I've got someone who should be ahead of him in line -- Yao Ming. Like LeBron, Yao has taken a lottery team on his back and turned it into a playoff team this year. Unlike LeBron, Yao has done it without the benefit of having the ball in his hands every time down the stretch. Yao has been amazing for the Rockets down the stretch. He's averaging 21.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg and 2.5 bpg on 52 percent shooting in March and seems to be heating up with each and every game. Yao has been the key to the Rockets' success all season. When the Rockets lose, Yao is averaging just 10.9 shots a game. When they win? Yao gets 13.5 shots per game. Those 2.6 shots per game make a big difference. The inverse is true for the Rockets' second best player, Steve Francis. In wins he's averaging 1.1 more apg and 1.5 fewer shots a game. With that said, there's no question, to me, that Kevin Garnett should win MVP this year. Second in my book is the Kings' Peja Stojakovic. Third is Tim Duncan. Fourth is Jermaine O'Neal. Fifth? Split it between Yao and Shaq. Most Improved? While we're on the subject of postseason awards, the Most Improved Award is the closest race in recent history. I can make a credible case for 10 players . . . with none having a huge edge over the other. I've always hated to vote for a guy in his second year in the league. Players are supposed to improve from year one to year two so . . . I'm going to disqualify two guys -- Yao Ming (who should be the favorite) and Carlos Boozer -- from the get go. I'm putting Philly's Samuel Dalembert in this group as well, considering that this is the first year he's gotten any playing time."
Yao is the favorite for Most Improved Player? This is the first time anyone's suggested this. As much as I love the guy and as impressive as his level of play has been this season, he has no business getting that award.
neither Yao or James deserves the consideration for MVP this year. Their time will come, but not now. KG has to be the MVP this season. If they give it to TD again, I am going to puke.
For some reason (feel free to bash if this is irrational) Yao getting most improved feels like an insult. He probably has actually improved a great deal but there was little doubt last year going into this year that Yao wouldn't be where he is. He's always been pretty good and it's not like he's turned his career around, which I think is the real connotation of the award.
yea I agree. We all , well..........most knew Yao was the real deal, so it is not a surprise to see that he has improved his game tremendously(sp). Yao is gonna be MVP someday besides the most improved player award , to me means the guy who wins it sucked like hell the year before and that does not apply to Yao.
Agreed. Most improved should really be improvement vs. anticipated improvement. In his 2nd year, we all expect Yao to benefit from additional experience.
Are some people not reading the article correctly? I've always hated to vote for a guy in his second year in the league. Players are supposed to improve from year one to year two so . . . I'm going to disqualify two guys -- Yao Ming (who should be the favorite) and Carlos Boozer
Edit: Nevermind...I see you are focusing on his opinion that Yao is the favorite. I don't think that is true though.
Someone better at Sadistics please ejookate me. The 2.6 shots per game makes a big difference? If he's shooting around 50%, then that's a 1.3 shot-made-per-game difference. Is the correlation between wins and average shot attempt per game proof of anything in this case? Now if you were to give me stats that say "when Yao shoots more than x times, we win y% of our games", I can believe it (because I think that one may be true).
I agree with yah, Yao's inconsistency forces us to look at what Dr of Dunk suggests rather than the overall numbers that the ESPN article uses.
I think he's implying that when Yao gets more shots it means the ball is going inside more. You know that Yao doesn't shoot everytime he has the ball and passes out a lot. So those 2.6 more fga means that Yao is touching the ball a lot more and that translate to wins, since you are playing inside out more, then when Yao has fewer fga.
I do believe 2.6 shots make a difference. Keep in mind that Rockets only out score opponents by average 2.28 per game, that's 1.1 made shots only. Those 1.1 made shots are the difference between 42-30 team (7th in West) and 36-36 team(might be 10th in West).
i'm sure it's a combo of teams not doing the frantic crazy fronting yao thing and letting us run our offense a little better and get it inside easier (which we try to do every game) and yao hitting his shots and thus getting/taking more of them. i don't have the numbers, but we probably also turn the ball over less in games we win (it would make sense) and thus there are more shots to be had. choujie, that doesn't work b/c someone is still taking the other 2.6 shots assuming no turnovers and they are gonna hit around 40% so we're talking a 10% of 2.6 shots difference for .26 shots made a game. not enough for that whole 2.28 points. now, .26 shots does work out to .52 points and a point equals about 2.7 wins if you correlate point differential to wins so that extra .52 points may buy us an extra win over the course of the season. edit: also i would think MIP should go to zach randolph.
Well, first, it's two folds, right? Yao takes 2.6 shots, somebody takes less, probably. Second, it's average. He is trying to seperate bad apples from good apples, when there isnt clear line between bad and good. I think his point when Yao takes 2.6 more shots, Rox wins, is legit. Most games are decided within sigle digit deficit.
Francis 4 prez, you are right. 2.6 more shots by Yao instead of the rest of the team translats to about 1.6 wins over the entire seaons if everything else stays the same. Now imagine Yao averages 20 shots per game in stead of 12.4 shots, that's going to result in around 5 more wins for the entire season. I think that's a lot. Right now rockets is 5 and a half game away from home court advantage.
50 shots is unreasonable considering the energy and stamina Yao will need. But 20 shots is withing Yao's cabability as long as he gets the ball.
Here's what I think : 1) We continue playing the inside-out game. 2) Yao continues to do what he has improved up on this season : actually taking a shot when he has the ability to do so. 3) Yao's stamina increases We win more games as a result. One of the biggest improvements in Yao this season is that he is not passing up shots as much as last season. There were times he had 6'8" guys guarding him on a mismatch and he would pass out from 10-12 feet. He isn't doing that as much this season. He's even initiating contact in an attempt to force "and 1" situations this season. I think this is the key to Yao. I honestly don't think that 1 or 2 FG stat means squat. On defense we know Yao changes the game. On offense, the way he changes the game is by being a threat forcing a double-down thereby leaving others open. If he's passing out of a winning position, he's negating much of his value on offense. He's doing that less this year. Give Yao one or two more seasons to get his stamina up and his aggressiveness to increase and he will be every bit of a Shaq in his prime (but in a different way and as long as the refs allow his physical play as they did Shaq).
we win more games when yao is involved more, not necessarily shooting more. so while his shot attempts may be higher in our wins, it's really the offense flowing through him that makes the team play better. as for mvp, kg has to get it hands down. he has earned it. yao will get his eventually.
