About being the man that is. He is just happy to be the number 3 guy behind Francis and Mobley. And I guess thats not a bad thing if you are not a Rocks Fan. But didn't we want him to be the next Big Thing? So, I ask you. If he don't give a crap, should we? Would you be happy with the present team the way it is if you know that Yao will be 18pts 10rbs 2blks instead of the Olajuwonesque 27pts 12rebs 3blks? With Francis on the team leading the way? With Mobley finally maturing (seemingly)? Personally I never wanted to trade Francis. But I know that to get players to COMPLEMENT YAO we might need to. But I ask again, is it ok the way it is now? I am proud of this team. I think the Lakers are LUCKY we don't have a couple of more years together. I think this series will do WONDERS for the moral of this team. We are on the right track. But, if we break everyone up, and start over, is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? I like Francis on the team. I didn't like Mobley but he has grown on me recently. And I LOVE Jackson. I think we are close to taking the big step we all want. Yao doesn't care. So, why should we? Maybe we are just asking for what we might not get. Maybe it is Ric Smits and not Shaq. Maybe Francis has more of an ability emotionally and physically to just be the guy. Free Steve Francis??? What do you think?
dude, after seeing francis show off his left nipple, how can you not defer being "the man"? To knock his decision is to knock the nipple, and under further reconsideration, not even the strongest man can do that.
He cares..he's just sorta r****ded..too tired or something..he just isn't aggressive..no energy...and stupid...horrible defensive positioning..just his 2nd year..i hope he can improve and become a smarter player...make better decisions sigh..maybe he was thinking about his CS match tonight or something. Sigh...
I dont expect Yao to do more than he has done in this series. He is in his 2nd year, and he is playing against the most dominate center in the game.
It depends on the performace. If when the team is in trouble ,yao can step out ,YAO will be the number 1. I remeber YAO said " The JEFF wanted me to be number 1 ,but sometimes I can't be because of my strength and so on"
what is with these garabage post. Are you yaos brain and knows if he cares or not. Do u not see yao chering on the sidelines or showing emotion during the game. Man just shutup. Does TD show a lot of emotion, NO, so i guess he sucks .
I think it has more to do with the matchup. Yao trying to score on Shaq is not our team's best option for this series. It was obvious that the lakers could not guard the guards when Yao set a pick. So, that was our plan down the stretch to try to win the game. Yao demanded the ball several times, sometimes trying to repost and never getting the ball back. Overall, i think it was a good offensive game plan. Yao was pretty involved, but the guards were getting inside. Woulda easily won if we hit more 3's.
What in HELL are you talking about? Yao is doing OK against Oneal and holding Shaq to under 20 per game is BIG!! want to know what Shaq usually throw down? Yao can't babysit the whole team when he got the biggest assignment of keeping Shaq Attack while not getting foul out. Tell me who else can do that to Shaq for 4 games? When Yao is on the bench, Shaq and Kobi have a good time of dunking contest on the Rox.
see... somebody knows their basketball here. remember when there was a thread about how yao should stop setting picks? that would have been a horrible idea. the pick and roll is the only reason we've been competitive.
And what happend to the "I will always play Yao one on one" craps from Shaq? They are doubling Yao everytime he's on the post now.
they really only double when malone is the primary defender. shaq never said anything about giving help defense, only receiving help defense.
This really isn't fair for Yao, having people turn on him as he goes up against the premier Center in the game. It would be absolutely stupid for the Rockets to talk about trading him. Remember Shaq being dominated by Hakeem? Well, Yao hasn't even really been dominated this series, and the comparison is similar to Shaq vs. Dream. I didn't expect Yao to carry this team through the playoffs, not this year.
Admittedly, Ming doesn't have a "firey" personality. I wish he did. He often looks disinterested, like he is going through the motions, like he is thinking of going home to China. Nevertheless, he has done an excellent job on Shaq defensively, and, according to the numbers, has played him toe to toe offensively. That is an amazing accomplishment. If Ming were VERY aggressive and VERY determined, no one could stop him including Shaq.
You guys got this post all wrong... Nobody is turning on Yao, or even bashing Yao... but its pointing out that it might be wise to not consider Yao as our dominant savior. Who cares what the matchup is... Shaq had a tough matchup in 1995 (in only his 3rd year) with Hakeem, but he did much better against Hakeem than Yao is doing against Shaq. And, who cares that he's only in his second year... Hakeem was running circles around the leauge in his second year, as we made it to the Finals. I think we're just sick of making excuses for him not being dominant now... maybe he will be in the future, or maybe we should just stop saying he will be. Honestly... if we stop the idea that he will be dominant one day, and we build our team accordingly, it will just simply be GRAVY if he does actually one day become THE MAN. But, however, if we keep making the excuses, and hold on to the belief that one day he will be dominant... and for some reason he DOESN'T... and we're left with a team full of complement/role players, how does that help our development? It doesn't... we need to maintain that Yao is not yet the man, and build our team accordingly. If he ever becomes the man, we'll have a better team for it... if he doesn't, then at least we'll have other options on the team.
I have changed my opinion and not wanting to trade francis after I read that yangyi dude's long stories... However, I still think yao would become the focal point of this team in his forth season -- his learning curve so far makes me very optimistic about that -- and francis WILL have to modify his game to better compliment yao's.
Almu, I agree with your conclusion but seriously disagree with the reasoning. It is not that Yao does not want to be the man. At this stage, yao does not know how to be the man. He is a 2nd year player. last year, he learned how physical NBA play is. This year, he is learining that the regular season is like patty cake compared to the playoffs. He has not shot as often as he will because he wants to win, and right now, our best matchup against the lakers is Francis. You should not interpret his play as lack of desire or indifference. I think you are dead wrong in that regard.
