I was going to games in the Summit, well before Steve Francis, well before Yao Ming was even born. I'll be here before,during & after. Will you?
I think first he's needs to improve positioning, then the easy baskets will come. [/QUOTE] First JVG should realize that he had sent Yao Ming to set too many useless picks.
What Yao needs is his very own version of Magic Johnson - a PG that will do just that: figure out where he likes the ball and passing to him in order to get him some easy baskets. Too bad there's no one on this team that can fit the bill...
What? So that he can run an up-tempo, showtime fast breaking game which plays to his biggest weakness? Why is it that Yao requires a guard to cater to his needs to be successful? Other dominant big men (Hakeem, Robinson, Ewing, Shaq, Mo Malone, Jabbar) simply required an entry pass and then could go to work in the low post -- if Yao is going to be a dominant post player, than that is going to be solely dependant on what Yao and Yao alone is able to accomplish.
those wouldn't be useless if guards know how to run a p&r. Our only guard who knows what a p&r is was MJ, but he is so slow and he has no range.
those wouldn't be useless if guards know how to run a p&r. Our only guard who knows what a p&r is was MJ, but he is so slow and he has no range. [/B][/QUOTE] Exactly. During the playoff, Yao spent 90% of his time during Rox possessions setting his picks. Bad coaching,
Actually, Yao has pretty good driving skills for a big man, especially one that's 7'6, AND good hands. The only problem is, one too many up temp fast breaks and he'll tire out before the 5min mark.
Sam, thank you for speaking some sense. This board has been overrun by YOFs and they are bringing down the quality of posts here with each passing day. I am so sick of everybody on the team being blamed for Yao's weaknesses. You want somebody to blame, BLAME YAO MING! The reality here is, the team gave Yao the ball all season long, he had his good games and bad games. Come playoff time, we still gave Yao the ball despite how poorly he was playing, and we lost because of it. The gameplan never changed, we either won with Yao or lost with Yao, going to him every game. Yao failed us down the stretch and in the playoffs save one game. There is no denying this!
No Kubli, the reality is that this board is overrun by morons like you who call everyone a YOF for trying to be positive about a player on the team they're rooting for. Why dont your group and the real YOFs on this board go outside and play in the sand together while the grownups have real BBall discussions
It's funny that you say "trying to be positive about a player on the team they're rooting for." By this, I assume you mean bash Yao's teammates repeateadly and demand they be traded because they are somehow responsible for Yao's failures. Wake up buddy, there is no positivity on this board and hardly any real basketball discussions these days.
If people bash someone, it doesn tmake them YOFs. Rox fans have been bashing this team before Yao got here and will be bashing this team after Yao leaves, so don't put all the negativity on one thing. All you are doing is driving the other end of the spectrum. There can't be any discussion where some idiot chimes in with its cuz of SF or Yao sux. I've had to resort to bashing these posters because if I say something positive about SF or Yao I'm gonna be called a SOF or YOF. The shiet is getting old, everyone needs to move on with their life. If you wanna bash Yao or SF fine, but stop it with the witch hunt for YOFs. I agreed with what you wrote to some degree about Yao's performance, but your first paragraph just turned me off.
None of Yao's current teammates are directly responsible for Yao's shortcoming. But many a strong, reasonable and logical argument has been made that Francis and Yao have incompatible games. The Steve Only Fans have rabbit ears when it comes to valid criticisms. It's difficult to have a real basketball discussion when it boils down to "Steve is my favorite player and I have his poster on my wall and gosh why don't we let him ISO like he used to when he scored a lot of points and after all he is an All Star and he plays with heart and he can jump through the TC roof" types of responses to valid shortcomings in Francis's game. I'm Rockets' First and Yao is not above criticism but he's been here for two whole seasons and other than mental and physical fatigue, he's exceeded any realistic expectations. Should he become the focal point or Go-To guy, he'll get plenty of real criticism. Most of the valid criticisms of Francis's game and how he fits with Yao are found not only on this board but by people with respectable basketball minds...former coaches and players from Bill Walton, Calvin Murphy, and opposing announcers on NBALP to Doc Rivers, Doug Collins, and Dr. Ramsey. Or perhaps everyone is a YOF?
If YM improves as much next season, as he did this season, he will be a 20/10 guy every night. There isn't one aspect of YM's game that did not improve this year. Why trade SF over YM (assuming they don't fit together)? Because SF's game has probably peaked, but YM shows no signs of leveling off. Raven
It's simple to me, if Yao played to the level that he is capable of in the playoffs this season, the Rockets would've beat the Lakers. I don't think a duo capable of doing this is incompatible. Yao had his touches, the team isn't denying Yao the ball, Yao just didn't play up to the level he can for some reason, be it his conditioning or level of aggression. So why does this mean trade Francis? Isn't Yao's future progression and better conditioning all the Rockets need to go to the next level? Thats all I'm trying to say, point to Yao and his need to improve rather than pointing fingers at others. BTW, I'm not a FOF or a YOF, I'm a Rockets fan, I've lived in Houston my entire life and I'm happy to have a team back in the playoffs and on the rise. I don't want to see this team destroyed before it ever had a chance to shine.
If you can't see the ways in which the Rockets would improve significantly by having a fastbeaking, glue-fingered, accurate passing, high BB IQ PG then the conversation is pointless. The Lakers were the best possible playoff matchup for Francis and the worst for Yao. IMHO, for most of the season, the Rockets won in spite of Francis not because of him. And for reasons of incompatablilty. The reasons why the two are not compatable are very clear to me and have been mentioned daily by others at CC. If you can't/don't/won't see it, we will have to agree to disagree. If we are going to commit to and inside-out, low possession, defense oriented, ball controlled game, Steve Francis is among the worst choices you could have at PG. It doesn't play to his strengths and limits his teammates.
GAWD, if this article came out way before the end of the summer, another "rooster would sing", as we say in my country. This means that the situation would be different, and people would have seen this based on statistics alone, which is how JVG likes to see the game... you see his quotes about "oh, we missed x out of y shots, we were outrebounded z of a times, etc. I can't believe how many times I said "GIVE HIM the BALL. " and it didn't happen...
