Yao is who he is. Unique. Somewhere between Rik Smitts and Patrick Ewing. Trained in another culture, learning NBA BB. So that's our center. Most teams drool to have him. We love or bash him? Everyone has #1 pick expectations, like every #1 pick has. But you get what you get. What centers would I rather have? Shaq, J. Oneal, Maybe B. Wallace. 3 that's all. In the whole NBA 3 teams are better off than we are at the 5. three. What is with the complaining about Yao. I wish every coach and GM in the league could post here what the Rockets should do with Yao (if they were the Rockets). Does anyone think a sane NBA coach, scout or GM thinks Yao is a liability instead of a building block for a future championship? No he is not a top 5 player today. He may never be one. Maybe his impact will be that of a very good center. One of the top 3 centers in the league for the next 15 yrs. What is wrong with that? Let him be. He's not untouchable but don't expect him to be what he is not. He has shown improvement this year. He is learning. He has dominated at times. He has stunk at times. He is young and inexperienced. He is stronger. He is getting better position. He still is fading the 2nd half of the season He has more to learn about the NBA game. He has a great outside shot. He is learning to play more inside the paint I would trade him for Garnett or Kobe or TMac but there isn't a center in the league beside Shaq I would rather have. And that might change next year. I am going to be patient with Yao. He's the man at center for us and we are lucky to have him. Very lucky.
Though I hope to land TMac I must agree with you, most of those other deals are better. Except the Boston one LOL... that's probably exactly what TMac wants right? Go to another place where he's a one man show and play for a coach that was fired off his previous team? Also I guess there's no animosity between him and Rivers.
great post. i think it's kind of funny how in the beginning you would also rather have J. O'neal, but as you kept writing it became only Shaq. (which i agree, BTW, I think J. O'Neal is overrated) i don't have kids but i imagine this is what it must be like. you want them to do better so you criticize them, but in the end you should just love them for what they are.
I would like them play along-side with Yao not trade Yao for them. You can't trade away a 7'6 ever improving center piece for some scorers.
i'd trade Yao for the MVP of the league, I definitely would. he may never be as good as KG. so that would be the profit maximizing strategy. i wouldn't trade for Kobe or TMac though. Maybe they'd make for a couple more wins. But they aren't Jordan, and won't be able to win it all by themselves anyway.
Yao is a talent unlike any other (not better just different). He doesn't fit a role -- he isn't Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, or even Rik Smits. He is Yao Ming! He has some skill the each fo those didn't have and they all had skills he currently doesn't have (well he may already be Smits). When Yao finds himself, a coach learns how to use him, and he is surronded by the right players he will be a dominate winner. Hopefully CD (or a replacement) is smart enough to put those pieces together. Hakeem would have never won a championship without the complmentary pieces. Those championship teams fit perfectly around him so when he peaked the team peaked and Clutch City was born. Yao will be the man.
Well, then, since Yao is so unique, we need to find a coach to cultivate this uniqueness no? A big man with range who needs TONS of work on timing (boards and blocks) and lacks lateral quickess? Keep him on the low block some, throw him out on the high post and let him survey the field like a high post point guard. Let him experiment with midrange jumpers, etc. I actually don't doubt Yao as much as I doubt JVG's ability to maximize his potential.
I will always be a Rockets fan no matter what! That said: I have been EXTREMELY frustrated with Francis' play. True he has played well in the playoffs....but he has made some absolute DUMB mistakes. I don't feel he has a high basketball IQ. I wouldn't let go of him just yet....unless the Rockets could get T-mac. If Yao learns to get position deep in the post...he will be a nightmare for opponents. Yao's problems are as simple as that in my opinion. If I were GM, I would see what I could get for Francis or Mobley.....depends on which guy could get you a better deal in talent trade off. I think Cat has the potential to bring in a good point guard along with a solid 4 guy off the bench. If Francis gets traded you still have Cat who is a poor mans Steve Francis. I definantly would not give up Yao. It just needs to be unmercifully beat into his head how dominate he would be if he established position closer to the basket.
Yao's weakest point is lack of explosiveness, because of which he cannot win tip offs, cannot rebound very well, and is turn-over prone when being fronted by quicker defenders. I believe Yao can be better than Sobonis in his prime. But I doubt Yao can be a super star who can carry a team. Because of high TO's, Yao is not effective at all for winning games. He may give us 20 points a game, but his TO's and the guards's TO's due to trying to pass the ball to Yao will cost us over 10 points a game. It will be clear next year if Yao can be a super star or not. I hope his strength, i.e. height and skills, will overcome his lack of explosiveness.
do you mean that yao, in his prime, will be better than Sabonis? or do you mean exactly what you stated. because sabonis in his prime was a force of nature. i believe somebody posted some clips some time ago. sabonis would have been one of the all time greats had he been allowed to come to the NBA earlier. sabonis is everything yao should try to be.
I actually don't know how they pick MVP. If they choose MVP based on point and rebound production, then I think Yao will be there in a few years. If he could score 20 points by half time. Why not? I think Yao will be a great player but I dont want to compare him to KG because every player can be used differently in term of maximizing strategy, you know what I mean.
If Yao gets position deep, the defenders will definitely font him. It will become very hard to pass the ball to Yao because of his lack of explosiveness. In order to get position deep, Yao needs to get stronger which I believe he can achieve. However, he may become even slower at the same time. So, it is not a simple task for Yao get position deep and be able to catch the ball. I agree that once Yao gets the ball deep, he is unstopable.
Sabonis in his prime was supposed to be the best player in the world. I've never saw him play before his knees went bad. But I heard that he was the total package. Think about this, with VERY limited mobility, he could still shoot with range, pass better than 95% of all NBA players. And they said he was as athletic as KG when he was young. Imagine that!
Sabonis dominated the world championship game when he was only 18. But Sabonis's ex-coach believes that Yao will have a better career than Sabonis. Go figure.
Yao TO = 2.30 Duncan TO = 3.08 Garnett TO = 2.57 S. O'Neal TO = 2.60 His turnovers aren't that bad. Its just easier to scrutinize when you see the guy playing more than 82 games a year. You people act like someone stole your car, kicked you in the groin, and drank the last beer in your fridge. Its ok, insurance will handle the car, your groin will feel better with ice, and you can always get some more beer, just takes some time.
I mean Yao can be better than the young Sabonis. So, Yao will be very good. Yao has to become really smart on the court and dirty to some degree in order to succeed. Right now, Yao is not that smart on the court even though people always say he is a smart guy.
