David Stern must be salivating over a dream matchup between Shaq and Wade Vs Yao and Tmac in the NBA final now.
I vote Yao. This is the year he must fulfill his potential, all the stars are aligned for him to have his best year. He has gotten plenty of rest, he has a personal trainer that works with him full time, he has SS to help him in the middle and it is his contract year. I expect all of the above allow him to stay on the floor for 35 mpg and achieve at least 20ppg and 9rpg. Anything less than these numbers and I think we all will be disappointed.
Yao is the key to the Rockets season. TMac is TMac, we know what he can give us and it's unbelievable some of the things he does. Yao has shown flashes of greatness, but we've yet to see it on a consistent basis. We need Yao to man the paint just like Duncan in SA, Shaq in Miami, the Wallace Brothers in Detroit. He has to find a way to rebound the ball much better and stop picking up ticky tack fouls. I think Yao will have a good season, I hope to see 20 & 10 from him, and if he can give us that, then I don't see how we could be stopped.
Definitely JVG! It's been proved over and over again that you need a good "system", and the right players to run the "system", to win in this league. Yes, you need talent to win, but talent alone cannot win you anything. If JVG can utilize majority of the talent he has, then the Rockets will be a very good this coming season. I wanted to vote for Yao, but I have started losing my confidence in him since last year. Normally, if a play cannot break out in the first three years, that's about the end of his potential. I give him another pass because last year's team was the first year for them to be together, if he cannot perform consistently this season, then I don't think he will ever be able to do it.
It seems a lot of people think Yao is the key Rockets that can turn this team into a championship contender. One of the reason that I think we want to give Yao another pass is because we all see greatness from Yao in stretches of games, we are all still waiting for Yao to put up 35+ minute/game of play time.
My X factors: 1. Yao - He needs to take the step to the next level. 2. Swift - Needs to take the step to the next level. 3. Anderson - Big D at the 2 and needs to hit open shots.
Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming, This is a tough decision by any standards.
Yao and Swift. Yao will be better. How better can Yao get ? It partially depends on how Swift performs. I really hope these can help each other out, plus T-MAC, we have a dream front line. Just imagine it.
We all know this team is built around 2 men. We all know TMac is great and probably will not get better because he's already very close to Jordanesque level. Yao mean while is great but we all can see that he still can take a huge step up.
I actually want to see a balance system that will not depend on Yao or Tmac too heavily. With the personnel we have, we can do that. Without Yao, we have Deke man the C, and Swift backs him up, I think we still will be tough to beat. Without Tmac, we can dump it to Yao, have DA and others constantly cutting, we are tough to beat also. If we are to be at that level, we are ready to contend seriouly.
