I value T-mac' health more than anything else. We play for championship not just playoff. We'll be fine with Yao and head. Bonzi gets back to his shape with more chances, Once T-mac comes back, we are unbeatable. Just hope Yao does not have fatigue bone fracture like last year.
I love it how Tim Legler goes out of his way to diss Yao by not even mentioning his name in the "honorable mentions". I've lost all respect for these ESPN talking heads. And most of the TNT talking heads, too. I still like Kiki Vandeweghe and Marc Stein. That's about it.
Sorry if its already been posted, but I thought this was interesting: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2698150
I don't care the words (good or bad) from these guys. the fact is they are always biased. I do care how far the rox could go, in this league, champ is real MVP
If Yao can become a more consistent 4th quarter player, he'll get my vote. That means the whole package -- scoring, rebounding, solid decision making, and good defense. He's had a couple excellent fourth quarters this year (off the top of my head, against the Wizards and the Heat), but still too often fatigue and more aggressive defenses render him ineffective in money time. It's something I noticed at the end of last season when he was putting up great per game numbers, and again this year. Right now Yao is in the conversation, but Duncan, Dirk, and Nash are the front-runners in my view. I expected LeBron to dominate MVP talk, but the Cavs have been somewhat of a dissapointment and he hasn't taken over the league like I thought he would.
I completely agree with you. I think Yao should be more consistent in the 4th, but you have to take into account that he doesn't get the calls he does in the first 3 quarters. defenders get very physical with him in the 4th. I think the most important thing Yao has to work on is his Turnovers. he had 5 TOs in the warriors game. if I am not wrong, he is averaging about 4 agame. that's not good for a center. he needs to work on that. I also want him to try not to get blocked by anybody. I think a lot of people, and the media, lose respect for him and dont consider him an MVP candidate because they see him getting blocked by somebody or dunked on by somebody every game (even though I am really impressed that he improved a lot on the Defensive end and he doesn't get dunked on that often anymore). I mean, last game (against the warriors) he got blocked, TWICE, by 6-10 Adonal Foyle. that's not good. even though it doesn't matter statistically, it makes a huge difference in the eyes of fans and Media members.
Well, since durvasa brought up Timmy the Big Fundamental again, I can't help but point out Duncan was completely shut down in the 4th quarter in Spurs' loss at Utah, and missed two critical FTs late in the game last Sunday in yet another loss to the Lakers. So there you go Mr. 4th Quarter.
not really. I used to like JB and I thought he is a great analyst and he has a great understanding of the game. I think being with Bill Walton and other ESPN r****ds affects him. looks like idiocity is contagious.
I don't know what good an MVP caliber season would be if we don't even make the playoffs, which I feel is very likely if TMac is out for long.
An MVP should be able to win ball games for his team, and so far the Rockets have not proven that they could win without Tracy Mcgrady. Last year with TMac Yao was playing great but the team was losing. I sure hope that Yao can take it to the next level and translate his great numbers into some wins this year when Tracy is out. If he can do that, he's convinced me that he's MVP worthy. As of now he has not done that.
