so u guys don't want yao to take his game to the next level and be a superstar center and carry the team..
Sure, because we watched him do it. By Akeem's second season, Yao couldn't carry his lunch pail. To be fair to Yao, it's like comparing apples to a Rolls Royce, much less oranges. Dream was a freak of nature, with an indominatible will to win. We'll never see another center like him, IMO.
when i saw that spin then turnaround move (only tracy and kobe do it consistently to this day), i'm still in awe of the guy. dude was just that good.
My point is that the notion being propagated by some on this board, that Yao can somehow carry this team to a championship, is beyond absurd. I've never even seen him carry the team to a meaningful regular season victory. it's not a knock against yao. he's a great guy and a great talent. but he will be 29 next year in what appears to be yet another meaningless season in which we will have no chance of winning a title. it's a flawed philosophy to just hope you can acquire another premiere talent within the next few years and hope the team can mesh into a contender before yao breaks down, when there is near unanimity that he isn't even irreplaceably elite himself to begin with. it's just too huge of a risk.
39/17/5/3 vs a first-ballot HOF player. Ridiculous. That was the absolute best time to be a Rockets fan.
obviously dream's combination of basketball skillset, inner drive, footwork, physical talent, athleticism etc are 1 in 6 billion... however, that does not mean yao can not elevate his play to a higher level close to dream's at least statistically for the next few season like dream did elavate particularly his individual scoring from age 30-33. hopefully yao will become a superstar center and lead the rockets to the promiseland a couple of times before it's all said and done. just my personal wishful thinking though...
i feel and understand ur frusration cabbage. but to say he never carry the team to a meaningful regular season victory is absurd.. plz.. ur frusration and may i be rude, and ur negative attitude towards yao at this point is justified... because in fact he hasn't done anything significant to be considered a superstar center. but, there is always hope. i just personally feel that, a character like yao, will somehow step up and come through for the team, the city, the fans and himself sooner or later.. i don't see him being denied.. he's a wonderful soul, if u feel what i'm saying.. "it's just too huge of a risk"... what do u mean by that..
That bold statement says a lot about you, instead of Yao. You act insulted when posters hoping Yao do something similar to Dream in one day, IN YOUR OWN THREAD using Dream's video to knock on Yao. So any game Yao played very well in the past 6 1/2 years is meaningless to you? That's an insult at Yao, at the Rockets team, who you claimed to be a fan of, at the fans, who you claimed to be part of, at the basketball as a sport. Ultimately, that's an insult to Dream, the one you claimed to adore, who devoted his career to, who loved the team, and brought glory to the team. Shame on you. For the nth times, my question to you, and some of the "we are spoiled by Dream" "fans" - how to win a championship then? Since you and a few others tried so hard to "reason" why Yao on the Rockets team can not win anything significant, what's the solution then? Waive Yao and rebuild, around whom? Trade Yao, with whom? REMEMBER, I agree with you wholeheartedly that Yao is nowhere near where Dream was. REMEMBER, if you do not expect to trade Rafer with CP3, please don't throw out any elite player names, if you don't see Yao as elite. I am still waiting for an answer to this day. I won't hold my breath though.
Shouldn't this go in this thread Cabbage? We are not going to agree, I don't think you need anyone to carry anything and you can win with a great team. There are lots of superstars that have never won anything..... Yao may not be the quickest guy but surround him with the right mix of players and we can win it all. DD
Yao is too overgrown even approach that kind of agility. Hakeem 6'10" with super long arms... Honestly closes thing to Hakeem I've seen in the middle so far this and last season is Al Jefferson. We could probably when a championship with an uninjured Al Jefferson in the middle with the team we got now. And I'm serious about that.
players don't become great in their 30's. unless you're steve nash. hakeem demolished the lakers' frontline his second year in the league. relevance? this isn't just a trivial exercise in nostalgia. the point here is that you could wait around and try to build a team around hakeem because you knew, once you got the right parts, he could carry you and do the rest. you can't do that with yao, and it's plain stupid to try. it's a damn waste of time. you could spend years trying to find the right mix, and he still won't be good enough to carry you, and might even be too broken down by then. every time yao takes the court in a meaningless season, you're depreciating the value of the team's greatest asset. i understand the business standpoint that would never have les trade yao. but if les is actually serious about winning a championship, he'll shop yao this summer because we're going nowhere on our current course.
This is pointless...you did not KNOW you could get a championship with Dream or that he would carry a team, you HOPED you could.... He was one of the best in the game, the best of all time, but it took him being out with an injury and finding out that his teamates could ball too, and won 15 in a row without him before he started passing the ball in crucial situations. You can not look back as an indicator of the future regarding teams, they are all completely different, face different challenges, different rules, and different teams. Yao is not Hakeem......so what???????? Maybe you can win a championship by surrounding Yao with better players than Dream had....because if you get rid of Yao....there is NO GUARANTEE you get any better or closer to the championship. None. DD
i truly believe we were truly lucky and made the absolutely right pick of yao in the 02 draft.. it's been 6 seasons, and this is 7th season, things just seem hopeless, yao is getting older and slower by the day... however, with a character and dedicated professional like yao ming, there is always the audacity of hope and the right to dream. mark my words, this character yao ming, will not be denied. rockets fans are lucky to have this guy on their side.
The same thing could have been said about Dream until he WON a championship. People saying Yao will never lead a team to a championship, are making wild assumptions. Earmark this thread....because it is either going to be prophetic, or epic. DD
The video was in reference to the sentiment on the board that Yao can lead us now that the Yao/T-mac model has run its course. Name me one game that Yao took over down the stretch. I can think of numerous more that he choked away. As far as this being an insult to Dream, I don't know what you mean. It's simple. You trade him. There's two ways to win a title: a) the superstar model b) the detroit all-star lineup model. most everyone agrees that yao is not good enough to carry us with the superstar model. so then if it's near consensus that the proper approach is 'B', it's pointless to not shop him. you're basically going to try and stock this team with talent over the next few years before his prime is up, when you already have conceded that he's not irreplaceable. you have no idea if the talent you acquire will even mesh nor how long it will take to acquire that talent. by then, yao could be 32 and completely broken down. one might counter that he might still be going strong and stay healthy into his 30's, but why even take that risk? it's plain stupid when you've conceded that he's simply a cog in a grander puzzle. he's not an irreplaceable hall of fame type talent. so why risk him breaking down and being left with nothing? you could fetch a king's ransom for yao ming. if you're trying to build a complete team anyway, it's in your best interests to just shop him.
Wait...Hakeem was the best player on a team that made the NBA Finals in his second season. Hakeem carried his teams into the playoffs year after year...and they won. They didn't always win rings...but they won. For all the criticism of TMac not winning a series...how many has Yao won again? Hakeem at this point of his career with the Rockets was an absolute force. This is getting silly.
This is absurd. Everyone knew Hakeem was great before he won a title. You could wait around and try to tinker with the roster because you knew once you got it, he would carry you.
