Yao Ming held the 2001-2002 Regular Season MVP for the Euroleague to 0-10 shooting and 1 point. That's some mighty fine low post stars they have on them thar Euroleague teams. But, before you get too excited, guess who it was? http://www.euroleague.net/noticia.jsp?temporada=E01&jornada=23&id=125 Here is the boxscore http://www.turkbasket.com/anahaber.asp?id=22592
Turkey als had Torkoglu (much hyped 6th man of Sacramento) and Mehmet Okur (who is penciled as a starter for Detroit next year). Ming did better than both of them.
Yao Ming is the future of the NBA. I'm excited. "Shaq goes up for the winning dunk...BLOCKED! BLOCKED BY MING! THE ROCKETS WIN! THE ROCKETS WIN!
Here you go Kid Rock. Hope this helps " Yao Ming 15 sy, 7/10 iki sy, 1/1 s.atýþ, 4'ü ofansif 15 ribaunt, 3 ast, 5 tk, 2 blok,"
(from a post on bleachermob.com message board) This, from a citizen in Turkey who watched the game: Turkey played against China in the Istanbul tournament last night. This was the first time I watched Yao Ming. I was surprised at his speed and passing skills. He runs the floor like a guard and passes like Vlade Divac in the paint. He also shoots well from mid range. His arms are short and his upper body is not strong but he is still a factor in the paint defensively. Turkey, last Euro championship finalists, could only beat fundamentally weak China with long range bombing and with PF (Mehmet Okur) scoring from mid range. Ming is not gonna be much of a factor against the likes of Shaq in his first few years in the NBA but, boy, he has tremendous potential. People have been comparing him with Rick Smits. This comparison might be true but imagine a Rick Smits who can pass like Vlade and run the floor like Doug Christie. Give him a few years and you have got yourselves an all star. These Shawn Bradley comparisons are all wrong. This guy knows how to play ball intelligently. Pistons last year's 2nd round draftee Mehmet Okur played both Ming and Bateer well when he defended them. He even blocked both Bateer and Ming once. I was stunned by how much Mehmet developed with the Pistons in the last couple of months. I knew that He had soft hands and he could shoot the ball well both from behind the arc and mid range but He looked etremely strong and explosive in the paint. I think a good NBA comparison of Mehmet is Pollard, defensively. Of course with all low post moves and shooting touch he is much much better than Pollard in the offense. Pistons fans will be very pleased to see him play for them this season. Dumars was very lucky to sneak him in the second round. IMO If he was in this years draft he would have been a third or fourth pick. Petrie, a genius at spotting foreign talent, passed him up in the draft last year but again Mehmet was injured and did not pay much last season. Mehmet at 23 already a better and stronger player than Keon Clark whom the Kings are rumoured to be interested. Hido played very poorly and probably got an earfull from his coach after the game. Turkey has his own Peja in Kutluay (6/9 3p shooting last night) and Hido is expected to play the way he plays for the Kings. Defend well, create and pass to the open shooter and rebound. Instead, he was forcing the issue all the time. His mind still seemed to be on the Lakers series.
Can we make one thing clear about Turkan, he IS a top class player. You don't average 17 and 12 in any league if you can't play. So, why didn't he make it in the NBA? Simple, he lacked that ONE tool. He lacked the one thing that makes guys go that very next level. In his case, his shooting just isn't NBA standard. Simple as that. As a player, he's probably better than the guys at Scaramento.
Don't tell Ben Wallace or Adonal Foyle that you need to be able to shoot to play in the NBA. Shaq either, for that matter.
There is no logic in that comment... Turkan tried to make it in the NBA as a SF. I think being able to shoot at the SF position is 'slightly' important... And Big Ben and Shaq have a minor bulk advantage also...
