Also, Yao's the rookie leader in double doubles by one of Amare and the season isn't done yet so who knows who will lead in that category.
I agree. They should build around Yao Ming...which is already what they are doing. But can he get better? And Francis is not leaving. I don't want him to. I hope we could find some way to keep him. We don't need awesome power forwards...Karl Malone or PJ Brown or Antonio Davis or anyone could do. Just big, strong, muscular, tall, and can shoot. Eddie should leave if he can. Small forwards...I like Posey. But he needs to improve shooting. Mobley...trade him away for some good player. We can sign some shooters for MLE like Eric Piatkowski or Voshon Lenard or Jon Barry. Francis...he should stay. But it would be nice to get another point guard. Andre Miller? He hasn't done that well this season...But Jason Williams could be good. Somehow get Andre. Juwan Howard wouldn't be bad. No one will be offering $20 million anymore... First. We need an offensive system. And we need to design everything around Yao.
so you're saying it took his entire career and he still couldn't match a rookie's stats in rebounding. how impressive. and at the end of his career, he probably got a bunch of fake rebounds in a game a la ricky davis style to pad his stats. in case you don't notice, the guy's rebounding stats in his rookie year are 2 below yao's. that's a pretty big difference and yao plays with a point guard who rebounds better than smits. how many rebounds would yao have if he didn't let francis just take his rebounds. also factor in the fact that yao has dramatically improved his rebounding from earlier in the season which shows he has the potential to improve. in his first game against the lakers, he shot 9-9 , but only had around 6 rebounds i think. later on in the week, he grabbed 16 or 17 rebounds against shawn bradley. he obviously is a better rebounder than rik smits ever was. so it took yao about a week into his rookie year to accomplish what rik smits accomplished only once in his entire pathetic nba career. plus yao has had multiple 16-18 rebound games this season under a tougher rule system than the one rik smits played under and scored more than rik smits under a tougher defensive rule system than the one he played under. you say high school kids are not fully physically developed at 18. what do you call yao ming's skinny body frame? i call that room for improvement and a need for extra protein. yao coming from china where most of the players have their rib cage showing is just a matter of lack of nutrition. lack of protein in a mainly vegetable diet. unlike shawn bradley, yao ming can gain weight and has stronger legs which is the basic foundation he needs to build himself into a strong player. even though yao is not a high school player, he's not old either. he's only around 22. amare is not the typical high school player either being 3 years older than most high school graduates. he's at least 20 and possibly 21 now. he's a college graduate by that age if he didn't switch through so many hs. yao is a raw athlete right now who never lifted weights before coming to the nba. i'm pretty sure even high school kids lifted weights. i know i did. the way you say how yao is maybe a little better than rik smits is ridiculous. rik smits makes yao ming, a scrub by my standards look like hakeem olajuwon. i don't even need to list the reasons why yao is better than rik smits this season because yao ming has already shown he's better than rik smits has ever been in his entire career. true, yao sucks in my opinion at least. true, i could probably dunk on yao. but he's still better than rik smits.
Can't expect him to come into the NBA and dominate like Hakeem did. Yao is still getting adjusted to the NBA, just like every foreign player. It's the same situation with high schoolers. He was supposed to be a huge project that would take at least 3 seasons. Has there ever been a foreigner that's come straight to the NBA and dominated? If Hakeem came into the NBA directly from Nigeria, the way Yao has come directly from China, I have a hard time believeing he would be as dominant as he was in his rookie season. Yao's case is much more similar to Dirk Nowitzki than it is to Hakeem.
It's pretty lame to compare Hakeem to Yao, in order to undermine Yao's potential. They are different type of players. Yao is a structured and complete offensive player. He has a more balanced approach on offense than Hakeem did. Individually, he might not become as dominant as Hakeem. Teamwise, Yao can help the team as much as Hakeem helped his team, with his better ability to see, pass and make plays, that is, to get easy points for himself and his teammates through better interaction. Basketball is a team game, the ultimate player is the one that gets the most out of his peers. In this sense, Yao is the perfect guy to build the team around, in a point center kind of way. Hakeem was a freak, but he made his points and assists in a hard way, he fight individually for most of them. Yao will provide better interaction between him and his teammates than Hakeem did. The success of a Yao team would depend more on the team side, whereas the success of a Hakeem team would depend on the individual dominance side. On the heart and desire part, Yao expressed that he was used to touch the ball everytime back in China and he's used to it. Yao is a rhythm player. He doesn't need to shoot it, but to touch the ball and make decisions with it to bring out the best of him. Yao desires the ball. That's not the case on the Rockets, when Yao sets a pick he seldom gets the ball back. We know Yao doesn't back down from no one, but it's kind of depressing to play in an gamewise unfriendly environment. Mo Taylor said, on the outside Yao is a giant but Yao is just a kid inside. Most important of all, Yao doesn't seem to view himself as a leader on the Rockets right now. Yao thinks he is a role player. Yao is fully aware of Francis as the No.1 option with No.2 option Mobley being discontent at an emerging Yao. To expect Yao to take over games and will the team to win in order to prove his agressiveness is lacking in understanding of the team infrastructure. Yao willed his team to win in CBA finals, he shot 21-21 in a game. Don't try to downplay the significance of CBA finals, winning the CBA championship was the passport for Yao's NBA career. With the team side of basketball settled, let's look at Yao's individual part of the game. Yao is definitely going to become a 20-10 player, like Alonzo Mourning, but with better skills. Whether he can improve from that is contigent on body conditioning, developing a better jump hook and killer moves, a suitable system and teammates that's built to bring the best part out of him - Hakeem had to work his a$$ off for every single point, whereas Yao can score points off pick and pop. None of those factors can be said unattainable at present. We'll wait and see. To sum it up, it's nothing wrong to build around a mix of the height of Mark Eaton/ passing of Gary Payton/ skills of Tim Duncan/ production of Alonzo Mourning with better upside/ clutchness of Kobe Bryant/ court vision of an eagle/ smartness of Barkley/ calm demeanor of Hakeem, in other words, it's nothing wrong to build around Yao Ming.
You talking about Yao Ming or the Wonder Twins? Yao does have the height ot Mark Eaton Yao cannot pass like Gary Payton ie his 1.6 assists per game If Yao does have the skills of Tim Duncan he's should feel free to whip those out and let us see them Yao will never be as good a rebounder, shotblocker, or finisher as Zo If Yao really had the clutchness of Kobe, we would be in the playoffs Court vision of an eagle - LMAO Smartness of Barkley - LMAO Calm demeanor of Hakeem - with none of the warrior's fire This is the NBA and nothing, I repeat nothing comes easy. People study what you do where you like to get the ball what your tendencies are and they scheme them. That's why it comes down to individual dominant talent to win championships. If Yao were a more complete offensive player than Hakeem, we would be in the playoffs. Offense is about getting two points on the board and there simply is no comparison. Yao stop whining about needing to touch the ball all the time. Try mixing in a few rebounds and blocks. try to impact the game in some positive way even if your offensive game isn't going well. Believe it or not, Yao is no the first Center that was a good passer. Vlade is an excellent passer, Sabonis too. Shaq is a good passer. Yeah, I know Yao willed his team to a win in the epic CBA finals and shot 21 of 21 in a game. I shot 30 of 30 against my little brother one time but that doesn't make me a dominant NBA scorer. It just means my little brother sucks. I hate that this is turning into me ragging on Yao because that wasn't my intention but posts like this one that implay that Yao will be a combination of Wilt, Magic, Jordan, and Bird drive me nuts. The guy is a good center that's it.
Well, sorry if I drove you nuts, but you are really nuts to credit Yao's 21-21 in pro league with some ex NBA talents solely to the level of competition without giving any credit to Yao's agressiveness. Yao can make passes that Gary Payton can't make because of his soft touch, height and ability to see over other players. Yao is a smart player, he plays and adjusts. A response like LMAO doesn't diminish Yao's BB intelligence. It just makes you look stupid. Yao's skills are often compared to Tim Duncan's. Only those with selective memory refuses to see it. Yao will never be a rebounder, shot blocker and finisher like Zo? Are you saying that after practice a future prediction magic words learned in a Harry Potter movie? well Zo will never have Yao's touch, range, bulk and height either. If Yao have Kobe's clutchness then we'll be in the playoffs? LMAO. You think Yao should be responsible for making the playoffs just because he can make clutch shots? Calm demeanor doesn't equal to lack of fire. Real fire burns inside. Tim Duncan was criticized for lacking of "fire" in the his earlier years. Yao is a more complete offensive player than Hakeem. That's a fact. Isiah Thomas was no way more dominant than Hakeem, but he has a more complete offensive game. Not only he could score individually, he helped his other teammates to score, and Thomas didn't win less rings than Dream! Finally, Yao is not just a good center, he is a good center with superstar potential.
Then why did he only average 1.6 assists per game this year? Or those with cable TV I think that if he had Kobe's clutchness, the games against the Blazers and Jazz would have been a good time to show it. Crack kills - just say no... All I care about is effectiveness, and Hakeem was a way more effective offensive player than YM.
Panda Excellent! excellent!! post. Please save this to your archive for future reference. Very well put and poignant IMO. If not for your girlfriend I would have given you my sister for a job well done. Oh well.....
Juugie,your wrong. 1.Yao IS more effective than Hakeem. Look at the field goal %. Case closed. 2.Yaos teammates arent as good shooters as lewis/barry/radman so thats why his assists were low. Also,the offense doesnt run through ming 100% like it did with payton. 3.its obvious your a sun fan. Every single one of your posts is intended to shun peoples respect for ming. Your posts kinda clone Charles V and slinsin. 4.WHy do you expect to make rocket fans like ming less by putting down ming? Dont you know thats not going to work. Ming KICKED amares but this year head to head. Just look at the last two sun/rocket games when the season was coming down to the wire. Where was your boy Amare when the rockets were dominating in Phoenix? Stupid Magic Johnson,says "look at amares great stats",if that doesnt show what a r****d magic johnson is ,nothing will. At the moment he says that,the screen is showing mings stats better than amares,and they didnt even show the MOST important stat,field goal% which ming beats out amare again. Take away marion ,and amare would be tripled teamed like ming.I cant understand what timmy is talking about,I watched the game,amare wasnt tripled most of the game.Duncan was to busy tanking being scared to face ming in the first round. Since Amare cant hit the backside of a barn if his life depended on it,he wouldnt score. I have watched about 20 suns games this year,amare will never be better than another shawn kemp. He will not be hakeem,or shaq,and when his contract is up in that sandy air desert,he is headed to chi-town or La after shaq retires.
Because he's a ROOKIE CENTER in a DEFUNCT system. Or those with Yao hating complex. There's 82 games in a season. Not just two. Yao has proved himself enough that Taylor said Yao is a big time player and the ball should go to him in crunch time. Rice thinks Yao is gonna be the next big thing. I'll give you that, but I'm content on the prospect of winning just one ring, if you get my drift. Chill. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fegwu, lol, that's very kind of you. She'd better be a Yao fan as well or there might some domestic violence in the future... j/k.
1.Yao IS more effective than Hakeem. Look at the field goal %. Case closed. Funniest thing I have seen on here yet!!!
one thing..... until Yao learn how to play this PHYSICAL NBA game the way it is suppose to play, he wun really be the Superstar..... having said that, I think Yao Ming do have the ability to be the most dominant center after Shaq..... but seriously, being a finesse center wun bring u anywhere..... even Hakeem with all the sweet moves is indeed REALLY PHYSICAL with every players.....
If Yao wasnt in Hou, noone would compare him to Hakeem. Hak was a center at 6"10. Had all the skills of a All Star SF. And would of prob won 2 champs at SF. But center is where he played his carrer at, and proved to be 1 of the all time greats, cause he had skills of a SF and SG. Hak was also one of the best centers at stripping the ball away(steals) there has been. Yao will be a good center, maybe great, but no one will ever be like Hakeem, or have all the skills like he did, at center. Yao, has to take charge if he wants the ball. What the rockets need is a 2 combo guard like Alvin willams of raptors. He would make a perfect fit. Eddie Griffen Will be fine at PF. Steve will be ok at PG/SG if we get a combo guard. Build around steve and yao and griffen prob. Just not 1 player. You need 2 Stars and 1 very close to it, to win any champs these days. Other then Lakers of course. But as always theres excpetions to the rule.
Yao Ming FG% 503 Hakeem Olajuwon FG% 538 - rookie season Hakeem Olajuwon FG% 512 - career case closed How many times has Yao faced a triple team? I've seen him get occaisionally doubled but not hardly ever tripled - and he has never, ever faced the triple and quadruple teams that Hakeem faced. He has never been collapsed upon as hard every single time he touched the ball like Dream, so stop saying stupid stuff like Yao is a better or more complete offensive player. The Rockets were the worst team in the league before Hakeem got there. He lead them to the playoffs his rookie year and to the finals his second year. The truth is everyone was touting Yao as ROY for the first half of the season, but on the second and third time around the league, teams started to see that he was soft and the only thing you needed to do limit his effectiveness was push him around and be physical with him. Respect for him around the league started to drop a little. Everyone thinks he will be a very good possibly great player, but if you went to any NBA GM or coach and told him this crap about Yao being a better, more effective and complete offensive player than Hakeem, they would laugh their asses off. Anyone that's had to play or coach against the dream would think you are insane. And by the way, I am a Rocket fan through and through. I've watched or listened to 95% of the games starting with the 84-85 season. I remember when you couldn't watch the homes games unless you had HSE which was expensive so you had to huddle around your radio and let mean Gene Petersen lead the way - "How Sweet It Is!!!" I've seen how much work and sweat and desire and detrermination goes into winning a championship. I know that it takes your best player sometimes taking on five other guys but refusing to let his team lose - refusing to give up so much as a layup or a rebound. I've seen the warrior turn some of the greatest teams in history - the Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls into jump shooting teams because they knew they could not get anything inside while he was there. I saw him take on every challenge at the rim and send them back. I saw him so tired he had to hold himself up on the nets during time outs only to come right back and block two, three shots just a couple of minutes later or grab key rebounds and put them in. I saw him tell teammates that couldn't hold their men to just send him to him. I saw him get physically hacked every single time down and rarely get a foul called so instead of being limited he learned to score even while being bumped and pushed. I saw him as a young man block Jabbar's sky hook multiple times - a shot that was supposedly unblockable. I saw him do whatever it took to secure a championship for us even if included going out to the three point line to block an attempt by John Starks who had gotten red hot. I saw him pummel a superiorly talented Phoenix team to death with his unrelenting dominance inside. I saw him take the second best center in the league - and top fifty player in history - and abuse him so badly for a six game stretch that David Robinson's reputation never recovered. I saw him game after game carry the Rockets down the stretch to pull out wins for them not because he was selfish but becuase he was the leader of the team and he knew it was his job. I understand that you are caught up in Yao mania, but before you try to casually put that mantle of being equal with The Great One, understand the truly unbelieveable level of dominance, courage, determinantion and dignity that he embodied. And as one who witnessed it and is forever grateful to have been given a chance to watch him play night after night, I will not allow you to so easily dismiss him, and if Yao Ming wants to sit on that throne he will have to raise up his game and heart several several notches, be excellent over many years, and prove that his name deserves to be even mentioned along with Olajuwon's. I will not let you tarnish his legacy. For we as Rocket fans should never, ever forget. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. And never ever estimate my loyalty to my team. Even after the Steve Francis's and Yao Ming's are no longer with this team I will still wear it's color and follow it. Bring it.
The funniest thing I have seen on here is that you said Amare carried his team to VICTORY by defeating KG at the end of december.
If the Rockets really want to build around Yao Ming, then they'll have to trade Steve. Obviously it won't happen this offseason because of Steve's BYC status, but eventually Steve will have to go if the Rockets truely want to focus on Yao. Steve just isn't as effective when he's not the first scoring option. They seem to get along on and off the court, but they're not compatible long term...
