huh? "what we have here...is a failure to communicate..." i guess we misunderstood each other on this one... i thought you were referring to the asian people in the past criticizing the nba as street ballers, but now being upset because people are stereotyping asian ballplayers.
oh! ok... imo, the nba claims to be (and probably is) the best basketball in the world because of the combination of skill and entertainment...and the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. the base thought (not that i agree with it) is that the "athlete" beats the "fundamentalist", imo. the thinking is that the "flash"/"athlete" has the fundamentals down to the point that they can get creative and flashy with it. like i said, i don't agree with it, but i think that's the answer to your question....
i don't recall ever saying anything like that or anybody saying that. and the only people who think the nba is a bunch of street ballers are the people who only watch the rockets play. the rockets play one on one. that is the style of ball played on the playground. that's a fact. last time i checked, playgrounds were not for black people only. one on one style of play is not effective in the nba unless you're kobe or jordan, as it should be a team game.
The NBA is where the best basketball players in the world play. I have no idea what you mean by "real" basketball. More "flash" than substance? If you're talking about dunking, LeBron James can do more than just dunk. He's incredible handling the ball and has very good passing touch. Dunking is not just flash. If Yao would learn to dunk more, he would be able to dominate instead of getting his shots blocked. Your teammates, opposing players, and the refs respect you when youre aggressive. That also means less players will challenge your shots and more free throws. Dunking gives the player and the team, a psychological edge. It pumps up your crowd and silences the opposing fans. These are nuances that Yao will learn.
Few true centers is not equal to centers being less important. Actually it even makes having a true center more valuable and beneficial. See Shaq's dominance of scrubs. Also no one, I mean NO ONE would draft a great dominant guard (yes even someone as great as Jordon, arguably the best player ever) over a great dominant center (in the class of Shaq, Kareem and Wilt). Hell we even drafted Hakeem over Jordon. With hindsight, do you regret that? I know I don't.
Someone suggested that one of the reasons James got more good press than Yao was because he's flashy and Yao wasn't. I was just responding to that statement as I thought that the sport of basketball was not about flash.
the media is about flash. it doesnt matter whether the sport is about it or not, because the NBA today is driven by the media.
Wow! That's one of the most intelligent post I have read for a while. There is absolutely no way that US highschool basketball is superior to Chinese pro ball. Therefore you've got to give Amare credits for making transitions from high school to NBA -- he had a better first year than Kobe, KG and Tmac. If you think Chinese pro ball is so bad (BS like "Yao competing aginst players 2 feet shorter than him") then Yao Ming's dominance in CBA shouldn't have counted. Therefore trading Yao for Bron just might be an excellent idea. You can't have it both ways.
Did you ever watch Pistol Pete Maravich? There have always been flashy players who have been great basketball players. There have also been flashy players that suck. LeBron James is not Jason Williams.
pgabriel, ok. i know it's late in the day and i'm tired...but i fail to see how i got called out. if you're implying that i am one of the ones who complained about the nba being labeled as street ballers but am now offended by the asian stereotypes, well...you're just wrong. no other way to put it. personally, i think the nba DOES have some streetballers AND some great fundamentally sound players, too. i also think that there are some asians that can ball, some indians that can ball, some mexicans that can ball, some puerto ricans, some saudis, etc.... basically, i think you're barking up the wrong tree...
I didn't say it was you, I was just reacting to your sarcasm, and if I feel that some of those posts had racial implications so be it, if yours didn't don't worry about it. I would just like to point out to you a posts from a thread earlier in the day and tell me it didn't have racial implications behind it. "Yao has class. Amare smokes grass. Yao is the hope of a nation. Amare is the hope of a thug neighborhood. Yao has won already won a championship is his country. Amare cant even get out of the 1st round in his country. Yao is a pure shooter(b-ball). Amare is a pure shooter(8-ball a glock & a 40 ounce). Yao has alot of character and shares his wealth with his country. Amare is simply another character w/ a thug mentality to get rich in the NBA. dont want to sound judgemental, but what th hell why not." Now you tell me what that meant since I'm barking up the wrong tree. If you don't believe me its on the fifth page of the AP Report: Stodemire to win rookie honor thread.
poll: who would you rather watch? lebron or yao? i would rather watch lebron. truth be told, dunking is what makes basketball exciting. and lebron is a great passer. the only problem for lebron is there is more competition at the position he will play whether that be point guard, shooting guard, or small forward. yao is a decent player and because he plays center and there is so little competition at that position, he would be more valuable probably. BUT IF YOU WERE TO DRAFT ONE, YOU DRAFT LEBRON UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET KILLED AND CRITICIZED IN THE MEDIA. People watch basketball to be entertained and i think everybody agrees that Lebron is more entertaining. Flash is what makes the nba interesting. why do you think more people watch basketball than baseball? Which is more likely to make the espn top 10 plays of the day? a dunk over a 7 footer by a 6 foot 8 guy or a simple pass out of the post for the open three pointer. why do you think hakeem got less hype than jordan? yao's not hakeem and he'll never be on hakeem's level, but he has a chance to play better than 90% of the guys at his position. amare's a great player as well, and even though he acts like a jerk. if he were on the rockets or my other lottery team, he'd be my favorite player. arrogance like his, is only bad when he plays on another team. getting back to the topic: yes, i would trade yao. as for pgabriel's racial concerns "Amare is the hope of a thug neighborhood....... ", nobody in the media would dare say that about amare. an idiot on this forum can say whatever they want. but the media could never get away with that. but the stereotypes on yao, the media can get away with. there is a difference. and that's what they call a double standard. not that i'm complaining or anything. the discussion wasn't about discrimination in society, but double standards and discrimination in the media. before the draft, newspapers and tv media laughed at yao and said the guy is just an overgrown chinese delivery boy or someone who makes them egg rolls and dumplings or whatever. the media can not stereotype amare in the newspaper and diss him on tv with an ethnic stereotype like they can with yao.
Have you actually watched him play? Have you watched how many layups he gets for his teammates? Also, he's bigger than TMac already and he's only 18. That was at 17. Also don't dis passing skills. Aren't you one of the people that go all ga-ga when Yao makes a over the head pass. If passing doesn't mean anything then I never want to hear you mention Yao's passing again. And he would have been the first pick last year because even if the Rockets perferred Yao, they could have traded LeBron for Yao and Crawford. Also, about Carmelo Anthony...
Let me chip in my two cents: Oh hell yes you can have it both ways by saying the level of the CBA is at the same level of the US high schools. ----------------------------------------------------------- Food for thought on the LeBron hype, despite being described as a combo of MJ and Magic, James didn't dominate the high school competition like Amare and DeJuan Wagner did. Wagner once scored 100 in a game and Amare, I heard, did the same thing. What's the best score for LeBron on the other end? Has he cracked the 50 mark yet?
i'm guilty of debating all the possibilities too.... but i just wanna say. you ever step outside of cc.net and think.... damn, we have a rookie center who is at LEAST, the 3rd best center in the league. that seems like a done and done situation. the hardest spot to fill is filled. How many power forwards are as good or better than the ROY? 12? I don't know, theres a ton. Lets chill with Yao, and try to fill another spot like PF or PG or HC or whatever! so, my vote is no, i wouldn't trade for yao unless it was for one of those quasi centers like KG or Duncan. I'm a betting man. Yao holds good odds. I'm gonna sit on this bet for about 6 years, I'll follow up on this post then!
Lebron James??!?! You would trade Yao for Lebron??!!! Lebron is just as unproven as the next high school kid coming into the NBA. For that matter, I think Carmello Anthony is a much solid player than Lebron. Lebron may have talent, but he's not proven yet to play in the big leagues.
YEA SO THE MEDIA ARE ALL A BUNCH OF RACIST REDNECK SONSOFBITCHES. F@#K EM. ITS EASIER TO PICK ON THE ASIAN GUY INSTEAD OF THE BLACK GUY CAUSE HE DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT U ARE SAYIN. THEY CAN ALL BURN FOR ALL I CARE.
THANK YOU. FINALLY ! JAMES IS AN UNPROVEN HIGHSCHOOL KID. HE HAS PLAYED AGAINST NOBODY. SO WHAT HE DROPPED 50 POINTS ON SOME HIGHSCHOOL TEAM. THAT DONT MEAN ANYTHING. THIS KID IS GETTING TOO MUCH HYPE FOR A GUY THAT HAS NOT PLAYED ONE SINGLE NBA GAME. HE IS A HIGHSCHOOL PLAYER FOR GOD'S SAKE. IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE A BUST. I GAURANTEE YOU, NONE OF THOSE ESPN BASTARDS WHO SAID HE IS GONNA BE THE NEXT JORDAN OR KOBE WOULD EVEN ADMIT TO THEIR MISTAKE. JUST LIKE ALOT OF THEM NEVER ADMITTED THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT YAO MING BEING A COMPLETE BUST.
