props to Nick and those who agree with the point he has made. surely management is viewing things in this light considering how the team and yao played in this series. yao may one day be that dominant guy that can win a series with any 4 other guys, but he has a ways to go. critical to his assention to that level will be his wind. yao has got to be able to play 35 mins of hard ball if he wants to join that level of centers all of us here want him to. right now he is more smits than dream in terms of effect that he has on the game. i am not hating on yao, but dont use shaq's ppg as your critical stat that shows yao's importance. i'll give yao credit, he's played better than i thought he would against daddy. that being said though, the lakers feed shaq half as much as we do yao and even then it is apparent that shaq is in the twilight of his career. anyway, yao needs to rest over the next couple of months and we need to get a pair of starting forwards.
Yao Ming is not a player to build your franchise around I'm tired of hearing how Yao is going to turn a corner and become so great. Man, Yao pisses me off more then Francis does. Francis is the guy that is playing like a franchise player. Everybody is pointing to the turnover that Francis had in overtime, but it was Yao's weak version of a foul, that everything started to fall apart. Yao is good, don't get me wrong, but he is not a franchise player. The guy is softer than charmin. He's 7'6" and can only manage 7 rebounds. All he has to do is jump just a little and he can average 12 boards a game. He's slow as hell and it looks like he's making his moves in slow motion. He's not gonna carry a team on his shoulders for years like Dream did. Let's just face it, everybody is enamored with his height and that's it. If the Rockets trade Francis this offseason, then I'm off of the Rockets bandwagon.
You are right. Sell Yao when his stock is still high. Rockets need to build around Stevie Franchise. He will bring us rings in on time.
Good riddance ... to bad rubbish. In Yao's defense, you won't find a tougher pair of post defenders than Shaq and Malone. He did his best to set up our shooters, and they didn't make the shots, so we lost. I suspect Yao's decisions reflect JVG's strategy rather well.
Yeah, but Yao usually has his best games against Shaq, and now all of a sudden he's playing like s**t. Besides, the last two games, Malone has been on Yao. All he has to do is get good position on Malone and turn around and shoot because Malone isn't going to block his shot. Van Gundy has been putting Yao in the game while Shaq is on the bench and Yao still plays weak.
If Yao can't dominate two of the toughest if not the strongest defenders in the game, in his second year, then he MUST suck. Sure Yao's been off in the playoffs(16.3/8 on 48% FG) but you can't tell me you expected 20/12 on 55%FG with Shaq and Malone guarding and double teaming him on occasion. Its like everyone expects Yao to be Shaq or Hakeem and if he's not, then he's 'obviously' heartless and doesn't care. Give him a year or so more of weights and conditioning and he'll show you some great numbers, but giving up on him now after all the big adjustments he's trying to make in the NBA is ridiculous.
I don't understand to build a team around such or such player, all the bashing and conflicts started from there. You can never build a championship contender from scratch, even if you put 5 best players on the earth together. Team sport is not working that way. Yes, there are more important cornerstones in a team, no arguement about it. Without MJ, bulls would be no where. Without Shaq and Kobe, there would be no rings for the Lakers. But a winning team is played out and built from scratch. You have your core players, then you have your role players, and more importantly, you have a system to focus on, then you adjust little by little as the games goes on. At the time when your team reaches perfect harmony, every player knows his role and maximize his impact within the system, you have a successful team. To think you can build or buy a champion team is just naive. Ask Massimo Moratti of Inter Milan, for the past 15 years, the billions of dollars he spent, he only bought 1 Italian Serie A championship, and that was after he bought 3 most important pieces from German national team after they won the World Cup. The discussion about building around Yao or SF is just pointless. All we need to do is to let them play their best games at the same time, and modify the role players. We already have a very good team, you want evidence? How many teams in the league can fight against the Lakers like we did? The most important thing for the Rockets is to make sure everyone buy into JVG's system, and stick with it, during bad or good time.
I think everybody is starting to understand now... good Pippen/MJ analogy almu. One thing to point out... when Yao picked up his fifth foul yesterday, this team should have been dead in the water... and WOULD have been had we not had other options. Options are key... especially options that still have the ability to take over a game. Hakeem never had those options... those teams would have been AWFUL without him (even with Clyde). As I said before... build the best TEAM possible (especially by getting a real PF)... not neccsarily around Yao... and if Yao turns out to be the beast we all hope for him to be, than this team will be unstoppable. If not, at least we'll have other options...
Couldn't just post in one of the other threads that talk about this? It would be ideal to contain all of the idiots out there to one simple (minded) thread. http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76740
yeah... i totally agree. and that why it really p.o.s me to read some of these posts. the guys who ever post is about how Yao is another Rik Smits, then when Yao puts up a 14-7, they complain... I mean talk about your self-fulfilling prophesy (or delusion, whatever). it's not even about numbers. yao is the only big man in the NBA that can stand up to shaq. and that's something in itself.
Is that a promise? Great, one less bandwagon fan. For a second year player, Yao has shown glimpses of greatness. Will he become the franchise player who can bring us championships? I don't know but if we give SF 4 years to prove himself, shouldn't we grant Yao the same grace period?
You have to watch the game before you open your mouth. Yao was boxing out whoever he was defending and letting other teammates go for the board more safely. Comparing his heart for winning the game, he don't have that big the ego for the stat.
And what makes me bring this point also is that I think the Lakers ARE LUCKY we don't have guards with more brains. They can't handle the speed and athleticism. Better decisions, you can argue we up 3-1.
Right on... Yes Yao only had 7 rebounds. But Cato also only had 7 rebounds and he played 10 minutes more than Yao. No I am not trying to diss cato to support Yao. Cato is the best rebounder on our team. If your small forward could grab 20 boards in a game, it tells you your big men must have done a good job to box out in the paint. Kudos to Yao and Cato.
First Yao, now the guards...hmmm, who's next? Why don't you complain about JJ or Cato now? Sheesh, you'd think we were world beaters with the high expectations people have of this team. The Rockets are doing exactly what most people thought they would...playing the Lakers tough, but LA ultimately wins it with their experience and smart plays in the clutch. I'm proud of the Rockets, I'm proud of Steve and Yao. This experience is exactly what they need to be champions later.
Before we make conclusion about anything, should we just exam the the situation more, find a better solution? Looking back at Yao's career development, he has never be someone who just steps onto the court, demands to be DA MAN. This has a lot to do with his peronality, and the culture background he inherits, which more prefers to WAIT FOR YOUR TURN, instead of demand for it. But his career also shows that when the time does come, he will have no problem to take over, be the dominating player he could possibly be. So the Rockets have several choice, 1. Trade away Francis, get more quality role players back. This will FORCE Yao to be DA MAN. 2. Keep the current roster, wait for Yao to wait for his turn. This might take a few more years depend how Francis/Mobley/Yao plays out. 3. Trade Francis for another star. #3 is basically the same as #1, except you bet another star will speed Yao's development, which is very unpredicatable #1 is a big gamble, you put your whole organization on ONE guy's shoulder. But look at the Spurs, we could be just as good in couple years. #2 is what we have. We have seen the development so far, but Steve's dominating personality & playing style will not push Yao into the dominating role he should be. Personally, I want to see Yao develop at his own pace, let Steve be the man for one or two more years, UNLESS Steve become a problem in preventing the development of Yao, which I haven't seen it as a conviction yet.
I do think Yao cares about being the number 1 guy for this team. In fact, I think he cares too much. He looks like he’s thinking too much about it on the court. Instead of just playing the game, he’s thinking “I have to make this basket or I’ll let my team down” or “I can’t turn the ball over or I’ll let my team down”. Everyone from Steve to Van Gundy to fans have all appointed Yao "the man" for this team, that I think he afraid to do anything wrong because he feels everything is on him and if he plays badly the team is going to lose.
Blah blah blah blah Why get so agitated Yao, Steve, Van Gundy I do think it is a matter of respect, Yao defering to Steve, but Yao also understands he has a long way to improve and he is not the equal of Steve in experience, knowing how to play NBA style BB, and toughness. Yao coming from China to the NBA has alot of the mental aspect of the NBA game yet to master. He also has alot to learn about how to work the officials, stay out of foul trouble and take better shots. He has to work on his defense (footwork), and his offensive moves will have to improve now that teams are figuring out how to defense him. He has progressed alot. Will he be better than Rick Smitts? He is as good as him now and hopefully the answer will be YES. Will he be The Man on this team? Don't know but I wouldn't expect that to happen for 3-4 more years after he is fully developed as a NBA player. (if he continues to improve and is not injured) No I don't have a problem with him seeing himself as the 3rd option. As long as he improves in the above stated ways then he will be come the 1st option and the leader of the team. If he stays where he is today for the rest of his contract then he was just a 3rd team all NBA center and no more. And that's ok also.
