Choosing the draft over again, I'd probably pick Ming over Amare, but Amare as of now in this season fits ours style of play better then with Ming. Amare moves a bit faster then Ming up and down the court, and can grab ya some boards. I personally think he reminds me of a Power Forward type Kelvin Cato. Cato can dunk like a beast, and grab some boards. Amare does pretty much the same. I just think if Rudy had picked Amare over Ming, we'd have a much more up tempo style of play. Not necessarily a better style of play, but a style of play that our guards had originally grown used to over these lottery years. I'm glad we got Ming, and I do think he deserves to be rookie of the year. I think he's had to endure more with the transition in the NBA, and all the high expectations of him being the #1 Draft pick. I also find him to be a much smarter person, not just basketball wise, but truly more intellectual. I know that people love to say Amare is a guy straight out of high school, but he was 20! He should of been out of highschool at 18 at the very least, so to say he's a man child seems absurd. I know some players in college that are age 20 that have bodies comparable to Amare's, and games that are more well rounded to boot. I do like Amare's agressiveness though, but I just find him right now in his career to be pretty dumb and 1 dimensional in style. Ming's done so much so well, not only in basketball, but outside of it as well. He's fundamentally sound, has a good mid range game, alters shots that don't show up on the stat sheet, and makes his teammates better. The big key being he makes his teammates better. Amare doesn't really do that. I also find Ming's road to stardom to be much more difficult then Amares. Both will be great players, but Ming's better in my opinion. Also I'd just like to say Amare isn't strictly the reason that the Suns have a better record then lsat year. When Penny Hardaway was healthy, the Suns were on fire. He played point forward, while Marbury wouldn't have to worry about contributing the ball to his teammates. He could focus on scoring more often then not. If you really want to look at the decline of the Suns season, then look no further then when Penny Hardaways season was ended. People have figured out Amare, and that's why the Suns are on the decline. Simple as that.
This is such an old topic, Yao himself doesn't care about ROY. As long as rox makes the playoff , as long as Yao bring us the rings in the future, as long as rox gets better and better as a team.........
when i said he is doing he was doing little better than amare it is common sense to assume he has some skills smartass. ill try to clear stuff up like that in the future for peeps like ya. about my grammer are you grading this???
Um no. What you just said has absolutely 0 merit towards your argument. Claiming Yao is Chinese has some skills and claiming he is getting news coverage because he has Chinese and has skills are two very different things. Let me summarize for you. You said: the "dude" from China, Yao Ming is only getting media recognition because he's Chinese and he doesn't deserve it. (Remember what you said earlier? "If you think yao desereves the attention your blind. he is getting everything because of his race".) I said: Yes. He's getting recognition because he's Chinese AND his playing probably warrants him rookie of the year. You said: No. I think he plays only a little better than Amare even though I also think Amare is making a bigger impact on his team. I said: So now you change your stance around and bring in skills Don't try to change your stance around because I remember exactly what you said. You never brought in skills in your earlier posts and now you're trying to make a 180 degree turnaround. In any case, arguing about the media is a moot point. No matter what it comes down to, media or no media, Yao probably deserves ROY for what he has done. Do you really think without the media, Yao won't win ROY? And again, about your grammar, you lose credibility with your posts. Its kind of like arguing with a 10 year old.
Very well said. I also think amare somehow plays like Cato too. He fits the current style of Rox better than Ming. When Rox picked Ming as the first draft, I don't think they really studied him well. They were not prepared to make a big change in the team after bringing him in. They expected Ming to be another dream after a few seasons and play like Rox used to play in the 90's. When Ming showed his talent just after a few games and became a start up, old plan was broken. The coaches were confused and the players were confused. They were just not prepared for that. I still think they don't have a clue how to reframe the team now. Maybe next season they will. If the team is still look like this next season, I would really doubt about the coaching ability of Rudy. T.
I've been reading this post(actually the first three pages or so, then i got bored), and here's what I think (not like it matters). The ROY SHOULD go to the player who's team that makes the playoffs. But I read a poll which showed that out of the 26 all star voters, 18 would chose Amare right now, and 5 Yao (3 undecided) even with Amare's team in a slump. I think it WILL be Amare because Yao is a International player, etc. Last year Pau Gasol HAD to get it b/c noone else was even close, but im sure DEEP down the voters despised giving it to him. As for the future, Amare has the physical tools of a Shawn Kemp, but he'll probably take 4 years or so (ala Jermaine O'neal) to reach that kind of stardom. But Shawn Kemp is his cieling, and remember, Kemp had a great jumper and range all the way out to the 3 pt line. And Kemp ALWAYS was a good defender, so dont say Amare's defense sucks cuz he's a teen (which he's not). Hell, EG was a relatively good defender at 19. Yao, on the other hand, will probably reach stardom (if he hasn't already done so) probably by next year. With a little respect from officials and weight training (work with Moses Malone perhaps?), he could easily average 20-10 next yr or close to it. Thats my thought, and I'm sure I wont get any response since my posts usually kill threads
It's really obvious why Kobe and Shaq both pick Amare over Yao. First of all, Kobe even admits he's become friends with Yao, so it's hardly surprising he'd pick his friend over Yao. Also, it's well known that Amare idolizes Shaq, so it's hardly surprising that Shaq supports his young protege. But the main reason has to do with the notion of the supremecy of "American" basketball. A lot of American players seem threatened by the influx of foreign players and seem to go out of their way to dog foreign players. Toni Kukoc got the same treatment after being hyped when he entered the league. Now that it's clear that the rest of the world can play ball (as evidenced by the World Championships), it seems like a lot of American players are circling their wagons and becoming really defensive. There's a great article about this in ESPN magazine. They quote Rafer Alson, a formerly hyped phenom. "In the U.S., we get told we're better than we are. From 12 years old, someone's telling you you're the greatest thing that ever walked, and you end up believing it. Over there (other countries), they're telling them to get better and listen to their coaches."
Just some stats to show Yao's consistency lately: Avg last 7 games after the all star break: 17.4pts 9.5rbn 2.4ast Avg in his last 14 games: 16.9pts 9.5rbn 2.5ast That is consistency -G'day-
Interesting. Hmmm, they could be buttering him up for a future trade to the Lakers. Know what I mean?
Martin doesn't have the body and explosiveness Amare has though. BTW, for us to use 173 posts here to discuss a rival player on our forum isn't already a big enough tribute to that player in itself? We shouldn't do that.
SuperS32, Just want to give you some prop. I didn't know about the all star players voting and Yao only got 5 votes. By any chance, how many international players are there in the all star game?
Why do you have to spend time on Yao's popular media attention? The guy is the first #1 draft NOT from a US bball system. People want to find out why he was better than any other local players. That alone should generate enough media attention. Plus, he is such a skilled player for his height, it's a refresh for the media & the fans to see a different style of playing. Being Chinese is not a big fact since there were other Chinese players before him.
It is not totally about the Amare kid. It is about Shaq and Kobe, two superstar jealous about the attention Yao got. Understandably, Shaq is not happy becuase of the all-star voting, although he doesn't admit, he use this as a chance to say "Yao is not good". For Kobe, he came out of high school, and he has a bias towards Amare, another highschool kid. Let's face the fact, Amare did not play well in the games against Lakers, and what is the chance that Shaq and Kobe watched enogh games of Yao and Amare to make a conclusion? I bet they haven't watched more than 5 games each. Given that, how can they say "it is not close?" I smell jealousy. Kobe is lightyears from becoming next MJ who has always been graceful. I guess COLLEGG EDUCATION does make a difference.
