Yao not shooting 20 times is a failure in and of itself. I'm sorry, but for the most part the Rockets are getting him the ball when he is open. Now it is not Yao's fault that he is double teamed without the ball making it nearly impossible to get it to him. But just saying he should get 20 shots a game is not reasonable. You have to base it off the defense. Bottom line is that if a team wants to take Yao out of the game they can. We need the other players to step up and hit shots in that situation(Steve and everyone elses fault) and we need Yao to get better at getting in good position to take the ball(Yao's fault)
I am so pleased to hear these imbeciles say they wouldn't trade Francis. His trade value must still be there. TRADE FRANCHISE YESTERDAY! and his little cat, too. Yao is a keeper. We've got him for the next 3 years. We either make that investment pay off or bust it. We already know Franchise and little Cat and Taylor and Cato can't do squat. Given. Send them all packing. Keep only players that can complement Yao. If he busts, it shouldn't be because we pi$$ed away the opportunity watching iso ball while he gets 8-10 shots. That's just moronic. Get Yao shots. Trade the clique.
First, anyone who knows anything about basketball will tell you heigth has almost no relationship to rebounding. If you disagree, talk to Charles Barkley. 25 boards per 48 minutes is a joke right? That's .52 rebounds for every minute on the court. No one in NBA history has approached that absurd number. Here's the NBA leading rebounders per minute for the past six seasons: 03 - Wallace...0.39 02 - Duncan...0.31 01 - Wallace... 0.38 00 - Mutombo...0.39 99 - Mutombo...0.33 98 - Rodman...0.42 Yao is currently the 21st best rebounder per 48 minute in the league. Erick Dampier is having a career year and gets a grand total of 3.7 more boards per 48 minutes.... .36 boards per minute. Perhaps you need to re-think the 25 boards per 48 minutes. Highly unrealistic. Especially for a team that only averages 76 FGA's per game and holds their opponents to a similar number.
Agree...somewhat. Yao is doing the right thing 75% of the time by passing out of double teams. 25% of the time he should be shooting anyways, which may bring his FGA / game average up 2 or 3 shots. Still, though, it seems that if he misses 2 or 3 in a row, he gets little to no looks the rest of the half/game. On the contrary, the other stars on our team almost always have the green light to shoot their way out of a slump, hence your Steve Francis 3-17 games or your Cuttino Mobley 5-18 games. On some levels, it seems that Yao needs to want it more. On other levels, it seems that the team needs to let it happen more. Per Steve...I don't see how this team ever wins a championship with him at the PG spot, which means he has to go. Making the playoffs is an improvement, but not the ultimate goal.
I think the Rockets don't need a very talented point guard, but he needs to be a dead-eye shooter. I think there are plenty of white point guards coming out of college that fit this bill. They can't jump, but they can shoot and they can pass. They are available for cheap money too, so the extra money can be used for an athletic small forward. That kind of point guard actually benefits from Yao passing it out of double teams because the shots he gets will be much easier. Steve is not that kind of player. He's not Kenny Smith. I don't see the point in having both Steve and Yao on the team because they play two different games. Look at the two best players on the Kings which arguably are Bibby and Miller. Both play the same type of game of pass and shoot. Mavs two best players are Nash and Nowitzki. Both play the same type of game too. Steve and Yao's games conflict directly with each other.
i like how we played in that boston game to, but havent seen it lately. they got yao the ball at the right places. Calivin was going crazy to saying the rockets are learning how to use there big man but now they dont no more.
it's simple..... i'm a Rocket fan & will support all members of the teams roster. as an example, the trade following our 1st championship pi**ed me off. Getting Clyde, a local boy, mayde it easier to swallow but deep down i would almost rather have lost with the original roster. Call it naive loyalty but i felt we owed those guys an opportunity to defend a title they had fought so hard to get. that same sense of loyalty applies to how i feel about Steve. I want him to succeed & achieve "the Quan". He has all the tools to do it. However, that support i give does not change the fact that his game has limitations. He is not a point guard! He's a singleminded thorough bred that can drop 30pts on anyone any night. We need to get someone to manage the game (a young Marc Jackson), move Steve to 2G..... this is the only way we can be successful. Until then we are cheating Steve, Yao & the whole team.
Yeah, let's move him to the 2. It's bad enough every PG has a freakin' career night against him, imagine what larger players are going to do when they see Francis guarding them. We might actually see Wilt's game record broken. Don't a single person bring up Iverson. PLEASE. He's in the East where there aren't dominant big men, or teams. Add the fact that he's quicker(read: actually has a first step) is the reason he can get away with it. And finally, while Around the Horn is entertaining, the majority of the crap they say is either BS, or from ignorance due to not actually watching the games or players as much as possible. There are just too many sports and teams to cover.
I don't necessarily agree with the not trading Steve part, but other than that, what's wrong with that they said? Yao didn't put up as good numbers as before and much less than what he could. If anything that only proves Yao's importance to this team. He plays well, we win, he plays like crap, we lose. Doesn't sound there's any jump in logic to me.
Yeah, let's move him to the 2. where else would his talents be maximized? Preferable would be a taller PG... if not the defensive liabilities may be limited if Yao continues to improve
I strongly disagree. It may the fault of the offensive scheme. But by and large an offense that flows will take what the defense is giving them. That's the way that the Kings play. They move the ball very well, everyone moves well without the ball, and they have the personell to take what the defense gives them and make the other team pay. With the personell and offense that the Rockets run defenses have found that they can deny Yao the ball. So the Rockets correctly do not force it(all that often) and as a result Yao gets fewer shots than some might like. Yao's Stamina and ability to position, as well as his tendency to pass the ball to someone else or turn the ball over before shooting also play a role in why he doesn't get as many shots as we might expect. Yes teammates not passing him the ball when he's open does happen, but it probably is about fourth on the list of reasons as to why he doesn't shoot more.
it's kind of ironic how they say Yao had to be more consistent when the man that they're defending recently had like a 3 game single scoring skid...well basically Francis' whole season has been inconsistent.
