I love Yao Ming...even more after reading the SI article posted by HayesFan But I gotta admit. I'm an idiot. When the Rockets had the first pick in 2002, I really wanted Jason (JAY) Williams. Williams was had potential. He could shoot. He could defend. He was quick and not to mention, he was clutch. I thought a francis/williams backcourt would be really fun to watch... I know it's not fair to judge Jason Williams's because of the motorcycle crash, but I don't think he'd turn out to be as dominating as Yao. In 2002, I wanted no part of Yao...7'6 and from China (his best competition are players like Menge Bateer)....I just didn't think he was gonna be good. Especially since I had never seen him play. All I saw of Yao Ming before the draft was his workout tape of him airballing a three and dominating Curtis Borchardt under the basket. Bottom line: I'm an idiot...I'm not realizing this now. I realized I was an idiot after Yao's rookie season, but I just wanted to see how many people wanted Jay Williams over Yao in 02...
Hell yea. The only other two times that got me this excited was the first championship and the acquisition of T-Mac.
I wanted Yao for sure. I remember seeing Williams brick up a bunch of free throws in clutch time during college and knew he wouldn't be crap.
wow....9 to 1 i guess im the only idiot on this board...i hope nobody eats me alive...cmon the guy is 7'6...before yao, manute bol, shawn bradley, and gheorge muerson are 7'6 players who come to mind...muerson 7'7
Yes Indeed I was and the first to do so!! There were so many posters shooting me down!!! I was the one who had the eye for talent!!
You don't have to call yourself idiot. Only good coaches/scouts could see his potential at that time, and that was very risky too. Being a Chinese myself, the highest expectation I had on him at that time was Tony Kukoc
I'm not going to vote because I was *gasp* not much of a Rockets fan at the time. The combination of the letdown after Hakeem, Clyde, and Charles were gone and the fact that I was off at college resulted in some distance for me leading up to 2002. I just started to get interested again during Yao's first season, so I didn't really have an opinion on the draft...but I remember seeing his draft video on TNT (or TBS...whichever covered it) and being impressed.
I wouldn't have drafted him #1 overall back then and that's why I'm the keyboard jockey and others will do all the real work.
me too...if the rockets didnt want jay williams, i wanted them to trade down and get caron butler...at the time i thought he was the 2nd best player in the draft
I woldn't have draft Yao as #1 pick because he was just one big stiff giant. I remember saying back then, Yao was like a slim stick that can breakdown anytime. Well, that's why I'm just a fan sitting at home watching CD and the rest pick Yao.
Close but...damn, that 2000 NBA Draft class easily takes the cake. 1 Kenyon Martin (PF) 2 Stromile Swift (PF/C) 3 Darius Miles (SF/SG) 4 Marcus Fizer (PF) 5 Mike Miller (SF/SG) 6 DeMarr Johnson (SG/SF) 7 Chris Mihm (C/PF) 8 Jamal Crawford (SG) 9 Joel Przybilla (C) 10 Keyon Dooling (SG) But back to Yao, wasn't much of a Rockets fan then, but even I could tell the logic of drafting Yao before Williams. 7'6 guy with touch, agility and solid post moves and good handles? Hook me up to that. Sure, Yao looked like a stick back then, but upper body conditioning is one of the easiest things to improve in the NBA.
