Well, maybe Yao just needs to do that. Maybe he needs to risk that creating that kind of tension. Look at Shaq and Kobe. Okay, before you all laugh, look at the three rings they won. Did you notice that during all three champion runs, they were at each other's throats, because both had the determination to dominate the court. It's that determination and attitude that made them take it out on the opposing team on the court. If Shaq rolled over like a wuss and said, "Okay, Kobe, you the man. I'll defer to you. You run the team" would the Lakers have won those three championships. OF COURSE, NOT! Shaq, instead, said to Kobe, "Look, dude, you got skills, but you need me, and I don't care what you say, I'm going to do what I need to do and you're not going to stop me" and behold: Shaq (during those three years) tore **** up. Sure, he bickered with Kobe the entire way, but whether Kobe realizes or not, if Shaq hadn't stepped out and been so stubborn to keep up with his game, they wouldn't have won the ring. You have to be somewhat egocentric to get things done. Francis is hella good, but he's not THAT KIND of offensive option to carry his team. Yao is. Yao needs to get a little more egocentric. Granted, I don't want him to become egomaniacal, but he needs to be less self-effacing. That attitude may make him a media darling, but in the long run, it'll hinder his accomplishments. Trust me. Yao has two choices. He can choose to become the next David Robinson (a talented center who limited himself with his soft attitude) or the next Tim Duncan (a guy who guys out there and puts the kids to sleep and then hard-*****s the prom-queen wife). The latter gets the points, gets the MVP trophies, and gets the rings. Yao's charming chagrin is stuff for the media, for the interviews, for the all-star game, for the commercials--he needs to make a whole new game face. You wanna see players stop hacking him? You wanna see Barkely and other commentators stop detracting and bashing him? Watch Yao take on this persona, and people will never rag on him again. They will throw laurels at his feet like they're currently doing with Lebron James. In AMerica, it's "Might makes right." But in the NBA, it's "Might IS right."
OmegaSupreme, stop being such a drama queen and an attention w****. Why couldn't you have posted in the game thread instead of trying to look cute and open another thread?
OS, I saw that... and to a certain extent, I agree with some of what you said. i think you may be overreacting a little, but its all good...I know you mean well. I was directing my comment to those who want to blame the rest of the team for not making Yao into Shaq II.
And after listing those 5 options (only one of which includes yao getting a bad pass at that) you still place the blame of the loss squarely on his shoulders??!? btw, I don't know you're not a troll....I don't know better than that.
The only thing I would blame Yao for would be he's not being agressive and take the ball to the hoop. What we saw in China was that he knows it was HIS team and he is their DOMINANT player so he took over the game and doesn't care much about making everyone happy by giving it back and sharing the points. He is no doubt will only be more aggressive and take more shots if he was here longer and be deem the BEST player on the team. BUt right now, not everyone is saying that we should give you the rock at all time and he should take most of the shots. I dont see that in any interview. To me Yao is pretty much holding back because some players is holding him back. Look at what happen with Kobe and Shaq. It's os obvious that Yao doesn't want to make his teamates unhappy since this is a young team and everyone want part of the rock.
trolls dont get a chance to accumulate the amount of posts he has...they dont last that long around here. OS is not a troll...he is just a dissappointed fan who has an opinionthat is obviously not popular with some of the Yao fans. that does not make him a troll.
probably because i didn't want to. and since you're sooooo into bbs funtionality, why are you off topic? reread posts.
Oh, my goodness! This is only the second game of the new season, and the new system. Give those guys a break. Stop blame game.
First of all I don't think that we should ever blame one player for a loss. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Contradictory to some posters here may believe, Yao Ming is not God. He has his limitations. As a very tall person, his stemina will never be as good as someone shorter and he will never be as quick or explosive as a 6'8" forward. Besides, Yao by nature is a finesse player. He is chaning his game to adapt to the more physical styles in the NBA and he's making progress, but it's not going to happen over night. And I honestly don't think that we can ever turn Yao Ming into a Shaquille O'neal. We have to get most out of what we have on this team. For example, when Yao is fronted in the post by the opposing team and he's having trouble getting position, what we should do is to bring Yao out to the top of the key and set a screen for the guards. I know that an inside shot has better precentage but we need to have more dimensions in our offense. You can't basically just tell the other team "hey we are going to throw the ball to our big man in the deep low post and let him go one on one because he's almost automatic from there" and expect them to not do anything about it. A basketball game is all about adjustments. I honestly think that we should exploit the screen and roll with Steve and Yao more. It seemed to work relatively well last year. We need to pull Yao out of the paint once in a while. It helps to create better spacing and gives guards room to penetrate. Besides Yao is a good outside shooter himself. You can't make someone something that he isn't. Yao Ming is not a power player as of NOW, and it's going to take some time to converge him into one. In the process you have to figure out ways to better utilize his stength (and the strength of every player on the team for that sake) to help you to win basketball games.
Rockets 24 turnovers that the Grizzlies turned into 26 points. Blame it on the turnovers. Can't blame Yao since he only had 1 turnover.
Rubbish comment on the whole. In China all the defenders are all over 6ft. If you want to blame someone blame it on Francis as he so far has not led the team to the playoffs. Different players and coaches, the same stupid Francis.
It's not Yao's fault although he could be better in areas. But we did see tonight that the guards can't get it done by themselves so they better figure out how to get Yao more shots. The whole team needs to watch every game of the 2 championship years.
I have to take exception to this comment right here. While the guards arent without their faults, Yao better figure out how to get himself more shots also (i.e. positioning; sealing off his man; etc.). JVG has specifically said that this is a problem (Yao's positioning).
"You find out a lot of your real problems with your real games (as opposed to) practices," Yao said. "It wasn't just one thing; it was a lot of problems." This is a very good quote by Yao. Well this seems to me a learning step for the team. They will only get better at time in real game situation. Can't solve everything in first two games. They will need to try and teach Yao soemthing new if this ever happen again like players are fronting him. I have no worry since he's a good learner. Give the guy 1 year or two and I think he will be an all around dominant player. He's good now but will just be better with time.
oh so that makes Yao what, a FOOT TALLER THAN THEM??? Yao does not get ANY competetion in China. Yao's game needs to step up NOW or we are headed for another 'we coulda shoulda woulda made the playoffs yadda yadda yadda" Van Gundy, Ewing, Francis....none of these guys can help Yao. He needs to do it HIMSELF and do it quickly.
That's the question that I feared is dividing the team at the moment. Team still young and mind set pretty much padding stats.
Maybe you meant this about the initial post by OS? It's one game. You of all should know this logic: Once is a glich, twice is a bug, three times is a problem that needs correcting. He (Yao) hasn't established any pattern yet other than scoring 19 per game... which is not bad at all for it to be such a young season under a new coach. Lighten up Yao haters... chiiiilllllllllllllll. It'll be aight.
