This is the stupidest ****ing thing I've ever seen. God dammit. God ****ing dammit. What he said isn't unreasonable at all, and somehow it gets twisted into the fact?? that he's an ass, and he doesn't like Yao and is jealous? That's the most riduclous thing I have ever seen. Holy ****, get a grip. It's one thing to be upset if he sags too far on defense, leaving his man open for an open shot; its one thing to be upset if he hoists up an ill-advised jumper because he's "feeling it" -- but to twist his words like that, when what he said was completely diplomatic, and even a reasonable compromise and use them to bash him? That is absolutely ludicrous.
I have a strange feeling that Cat will become the spy of Sun tonight and Rox will lose because of him. I hope I am wrong.
You think so? Maybe Im old school but I think Cat's comments are ridiculous. When someone asks Shaq who he thinks should win MVP, he doesn't say Kobe Bryant, T Mac, and Tim Duncan should all share it. He says Kobe Bryant. More on point, when someone asks Stephon Marbury , Suns Co-Captain, who is the ROY, he says, "Amare. No contest man". When someone asks Cat, the Rocket's co-captain the same question, he gives the diplomatic, they both deserve it B.S. This goes back to the Charles Oakley/Juaqin Hawkins incident. We keep hearing how close this group is, you think anyone's got each other's back. Does anyone even remember Maurice Lucas? Does anyone remember how upset Jordan was when the Bulls traded away Charles Oakley? If someone takes a cheap shot on the Franchise the way Karl Malone broke Isaiah Thomas' nose, would all the Rockets rush the court? Or when Bill Laimbeer took a cheap shot at Bird in the Finals do we have a Robert Parrish to give it right back to him a game later? You want team unity? You want true chemistry? True chemistry is not being diplomatic. True chemistry is standing behind and beside your teamates. Just like if someone asks Yao who is the better PG, Francis or Marbury, he better say it's Steve Francis. If not he'll never be a leader on this team. People wonder why this team is so inconsistent? This team lacks the mental fortitude and true leadership to be a champion and comments like this are symptomatic of a bigger issue. If you want to be the leader, you've got to show it on and off the court. And that includes standing by your teammates on the court and in the locker room.
Earlier in the season, in an interview (with a Chinese news outlet), Yao described Stevie and Mobley each as one of the best guards in the NBA. Steve is still on the border of the best in the league but Cat is definitely not worthy of that praise. Marbury (stupid and it may have sounded then) went out of his way to say that Amare now is greater than KG at this same point of his career (agreed part of this was due to his immaturity and envy for KG). I wish this was not happening but Mobley is really begining to bother me. He did not have to say what he said but he DEFINITELY went out of his way to say this. He is a good player but this trend is worrying. Folks there is no need being in denial about this friction (albeit subtle) I don't know what Yao did to him to prompt this "bad blood". Kobe and Shaq can be likened to water and oil but Kobe never (as recent as I can remember) speak negatively of Shaq (subtle or otherwise). I am even more pained because I want Mobley to continue to remain a Rocket but the ball is his court. If he says the "wrong" inadvertently, then he should learn to avoid saying anything and be more like Drexler and Eddy Griffin when I comes to interviews. Maybe his new "publicists" is causing all these problems because I never remember Mobley treating Francis like this when Francis arrived a year after him - there is nothing in his history of this form. If I am not mistaken, I remember Mobley endorsing Steve Francis for the ROY award when it was slighty clear that Elton Brand was puting slighty better numbers for Chicago 4 years ago. I never heard Mobley suggest that Francis and Elton be awarded Co-ROY award. Go figure!
I just find it kind of odd sometimes how Steve, Rice, Mooch, and Taylor will usually say something like 'Yao's great. He's been so valuable to us. He's the future of our team and the NBA.' While Cat will usually say something like 'Yeah, he's good, but he isn't THAT good.' While that may be true, why make an effort of pointing that out? I guess you could say he's just being objective, but why isn't he being as objective when he praises Francis?
I agree with RIET and the others. This was not a situation where you want diplomacy. Even if Yao is a bit worse than Amare, Mobley should still say Yao deserves the award. So what if it's a biased statement? You can't go overboard on the issue, like Marbury's comment that Stoudamire is better than Garnett. But when it's a close debate, you ALWAYS pull for your own guys. If I were Mobley, the idea of a 'Co-ROY' wouldn't even enter my mind. It's Yao Ming without hesitation.
Yeah Right - MoT says he is not biased but we know better. We know he would say the exact opposite if he were a Sun. But we know what the deal is and MoT rightfully said the "right" thing - and he did not even have to go "out of his way". Now that is maturity and intelligence.
Well, this is simple. Cat was hoping to get good money for next contract. But now Yao is first in the line to get next max. Cat is definitely going somewhere via free agency or trade if he wants more money. He must be thinking Yao robbed his chance of getting paid more at Rox.
It's one thing if Ming says he would rather have co because he doesn't want to sound like he's coming off as being egotistic and he's not but for Cat its really easy to say Yao is ROY since it has nothing to do with his image. In fact the team has to support him the most and say things because a respectful person like Yao will not comeout and talk about himself so others on his team must to give an idea on how he feels about the award. It's like on the job your not going to say I'm the best, you hope others will take notice and say that you are. Most anyone could easily say why their friend should get an award esp. if he's deserving of it rather than say another guy is very good and my friend should win too. But it's an alarm for Cat to say the opposite becuase it silently says, whether or not he means it, he doesn't fully support Yao for ROY. I do find it respectful to Amare but disrespectful to Yao. Well everyone has their own opinions and objectives.
Ok, I overreacted with the cursing and all in my last post, and for that I apologize. But this is all a little over the top, no? I mean, we have people suggesting that Cat really wants to say Amare is the ROY, Cat doesn't like Yao because Yao will take his money, Cat went out of his way to put Yao down, Cat would rather see Amare win the ROY, and one person suggested Cat would throw the game for the Suns. That isn't just a tad over the top, as a result of a suggestion that a co-ROY might be nice? I'll be honest, I don't think its close. Yao is a superior passer, and the only thing Amare thinks of when he hears "defense" is that it goes around "de house". I think Amare is a one-armed bandit, and despite his phyisical play, and athletic ability, he doesn't have half the impact on a game that Yao does. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to assume anyone who thinks a co-ROY is appropriate is scheming against Yao, even if it is a teammate. There are plenty of reasons that you could be upset with Cat. Somtimes he plays lazy defense, sometimes he hoists up ill-advised shots, and he can't pass - just doesn't have the ability - but because he said a co-ROY might be nice? Come on, y'all are reading waaaaaay too much into some silly statement. Blind loyalty to your teammates is nice and all, but there are more important places to express it than support for some silly meaningless award. Marbury's support for Amare over KG hasn't gotten them a win over Minnesota, just three games where they were destroyed by Garnett. Marbury's support for Amare as ROY hasn't won them the season series versus the Rockets, and they enter tonight needed to win, or they're looking at an uphill climb to get into the playoffs. If you want to be upset about Cuttino's relationship with Yao, go ahead I can't stop you, but please don't try and create something out of an innocous statement like Cuttino made there, at least use something substantive.
anybody listen to the Suns broadcast guy on the Rocket radio show.? when he was asked about the rookie of year deal he said "its funny, cause you all know if you talk to the Rockets players they're gonna say its their guy, no question. If you talk to the Suns players, they're gonna say its their guy, no question". : P
I don't think Amare has the same shot of getting ROY award. 20 out of 28 media people votes for Yao, that's 71% approval for Yao to get ROY. How is that the same shot? Yao is pulling away in this race.
Let me say as the guy who was first to accuse Cat of selfishness, in tonight's game (vs. Phoenix), Cat is NOTICEABLY better about passing to Yao. The Rockets have gone to Yao just about every time down the court so far, and Cat's made a couple great dishes. So, whatever happened before... let me be fair and applaud the guy for what he's done today.
As Clutch mentions in his recap of the Rockets-Suns game, there's simply no question who should be ROY between Yao and Amare. The game is a sterling example of why Yao's going to win the ROY. The game highlights Yao's impact (and Amare's lack of) on the game. I'd have to say if ROY voters watched that game which I bet a good number of them did the deal is pretty much sealed.
absolutely, heech. The difference in passing has been noticeable for at least two games, now. Mobley is starting to sense when Yao is open. He's no great vision guy, and needs to see himself on video, and practice, and rinse and repeat. RIET, this statement of yours, "True chemistry is not being diplomatic. True chemistry is standing behind and beside your teamates." How do you actually rank the importance of post game/pre game words to the measure of "true chemistry?" Where does it fit in your measure of whether chemistry exists or not? in my world or understanding the game, true chemistry is not words after a game. true chemistry is passing to Yao Ming, and speaking to him *during* the game, and being on the same page. Anyone who is willing to stand back away from the building conspiracy theory and look at Mobley and Yao on the court will notice they are communicating just fine. They are. This is where being at the game is vastly superior to watching on TV. During free throws, in transition, going in and coming out of timeouts...you can see it. It is somewhat sad that you Rockets fans are so focused on what you want to believe that you are not seeing the transformation right in front of your face. It's like some of you have to hear ESPN tell you before you will enjoy our budding chemistry. Mobley had 4 fantastic passes to Yao Ming last night. Did you not SEE that? Oh, I guess Rudy admonished after those quotes and said, "Cuttino, if you don't pass to Yao tonight, I'm benching you for those comments." Is that it? Watch the building chemistry. It is what makes the game fun. Don't look for invented chemistry problems. Leave that to Rudy. He's always well ahead of all of us in preventing chemistry problems. Look at Rudy's track record: Maxwell was axed. Dream has seen the doghouse. They reportedly tried to trade him before the trade deadline after his comments that he apologized for. Pippen gone. Elie was tossed. Hamilton shown the door. Carlos Rogers disappeared in PT. Why was that? TMass got no PT all year for a "groin injury" yeah, right. Cato was taught a lesson. Langhi never saw the court for many games after his Nov comments last year. Shandon was traded for not meshing with Francis. Kenny traded for a Westside regular. Rudy will deal with chemistry problems way before we know what is up. You don't have to invent it; <b>it will appear in the playing time stat.</b> Mobley would not be getting 42 mpg if he had a problem. Have fun watching the transformation into the inevitable Ming Dynasty. You guys are just inventing something (and as Pued pointed out, some of the things are just absurd), when all that is happening is Mobley is not as cool of a speaker as we would like.
Honestly I doubt that Cat's comments were made out of any hidden grudge or beef with Yao. However, as RIET said, it does further show that Cat hasn't a clue of what the term "TEAM" means. With SF saying he will play the 2 if needed next year, I will be suprised if Cat isn't traded in the off season. Congratulations Cuttino you have just won the "Got My Ass Shipped to the Clippers" Award (dumbass). Anyway Tango you are right, after last night I don't think it is close anymore, Yao is the ROY.
Heypartner 4 Fantastic passes he made and 2 no-brainer passes he did not make especially the one where Yao had pinned Big Jake right under the basket but Mob decided to shoot a long range 2 (with his foot on the line from the left side of the base line). That pass would have resulted in at least 2 points but Mobley brain-dead choice lead to another fast break during the 20 to 1 Phoenix run. But does the 4 he made or 2 he did not make tell us much? Kobe made great passes Shaq when they went through their "thing". So what is your point Heyp? But that is besides the point - Mobley's comments just don't sit well with me. He did not have to go out of his way to say those things and it is magnified because a trend has been established by Mobley with his previous head-scratching comments.
No it doesn't. It shows Cat hasn't a clue how to say what you want to hear. That's all. Cat's play on the court is the measure of team or not, and he is showing recent progress. Slow...but it is there. Last night was one of Cat's best games so far and creating opportunities for Yao. Cat drew defenders for the sole reason to open things for Yao and he found him, on 4 occassions. This is not an apology for Cat, this is what heech and I both saw. Leave the criticism to what Cat is doing on the court. The "TEAM" label is defined there, moreso than it is defined by Marbury making a fool of himself using Amare to dis Garnett in the media.
