no matter yao's obligations, he's still showing up to training camp later than everyone else and thus hurting the team more than everyone else. and if we're supposed to be revolving the offense around him, that makes it even worse b/c he's integral to practice. it's not like we can have cato pretend to be yao. has yao been on the phone getting in anyone's ass to show up for voluntary workouts? probably not. if he's already the man and the new #1 option, he should do that. but that's not reality, nor is the bashing of steve and cuttino. the fact is, so far everyone's doing their job. yao's playing for china like he has to and getting in shape and will show up as fast as he can. steve and cuttino are gonna be here when the CBA says they should be here and there's about a 99% chance they'll be in amazing shape. even mo t was said to be working out very well before the achillees injury. i guess yao will be grumbling this season "you mean i'm actually expected to play physically and not be soft?"
Amen dude. A lot of these guys loving JVG's new attitude will be hating the guy and calling him an idiot when Yao is spending more time on the bench for playing soft. I hope he come in with a different attitude and has a hell of a season. I hope he lives up to all of the expectations. But one thing I do know is that there will be NO EXCUSES for even the untouchable Yoa Ming this year either. No more "He's only a rookie" excuses, No more "He's tired from playing so many games" excuses. No more "Those guys are pushing him around" excuses. Yao is going to have to be a MAN inside or he will be splitting a lot more minutes with Cato than people think.
it was kinda weird how much people got on larry smith last year for benching yao so much even though he only did it when yao started playing soft and proved he wasn't bringing any fire to the game, as if was larry who was at fault and not yao. we want a tough coach, but not if he benches yao.
Yao's baggage when the Rockets picked him up: The Chinese NT commitment. Francis' baggage when the Rockets picked him up: pouting, whiny... until this very day. One is not up to Yao and the Rockets, one is up to Francis, pick and choose. And don't confuse will and ability. Francis' inability to involve his teammates is up there with Yao's lack of physical dominance last season. Yao improved in the said area, what has Francis done to improve his team game, by working less with his teammates? I don't want everything to come down to Yao vs Francis, but it seems that every time Francis gets some blame Yao has to be dragged in for some weird psycho reasons.
You and chump 4 prez have got to be dumb and dumber-er. I think it's funny how you are so quick to trash Yao. Do you expect him to be as dominant in his rookie or even second year in the NBA as Shaq is at this point in his career. What is even funnier is people like you that think Francis is so great, but yet you so easily dismiss the already second best center in the game and best player on the team. The sad part is I bet you two were quick to be up and out of your seats when Yao blocked Shaq on the first three posessions of the first contest in which they met.
Yeah when is Mr. Ming going to get to camp? The Asian Championships are over and now its time to see him go to work in the states...Let's see what Patrick Ewing can do with him...But I know we much rather see what Hakeem Olajuwon can do with Yoa Ming Yoa Ming... We dont need to hear the excuses about him not beibg in training camp like we heard last year.... If he aint there tomorrow then we are going to have a real BIG problem
Let's do that... I'll remember your name and come back and flame the hell out of you at the end of the season... jackass!!
uhh yeah, b/c i like the rockets and i like yao and hate shaq and was thrilled to see it happen. i've been a fan long before steve and yao got here and plan to be one long after they leave here. in that time i'd like to see us get as many titles as possible and don't care how it gets done, but in the meantime i'll call people out (and indirectly diss yao's game) when people make statements like you make, or give total criticism to steve for all of his faults and act like yao is not lacking in anything at this point (i.e. all the jvg is gonna be benching everyone, but no one mentions yao, then i mention that he does stuff that'll get you benched and you jump on me for it).
Well, I figure that this article clears up some misunderstandings a little bit - for me, at least. Apparently, the veterans were not ALLOWED to participate in the first few days of training camp - therefore, I take back any allegation that Steve, Cuttino and Mo Taylor did not put their money where their mouth is - WITH REGARD TO THESE FEW DAYS. If I understood the article correctly, nothing would have stopped them from practicing with the other guys from the team BEFORE that - which Eric Piatkowski apparently did (I have great expectations for this guy to be a really valuable role player). From today's Chronicle: Oct. 2, 2003, 12:46AM Van Gundy not fan of split camp By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Eric Piatkowski arrived in Houston weeks before the start of training camp and reported early each morning for whatever form of voluntary training or torture coaches demanded. "I wanted to get an early start to get comfortable with a new system and really work on my conditioning," he said. "I wanted to be ready for camp." So each day he made his way to the Westside Tennis Club gym, until Monday when, for all his effort, he was in effect no longer welcome. Had Piatkowski or any of the Rockets' veterans of four or more seasons tried to lift a weight or jog a lap around the Westside court, they would have been greeted with an order posted at every entrance to the team's training facility. Attention Houston Rockets: Any player with four or more years of experience cannot be in the Rockets' facilities from the 29th of September to the 2nd of October. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with Carroll Dawson or Dennis Lindsey. Houston Rockets management. The new NBA training schedule is so awkward and potentially divisive that as much as Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy values practice, he considered waiting until Friday to begin camp. "I did toy with the idea of not starting the younger guys earlier," Van Gundy said after his first practice as Rockets coach. "You have such limited time with players I decided to go ahead. I think separating your team is a bad idea." Of course it could be worse and in fact will be worse next season when veterans of at least four seasons will begin working out five days after the rest of the team reports. If this season's schedule was frustrating, learning of next season's was enough to make Van Gundy look as if he had been asked to sniff one of Patrick Ewing's sweat socks. "Pretty soon we're not going to practice," he said. "Where does it stop? I don't think it's player driven, even though it's the (NBA) players association. I think it's lawyer driven to try to say that they got something. To me, they got nothing if that's what they got because it hurts the players and it hurts the product. If it hurts the product, everyone loses. "I think it's a big mistake perception-wise for the players association to take away practice time. I think it makes their players look like they don't want to practice, don't want to work. And I don't think that's the message they really want to send so I think it's actually bad for the players. I know it's bad for the coaches and ultimately, it's bad for the product because you want to put a good product on the floor as early as possible for the fans that are paying good money to come and see you. If you have less practice time, you have less ability to do that." The reduction in training-camp time was part of the agreement with the players association in which the NBA extended the playoffs' first round from best-of-five to best-of-seven formats. The more natural compromise might have been to allow veterans to skip preseason games, but that likely would have made it more difficult to sell preseason tickets at regular-season prices. NBPA spokesman Dan Wasserman would not comment on that but said the change was absolutely player driven. "The suggestion that these decisions are not player driven, were not actually voted on by a significant number of players is absolutely incorrect," Wasserman said. "Unless coach Van Gundy actually attended union meetings, he really doesn't have a basis for coming to that conclusion. That being said, no one expected any coach in this league to applaud or endorse the notion of veterans getting time off from practice in training camp." In that case, the union was right, having inspired something less than applause. "As a coach now, I don't like it," Ewing, a former players association president said. "We should all report together. As a player, I would feel the same way. They should have gotten something else for what they gave up." http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2132294
Francis deserves criticism and so does Yao. I never brought up Shaq. Yao needs to play tough and strong inside. Period. Either you are tough or you or not. You don't learn it. Also, you bring up the first quarter of the Shaq game, but fail to mention the last three quaters and overtime. I just get tired of seeing Steve criticised for EVERYTHING while there is an excuse for any criticism of Yao.
I can't believe people on THIS board are calling Francis "whiny". If that aint the pot calling the kettle black.......
So we whiners whine about a whiner, and yet another whiner whine about our whining. Like someone said life is the same damn thing over and over. Welcome to the board newbie.
so what u saying is. . . there is no such thing as reason only Excuse So what is Van Gundy's EXCUSE FOR NO FRICKIN CHAMPIONSHIPS? Rocket River
If you was the Player Association President was he not part of the group that got this put in? notice the word WOULD feel the same way NOT as a Player I DID FEEL THE SAME Way Amazing how you perspectives change when it is you on the bench and not in the game Rocket River
I think that, if you asked him, he'd say he that previous years were not successes (even when he reached the finals), and that he's working harder to try to get there. "No excuses" doesn't mean "we're going to win it all every year" - it means we're going to work as hard as possible, and make sure that there was nothing else we could have done. And if we don't win, we'll go after it even harder next time.
I read the first page of this thread so that's kind of where my post is targeted..... Steve, Cat and Mo should have all been there. There are new faces on this team and part of being a leader is being there to welcome them to the team but I guess SF and Cat have given that job over to Boki cuz he's the whitest or something. I do question their commitment to the team when they do not make things like this because it shows the other new players on the team that they had "something better" to do with their time and these new guys are the ones who will make the team truly competitive. sars cancel each other out on most nights and it comes down to how good the role players are on the team as to who wins and personally I would those guys playing as hard as they could for me. Yao is a second year center with alot of other world "CHINA" issues and to me is still a role player although a very special one and ultimatley his development will mean whether we are a good team or a great team but at this point he can not make things that conflict with what China is doing. He simply could not be here however SF, Cat, Mo not being here is a bit more troubling. I agree with previous poster who said that players like Steve and Cat are more concerned with things like celebrities but they need to understand what got them this level of celebrity and the commitment the Rockets have made to them otherwise I would fully support shipping them off. Sorry this is so long.
This was not even long at all compared to ...ahem... some poster on this board . And it did make sense, too!
JVG took an undertalented NY team to the finals along with 7 winning seasons. I didn't hear him b**** or gloat about it. SF took an overtalented Rockets team back to the lottery and people are making excuses for him. I know he can't show up to camp but he can't at least be in town and get to know the teammates? For the Yao comment that's just stupid. HE WAS A ROOKIE and that's the end of the story. He has to learn to play better. If this is his 4th/5th season in the league and he still makes boneheaded mistakes like SF and Cat I'll be harder on his ass then JVG will ever be. Both of them have remarkable talent but if they just learn to play smarter and learn the team offence. It is SF's fourth season and Cat's 5th season and people are still making excuses for them for getting 8 second violations. That's why I asked francis 4 prez what's SF's excuse for this year, because there always will be one.
