Damn, I spend so many post to explain 'how'. He demands it!! Shaq demanded it and he got it. Payton demanded but he's not gonna get it. Why? Because it's Shaq's team! They count on Shaq to bring the 4th ring to the LA.
No, a leader of a team is the guy that you go to at clutch time. You just give him and ball and put the burden on his shoulder, no matter how much pressure he is facing, and you ask him to deliver. Yes, a leader is expected to deliver under pressure, that is the high standard he is held to. But you have to trust him, and live or die with what he can give you. Yao delivered well tonight, but at clutch time in the 4th quarter, the team didn't grant him trust, didn't put the burden on his shoulder. Don't you think it is a bit too much to ask him educate his teammates, while he was fighting Shaq, running back and forth on the court, and being a 2nd year with English being his second language? I just don't remember when in that stretch he had the chance to think about how to say it in English, and pull his teammates togehter to say it. Somethings don't need to be said. Are you going to blame the team leader for every TO, every stupid foul, or anything a player should not do on the court?
You don't follow Lakers closely, do you? Living in LA, I watched them play all the time and let me tell that Shaq does not get the ball all the time when he DEMANDS it. In fact, Shaq only gets about two more shots per game than Yao.
The thing is our guard don't think they should count on Yao. I only see Shaq raising his hands and the ball goes his way. Yao does the same but don't get the ball all the time. It will take more consistent performance from Yao and JVG's preaching to establish Yao as the unquestionable leader. When that is done, whoever doesn't coroprate will be criticized by everyone on the team, but we are not there. Right now, we are talking about feeding the hot hands. That is common sense.
I'm not saying that he's perfect now. I said 'grow up'. I did see Jordan jumping on his teammate all the time.
Steve's Alley-oop OMG that one alley-oop dunk Steve got from Cat was so nice that I wish he was wearing a head band so he could take it off and throw it into the stands!
While Yao is growing up, can we hold the rest of the team to a relatively low standard -- do what is obviously right and stop making the same mistake for the 1000th time? And if they don't meet this standard, can we blame them for that?
i dont think they would wanna trade shaq for Yao right now cause shaq is stll the best center in the league, however it is obvious Yao is next in line so I think maybe 3 years from now.
Nope. Based on the play Yao had against Shaq since his frosh season, Yao has made a gigantic step forward and officially becomes the only center in the league that can get the better of Shaq on a regular basis. I have watched enough games via NBALP and have talked to enough fans of other teams, the consensus among them seem to be that the only thing that prevents Yao making bigger progress is the lack of steady play from PG (they don't think SF3 is a point anyway). And even Divac thought that it would only take 2 seasons for Yao to become the MDP in the league, and he mentioned at that the beginning of the season. And most of the fans in the other boards wish that the Rocs don't lock up Yao with a max. The Lakers will definitely trade Shaq for Yao straight. Yao and Kobe can coexist, and KY team will win lots of championships for the Lakers in the next 10 years.
If Yao demands the management to get a true pg, even at the cost of parting with SF, I think he will defenitely get his wish granted. But the chance that Mr. Nice guy Yao does it is slim. I hope the management makes up their mind. And I certainly hope they choose Yao to keep. I am not a SF hater, I just think a trade may be in the best interest of the team and SF.
You're crazy. The Lakers don't want to spend 20 million on Shaq's lazy over-the-hill butt. They'd rather give Yao the max and only have him count 10 mil against their cap and at the same time, get the next great thing in the NBA who has 10+ seasons ahead of him.
But man it was so nice. Now that I think of it taking his headband off and throwing it into the stands wouldn't do, he should have hung on the rim, spinned 90 degrees and pointed in the other direction.
Yeah, this is NBA, you gotta face it. BUT a good team should be able to win despite bad calls. We should have won the game ourselves but we didn't. That's the lesson the players need to learn instead of blaming the refs.
Just thought that you would like to know... the replay clearly showed Cook was shuffling his feet. His left foot was planted but his right foot wasn't even touching the floor.
