[ContraCosta Times]Let's rebound and say Yao's for real

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/sports/11125588.htm

Posted on Sun, Mar. 13, 2005




GARY PETERSON: TIMES COLUMNIST


Let's rebound and say Yao's for real


CURRENT EVENT No. 1: Yao Ming comes to town to play the Warriors on Monday night.

Current event No. 2: This is the first authentically gorgeous weekend of the new year, meaning that most of the newspaper-reading public will spend today outside pulling weeds or practicing their flop wedge.

Conclusion: There will never be a better time to confess that we were dead wrong about Yao from the beginning -- and possibly earlier than that. And by wrong we mean:

"As a featured attraction in a one-man workout in May, Yao is intriguing enough. As a building block for a team that has averaged fewer than 20 wins in the past five seasons, he is Todd Fuller in platform shoes."

Yes, you read it here first, nearly three years ago. The Warriors were coming off a standard-issue spirit-breaker of a season, they had a 22.5 percent chance of landing the first pick in the upcoming draft, and Yao was working out for scouts, coaches and assorted curiosity seekers.

There was a lot of chatter about the big fella, and for good reason. He was young (21), tall (7-foot-5; now listed at 7-6), agile, and he had spent his formative years squirreled away in China. He was an unknown quantity in a Costco-sized container.

The advice from here:

"The Warriors would be better off extorting some kind of trade package from the drooling Knicks or Bulls. Or, failing that, simply drafting a basketball player."

Yes, well. The Warriors wound up with the third pick in the 2002 draft. Yao was drafted first by the Houston Rockets. Jay Williams went to the Bulls at No. 2. The Warriors, as advised, drafted a basketball player -- Duke's Mike Dunleavy.

Dunleavy has been no stiff. Nor has he been a miracle worker. In the 226 games since the Warriors drafted their basketball player, they are 38 games below .500. Dunleavy has averaged 9.9 points, and the trade him/keep him debate is probably the franchise's hottest personnel topic.

In the 225 games since the Rockets drafted Yao, they are 23 games over .500. Yao has averaged 16.3 points and 8.6 rebounds. He also was voted the Western Conference's starting center for last month's All-Star Game.

Now, this is not to flog the Warriors, for they never had a chance to draft Yao. But it is to flog those who were thinking small nearly three years ago, comparing Yao to robotic, limited role players such as Mark Eaton and Shawn Bradley, and writing (as some clown did, in this space, under this name):

"Other than real tall, Yao isn't much of anything at this point in his career. The NBA's physical game would be a revelation to him. At this point, Shaq could probably move him off the low block with a dainty sneeze."

It is at this point we should mention, for the sake of balance, that Yao is not the game-in, game-out force that Shaquille O'Neal is. He is often effective, but rarely unstoppable. It probably is no coincidence that he is having his best season in the wake of the Rockets' offseason make-over which has provided him with an athletic offensive complement in Tracy McGrady, and surrounded him with a solid, veteran cast.

It was only recently that coach Jeff Van Gundy said he would start allowing Yao to play through early foul trouble. The big guy has been coddled to this point, at least to that extent.

And yeah, he could be stronger, more assertive, a better tipper, and more fluent in more languages. Beyond that, there isn't much not to like.

There were some clowns who believed the cultural transition would be as big a hurdle for him as the basketball transition. Aaaaair-baaaaall! Yao comes across as a genial giant -- soft spoken, smartly marketed, low profile and, unless we're missing something, untattooed.

Concerns about scrutiny? As an NBA rookie, he was the subject of a documentary (which was shown Saturday at the Asian American Film Festival in San Francisco). He is, by all accounts, a hero to 1 billion countrymen in his native China. Once you've been scrutinized by 1 billion of your closest friends, how could you possibly be fazed by a crowd of 19,763 at the Garden?

The clowns did have one thing right, however. Yao is better now than he was the night he was drafted. He just started on a higher plane, is all.

Before Saturday's games, Yao was 30th in the NBA in scoring (18.5), 23rd in rebounding (8.4), 10th in blocked shots (1.93) and third in field goal percentage (55.1). Perhaps his best game as a Rocket came Friday, when he had 27 points and a career-high 22 rebounds as Houston trounced the Pacific Division-leading Suns in Phoenix.

That's the kind of upside that fascinated the scouts who watched Yao work out in Chicago 34 months ago, and which eluded the myopics who wrote:

"Our suggestion to the Warriors: Draft somebody who can help you at some point during the next three years."

Yeah, yeah, you read it here first. Now get back to your weeds.


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Contact Gary Peterson at gpeterson@cctimes.com.

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/sports/11125767.htm

Posted on Sun, Mar. 13, 2005





Rockets have 1-2 punch in McGrady, Yao

By Marcus Thompson II

CONTRA COSTA TIMES


The Phoenix Suns just got a dose of just how dominant Houston Rockets' frontcourt tandem of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming can be.

In a win at Phoenix on Friday, McGrady went off for 38 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Yao had 27 points, a career-high 22 rebounds and five blocks.

"They're both such a tough matchup," Philadelphia 76ers general manager Billy King said. "Yao is so big, and Tracy is Tracy."

Warriors fans will get to see an elite frontcourt tandem when the Rockets visit the Arena in Oakland on Monday. They will get to see a dynamic athletic and superior skilled basketball player in McGrady, one of the preps-to-pro superstars who have changed the face of the NBA. They will get to see a physical abnormality in Yao, who is becoming as tough to defend on the court as he is possibly off it.

Separately, they are each unique and extremely talented in their own right. Together, they're a nightmare for opposing coaches.

"The talent is there," said New York Knicks forward Maurice Taylor, who was a teammate of McGrady and Yao up until the trade deadline. "But they're both passive. Neither one is a take-charge type of guy. Yao's getting there, but he doesn't know how good he can be yet. With Tracy, the game comes so easy to him.

"There's a certain thing that great players have that they need to get. But when they get it, it's over."

Yao, 24, is huge. Physically, he's as close to Shaquille O'Neal as this league has seen. But Yao's game is different from the typical mammoth center; he has some finesse. He has a turnaround jumper. He can pass. He can make free throws.

Entering tonight's game against the Sacramento Kings, Yao is shooting a career-best 55.1 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free-throw line.

Often criticized for his lack of presence in the paint and for being too finesse, Yao is growing increasingly more physical in the paint.

"He's going through that natural period where people want to nit-pick the very few negatives he may have instead of extolling all his positives," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy told Sports Illustrated. "He comes to work every day. He's totally selfless."

But the most dominant of the two is McGrady.

The game of basketball comes to McGrady like math came to Doogie Howser. He's practically impossible to defend when he's gliding to the basket, or pulling up so casually from anywhere on the court.

"He's a great player," said Philadelphia 76ers guard Aaron McKie, a key defensive cog during the Sixers' NBA Finals run. "He does everything. He's always been one of the tougher defensive matchups for me."

An example of just how severe McGrady's mastery of basketball is came last week.

McGrady's close cousin Carroll Johnson died on March 1. They grew up together, lived in the same household, and the elder Carroll is credited with getting McGrady to play basketball.

Despite his loss, McGrady, 25, was still able to produce on the court.

McGrady learned of the news the morning of the death. That night he had 32 points and seven assists at Chicago, then he had 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists the next night at Washington. He returned to the team on March 5 and posted 32 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Dallas on March 6.

He followed the effort against the Mavericks with 35 points, eight rebounds and five assists in a win at Seattle, and 38 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a win at Phoenix.

All this production came while he's borderline depressed.

"He came in and was just really down, did not say a word. You could tell it was wearing on his mind. He played great, but you could tell he was mentally drained," Rockets guard Jon Barry told the Houston Chronicle. "It takes a special person to put that stuff aside and do your job and do it well."

THE MCGRADY, YAO FILE

NAMES: Tracy McGrady, aka "T-Mac" and Yao Ming, aka "Ming Dynasty"

TEAM: Houston Rockets

HEIGHT, WEIGHT: McGrady 6-foot-8, 210 pounds; Yao 7-foot-6, 310 pounds

SUPERNATURAL POWER: McGrady's mind-boggling smoothness and Yao's rare size and skill make them the toughest frontcourt matchup in the game.

WHAT'S BEEN SAID: "I think that Tracy McGrady's an unbelievably talented guy and I think that Yao Ming is a guy who's going to get better and better and better." -- Minnesota Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations and coach Kevin McHale