Please, every word spoken about a player does not have some ulterior motive. "pumping up trade value" is rapidly becoming the most overused phrase on the board.
Both are fine for everyone, "ming" or "ming ming" is usually for close friends and family. I am Chinese.
thats gotta be different...you have a title and a name, not just the name. saying chairman mao is like saying doctor mao, or professor yao. anyway i cant wait for basketball to start again. its been so boring!
Jordan hill is going to be a solid player it's going to be hilarious when this board jumps back on his nuts.
No, it's fine because it has the Chairman title. In China, if you were caling Yao by only his last name (Yao, not Ming), it would be like calling your doctor by his last name w/o the doctor title, a bit disrespectful. Most Asians in America have Anglicized their names to fit the First Name Last Name format. However, in most east Asian countries, the Last Name comes first. Has to do with emphasis on individual vs emphasis on community/family. Hence, it's often we hear that the western world is often considered more culturally individualistic than the eastern world.
They have already been there for many years. Maybe we need to realize that the culture and civilization in Asia ante date the one we have here in the US by thousands of years. Asians were already building palaces while most Europeans were still living in caves. Just some info to give some of you a realistic perspective of who we are and who those people are.
H: Marc and John here, difficult one last night. All 4 games Rockets had the lead. DM: Yeah, we led in every half and every 4th quarter. Very difficult. A lot to work on to be where we want to be. H: What are you seeing on defense? DM: Defense is our issue. Frankly, a lot of players struggling on both ends, but really on defense. Yao is getting back to 100%. Not all the way there. A lot of players, too many struggling at the same time. Not a lot of places Adelman can go to. H: Lateral quickness with Yao...where getting side to side seems to be physical issue. Do you just work on that? DM: We're trying. Practice and putting in extra work with training staff. Every NBA player struggles with keeping players in front of them. Yao trying to get back to where he was. H: Rotation last night - Miller out, Hill saw minutes. DM: We like the minutes Hill gave us. We gotta defend without fouling. When other teams miss, we gotta go get it. We'll keep working on this. Cant be top D without rebounding. Basically his rookie year so the mistakes will be there. I trust Adelman. Hes a HOF coach. He'll figure out what mix will work. Right now, Jordan will get his try. H: Scola continues...his rebouding is well. Seems more agressive on D. DM: I spoke to him after the game. Told him before the season his D would be important. Our smalls need to rebound better. H: What about P&R? Guards are gonna have to play better role. DM: Yeah, we had stretches where we defend well but its not at the key times. It's challenging for our guys but we're gonna face those good pgs like Paul, Williams, Roy, etc. We gotta shore it up, shore it up through effort and training. H: Reading between the lines, rotation changes are imminent(?). What are you looking at? DM: I trust Adelman. Not my area. Each game is a different challenge. Coach gotta continue to tweak until he finds a winning formula, winning mix of players. H: Mini state of the union on Battier? DM: We win or lose as a team. He and everyone needs to step up. Defensively, I thought Shane has done a lot of good things. Still best perimeter defender. Chase continues to improve. Coach like what he saw from Chase last night. We'll continue to monitor. Shane is critical to our D. H: Would you ever consider "Undercover Boss" for the Rockets? DM: I'm hoping to just remain the boss. No chance there. [Caller]: Timetable for Dampier? Why doesnt Adelman use all his players to his advantage? I think Chase has done enough to prove he can start over Battier. DM: We made it tough on Adelman. A lot of diff. players with a lot of diff. skill sets. Hes trying to come up with a winning formula. Difficult to play 11-12 guys in a game. Looking for 8 or 9 or 10 guys on a night. I'm down if he doesnt use Brad or Jordan or whoever. He gotta use who he thinks is best. [Caller]:As far as Courtney Lee is concerned, he still seems cautious or uncomfortable out there. Is he in that mode? Why not use more Budinger plays for Lee? DM: Fair points. I do think Lee is finding his role. The other 6 1s,2s, and 3s, they were here last year. Lee trying to find his way. I do like those curl plays for Lee. We prefer when he attacks off that curl. Also like him in transition. Just reiterates my point, we win and lose as a team. Cant pinpoint a player where they cant improve. [Caller]: Long term strategy with Yao and his minutes?(Also said, paraphrasing here, how can you give him a contract extension only playing 24 minutes?) DM: I agree. It is out of our hands. He is progressing well though. There will be a change and how Yao Ming is used because medically it is progressing well. Everyone on the team is not playing to their potential. Medically, he is doing well. I do expect change on how the minutes get laid out or maybe an increase. I do expect that to happen barring a setback. [Caller]: Lowry a good PG but he's not a starter. Jeffries to me is the best big in preseason but is not getting much time. Why is he not playing? DM: Kyle, he is a very good player. His injury to his back has hurt him. Not seeing the same Kyle Lowry. I can name every player and everyone got an issue. I agree with you on Jared. Each player though got a lot of + and -. Jared does defend well. Defensive rebounding has been a challenge with him and I believe that is our issue so maybe thats why Rick doesnt use him. Like Jordan, maybe Jared will get some time. Gotta make the most of it if/when that happens. H: San Antonio up next. They look good. DM: Yeah, they're the Spurs. They just roll along. Him and Sloan got a great formula. I looked recently when we won 50 games the past couple years, we'd lose 3-4 in a row. Just something that happens. Something that can also turn around. I believe and this team believes in Adelman. We believe we can turn this around. We'll continue to work. Got great people on the roster who wont rest until we turn this into a winning formula. H: Best of luck. DM: Thanks for having me on.
Wow - am I dissappointed in Morey with that interview. He is the boss, he needs to take charge......this is the team HE built..... When he says things like "We gave the coach too many options"......yeah, but the coach doesn't have to play everyone..... And the PnR D problem is not the PG it is the big, and their ability to recover to the other big..... Thus all those wide open shots for West and the other guy last night from the elbow. The coaching staff has STUNK this season with their game plans, and Morey should be able to figure that out. The only decent game plan was the Lakers game since then, the coaching has been awful, from rotation to scheme, simply awful. Morey needs to lead this franchise and that means more than making asset trades..... DD
So you expect him to dress down Rick Adelman on the radio? I don't think the GM should be coming out publicly, saying the coach is doing a poor job. I'm sure the conversation is different behind closed doors, but publicly he said exactly what he should be saying.
No, but I expect him to sit down with Adelman and work it out, force his hand if necessary. Sometimes GM's have to make tough decisions, Morey is being tested as a leader, we shall see his true metal here. DD
You said you were disappointed in the interview,to me, that means you wanted him to get tough on the radio. Either way, I'm sure he has been having on going conversations with Adelman, just b/c we don't hear about it doesn't mean it isn't happening.
True, and if that is the case, we should see it on the court, right away. If not, then it is not happening, agreed. DD
Yes, but sometimes GM's need to recognize when the coaching is an issue, right now, the schemes the Rockets are running, and their rotations are pretty bad. Does DM have enough understanding of the game to notice when schemes are the problem and not the players? I don't know.....we shall see.. DD
