i guess when you're represented by such a sh1tty team, you got to jump on any positives you can. i don't hate them. i pity them.
He scored 6 points in the 13 minutes they were both on the court, all in the first quarter (2 of which were at the line after Yao sat down for picking up his second foul on Howard).
Howard will probably be a 22 ppg scorer in his prime, by which time Greg Oden will be coming into his own. I don't see Howard ever developing the back-to-the-basket game Yao displayed last year, so he'll be a Patrick Ewing clone defensively with a Brendon Haywood type offensive game. Small baby hooks, ability to step out and hit jumpers, but not a go-to threat.
well there you go then, thank you for that. howards' fantastic and i know this is an orlando paper, but there really seems like a strong media presence that just doesn't like seeing yao do well. i feel like people root against yao, when he is the kind of person that the nba needs to be pimping every bit as much as d-wade and lebron.
In my opinion there are 2 main reasons: 1.) Race and racial stereotypes. If you think this is not a factor, you really need to open your eyes and see the world as it really is. 2.) Yao clowned a lot of the media people by proving them wrong when they said he for example "would make Shawn Bradley look like Bill Russell" to quote one Charles Barkley. Why did they think this? See reason #1. But now that Yao has clowned them the reporters aren't happy and will now go out of their way to nitpick the flaws of his game and blow them out of proportion. While we're on the subject of nitpicking flaws of people's games, Dwight Howard can't shoot. Period. Yao will forever have an edge on him there.
I think that's Kobe. AFAIK, Weisbrod drafted Howard cause Charlotte, which, at the time, was an expansion team, threatened to draft J. Howard, who was a piece on the McGrady trade to Houston, in the expansion draft, if ever the Magic selected Okafor.
i don't know how much your #2 is a factor but i totally agree with #1. i've posted before that if yao ming were an american or even more specifically, an african-american, the espn hype machine would top what they give king james. i think yao's race is the absolute #1 factor in most peoples disrespect for him. i can't be convinced that we'd see any remotely similar articles if yao grew up here.
I love Yao and I believe he's better than Howard. However, I also think Dwight Howard is going to be an absolute monster and I think he definitely could be the best player in the league next to Lebron. Howard's size combined with athleticism and work ethic is incredibly scary.
I beg to differ, unless you specifically want to say that people disrespect him because he is a chinese. Just because he is not american, or specifically an african-american, doesn't mean people will disrespect him. There are many international players in NBA now who are highly respected (see Dirk, Manu, Parker).
You just confused me. Size: Yao>>Howard athleticism: Howard> Yao work ethic： Yao > Howard Skills and touch: Yao >> Howard
Yep. Not to mention: Scoring: Yao >> DHo (Yao's 1st year was higher than Dho's 1st year, 2nd year was higher than Dho's 2nd year, and now it is DHo's 3rd) Rebound: DHo > Yao Block: Yao > DHo (surprising, isn't it?) Assist: Yao > DHo Shooting %: About the same Turnover: About the same Freethrow %: Yao >> DHo Not to mention Rockets play the slooowwww half-court games the past few years. It is funny how the media would go "ooh aah" with athletism, and give accolade based on that alone. Eventually, the result is what counts. All the jumping and dancing around are just wasted energy, if they are not efficient for producing result.
uh, howard IS a monster, and will be better than yao very soon, which is not to say yao will not be a marquee player, but Howard has the potential to be shaq like - yao will just never be as mobile as howard. Howard can run, and i don't know if you guys have watched orlando, but he does post up failry well for a 21 year old.
Good point. Based on athletism alone, Swift >>> Yao. Guess who was traded?? believe or not, that ESPN showcase 'athletism' don't mean no ****!
I can believe this. Yao was not picked by Rockets based on 'he can run'. This is not track and filed competition. We are playing bb here which requires totally different types of skills.
I will do one better... uh, Yao IS a monster, and is already better than Howard, which is not to say Howard will not be a marquee player, but Yao has the potential to be shaq like - Howard will just never be as BIG as Yao. Yao can shoot, and I don't know if you guys have watched Rockets games after the All-star break, but he does post up extremely well, not to mention he is 7'6".
