But Yao isnt a one man team, although i know he will dominate, He is going to need the franchise by him, hopefully cat can stick by us and boki become what everyone expects from him... You know if boki and eddie can become the players they are suppose to be there is no stopping the rockets in the future... for sure we are going to the playoffs this year though thats whats so cool... I mean we dont know how will the players turn out from this summer, but i know they will be good for sure... Maybe Eddie and boki might break out... you never know what craziness might go on in the NBA..
13/8 is nothing to scoff at for a center nowadays. in fact them's are all-star numbers (at least in the east). He put up those numbers in 29 minutes a game. to me, Yao deserves the ball because he was the most efficient scorer last year, shooting close to 50% on the year. A lot of the time, the guards didn't make things easier for Yao. Sure, they gave him the ball when he posted up, but i can count on one hand the number of times Mobley passed to Yao while he was rolling to the basket on a pick n roll. Compare the situation to Amare and Marbury. Amare scored maybe once or twice a game from the low post, and his other 10 points came from good dishes from Marbury. I think Steve did a decent job dishing to Yao, but Mobley is a different story.
first, i know you need the dominant big man to win the title (or a tremendous amount of talent around arguably the best player ever if a guard leads you), but the problem is, yao isn't a dominant big man. not yet. and that's what kills me. people pretend like yao is already future yao and just say he should get the ball (b/c good things happen when he gets it) and run the offense through him as if he's physically ready or even ready talent-wise and developmentally wise. he has a ways to go. he has a go to move to learn. he has aggressiveness to learn. he has strength to work on. and then there's defense (but lets just talk about offense). hell, he has conditioning to get better at. if he was dominant like hakeem was during his career, i'd tell francis to get the hell out of the way and let the man do his job. but for now, steve is better and doesn't deserve to just get tossed aside as if he's second fiddle already. at best yao could share the primary role with francis this year. best case. i feel he'll still be at a point where steve has to lead for the most part. but everyone just wants to give yao the damn ball and tell francis to fight for the scraps and get his points cutting to the basket and suck. when yao is dominant, he can have the ball and let francis be his kobe (not that either will be as good as kobe or shaq). until then, steve deserves respect as a proven great scorer who still deserves to be a main cog in the offense, not just a spare part. that's what i get sick of. as for 13/8 being good these days. ok. it still doesn't make him any better than slightly above average on offense (even taking into account only playing 29 mpg). 9/7 may be average for a center now, but it doesn't make it good. and as for yao's efficiency. take out his dunks off passes from penetration or any offensive rebound tip ins or dunks and then take out any layups or dunks steve or cuttino got handed to them, and i'd bet the percentages look remarkably the same. when people want yao to get the ball, i assume it's as the offensive initiator. in that role, i don't think his success percentage is any greater than either guard. big men always get more non-initiated layups and dunks than guards and thus have their percentage skewed (cato being the prime example of this). hell, if yao got just one dunk/tip-in a game (i.e. not a set up go through him possession) he was a 44% shooter the rest of the time, the same as cuttino and steve. however, we definitely need to learn how to use yao on the pick and roll. that would be my biggest gripe (though he wasn't open nearly as often as sportscenter tried to point out. apparently the guy 2 feet from yao was no longer allowed to reach his hand out and deflect the pass or something).
He will clearly need the ball more in order to develop into that dominant player. Is there any doubt Francis will be a main cog and score 20ppg this year? We'll need both guys this year. Batman and Batman. But the O needs to start revolving around the 7'5" dude. It won't work any other way.
wow francis 4 prez. you seem to really have a beef with yao. whats up wit that? are you saying yao will never be a great center? are you implying the rox drafted the wrong guy? i dont think yao is ready to take the leadership role too, ,however you seem to really hold contempt for our center. i have seen Francis dribble the ball 100 times between his legs waiting for the clock to run to 3 seconds then jack up a three, which he usually misses when yao was wide open under the hoop. now if the role was reversed i'm am sure yao would have passed the ball to the open man cause he is a unselfish player. Yao has his faults, but you seem to just point out his faults and none of Francis"s. Steve is not the perfect point guard and Yao is not the perfect center. u complain about yao only fans, when u seem to be a francis only fan judging by your handle. We are all Rockets fans and we should support all our players
Yao is young true, but he also has a tone of low post moves, and his agility and speed for a center is right up there with the best centers in the nba. What held him back the most? Fatigue and not being strong enough to handle other big bodies in the paint. From the recent pics of Yao he is definately thicker in the upper body. His points in the paint and rebounds will only be higher, and JVG has stated Yaos inside game is going to be a big part of the offense already. Dont worry Stevie and Cat will get theirs. Hopefully they work out a chemistry together quick enough to keep the losses down.
F4Pres, I think that was a good post. Left the door open for the future, but took the blinders off for today.
If we ever do make the championship Houston is going to be big. We have Yao Ming and the New York Press knows Van Gundy intimately. It could be an explosion of respect when we do make it.... in June next year.
Who cares HOW Yao gets it done...as long as he's getting it done better than everyone else? Yao's pretty damn efficient if you ask me. Once he learns to protect the ball slightly better, he'll be such a powerful force in the middle. He's a superb rebounder, great shotblocker, knows how to pass out of double teams....Basically, once he starts protecting the ball, he'll own the C position for 78 games a season.
A major plus for the team is that Yao is a skilled passer. This ultimately gets the whole team more shot opportunities if they know how to move correctly without the ball. I agree that Francis will have to take on the leader role until Yao can maintain low post positioning. The Jett had it right when he said that the problem with Yao is that he needs to get closer to the basket. (I think he mentioned this during a Spurs game and was pointing out the difference between Duncan's positioning and Yao's). SaVeThEpIgS88- I never said Yao was the whole team, thats why I included the part where he is only a piece of the puzzle and NOT "the entire thing". I know it hasn't been a long time since you learned how to read, but stick with it man you'll get there. Just kidding man. No but I agree that Francis is an essential part of the team. I just hope for his sake that he buys into JVG's system and doesn't just talk the talk.
Francis4prez, great post. You, like me, seem to be one of the Rockets fans that thought this team had a great future with Francis and Cat even before we drafted Yao. It's amazing that our all-star point guard gets little to no respect on this board.
Mose Malone said it best "Basketball was and will be a big man's game. " Sure, Steve and Cat put up a lot shows, but did we make to playoffs? Read JVG lines more carefully "It's not about whether you want to win, it's about how much you are willing to sacrafice to win."
francis 4 prez, what you are seeing is the public's acknowledgement that steve and cat cannot and have not lead us anywhere. they are simply not capable of doing it. and it is the public's belief that yao will be the man to lead us. yes, it may be a little premature to hand the keys over to yao completely. but it is definitely NOT premature to take the keys away from steve and cat.
so you saying If you take Steve and Cat off the Team [that we had the last few years] and replace them with Yao We'd be in the playoffs? Rocket River
If you want to do the comparison right, you need to give Yao two guard teemmates with equal talent to Steve and Cat, then see what happens.
