http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090415 14. Yao Ming The good news? He stayed healthy. The bad news? You're getting a 20-10 and two blocks from him and that's it. He is what he is. No matter what he does, how much he produces, or how much he changes the game with just his presence on the court...it will never be enough for the national media.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090415 20. Ron Artest My dream scenario for the '09 Finals if Boston can't win: Houston shocking Cleveland in the Finals, followed by rioting at MIT, a tipsy Yao Ming and Artest giving David Stern a full-body celebratory hug. Vegas odds? 20-to-1. We're in play. Love it.
That is just ridiculous... How many players in the league can "just" give you 20-10. Not even worthy of getting upset over.
how long u been a rockets fan? the media doesnt like us. big freakin deal. i'd rather they talk us down and doubt us. so that it will taste that much better when we prove them wrong. i wish our opponents felt the same way. then maybe yao wouldnt be facing so many double and triple teams.
...what the hell are they talking about? Those are good numbers. 20-10 is badass considering you give plenty of rebounds to Scolandry, Hayes, Artest, and scoring is deferred to Artest, Von, and AB. Yao could average much much more, but the depth of the team is what takes from his stats.
Change the rules back and I'm pretty sure the big men these days will average more points. It's much easier to neutralize big men these days with the double coverage before they get the ball and the fact it's easier for guards to get to the basket and draw fouls since they let players get away with murder on big men down low and don't allow hands on perimeter players. Post games are going to be come less effective as time goes on and younger players will stop developing it as much. I love nba basketball but I don't like the new rules ever since they came into effect.
Ehh, it's Bill Simmons. There's no point in taking him seriously when it comes to anything rockets really.
If Yao gives us 20, 10, and 2 every night of the playoffs, I'll be ecstatic. I'm just glad the bad news isn't that Rafer is still our PG.
I think he's implying that Yao doesn't do much beyond that. For a frame of reference, Zach Randolph is averaging a legit 20/10, clearly Yao's impact is greater than his. I think he's trying to make the point that there are other big's who have a bigger impact than Yao despite his stats. I don't agree but the rockets haven't given people much reason to believe in them in recent years.
The real point is that this pompous writer never watched the Rockets in action, otherwise he'd know how both our offense and defense revolve around Yao.
He should has ranked Yao at No.450 right behind Elton Brand. Because Yao is what he is. Frankly speaking, if you has not jump out of first round of playoffs, you are available there to be disrespected by ass even you are 20-10 guy. At the very least, Yao got more respects than Joe Johnson who was just commented in one word “Sure”. Seriously, Ranking 450 players? get a life!
From the same article, number 71... Hey, here's something crazy: Only five NBA players will average at least 10 rebounds this season, but 38 players shot 40 percent or better on 3-pointers. To recap: Teams launch nearly twice as many 3s and make a higher percentage. There are six times as many "elite" long-range shooters. And because of that and three other reasons -- faster style, more small ball, longer rebounds -- there's a drought of good rebounders because boards are distributed in a more random way.
The nerve of this guy ranking him 14th MVP this year and Artest 20th while saying a dream scenario would be for Houston to win a championship GRRRRR Seriously people...
the good news? his name is lebron james, the king of bball. the bad news? you get 28pts, 7rebs and 5asts from him and that's it. oh, a couple of crab-dribble, too.
I can kind of see where he's going just because Yao has averaged over 20 ppg the last 3 years and now he isn't. So it seems like there's a decline. But his comments sound like they're from someone who only looks at stats and doesn't watch actual games. And knowing how much of a Celtics fanboy Simmons is, he probably only saw Yao play twice this year. 3 times if you count the all star game.
