That dude if from the Howard-Mania fan club. Don't waste your breath on that guy. If a player dunks and doesn't yell, he thinks that guy is soft. Some of these posters only started watching b-ball for a few years and haven't watched the EASY YEARS (for Centers) of the illegal defense rules. It would be TOTALLY SICK to see Yao in that era.
It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the league lol, Yao would completely DOMINATE if the rules of past were still in effect. Unfortunately they are not and he must adjust.
Um, no they did not. There was not one instance where the entry pass was there to Yao and they did not make it. The only time it was even close was on the out of bounds play where AB missed the 3.(which came after an attempt was made to get Yao the ball and knocked away and almost stolen by that over aggressive defense Portland employed in the 2nd half on Yao) Problem is the play looked like a designed AB 3 since Yao was just standing there(like he knew Brooks was going to shoot it) and he wasnt trying to post up.
When was it ever easy years for centers? The illegal defense was just as hard if not harder to play against if you were a center. Go watch the rockets vs knicks in the finals or any rockets game against sonics. This hasnt all of a sudden became the wing man era. The nba has alway favored wings players. you can start in the 80's and look at the highest scorers and most were wing guys. Dantley, Jordan, bird, wilkens, english, king,aguirre, and on and on. some of young guys make it seem like they didnt have guys who could defend or that illegal defense was easy. 40 yr old shaq is the 3rd best center today. A guy with limited skills like howard avg 21ppg. 40 yr old shaq would get embarressed by a 28 yr old dream,robinson, and ewing. A 40 yr old shaq would get embarrased by a 28 yr old shaq. Once again, understand what i'm saying, you do what works. if it was a magic play that a team could run and score everytime regardless of the defense, then i'm sure every coach in the world would have it. The rockets had alot of success running away from yao and it opened scoring chances for everyone else. Battier of all people couldnt believe how open the hole was. He decided to drive and picked up prybilla's 4th foul. Now if the game got tight and yao had to come back in, pryzbilla is in jeopardy of fouling out which would cut his aggression. There are ways in which a player can help the team by not scoring. He can grab 20 rebs or blk 4 shots. Deke had a major impact on the game because he blocked 2 shots, intimidated 5 and grabbed 9 rebs.
There are pros and cons of the playing in the past. The quality of centers was wayyyyyyy better back then and the game was a lot more physical. I'm sure Yao's weaknesses will be exposed back then as well.
I remember there're times like that. I'll review the tape to confirm that. But if I don't recall correctly, then this thread is useless. Because if that's not the case, yao shouldn't get any shooting attempts if the Blazers were successfully shutting him down. And teammates were doing all the good&right things if yao was indeed never in a good position in 3rd qtr. Then of course the blazers shouldn't worry about yao in the next few games. Because they did such a good job defending yao in the second half. We'll see.
There were only 10 possessions the Rockets O had in the 3rd with Yao, and one of those was a Luis Scola fast break. One was the bogus offensive foul on Yao. They attacked mismatches alot early on in that quarter. Mismatches that I might add probably would not be there with a more straight up defense on Yao. I mean Shane Freakin' Battier drove to the rim......TWICE...... Thats how wide open it was because of the D they were playing on Yao. Oh, and the Rockets scored 12 points in the 10 possessions that Yao was on the floor. They allowed 9 points to the Blazers in that time span.
Uh, he was referring to a wing player. So unless you know of some plans to move Yao out to SF, no he didnt say trade Yao. Apparently he isnt the one that is clueless.
I hope you realize that Brooks is not going to shoot like that every game. In fact, he had more 3-12, 4-14 games than 10-17 games IIRC. That's what we are worried about.
Very well. But you took a quote about trading Battier for Deng and that we need guys that can do something with and without the ball to mean that if we trade Battier we should trade Yao. And the highlight of your quote meant you took offense for an approach of "dont just go for guys that compliment Yao, go for guys that can play and run THIS OFFENSE." Rockets > Yao. PERIOD. Here is an example of what kind of trade or acquisition he was talking about: Battier sure compliments Yao, but if you can find a guy who might not be as sharp from 3 range but is as good a defender and can slash and create a shot for him or someone else thats something you have to consider. A dang good player can compliment Yao by simply making it tougher to double and triple and front him.
I think you confuse Aaron with "4 for 13" Rafer. Aaron is a good shooter that shot 40% over the course of the season, though it was certainly a little higher in his starting role. And right now is shooting 58% in the play-offs this year. I thought you guys were off the edge when you were whining about Rafer being a 24% 3 point shooter after the first month of the season last year. Rafer had enough time in the league that we did know what his average was, and lo and behold by the end of the season he was shooting his average. Aaron will eventually find his average. He is so young that we dont know what that average is yet. But he is a good shooter with solid form so I expect him to be around mid 40s for his career from 2 and probably right around 40% on 3s. You guys act like AB cant shoot the ball or something.
Everyone has a value, but that's not what I was saying. Shaq, Kidd, and 2 time mvp moses malone was traded before. Maybe that was before you started watching basketball, but that why they have the internet so you can look stuff up. V.3 and I were having discussion about deng vs prince. I said both are huge upgrades over shane. He liked Prince more than deng. He said he thinks prince compliment yao more, I said the goal is to get good players and they will work everything out. If you want to build around yao, you need certain componets that the rockets don't have. Its harder to build around him vs just getting guys that can play. You can say with a straight face hayes compliments yao, but he's not that good. They need slashers and finishers to run the offense. A guy with a good mid range shot like deng would also help a lot. A guy like jefferson would play well also because he slashes and draw fouls. If you only look at fit vs talent, then you wind up with battier who is useless unless yao is drawing a double.
Guys, Yao dominated. He stood his ground and manned up. I think that he will emerge as a true superstar in this years playoffs. Its his time, he's healthy, his team is outstanding, and most important, there is no TMAC to take away the ball from him. He has his issues, but which star in the league doesnt have some flaw? ( not named Lebron or Kobe) The single most important thing that YAO has is his ability to shoot in the clutch. Most stars do not have that. GO ROCKETS....
why others being a yaoming fan can *annoy* you? i don't understand. and there is a constant trend here. "look, i am a rockets fan, not yao-only fan. so i am automatically more knowledgeable and my fandom is automatically superior to yours." yes, there are many yao-only fans, many of which appear to be his countrymen. they watch the rockets games regularly and cheer for the rockets because of yao. i want to ask - what is wrong with that? isn't that common in about every sport? also, being a yao ming fan is a part of being a rockets fan; and vice versa. is it not? it's not like the 2 are exclusive. many here take yao for granted. example? yao just shot a perfect 100% in game 1; and that's is some sort of playoff record. brooks had a good game and had a career playoff high. deke had an outstanding defensive game filling in for yao. we have an appreciation thread for ab and deke respectively. where is the appreciation thread for yao? better yet, has there ever been any? leebigez, you have some valid points in this thread. but the way you're presenting them isn't helping the course of a healthy debate. in fact, it makes you look like a yao hater.
Yeah, that happens in lots of sports. And there is nothing wrong with being a Yao only fan. I am sure there are many Kobe only fans or Lebron only fans or Chuck Hayes only fans.....(luv ya Hayesfan!) The thing about the whoever only fans is they arent whining about a lack of touches for their player when he is quite obviously being focused on by the defense creating easy opportunities for the other 4 players on the floor.
