For a lot of players, the 3rd season is the make or break season of their careers. Rookie season they get used to the NBA. So people take it easy on them. Second season is when players often go through a sophomore slump. So again, people are not too tough on them. Third season is when you get a good idea of how good a player can be. That's why people are so tough on him now. I think it was Steve Francis' third season when people started turning against him and started realizing he was not going to get much better.
The reason that people are hard on Yao is because they somehow expected him to be a superstar player who could just dominate the game like the great ones. The NBA hype machine certainly has something to do with that as well. In addition, Ming is so big and clumsy. When he does something wrong, it just looks extra bad. People think that Yao could do a lot better because he's so much bigger than everyone else, but they don't realize that he's also much less athletic and coordinated than everyone else is. I think that once people accept the fact that Yao is what he is--a good center who'll never be truly great, these critisms will start to go away.
Yao can still be great. 3 years in the league is nothing. And he's already 18-8 and the second best at his position. Most European players seem to take this long. Greatness is still on the horizon. Why give up. He's got a shot at it.
Rosen just used a bad game to prove his point. If he wants to argue that Shaq is a better player because: 1) he has won 3 titles; 2) has won the legue MVP once; 3) has been consistent in dominating inferior competition......no one will argue with him about that. However, to use a game where Ming clearly outplayed Shaq to prove that Shaq is a better player just shows what a bad ass he is. I still believe that Yao will eventually be able to dominate the league. Maybe he should imagine himself being the King of the league, or a Chinese emperor, something like that......and all his competitors are just those ones in his harem. Maybe he thinks that Shaq is the most attractive one and he can constantly get up for the Daddy. But in order to truly be the King. you need to get up for all your wives. That's the attitude that Yao has to learn down the road.
