MONROE: YAO SHOWS HIS STUFF IN HOME DEBUT BY MIKE MONROE FOXSports.com Nov. 2, 2002 9:16 p.m. HOUSTON - Yao Ming already is one of the NBA's most powerful forces. How do we know this? Because a sellout crowd of 16,285 turned out at Compaq Center on Saturday night for the Houston Rockets' home opener against the Toronto Raptors. Houstonians didn't venture out on a cold, drizzly night to see Vince Carter. When the Raptors came to Houston last season, only 14,222 turned out for the game. No, the only NBA players capable of filling every seat at the NBA's oldest arena - thankfully, it just began its final season as home of the Rockets - were the combination of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and the singular presence of Michael Jordan. That's right. The only sellouts last season in Houston, which was second-to-last in the NBA in home attendance last season, were for the Rockets' two games against the Lakers and for the lone appearance of the Washington Wizards. But every seat was filled for Yao's home debut. This automatically makes Yao the first Asian-born superstar in NBA history. And for this, his rookie season, his statistics aren't going to matter much at all. However, after seeing him in a regular-season game for the first time - he scored eight points on 4-for-7 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 24 minutes - I have a prediction that might surprise you: Yao Ming will be averaging double figures in scoring by the All-Star break. Yao got into Saturday's game just 3:42 into the game because starting center Kelvin Cato conveniently picked up two fouls. He entered to a rousing ovation and elicited a 16,000-throat "ooooh" when he missed his first shot, a 10-foot turnaround jumper, with 5:45 left in the quarter. But when he drove the left baseline, spun back to his left and banked in a one-handed jump hook from five feet out, the Compaq Center went wild. Less than a minute later he executed an up-and-under move from about 12 feet out on the low block. It was this move that dropped the jaw of anyone who knows anything about post play. It definitely was an Hakeem Olajuwon move - no, not The Dream Shake, but equally effective - except from about four feet farther out on the floor. "That was Dream's move, absolutely," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said, an enormous smile spreading across his face. Hey, when you're 7-feet-6 you cover a lot of territory with one step on an up-and-under. Tomjanovich has seen a lot of amazing things in his NBA playing, scouting and coaching career, and Yao's up-and-under move dropped his jaw. "If you just look at our whole league there are a lot of things you see and say, 'I don't believe that.' "Just take Vince Carter. He jumped over a 7-foot-3 guy. If you watch Tracy McGrady, he is a video game. The guy is up above the rim, shoots the three, puts the ball on the floor. Look at Garnett, he's a 7-footer who can press. And then there's Kobe Bryant. "And then you've got a guy, Yao, who's got moves that if it happened in our era somebody would say you've been reading too much science fiction." It's no Martian Chronicle to suggest Yao will be one of the most productive big men ever to play in the NBA. This is a 7-foot-6 player with a solid lower body base who also has soft hands, outstanding court vision and an obvious feel for the game. Pay no attention to anything you heard about Yao before Saturday night. Critics have been having a blast ripping him because his first two games produced a grand total of only two points. Nuggets rookie Nene Hilario forcefully swatted a layin attempt Yao put up in the Rockets' Friday night game in Denver, and it made every sports highlight show as further evidence of how far the No. 1 pick in the entire draft has to go before he can be a force in the NBA. When Yao was asked about it before Saturday night's game, he just smiled and said, "Let me practice a little more, and I'll start dunking." Indeed, Yao converted the first dunk of his career in the third quarter of Saturday's game against a Raptors team reeling a bit after losing Carter midway through the first quarter to the same injury that knocked him out of the final 14 games of the 2001-02 season. What's most impressive about Yao are his competitiveness and the obvious feel he has for the game. "He has that feel for seeing open people, and as time goes by we're going to get layups when we cut and he has the ball," Tomjanovich said. This is not just an incredibly tall person forced into a role for which he has no true passion. You can tell he means it when he says, in English or Mandarin: "I love this game."
Good article, but I wish he hadn't lopped off the part of Rudy's quote where he mentions Francis as one of the new breed of NBA players.
Give me a break. Francis is part of the new bread of supertars. He will be one of the top 5 players in the league for years to come.
i cant wait to see what king of player he can become. as fans we must give him time to mature as a player. look at steve. this is his 4th season and he is finnaly the type of player we expected to get right out of the draft. you must also remember that big men take longer to mature than guards. give yao 4-5 years and he too, can average 29pts and 9 rebounds like steve
Calm down dude, I defend Francis all the time, but this is the first time I've seen somebody go off a poster didn't say the word superstar. I can't find the exact quote, it was in the Chron after the toronto game though. In the Chron, they left out the part about KG and he says something about how high Francis can jump or something about getting so many rebounds while being 6'3".
Francis is one of the new breads of superstar Mrs. Bairds concepts. Arrested, tried and convicted by the spelling police.
I think you mean Asia Carrera. She's also the smartest asian superstar since she is a member of MENSA. Take that O'reilly. Call her all the names you want, but that pornstar has played piano in Carnegie Hall, what have you done??? Warning!!! This is sarcasm, don't take it seriously
