Yao is the best center in the NBA, I believe it now http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=56518&forum=1&start=15 Some quotes: I don't know about you, but I really don't want to play Houston in a 5-game first round series. If Kobe's in court we could easily lose the first two and be forced to win three in a row. I don't think this team has the mental toughness to do that. Right now Yao is 80% offense and 20% defense, though his sheer size still intimidates in the paint. He is the best shooting Big Man I've seen since Hakeem. Maybe the best shooting big man ever... in just his second season. I say we ride out the next two years with Shaq. Then no extension and try to pick up Yao when his rookie contract expires. He should be the next great Laker center. Under the CBA, he'll cost half what Shaq is demanding. Shaq can go play for New York or somebody and balloon to 400lbs. Houston can offer more $ with their Bird rights I think, but Yao can make way more in endorsements as a Laker. [ This Message was edited by: -Yo- on Mar-03-04 08:33 PM PST ] ########################################## Yowwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad stevie & cuttino decided to take the game away from yao!!! (he played very well! ).......... but so did shaq!
Obviously everyone is talking about Yao becoming a Laker. Imagine that, with its big Asian fan base, Yao will probably be wooed to join them, by Buss.
Hmmmmmmm: Dear Shaq: Let me start by giving you props for truly being one of the MDE. Having said that though, I have to say I AM disappointed not by your play against Yao, but for not having done better. Let me first say that contrary to what other posters said, Yao DOES gets double/triple teamed consistently. Heck, Miami triple teams him even before he gets the ball. The teams that don't do that get torched (eg. Orlando, Atlanta). Let me also say that I don't buy this "the Rockets are shooting too hot from outside" excuse. Houston's backcourt shot < 50% while Yao shot 63%. From what I can see, we were getting torched all over the floor. Houston's backcourt is widely known to be the best Yao stopper. You have two options: 1. You can front Yao (heck, even Jeff Foster does it successfully) OR 2. You can take the help D. Both would end up in the same result - Yao doesn't get the ball, because Houston doesn't know how to throw an entry pass. After couple possessions like this, they'll just stop going to Yao altogether, as have been proven time and time again. Steve Francis shoots < 40% for the season, < 30% from the outside. Cuttino Mobley has been shooting under 35% for the last couple of games. Probability suggests you let them shoot. But we didn't stop Yao, so we ended up not stopping any of them. The help D doesn't even have to come from one of our players guarding them. It can come from Cook. Kelvin Cato can't hit a jumper if his life depended on it. If Maurice Taylor hits a long 2, I'd still take it if it means stopping Yao. I just don't buy this they're hot from the outside crap. And don't say he can't guard you one on one again. Neither of you can guard each other one on one. The difference is Jeff Van Gundy and Yao took the smart way and gang up on you while you didn't and ends up getting beat. If you can't guard a player one on one, don't guard him one on one. What a concept. It's not an assault on your manhood to suggest that you could use some help D. Because you can't stop Yao one on one, you honestly truly can't. Yao is the up and coming superstar. Quite frankly, when he decides to bring his A game, nobody can stop him one on one. You're still the best for the next few years EVEN if you do get help and you would get torched less. The team would also win. Have you thought that maybe if you take the help D, get better stats than Yao as a result and LA blows out Houston, all this talk about you getting schooled would well... disappear? Shaq, with all due respect, at one point the BS excuses just don't work any more. And that's not just towards you, but the entire team.
With just about all Shaq's points coming from inside the paint, its hard to not get double teamed in today's league that plays zone. btw, MFW2310. good post, but Yao was getting double-tripled teamed in the Alanta game, just for some reason, he was taking it at them and scoring almost at will in that game. -G'day-
i also read that the Lakers cant double team other players much because their rotations are so bad (remember all the alley oops) J
These Lakers fans are unreal. What did the guy mean when he said Yao 'should be' the next Laker center? Did he mean yao is destined to be the next Laker center or what? Amazing.
everyone knows our guards are r****ded. it's a well known fact in the nba community (and probably all over china!) that the guards don't know how to give the entry pass to yao, that they don't know how best to compliment yao. they're clueless.
ACtually lots of Lakers fans believe that it's a done deal that Yao will wear Lakers jersey after his rookie contract expires. Read some of those posters and you will be shocked because they cannot wait for that to happen in the future.
Bill Duffy (Yao's agent) does indeed have a lot of ties to the LA sports market, but as long as by Yao's 4th season, he is progressing, posting good numbers, and the team is contending for a title, Yao will most likely not even consider a move.
add CD to the list of retrads to the part of the rockets. By not trading steve by the trade deadline, while his value was up..
well looking thru fakerground forums i came by this. Do the Fakers really think there gona get yao? I believe yao will be a rocket for life because he has to much pride within him. These fakers gotta be kiddin themeselfs.
steve francise lovers what do yall have to say about this "Yao would make this a routine game if their guards played off of him like they do against us. Until Franchise and Cuttino Mobley involve him more, he'll never make these games routine. Trade HIM for Shaq. And Shaq's points AND shots go down, adn Yao dominates. It's about how you're being used. I think Yao only averages something like 11 shots a game. " "Francis and those guys stopped going to him. Thank God for that too. If not, we lose. Simple as that" i got that from the lakers board....everyone knows the gurads are the problems, jeez, wake up CD u idiot.
The Lakers fans believe that they can just pick and choose whatever players they want just because they are the LA Lakers. This is why I hate the Lakers so much. They are so full of themselves and have no regard to any other team. They think they can just wait for the young stars to develop on other teams and then snatch them over just like that. They did it with Shaq. They think they can do it with anybody.
