All you guys trying to compile lists of 10 players ahead of Yao are getting out of control. Let's just stick with centers. According to the NBA, Yao is the 3rd best CENTER in the league behind Shaq & Wallace. Let's just leave it at that. Now, where does Steve fit when compared to other PGs? How does Brand compare to other PFs? You're not gonna get equal value by trading Steve straight up for Brand. Period. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to get equal value by trading Steve straight up for ANYONE. Yes, our weakest link has been in the forward category, since we simply don't start any forwards. The idea is to improve that category while NOT sacrificing another. Trading Steve for Brand (for example) doesn't get you there. I agree 100% with nene's post: "... all people can talk about is trading SF, who has had ONE sub-par shooting year. And the odds are SF will come back next season ready to resume his elite status."
I think he was talking about a top 5 impact player. Yao maybe not have the stats as other players, but his impact on the defensive end and offensive end are much greater then many of the the other players listed. Kg, Duncan, shaq > Yao. If you properly double kobe you can make him ineffective, as displayed in our playoff series. Kobe cant carry a team byhimself, wihtout shaq kobe has lead the lakers to a losing record. On the three I listed has a greater inpact on defense then yao, his sheer size makes any team defense better. Offensively I would say jason kidd , kg, duncan, and shaq only make other players better and create shots. Yao is not in the top 5 talented players but its argueable that he is top 5 on his impact in the game.
Would his shooting percentage dramatically go up. The only way i see if it does is if he works on his jumpshot all season. Steve has one of the worst shooting forms in the league. He does not have a pure stroke and his jump shot is pretty much a line drive. Alot of steves shots are off balance shots, if he could only square his body to the hoop and set his feet when taking his shot he might shoot better. Has anyone noticed a tread amoung the great scoring guards this season. Tmac, Vince, Pierce, Iverson, SF, Baron Davis, What do all these athletic scorers that need to get to the rim have in common? All of them have set career lows in fg%. Is this a coincidence, in the 2nd year where the zone has been legal many teams have fine tuned their zone defenses and many more are using them hoping players miss jump shots.
theres no way you can trade francis. you need an inside-outside presence, and without francis, the rockets obviously wont have that. they need a power forward, but they dont need elton brand. they need someone tall, athletic, and strong. someone who can rebound the ball and play good defense, but someone who doesnt need or want to score 20 pts a game. if elton brand did come to this team, how would his game mesh with yao mings game? would brand be happy being the second option to yao?
yao inside but francis outsdie? yao is inside but franics is not good outiside. He is mainly go to the rim guy. Whatever its called.
I read the first two sentences and decided the article was crap. The day we trade Francis straight up for Brand is a day we will never live down. A day that will live in infamy in Rockets' history. Francis has been shown to improve his team. Elton Brand has not. I mean damn, if trading Sam Cassel and change when he wasn't all that great for Barkley couldn't even get us into the finals (albeit because of injuries and Malone's cheap play), then how would trading Francis for a decent, but injury prone and non-winning power forward help us? Brand has never (and will never) been the lead player on a winning team. We need a power forward, but not at that price.
"Agreed. I wouldn't say top 5. Let me see.. 1-Kobe 2-KG 3-Tim Duncan 4-Shaq 5-Jason Kidd 6-Dirk Nowitzki 7- Tracy McGrady 8-Vince Carter 9-Iverson 10-Francis 11-Elton Brand 12-Yao Ming...." Plus, JO'neal. But to be fair, it is better to list these players' AGE and contract value beside their names. Dollar/age wise, YM does beat lots of guards on this list.
You probably weren't saying his jumpshot was that bad when he was shooting 45+% for his career. I have total confidence he can rediscover his shot and all will be good with Stevie again. Don't be surprised if he DOES dedicate lots of his offseason to working on his jumper. Imagine a 20-8-8 Francis playing with a more experienced, more "buff" Yao.
This whole discussion about TOP # player is just stupid. What's your base for comparing a player playing different positions? Is it his scoring, rebounding, assists, or blocks? Or the impact of the team's performance. Do you compare the skills between a PG and a Center? What about AI in the year when Phily made the final? Was he a MVP candidate? Did he shoot like .400 something? What about Ben Wallace, who couldn't hit the ocean from 5ft away? Put Shaq in any team, you have a playoff team instantly. But look at where the Raptors, Magics, 76ers with Carter, TMac, and AI, you can pretty much know what Bryant will fare without Shaq. Need more prove? Look at the Wolves with KG last couple of years? What's my point? I don't know. I'm just mad that Cato is not rated a TOP 5 player!
It's obvious that a lot of people who now post here only started watching the Rockets since we drafted Yao. Steve Francis is not a bad shooter, he had a bad year, but in the previous four seasons I was always pretty confident in Steve when he took a 3 or took a midrange pullup. Complain about his turnovers or decision making all you want, but to say he doesn't have a good shot after one bad season is ignorant.
Great article. Sometimes the right chemistry is more important than pure athleticism. This team is broken....and has no leader. Trading Steve makes Yao the leader. Time to sink or swim with the biggest fish in the sea. DD
Exactly, it's silly to compare players' stats in different positions. Unless you are comparing their impact on the game and their teams. Then again, those are "soft" comparison. You can not have a universal criteria or standard for that kind of comparison. Then you always end up with unsolved heated up discussions. Personally, I would prefer to compare players at same position, maybe also take team system into consideration. For example, Yao's impact is certainly bigger in the Rockets than in the Marvs.
Please do not let this be true...Francis running the offense another year will be too much to take!!!!!
Ray Allen is a perfect fit. The consistent perimeter threat we need. Nobody in the league fears Francis and Mobley's inconsistent shooting. Ray Allen is a feared scorer who if left open can be dangerous. Rockets should know that. In addition, Francis is scared of his own shot anyways, I don't know if Van Gundy did that or he just can't shoot straight. If Caroll Dawson is smart he goes after Ray Allen, and if not Allen I would see about trading Francis and Mobley for TMAC. Brand is not a bad idea if you can get a decent PG to run the show. Francis and Mobley must go for this team to get better.
This clearly shows that you have TUNNEL VISION. Maybe, for once you can try NOT TO BE A YAO HATER. I think this RICHARD writer is talking about OVERALL IMPACT on the COURT. You can make the argument that Lebron, Peirce, Peja, Cwebb, Dirk, AI are more talented players compared to Yao. But do they have the same impact on a game such as a person as YAO? No, I dont think so. Yao changes the game in a way that obviously cant COMPREHEND. Yao is UNTOUCHABLE. For all those YAO HATERS, ASIAN HATERS, REDNECK BILLY BOB people and Charles Barkely( Asian players cant ball) type. Yao isnt going anywhere anytime soon. Except it, deal with it and stamp this on your forehead.
You got to be kidding me. How many guys on that list would you actually draft to build your team? Given that Yao did not have an awesome playoffs, but he did make make Shaq work like no other. People say that Cato guarded him most of the time, but that is false. Did anyone notice that Shaq scored most of his points on Cato? On that list, there maybe only 2 guys I would draft ahead of Yao, that being KG and TD. You cant EVER EVER pass up a big man with skills for a guard. There has only been ONE guard to lead his team with no dominant or decent big man in league history, and that is MJ. Some prime examples are Tmac and VC. How are their teams doing in the lowly east? Even Kobe hasnt proven anything yet as he has had Shaq. Ever notice that he is never doubled team? why? Because he got a great center to help him out. Im glad some of you arent real GMs.
Uh, I can argue there hasn't been a single center who has lead his team to a championship without a "dominant or decent" guard. Well, except maybe Dream
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap.php I know RealGm isn't a credible site. But it just pisses me off the a guy like Justice could spit soooo much crap out in one piece. The guy obviously doesn't know basketball and is talking out of his a$$. This guy said that NBA GMs "out of all big-men, they would only take Duncan over Yao." I'm not putting Yao down in any means, but any person with basketball knowledge would know that Yao isn't the 2nd best big man in the league.
