HP is correct, It is when the athletically gifted are also very quick thinkers and have a good work ethic that you get the SUPERSTAR player. Someone who works on their game, and is always trying to find a way to beat the other team. It is the ability to recognize things and react to them more quickly then the average player, this is what takes them to that next level. An example was the pass Yao made when he tipped the ball to Francis, that was actually the FASTEST way to get the ball to the wide open guy, and allowed Steve more time to do his thing BEFORE the defense could react. Yao will be a great great player. DD
Not only does he play video games, he plays extremely well. Remember some reporter claimed that Ming could get into at least the semifinal if there was a national championship of a certain video game? That's a huge compliment to one's intelligence IMO. Don't forget at least half of the male college kids play video games in China, all of them are smart. Imagine Ming can beat all of them!!!!! Shrimpie
Will rolling out the craniometry & Phil Rushton days after Lott's idiocy! Get him! I agree Yao has a high basketball IQ. When you're stolen from your parents at the age of 8 by the commies and sent off to live in a cabin where deeter beats basketball into your brain 24 hours a day, you turn into one of these amazing players. Our capitalistic safeguards try to protect kids, and so we're at a disadvantage to the socialist countries in which children don't turn into losers if they become pros at the age of 13. They can get away with it, we can't. From here on out, foreigners will dominate the NBA. Then again, maybe it's craniometry and I'm just an egalitarian blowing smoke in your eyes.
He's played so well WITHOUT the benefit of training camp and the preseason...just imagine if he that under his belt also.
That pass to Francis by Yao blew me away. I've been trying to think of ANY time I've seen that from a big man. Heypartner, you wouldn't spell it B I R D, would you?
ditto on the Francis pass..... that little look the other way, drop it to Moochie on the baseline weren't no slouch either...
Depends on the sport. The Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell was notoriously slow. I don't think there is any premium on "classic" intelligence among NFL defensive linemen. McLean Stephenson (i.e. the actor who played the Col in MASH) used to tell some brutal jokes about the intelligence of defense linemen at his alma mater, Northwestern (he was assistant director of athletics there for a while).
The Key Word is ADAPTABLE Pro ball has become such an "adapting" enterprise that even the best teams (e.g. Lakers) ultimately get toppled b/c every other team is GUNNING for your SPOT!. Moreover, teams will TARGET a specific player who is giving them beef. All the more reason why successful players themselves have to be adaptable. And that kind of work takes "brains." I can't think of any single "one-dimensional" player, who went on to become a Superstar. Most Superstars are "multi-dimensional" - passing, shooting, playmaking, etc. Yao is that special kind of guy. It's one thing to have a coach assess the big picture as to a team's relative adv and disadv, but to have player's do that? A team of people who are constantly adapting and assimiliating... Whoa! That's like fighting THE BORG from Star Trek. theSAGE
OK, I wasn't thinking outside the box... uh, the court. Heypartner, anyone, have you ever seen a big man (hell, anyone in the NBA) make a pass like Yao did to Francis? I was sitting there with my mouth open for the longest time. (My wife shut it for me. ) Whatever the heck that was, it showed instincts that are downright scary. Wow.
Remember his Genes! It must be great to have parents who understand and appreciate your life! Also he is a second generation professional player and many things seem so natural to him!
