pryuen, holding Yao to high standards doesn't mean that he isn't his biggest fan.. in fact, a true fun would hold his favorite player to superior standards and would expect him to be the best every single game... that's what true fandom is about, it's not about blindly worshiping a player and believing that he is doing great when he isn't exactly doing that (like all those weirdos in the other thread).. I consider myself a great Yao fan and a Tmac fan.. I always critique them though, and I am always hard on both of them because I want them to be the best btw, I think you are a great poster and a pleasure to have on this board since you offer great objective analysis and views on Yao and the Rockets and you don't blindly follow Yao like many annoying YOFs on this board do ...
I agreed with all you said about holding Yao Ming to high standards. But if you read between the lines of James23's posts continuously bashing and d@$$ing Big Yao left and right by saying he disappeared during the Mavericks comeback from 17 points down, and all through 4Q doing nothing, you could smell there is something fishy when he claimed that Yao Ming is his favorite player. I wondered whether he watched this game live. He was benched to rest when the lead was stretched to 17 points in 3Q. And in 4Q, he was all the times guarded by Bass and some other Dallas Mavericks players that he could only make 1 out of 5 of his shots (?). But he got 5 rebounds/2 blocks (?) in 4Q..... He was the last to be blamed for this heart-breaking loss to the Mavericks. I would blame Rick Adelman for some not-well-thought-out rotation strategies at the beginning of 4Q, those ill advised 3-pointers from TMAC and Rafer Alston down in the stretch of 4Q when the game was on the line, his other team mates not coming to help defense and always exposed Big Yao to be the last frontier facing those speedy and penetrating guards of the opponents. Of course, I felt utterly p@$$ed and frustrated just like any other Rockets fans that the team lost this heart-breaker, wasting Yao Ming's 30 points/15 rebounds/6 blocks/41 minutes and Tracy McGrady's 15 points/12 assists efforts and 0Fer's rare 18 point out-burst..... But it all boiled down to how the team can learn to close out tight games as these. It just separates the winners to the losers, as well as champion to contenders or pretenders.
you make some great points pryuen.. and after reading the guy's post, I don't think blaming Yao for the loss is acceptable at all because he did his part, you can't ask him to deliver better numbers than what he did tonight.. he made one mistake by fouling Devin, but again, who DOESN'T make mistakes in the NBA? everybody does, and that wasn't the reason we lost the game.. I agree with you that this team needs to develop a killer instinct to finish off teams and close out games in crunch time, we just have to work on this really hard and hope for the best (and maybe some SF3 playing time )
There is a difference between holding Yao to higher standards and advocating trading Yao. I am the former, and some posters are the latter.
you and I and every rational person in this world knows that a trade involving Yao will NEVER happen, so there's really no point at advocating a trade because it simply won't happen, it doesn't comply with the basic rules of common sense and acting in respect to self-interest.. so discussing a trade involving Yao doesn't make any sense because it simply won't happen.. you, however, would be the most delusional person in the universe if you don't agree that we can get a more valuable player basketball-wise for Yao because Yao's off the court value is soooo high (that doesn't imply that his basketball value isn't great, it obviously is great, but greater than that of D-Wade, Timmy Duncan, Kevin Garnette, and the various top 10 players in the league right now).. Rockets would be getting a better basketball player statistically and realistically if they trade Yao Ming for Steve Nash, no doubt about it.. it doesn't mean Yao is trash, it just means that Nash is a better basketball player.. but is it possible? HELL NO, it won't happen in a thousand years, because there is more to the NBA than just basketball... I've said it before and I will say it again, Yao will finish his career as a HOuston Rocket, anyone who believes other wise is absolutely crazy..
It looks like YOF thinks that Yao deserves a better team and ROF(Rox-only-fan) thinks Rox deserves the best point guard in NBA. just trade Yao away and end this ****. by the way, who has more fun in watching Rox games? YOF or ROF?
We could just as easily turn around and trade McGrady for "pieces that will help this team". What do you have to say to that? Where has your god led not just this team, but any team, to anything except first round exits?
Not really.. we still had people talking about how crappy Adelman is for benching Steve. Then you have the people talking about trades. This board is negative when we're winning and "more negativer" when we're losing. You'll get used to it and maybe you'll be like me and just get used to the Hangout.
Officially off the bandwagon. At least if Rafer is going to start and Head is going to play PG for any minutes.
Not off the bandwagon, but standing in front of it, like the guy in front of the tank at Tiananmen square. At least until Rick Adelman recognizes that Rafer's ability to dribble the ball is offset by his lack of man to man defense and his propensity for boneheaded plays at the most inappropriate time, and for his HORRID shooting. DD
I'm a HUGE rockets fan, but I'm convinced... That the rockets will never win anything with Tracy Mcgrady.......last night at the game I felt the need to scream some words at Tracy, and judging by his look towards me I don't think he was happy with what was coming out of my mouth.......I've come the realization that this teams problems aren't it's PG's, PF's, bench players, coaches, g.m's, etc......it's Tracy Mcgrady. Every year since he's been here all those things that I have just listed have changed......but tmac hasn't.........I'm tired of all the excuses of what he does and doesn't have.....Jordan did without a center....Hakeem did without a good staring PG and one title he did it without a PF......The Laker teams of the new millenium never had a solid PF.......Wade did it with a old beat up shaq and a bunch of over the hill vets and inconsistent role players.........Bron took his team to the finals despite their weaknesses....A.I. did the same....................Tmac can't even get out of the 1st round....and last night was a prime example of why he hasn't been able to do that........with a couple of minutes left to go Tmac drives it into the basket and instead of shooting the layup, dunking, or drawing the foul he passes to Yao Ming who wasn't expecting the ball....then on a later posession he shoots a fallaway offbalance 20 ft. jump shot that never had a chance.......I've seen this far too often now and it's time for a change....if the rockets are really "serious" about winning and taking the next step they need to find a way to trade Tmac for some kind of talent........the guy imo might be the most physically talented player the NBA has ever seen, but like the Lion from The Wizard of Oz he lacks "courage".........I will now return home to Thanksgiving Dinner and football.....good day everyone.
Mind who you call idiot. The poster before you was right in some ways, TMAC lacks the killer instinct and does not win the beg games. You can't have 2 soft players with no heart on the same team as your superstars and still expect to win. For the rockets to be a winner, Yao or TMAC has to go, and i'm quite sure Lex would trade his kids and some clutch fans before he trades Yao
Rockets for life! I personally don't agree with some of the things coach A is doing, and I don't like some of the ways the team preforms, but a Rocket for life I am. I (hopefully) will be around and a Rockets fan, long after most of these players and coaches are gone. Kind of like most relationships, Love/Hate. Love the team, hate some of the decisions. Go Rockets!!
