As does every other player, even superstars. Only because he is happy to defrer that role to TMac. The pure fact that he is willing and able to subjugate to another player who needs to be the "leader" more than Yao does shows a lot of leadership in itself. No more for you. If you cannot see how Yao makes his teammates better then you haven't watched the same games that I have over the last three and a half years. As evidenced by the recent losing streak, Yao makes every Rocket including TMac better.
SageHare6 The MAJORITY rules !!! > 60% of the poll said: YES, Yao Ming is certainly the Franchise player of the Rockets. No doubt about it !!!
i don't think that people who voted yes for this poll are automatically saying that he is THE franchise player of the rockets.
Excuse me, did SHAQ "win anything on his own without another SUPERSTAR on the team"?? No matter how I hate Kobe, well, he WAS that "another SUPERSTAR on the (Lakers) team".
Originally Posted by Luckyazn I'm a Yao fan and dont get me wrong Yao is good but maybe a career 21pts 10reb guy but Yao can't win anything on his own without another SUPERSTAR on the team. He'll never be a SHAQ, TIM DUNCAN, GARNETT And, did GARNETT win anything, yet?? Even TIM DUNCAN didn't "win anything on his own."
Man, you have an interesting sense of imagery - I'm a little scared to put any kind of "Smiley" after that - but imagine a genuine smile anyway. Yes you've gotten hammered pretty good, but many took the time to communicate why your posts might be misguided even if your opinions have a smidgen of merit. I think there should be annual awards given here. I'd nominate you for the "Taking It Very Well in Two Threads" category in 2006. But it's early and there undoubtedly be far more deserving candidates in a month from now. Still, thanks for the laugh.
Nah. I think it's just a case of bunny-envy. Nice! Man, if I win I hope I get a mail order trout like in that earlier pic. theSAGE
Comparing the team when Yao just joined with the team now, you can see Yao is the only one left. And TMAC didn't hide that Yao is the important reason he chose Rockets. I suggest you ask this question to Rockets management and TMAC, they'll give you a good answer.
Like many have said, it all depends on the definition of "Franchise Player". In my book, Yao is close to a very good player, but definitely not a great player. He can be great some nights, but ordinary on others. He doesn't have the consistency to be considered great at this point of his career, hence not the franchise player now. The max contract doesn't have anything to do with his game on the court, this league is full of over paid stiffs, even Moochie is making Millions. Yao has the contract, mainly because his market power, and potential.
I absolutely think you can surround Yao with a good group of NBA quality players and expect to go to the playoffs every year. Especially as he continues to develop. We did this with Hakeem and while Yao is not Hakeem remember that Dream was in the league 10 years before he became a franchise player in terms of taking over games and dominating..... before he delivered the championship.
While Yao is a good player and one of the top centers in the league at present IMO he is NOT a "Franchise Player" like TMac is a franchise player. The evidence is clear with the Rox winning right now. They could not win with Yao in the lineup while TMac was out, but they are winning with TMac back and Yao out. Maybe someday he will be, but he isn't at this time. Someone up above said that by the criteria that the original poster put forward there would only be 5-6 franchise players in NBA and IMO that is about right.
Dont be silly using that market power and potential argument for him getting the max contract. Did you see the people who got contracts close to his? Tyson CHandler, Eddy Curry. Cmon, even if noone knew who Yao was, e would still get that contract.
Langal, I think you've got it. Yao could learn to be a better passer. That would really help him with the double teams, and make that weakside helper play honest defense. Other than that, Yao can't do much. Some say that we don't know how to get the ball to Yao in the post. I haven't seen enough games to evaluate that, but it seems to me that Yao doesn't see double teams as an opportunity to get the foul line. He needs to get the ball in those situations, and create contact. This is what the truly "great ones" do. -P1st, S2nd
Krocket, What you fail to realize are the teams that yao had to play against versus the ones Mcgrady had to play against. Yao lost to the likes of Miami, San Antonio, etc. and they were all very close winnable games. Tmac playing by himself managed to get beaten by an average of 10 points in the 5 game losing streak I believe. Am I saying Yao is more important then Tmac, no. It is just that looking at stats can be very misleading. IMO, Yao CAN become a franchise player only if the refs allow him to. Some nights they call it right and Yao dominates and other nights the refs take him totally out of his game. It is a wonder how he manages to put up 19 and 9 under the condition he was playing under.
I don't disagree, but that's been a catch-22 situation since he's been here. He's shooting a horrible pctg. this year (for him, and probably has something to due with the toenail), but the one thing I think JVG drilled in when he came here is that "Yao has to shoot more". Who among us disagreed? Last year Yao shot a higher pctg. in the 4th quarter than anyone in the league and still couldn't get good shots consistently. I'm not trying to start an argument because we've all heard this debated in minutae ad nausem, but many conflicting viewpoints quite possibly point to a larger truth: Yao is still finding his way, we've seen his entire game but some of it seems like a distant memory - and frustration abounds. Yao has never been a poor passer out of the post, but with the 'I have to shoot' thought combined with getting routinely hacked without a call, and constant roster turnover. Who the heck knows where he is now? No offense intended to anyone, but those that remember Moses, Ralph and Dream and any of those teams I do see why Yao seems so uncertain at times. Our roster is still filled with players that are almost like strangers.
