um, tracy doesn't even deserve to be in this discussion right now until he gets healthy so let's not even bring him up and his pathetic play. but are you serious that you don't think yao has the potential to be in talks of top 3-5 player? top 3-5 MVP? (and yes, his position is REALLY weak). but regardless, yao has the skills to be mentioned in those levels.
yao was single covered. how else would you explain him being able to put up 18 shots a game and get 10 fts a game? including fts, that's about 23 shots a game, not including touches. if yao is doubled, there is no way he can put up those type of shot attempts (ala this year) b/c he doesn't handle double teams very well. tracy wasn't doubled if he plays on the perimeter. but if you saw the series, they basically played a mini-zone to prevent his penetration (sloan admitted the most important thing in the series was to prevent tracy's penetration and playmaking and make him more of a scorer)
He was not just single covered. There was also weak-side help (Shadowing). For you to even ignore it but mention it only happening to McGrady is hypocritical.
Like ive said a million times, i'm a rox fan true and true.I dont care who gets the credit nor do i care who makes the most points, as long as the rox win. My tone isfor rabbit ears. Anytime someone mentions yao not doing something, epople come out the woodworks. Eventhough i've lowered my expectations of yao based on past rocket post lineage, i still think he lets opponets off the hook to easily. I think yao should shoot 17 times a game, but when he doesn't people blame everyone but yao. I know he's not a guard, but guards cant control his aggression or shot recognition. I saw some play tonight where he kicked out when he should have shot. I mean when you turn from Joel Anthony and Haslem is there, so what? Haslem is chuck hayes size, he's invisible or should be. I'd rather have yao force a shot over a 6'7 guy from 8 ft vs rafer shooting from 24 ft anyday unless he's showing he's hitting that day. No matter what, the Yao should set the tone. The rox got artest partly because of the lack of toughness on the team. The rox never had to get a guy when Dream or moses were playing because they werent tough enough. Yao should set the tempo, be aggressive early and often and everyone will fall in line, trust me. If he wants to control this team and be the big cheese, its there for the taking, he just has to take it and not worry about what tracy,ron,rafer or whomever likes it.
i didn't say he was single covered EVERY possession (i'm sure there were some shadowing). but if you saw the series, they basically cleared the side for okur on a lot of plays without help b/c okur pushed yao out very deep for the most part in that series. had yao gotten deeper position I'M SURE the double teams would have come stronger. but yao got very far position in that series so that's why he was single covered quite frequently. and hence his fg% was only 44%. we all know yao struggles with double teams/shadowing in terms of getting shots up (we've seen that frequently this year). but he put up 18 shots + 10 ft attempts. he got his shots up in that series. but that's not the point. if yao gets deep position, he's unstoppable. he just didn't get it v. okur for some reason i don't know.
i have the same feeling. maybe this season still has hope if we can get back you know who on the bench totally healthy... i also feel yao's handling of the double teams has become a little better lately. still some silly turnovers (but all t/o's look silly by anybody), but he seems to rush under the pressure a lot less now.
12 for 12 and every one still hating on him. Personally when people start dissing on Yao like on the radio (Great white hope?That is so racist), I realize that a lot of people do not like him for culture reasons. A REAL ROCKET FAN WOULD COMMEND HIM FOR A GREAT GAME but instead people say he should do more. lets just trade him if we can't appreciate him and if he kills us in the playoffs all of you haters can either admit you were wrong and ask yourselves who can guard him in the future. Let me guess you people are taller than AB but he still would make you look silly if he guarded you on the court....... or can you take him too, validating my point he is too small to be our starting PG as every one wishes. Then Yao should be forgiven if smaller quicker guys give him fits?Double standard any one? RIDICULOUS
yao played superb last night. he doesn't have to shoot 12-12 to have a great game. as long as he demands the ball, be aggressive, gets deep position, rebounds the ball, EVERY game will be a great game for yao ming and he'll slowly be in the conversation for top 5 player in the game, rather than best center in the game.
I'm not disagreeing with any of this, and I didn't think you were really bashing Yao, or wanting him to fail. I still disagree about TMac's greatness last year after Yao went down, and I don't think the defenses thrown at Yao this year are comparable to the "BOO" defenses TMac's had to deal with, although I admit there's been a couple of games I thought the opposing coaching staffs were collectively insane (I agree with you about Utah). Anyway, Yao does need to step up, but if he can't I'm not going to criticize him as harshly as I do TMac because: 1) Yao never makes excuses and busts his *ss 2) He rarely gets calls, and usually when he does they're "make-ups" 3) The NBA has bastardized the game to favor perimeter players (Von Wafer - Superstar) I wish Yao were Wilt, but I'll be happy with him as an overall #1 pick and max player as he is.
I think the league has always been setup for wings. If you look tgroughout history, with the exception when shaq,dream, and robinson were the leading scorers, the high scorer's were wings. Dantley,jordan,wilkens,drexler, davis,aguirre,bernard king, all those guys were 2/3. The league has always favored those guys. Its not anything new that guys changed positions and they changed the rules because of shaq. Guess who was the genius of that? Colangelo of Phoenix. Since he's never had a big man, he suggested zones. For a league void on shooters, he wanted a zone to increase ball movement and stuff. If you want quicker pace of the game, drop the 8 sec to 7, drop the shot clock to 20 and get call illegal offense when the offensive team has more than 2 players above the 3pt line weakside of the ball. I bet u will see a faster tempo, more presses and more motion in the offenses.
Wilt was different, russell couldn't play offense to save his life and Kareem had the greatest weapon next to the a-bomb. Go and look and the elgin baylor, mr triple double, logo, and others especialy in the 70's and 80's.
Really good players thrive regardless of what era they're playing in and what position they play. Has there ever been an extended period in NBA history without dominant big men? Even now, as Shaq fades away, D. Howard and Yao are still changing games.
Yao was doing the same thing at the end of last Nov and brought us some really good results, then he was screwed up by the refs.
Yao is playing great, he is the reason the other players are getting good looks. I think he has answered the challenge that Leeb is refering too. DD
