It was a thread earlier about our 1st yr expectations of Ming. I thought they he could avg15pts 8 rebs and a couple of blks and the rockets would be playoff bound. Many people had much lowered expectations of him. I made those assumptions pretty much based on what Griffin did as a rookie. As a starter, Griffin avg 12pts 7.7 rebs and 2.3 blks. Now if Ming is bigger ,stronger and as most will tell you more skilled than Griffin, plus playing against a weaker position talent wise, why shouldn't we expect those numbers out of him? If he can't at least put up those Eddie Griffin type starter's numbers , then I don't think he will be that good. Granted, he's only 21, but he's been playing against better competition than Griffin. I don't think its asking too much. As for him starting over Cato and getting the bulk of the minutes, that should be a no brainer.
Agreed...plus , as you mentioned at the end of your post, he will probably be getting more minutes than Grif did...i dont think that 14, 8 and 3 blks is out of the question
PTS-19 REBS-9 BLK-3 AST-4 STL-1 FG%-.55 3P%-.35 FT%-.65 I see him getting numbers like that, but if the Chinese goverment is still all over him I would have to pick Jay Williams.
If nothing else, I think with a future frontcourt of Ming and Griffin the Rockets would lead the NBA in blocked shots. And with their outside touch, the Rockets should be able to spread the floor better than anyone in the NBA. I just wish the old illegal defense still existed. The questions are, will either of them be able to body up with opponents, will either be able to develop an inside game, and will either of them be able to snag a lot of rebounds? I think Eddie has a good knack for rebounding, and with Ming's length he should be able to get quite a few too. If both of them have a good work ethic and show a desire to improve, they could seriously (and I'm not exagerrating) become the best frontcourt in the NBA. Not too many teams have a great power forward AND a great center.
From the early reports are that Ming is a gym rat. They( the coaches) says he's the first in and last to leave. To me that makes me think he's a hard worker. he may not have the upper body stregnth yet, but he is 300lbs and have a good base which is very important. Playing the post either on offense or defense has more to do with lower body strength (thighs and butt) than upper body strength. The upper body mass is for finishing plays which is imporatant also, but look at how Dave Robinson used to get moved off the block and Barkley wouldn't budge. Upper body wise Robinson is a work of art, but lower body wise its more suited for a teenager. I think he'll be better his first yr than most people think.
YAO WILL NOT START MOST OF THE SEASON!!! Unless, Cato gets hurt, Yao will not start untill after the all-star break at the VERY earliest, and even that is too early. You forget, he is not going to be at the summer league, training camp, or even in the US untill right before the season starts. He doesnt know the offense, defense, language, type of game, or even how to get to the compaq center for gods sake. Eddie had so much more to prepare him AND he wasnt even supposed to play untill Rice and Mo T went down, giving him more PT and, as good as he played, he shot horribly. Your expectations of Ming are Ludicras. Look for this: Min. 15-20 pts 8 Reb 5 Ast 1.5 Blk 2 FG% 50+ FT% 70 3PT% 25
Under normal operating conditions, Eddie Griiffin would not have received enough PT to put up the numbers which he did. This is not the way RT does things. EG put up those numbers on an injury depleted, 28 win team. On a healthy Rockets team, EG ranks behind Steve, Cat, MoT, Rice and maybe even KT as a scoring option. In Rudy's system, Cato will start over Ming. (Rice did over Griffin). Having an expectation level for Yao Ming greater than 12 ppg / 6 reb / 2 blks / 2 apg IMHO is just not realistic. Those are Smits-like numbers and he was a #2 pick. The Rockets don't need 15+ ppg from Ming to be successful. If Ming shoots 50% from the field, he will need 16 shots to get 16 points. This isn't going to happen on a team with Steve, Cat, MoT, and Rice (or Odom ).
I dont agree 100% with your take. I am not sure if I would consider Ming's competition stronger than Griffins. The CBA is pretty weak, and looking at those photos (in the other thread) everybody looks about 5 foot tall! When he did go against the US (not the bs us team), he looked like Wang does in Dallas. As far as strength, I am not sure if I buy that either. Every report I have read states that Ming has incredible lower body strenth, but has absolutely NO UPPER BODY STRENGTH (plus he does not like lifting weights ). They also state he will be abused by the bigger more athletic NBA players. Some wonder if he should play PF, since he does not have the strength to play Center in the NBA (read that the other day). Most everybody thinks Griffin will be a SuperStar in this league. He proved at 19, he can dominate the league at rebouding/blocking per 48 minutes (just like college). Griffin needs to do a Jefferies and report to training camp bulked up (which I think he is working on). He would then become one of the most complete PF's in the league. If we could walk away with Ming/Bulter or Odom, I would change my tune about Ming. Just remember according to most scouting reports, he is a major PROJECT. We will have to be very patient and not expect to much from him for a couple of years. (that is realistic) Far as Rudy, no way he gives up all the minutes & plays to Ming. Rudy is not going to change his ways with rookies. Does anybody think that Francis & Mobley are going to stop taking most of the shots. They will treat Ming just like Griffin (last year), Ming will have to build team chemistry to be included in the offense. Missing all summer leagues, training camps, pre-season, and the first few months of the season (see wang), will not help his chemistry with the team. He will take time.
I looked at his stats in the Olympics and it was about 10pts, 6reb, 2blk. Forget about his inflated stats in the CBA. I think he might struggle in the first year just getting acclimated to the NBA and the Rockets system. I expect him to improve vastly in the second year.
Thats realistic Compaq.... it cracks me up to read some of the posters predicting him shooting 20-30ppg his Rookie season. He will be lucky to get 10 shots a game, let alone 20 (see Francis/Mobley/KT). Their is only one sure-thing in this draft, and that is Williams. Nobody thinks Ming is a sure-thing. He is the consensus #2 because he is 7'6 and is being drafted for potential. The fact that almost nobody has seen him play, against real competition, is probably helping his draft status (the big unknown).
OK guys, after reading these posts, I realized I do not want Ming. He will get smoked in the NBA, not to mention is risk for injuries.
I have a question I thought someone might be able to answer. I know Ming will miss this entire offseason with the rox, but will this be the case every year? Will he ever be here for the summers? What about the playoffs? OK, two questions...
Have anyone compared Wang Zhizhi's and Ming's numbes in CBA? They might give a clue about what to expect of Ming in his first years ... obviously Ming has more potential then Zhizhi but that might not show for a few years ...
According to reports, he will not be allowed to workout in summers, training camps, preseason & possible parts of the season for 3-4 years. After that I am not sure. But apparantly China is afraid of him getting AMERICANIZED, probably so he wont get that taste of freedom and defect (unlikely).
Wang & Ming have very similar games. They both dominated the Chinese scene, and according to Mings own comments, Wang has better defense and is a more versatile defender than Ming. Far as offense they are very close but Ming has more potential. Wang only dropped to the 2nd round, because no body expected him to be released by China. He was the first Chinese player in the league. Wang opened the door for other chinese players to enter the league. If Wang was the unknown and coming out this year, he would be a lottery pick.
If Ming gets 8pts and 6rbs an 1.5blks a game that would be great. I think those are optimistic possible.
i agree. that would be a great addition off the bench. our frontcourt reserves may be better than our starting front court next year because of rudy's "loyalty" to his players. starters: cato moT rice bench: ming griff kt
