I don't think any one of us who have looked at the clips have lost our minds. Like any draft -- especially now with high school kids going top 3 -- this is about potential. Putting up 35+ ppg, 20+ rpg against grown professional men in a league that has to at least be as good as American high school level (and is probably much better otherwise David Beniot and God Shammgod would score 50 ppg) shows me a world of potential. Seeing that the guy has some fluid moves that can't be taught show me he's not Manute or Bradley. Is he perfect? Strong enough? No. But I honestly can;t understand how we can watch the same clips and not acknowledge basketball talent with potential. Whatever -- this debate will rage on until the All Star break ...
Did anyone notice he was wearing a knee brace on his right knee? Also that was Wang (Dallas) he was playing against.
first, thanks to michecon for the link. second, this thread should be required viewing/reading for anyone who wishes to talk about whether Ming would be a good pick or not. third, these videos solidified my opinion: pass on Ming. yes, he's "quick" and "athletic" for a guy his size. but he's not "quick" or "athletic" enough for the NBA. he looked slow to me. and awkward. his passing was the best part of his game, and these videos do dispel somewhat the notion that he's just going to wait outside and shoot 3s. to me, the worst part of his game was his dribbling. not because he's so bad at it but because he does it too much. in my opinion, NBA 1s, 2s and 3s will all see their steal averages go up when playing against Ming. that's going to be the first habit, I think, that he'll have to break: putting the ball on the floor too much. after seeing the guy actually play [and one would assume that these were his "high"lights], I'm officially off the fence. I've been swayed back and forth by the many well-articulated pro- and anti-Ming opinions. but having seen the guy with my own eyes now, and factoring in the multitude of extra-basketball risks, I firmly believe it is in the best interests of the Houston Rockets to maximize the #1 pick in the draft by doing something other than drafting Yao Ming with it. I think the Rockets may have "picked" the wrong year to win the Lottery. I wish there were a way for the Rockets to turn their 1 and 15 picks into the 3 and the 4.
When was the last time you heard Shaq described as "quick" and "athletic". We're talking about a 7' 5" center here. Not a PG or SF. LOL
exactly. we're talking about a center. not a shooting guard or small forward. which is exactly why it's disheartening to hear Yao described as quick and athletic for two reasons: 1) I didn't find him to be particularly adept at either skill and even more: 2) he's not going to play any position other than center . . . which is why it would be a lot better to hear him described as "powerful", "dominating", "warlike", "incendiary", "violent", etc. we all know that he's not going to be big and tough like a center should be. so the next best thing would be if he was super-quick and super-athletic. he's neither. the best on-court trait everyone seems to agree he possesses is that he's 7'5". so what? so was chuck nevitt. the Rockets, from an on-the-court standpoint, will be better off without him. "LOL "
alright, how can i download the divx thing. i go the website. click download and a page appears with the qiucktime icon clock...then it turns into a quicktime icon with film reel looking stuff on the outside...then says "missing software unable to download such software at our site...blah blah blah..." if i right click and save as then it just saves it as a html file. if i uninstall quicktime so another download program does it it just makes some small icon in the top left corner... this sucks...
And by pros you mean little chinese guys trying to play basketball. I never realized that a chinese guard has made it to the NBA, oh wait, there hasn't been one. Let's at least be honest about who he's playing against, half of those players couldn't make the cut at the High School level in the US, they may be pros in China, but they aren't pros by my standards.
To me, this guy looks too skilled to not have a fairly good impact in the NBA, with the potential to be a superstar for a very long time. Tell me, how is anyone going to guard that turnaround jumper? All you can do as a defender is put your arms up, and there's no one in the league who Ming cannot simply shoot over. Tim Duncan has that notoriously, unblockable bank shot from the left corner. I saw another clip of Ming shooting bank shots off the dribble. How can you guard that? You have to guard him up to NBA 3-point range, you can't leave him on the pick-and-roll or else he'll bury the midrange jumper, he can bank it off the glass standing still and off the dribble, he can hit that turnaround on anybody, plus he can probably pass over double teams because he's so damn tall. Prediction: this guy will be hanging 25 points per game in three years.
kubli9: ------------------------------------------------ I can't believe people are ranting and raving about what he's doing in this video. Look at the level of competition he's playing against. What you're seeing is a 7'5" giant playing with a bunch of little chinese guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off. All he has to do is sit there with his hands up. This is getting ridiculous how everyone is buying into the hype, this guy is a bust waiting to happen. ---------------------------------------------------- Most time you see in the video, Wang Zhizhi guarded Yao. (You know Wang zhizhi right? He is 7'1, not 'little chinese guy'. Yao definitly needs learning NBA physical play, AS MUCH AS YOU NEED LEARN HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS!!!!!!!
Who the h*ll are you. Did some chinese dude steal your girlfriend or knock up you sister or something? Did one beat you out for the last position on the JV squad.
But Shaq IS quick and athletic, i.e. he has that "explosion" that Bill Walton kept saying CWebb didn't have in Game 1 of the WCF. Shaq explodes to the rim. His quick hands are evident when he snatches up rebounds, and if he's anywhere near the rim, then kablaow he's tomahawked the ball through the rim before you can blink. To say Ming or Shaq is not quick/athletic probably depends on your definition of "quick" or "athletic," but Ming certainly does not look like he has the "quickness" Shaq has, notwithstanding the brute force he often uses to muscle himself closer to the rim.
