Boki will be wide open about 99% of the time at the end of the bench... Rice and KT will be filling the 3 minutes. Hopefully he will get a few minutes since TMo got hurt...
I believe Ming will put up Elton Brand rookie numbers from the get-go, i.e., 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 5 assists and 1steal per game. Sit back, the Rockets are ready to cruise to a 52-30 record.
I don't think he will quite get the points that Brand did, EB was on a pretty bad team that needed him to score. We won't need that as much and have plenty of scorers. I'd like to see 7-8 guys at least get 10-12+...
Point taken. However, SF will be so in love with finally getting a chance to be a real point guard (instead of an I-Have-to-Do-It-All-Myself point guard) that he will set Ming up time and again. Ming is such a high percentage shooter that 12 to 15 shots a game will get his 20 points and change. As far as rebounding etc., he has the pedigree to do just that.
Steve is already getting more assists. I think he is trying to get more, has more offensive options this year, and the new offense is making it easier. Yao Ming could get 20, but I don't think he will average that high. Steve, Cat, and MT all will be 15-23 points a game. Mooch, Torres, KT, Rice and EG should be 8-14 pts.. That's a lot of points and Yao will have to fit his in that mix somehow. I still think he'll be concentrating more on D and rebounds, especially at first. They may run some ISO for him, or high picks, but he will get a good portion of his points just in the flow.
The Rockets, IMO, will want to show why they chose Ming number one. In addition, they have excitement to generate (to fill more seats). I think we agree Ming will be a defensive giant (pun intended), but I think you may be underestimating his scoring ability.
I'm not underestimating anything, obviously he has the ability, I wonder whether or not as a team he will be called upon to score that much. Other teams may not be able to contain him on a given night or he may heat up and the Rockets go to him more - then he may get 20-30 points. But 20 avg., I don't think that will happen. Eventually I can see that, but down the road.
The absolutely delicious part of being a Rocket fan will be to see which one of us is right by the end of the season. Actually, I will be happy if we split the difference. However, I am so juiced about this team that I am more optimist than analyst. That said, I don't think I will be that far off.
