his numbers arent as impressive as they were last year before the injury id rather not mention by name, but were getting ws and in the end thats all that matters. no matter whos on the court.
I don't even think Yao effects the game as much as people think. Sure he puts up nice numbers but he usually gives up nice numbers as well. There's a reason why the Rockets never blow teams out and when Yao is dominating, the team is barely winning. When Yao sits out, the lead doesn't even disappear much with the role players in.
25 and 12 would definitely put him in the conversation, but Yao has never averaged that. He's never even put up 12 rebounds per game for a month. 05/06 he averaged 22.3 and 10.2 06/07 he averaged 25.0 and 9.4
1. he is the anchor of our offense. Our interior D usually is non-existent when yao is out because no shot blocker is left. 2. contrary to what u said, our leads usually disappear when Yao leaves. http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?pcomb=1&season=22008&split=9&team=Rockets he is the leader of +/- for the rockets. M. Yao +224 S. Battier +127 R. Artest +111 this shows the importance of yao. And frankly speaking, you are totally wrong.
He won't win final MVP...but he will be on final ballot...and deserves too as the MVP value to his team is hard to argue, especially this year. And to say he isn't the reason the Rockets are winning is ridicilious. Without Yao on the floor, wafer and alston would never be able to put up the numbers they have as of late. he commands a tremendous amount of attention making possible opportunity for others. don't get me wrong. wafer, landry, alston, etc have played well lately. but the team is better because yao is on the floor. same holds true for mcgrady and other players of that caliber. they make it easier for the role players. but a team full of role players can"t win in this league trust me. Never have...never will guys like mcgrady and yao demand the focus. I agree that yao should be top 10 in the league as far as MVP voting and value to his team...but the final winner MUST be the best player in the game. And that will be someone like Kobe, Lebron, etc But i could care less as i am happy with how we have played lately especially yao
Think again. Look at the off court stats, Yao is the only player on Rockets when he sits on the bench Rox actually loses ground. http://www.82games.com/0809/0809HOU.HTM
I think Yao deserves some recognition for the way he's been playing and keeping this team competitive in games. He deserves that respect. Having said that, Yao is not going to be the MVP this season or any season as long as guys such as Lebron, Kobe, CP3 are playing and are healthy. I just think he doesn't have the impact that those guys have on the game. Sure he gets double teams but at times he can be shut down by just fronting him.
