They don't need a running center, but they need a center that can keep up with the pace without getting tired. You can see that Yao gets winded when the pace is up an down in our normally slow offense. Can you imagine Yao trying to get up and down the court if that pace was the norm.
Exactly, he was insanely good before JVG came to town. A non stop highlight reel. hmmm.....what could have been. I hope TMAC and Yao can work well together. Kind of makes you think about how is it possible to ruin some one's game? I do understand the part about having a slow center that can't keep up etc. But fast breaks still should happen, like they used to and are now in Orlando. We really didn't have many last season. Anyways.
Uprising: I think you're seriously overrating Steve here. Most people here agreed that Steve would pile up huge stats this year with the offense built around him. Steve has proven that he can carry a team with him as its best player to a 40 win season. He's good enough to get those wins on his own. However, I think everyone will agree that for a team to win a championship, they must have a dominant post player. And Steve proved last year he cannot coexist with a dominant post presence. He cannot do the things that he needed to do as a point guard on a center oriented team - control tempo, take care of the ball, make good decisions, play well in the set offense, feed his big man the ball, hit set shots. Steve failed miserably in all these departments last year. I don't care if he's putting up big stats in Orlando and they're winning. I've caught almost every one of their games this year. It's the same old Steve and that won't win you a championship. Kudos to him and their success, but I'm glad he's gone. People are forgetting that the Magic added Jameer Nelson, Dwight Howard, Grant Hill, Pat Garrity, Hedo Turkoglu, and Tony Battie along with the Houston 3 this year. T-Mac led them to the playoffs on his own. That team plus McGrady would be good enough to win the East.
Yes, the same Tracy McGrady whom just a few months ago you were screaming on this board that the Magic would never trade, especially for that Houston package. Funny how things change.
I don't remember anyone saying McGrady could carry a team to a championship on his own. What's your point? He's shown he can coexist with Yao. Steve showed he couldn't. That's the point.
So what's your point, how many players in the NBA can. Tracy's stats have gone down also, so lets wait and see how the season plays out before we make all these conclusions.
My point is that it's not about carrying the team to a championship. Only Yao Ming can be good enough to do that. The idea is getting guys to fit into the system around Yao Ming and coexist with him. T-Mac in only 5 games has looked better with Ming than Steve did in 2 years. That's my point.
When did I say he could? I said only he could "be good enough" to do it. I based this on the simple fact that unless you're Michael Jordan, you need a dominant post player to win a championship. Only Yao can become that. This isn't rocket science dude. Read the post before you reply.
I don't get the praising of Francis by Uprising, "damn good" and so on. I mean, his assit/to ratio as the same as expected, bad for a pg, rebounds the same.. Is scoring 20.8 ppg same as T-mac, except with a lot more FG attempts and is barely maintaining a 42 percentage. Is shooting horribly from behind the arc and his steals aren't even up to par.. We have T-mac and Yao, yet all this makes Uprising say "what could have been"? "The guy's a stud"?
The issue with you post for me is . . What has YAO proven? Without a second star everyone needs help even Steve Folx said a team with Avery Johnson would never win it all Rocket River
I agree. While a lot of Francis's critics are talking about how playing with Yao really degraded his stats are forgetting that he still had a pretty good year stat wise the first year he played with Yao. Over the two year span they played together there were several times when we could see them both clicking toghether, most notably at home against the T-Wolves last year. I'm still convinced that if JVG was a better offensive coach he would've been able to develop a system that would take advantages of the unique talents that both Yao and Francis have and recognize that neither are really suited to the traditional Center and Point Guard roles he was trying to pigeon hole them into.
Again, it's not about not needing a second star. My main point is that I think to win a championship, a team must have a dominant low post presence. Whether you think he ever will lead us to the promised land (and based on early indications this year, Yao has A LOT of work to do), this guy is our best shot. Whether he can do it or not is not the point. You do agree that all championship hopes hinge on Yao, correct? It doesn't matter if Francis/McGrady average 30ppg, unless Yao steps up as the big man, this team can not make it through the West against Duncan and Garnett. Again, nothing to do with having a second star or any of that. That's not the issue here. As far as Avery Johnson, they said that because they said he sucked. Same thing with Kenny Smith - people said he sucked. There's a difference between a starter sucking and a starter being downright incompetent. Charlie Ward doesn't have an ounce of talent in his entire body. I think most folks around the league would agree that he's the worst starting point guard in the entire league. However, i would take him as my pg 10 times out of 10 over Steve. While he sucks, he knows his limitations. I can count on him to not dribble the ball off his own foot or throw the ball out of bounds in critical situations. Folks said Avery Johnson couldn't shoot. Kenny Smith couldn't penetrate. Steve has all the talent in the world, but he will continue to make piss poor decisions that KILL his team and I'm glad that's gone.
You must be too used to Phyllis. Insulting your players in public and playing stupid mind games doesn't mean you have balls.
