let me see you play 48 minutes worth of basketball 365 days a year for the next 4 years...and tell me how you feel
Yaoming is not god,and he also has many things to learn and improve.He also makes mistakes sometimes.He can't become a perfect person.It is easy for him to get tired.Maybe it is a good way for him to protect himself from being hurted and that is the most important thing for rox to win!
yipengzhao, Well said! You were able to differentiate between the two. There's a trade-off on hand size. Shaq is good a grabing the ball and rebounds, but bad at outside shooting touch. Shaq's hands are WIDE and has LONG fingers. But, they are soooooo large that they have a negative impact on his shooting touch; it's like us trying to shoot a grape-fruit. Yao, while his hands aren't as wide as Shaq's (which is a good thing), he does have long fingers. And this allows him to palm the ball pretty well... But since his hands aren't "too big(like Shaq)" he's still able to retain his shooting touch.
crash5179, I too see this. I does seem like he's getting a little more explosiveness. He's starting to grab rebounds and immediately go right back up for the shot a lot faster than before.
Yes, for a person with 7'6 and 320 pounds body, it's not easy to play like Yao - generalist, especially in NBA.
I just wanted to mention that Sampson played about 33 minutes a game his rookie season, playing in all 82 games, averaging 21/11 with 2.4 blocks and 2 assists a game. As I recall, Caldwell Jones played a lot of minutes that season at the 4 and 5, which probably allowed Ralph to play fewer minutes as he adjusted to the NBA. In his 2nd year, playing more at the 4 because of rookie Akeem Olajuwon being a kick-as$ center in his rookie year, Ralph played almost 38 minutes a game at 22/10+ with 2 blocks and almost 3 assists a game for 82 games, also being MVP of the All Star game. That was the next to the last season that Sampson was basically injury-free, having a great year during our '86 Finals season. Yao is more and more exciting as a player as the season goes on, but we have an unbelievable legacy of great centers. And his minutes are significantly fewer than Sampson's during his first 2 years. I just want to mention that Sampson playing at the 4 was a testament to his skill. The guy was a natural center playing out of position due to the Dream. (god, what a pair those 2 years!) Yao continues that legacy. Stats courtesy of ClutchFans.net. (I had a brain freeze when I posted this, but I fixed it.)
during toronto's game. i suddenly worried about what happen if yao ming is injuried during the play off. in that game, it is so obvious that when yao ming was on court. rox is a much better team than toronto. when he on bench, i cannot find any difference between toronto and rox. my point is, maybe, i said maybe. JVG's system is too focus on yao ming . if he is unable to play for whatever reason, rox will fall back to what it is used to be, or even worse.
I first started following NBA (and the Rockets) in '86, and back then I didn't realize how special Ralph was as an athlete. That shot to beat the Lakers, it was one of the most exciting moments of my childhood. If not for his injuries, he could have been one of the all-time greats in the NBA. Even so, he was probably only about 230 lbs. Yao is carrying around about 100 lbs more, so I wonder what his upper limit on minutes will be? I'd be very happy with around 35 effective minutes per game, but I wonder if Yao should build up his strength, but lose some weight? Aside from Shaq, I can't think of anyone in NBA history over 300 lbs that ever logged significant minutes, and some suggest that his weight is a contributing factor for his foot injuries.
Now, when you throw in the weight factor, you gotta point. Ralph didn't carry a lot of pounds for his size, although he was no Stick Bradley. I'm really excited about Yao having such a huge "base". In that regard, the dude is the Anti-Ralph. I'm hoping that it will let Yao avoid some of the leg problems Sampson had. We'll have to wait and see. Several big guys have had foot problems (Shaq, Walton, for example) and it's something to be concerned about, as you pointed out. I wonder what Yao weighs now? He seems to be getting more explosive, which is great, and he seems to be getting more endurance. At the beginning of the season, I thought the extra weight noticeably slowed him down. Maybe he's adapted to it now. Like you noted, we may need to be happy with 35 effective minutes. I remember watching Ralph make that shot. I think I might have jumped as high as he did, screaming my lungs out.
