absolutely. Ralph sampson won it for gods sake but Hakeem didn't, (losing to Mj); Mike freaking Miller did. So who cares!
most people don't. it's predominantly the yao ming fans who have taken over and ruined this board, who really don't understand how meaningless the award is, who give a crap about it.
And look at this year's top MVP candidates: Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and Tim Duncan. Only one of those guys, Tim Duncan, won the Rookie of the Year Award and he had the benefit of a full career at Wake Forest to hone his skills. The other three had mediocre rookie seasons, kind of like Yao and Amare, but showed some flashes of brilliance. Nobody looks at KG, Kobe, or TMac and cares or even remembers that they didn't win the ROY award. If Yao develops into a superstar like these guys, I won't care or remember, either. So please get over it.
If you do not understand then I cannot help out on that. All I can do is to allow stew in your cesspit of ignorance.
To a slightly different question -- Is benching Yao Ming an attempt to send a signal to Yao and the Chinese National Team? What got lost in the shuffle several months ago is that a large part of the reason that the Rockets' offense lacked any cohesion whatsoever is that Yao missed out on summer leagues and training camp because of his commitments to the Chinese National Team. There was lots of talk during training camp about the new "motion offense" that Tomjanovich was rolling out for this team. But once Yao got landed in Houston, and after a few failed attempts at incorporating him into the system, the offense resorted to traditional Rockets' 2-guard basketball. Quite frankly, Kelvin Cato fits MUCH better into that system than Yao Ming does. Now at the end of the season and with Yao facing a commitment to the Chinese National Team for the Asian Olympic Qualifying tournament, maybe Larry Smith and the Rockets' organization is trying to communicate to Yao that we've got a capable center in Cato who runs the type of offense that Francis and Mobley want to run. And, if Yao doesn't bulk up and rest up this off season and report for summer leagues and training camp, it's going to be more of the same misery next year.
This is an asinine thread not even worthy of my presence but here goes: Yao touched the ball repeatedly the first several series of the game in which he either fumbled the ball and turned it over or proceeded to miss some close shots. By the 4th quarter the game was well in hand and there was no need for Yao to come in. Also, how would anyone have felt had Yao tripped or stumbled oover someone and been seriously injured. Then these same posters who are calling for Mr. mean to put yao in would create 100 threads about why Yao shouldve been pulled in such a meaningless affair. If the voters had not already made up their minds, 5 extra minutes would not have significantly increased Yao's stats to tip the scales in his favor. This type of thread is stupid and my response to it is not an endorsement but rather a hope that sound logic will disuade these threads in the future.
You are right Cato does fit so much better the Street ball style of Francis and Mobley! As far I and many Fans interpret the Rockets move in selecting Yao Ming, with the #1 pick, was that they were going to build their team arround Yao Ming and not Francis and Mobley, in time the Guards would become more like role players to Yao Ming!This means that sometime in the future the Rockets would play a Big Mans Game and would not be a Guard Oriented Team.( Francis and Mobley forsaw this possible change and thats why they were so much against Yao Ming coming to the Rockets)IMHO If this is not the Rockets intention then why on this earth did they select Yao Ming ? It would a great mistake to misuse a player of great potential in this manner.The Rockets must decide which way the team is going! Working in two completely different directions at the same time will only produce results lke this season- not too good!
I am surprised that there are fans here who don't seem to give a sh*t about the ROY award. This might be a reaction against the Yao newbie fans or the hype but getting the rookie of the year has always been a source of pride for the teams I have followed and their fans. I always thought it was great that the LA Dodgers had that amazing string of ROY's in the 80's and 90's and how it added to the prestige and history of the organization. I would love to see the Rockets have the same legacy and add to the list of past ROY's. TRUE FANS DO CARE ABOUT THE ROY. And apparently, Phoenix also cares about the ROY despite locking up the 8th playoff spot as they were willing to play their ROY candidate in the last quarter of a meaningless blow out loss with the playoffs around the corner. It is not about giving Yao extra minutes but merely allowing him to play his season average but instead, Larry Smith has noticeably reduced his playing time. I guess the Houston coaching staff must care much more about preserving the health of their rookie than the Sun coaches. Of course the ROY is an individual award and the goal is to win games but it is not like pushing one works to exclusion of the other. In other words, IT IS POSSIBLE to walk and chew gum at the same time! It is precisely the fact that BBall is a team sport that makes prospect of a Yao ROY win meaningful as he is one of the rare breed of players (especially for a true center) who actually makes his team mates better. The question is do his coaches and team mates make Yao a better player?....
Yes, Larry helps to bring an end to our postseason. We lost the majority of the games after Larry took over. The funny thing was our 5-game winning streak and momentum ended right away.
