Rudy was asked by Dan Patrick has Yao Ming signed a contract? Rudy: No Dan: Has he at least agreed to terms? Rudy: Yes, I believe so!
I tunned into 610AM midway through the conversation and that was the only meaningful thing I got out of the few minutes of dialogue. Rudy sounds very excited though about the upcoming season.
Dan Patrtick has Rudy if Ming would play "big" (size). Rudy talked about the stats they're getting from Ming's recent international games (he fudged the rebounding stats a little ) and talked about how effecient he is in his limited minutes. Rudy also said Ming will not be Shaq but will be more of a Bill Walton type player. Scoring from the inside and outside, passing well, etc. DP asked what are Rudy and Co. gonna due w/ Ming when he comes for the World Championship in a few weeks. Rudy said they would follow him around when he gets here and work with him as much as the Chinese govt. allows them to. Rudy also said he thinks that in the future w/ more asians coming over to the NBA that Cina will move up its national tourney so the players, Ming specifically, won't miss training camps in the future. ron413 gave the jist of the contract status. HE can only make so much money so there is no concern about the contract. Rudy also talked about how nice the kid is and how he has an "old school mentality", doesn't want to embarrass the game of basketball and feels obligated to do the right things and play well for China and basketball fans in general. Ge also said the Ming told him that "Details are important" and how that just wowed him and made Rudy feel like Ming is eager to learn and will be that much easier to work with and how it will be easy to help him improve his game. Thats about it I believe.
No direct quotes, but it was a solid ten minutes more or less just about Yao Ming. Rudy sounded very excited. Compared him to Bill Walton rather than Shaq, and that he feels ultimately his game will be unique. The contract talk was a bit of it. From the time the Chinese National Team hit North America until when they leave, the Rockets will have people in the same cities to work with Yao. "Access" hasn't been worked out, but they will certainly get some time with him before/after practice. Rudy has a bunch of plans, but will go slow. His goal is to help the players (Ming, Griffin, and Nachbar) improve on a daily basis, rather than "long term potential." The physical nature of the NBA will be a switch, but Rudy feels good about Ming's showing in international competition. He thinks seeing so many "NBA tricks" may even give him an advantage over many of the kids coming out of college. The team keeps up with box scores of the foreign games much as we do on here He didn't foresee any real long-term difficulties with the Chinese government, but Rudy did mention they are discussing trying to get some Chinese tournaments moved around so (in the future) they will not conflict with training camp. Rudy ended with praise for the character of the kid, and how everybody (fans,media) are "going to love him." He also mentioned that Ming's English is pretty good, but he wants to "get rid of the translator" as soon as possible.
Thanks for the feed guys, it's been dry around here lately and this will keep me going a bit longer until the season begins.
Rudy is a class act!It seems to me that he has the correct thaughts about the potential player type of Yao Ming and is keeping clear of the false Shaq type casting!
It would be cool if after Ming retires he could be an announcer and when people throw up airballs could say stuff like "Watch your face!" To the people in the front rows and when some one makes a bad pass on a break he could say stuff like "Hooorible decesion. Teeeerible pass!" Can't you just imagine it. In 20yrs MBullard could be the play-by-play guy w/ Ming being the color analyst. The best thing about the interview was the Walton comparison. I had never even thought about it but it makes perfect sense. They are both big men that can move (Walton could before all the injuries) and they can both score inside and out (hopefully). Hopefully Ming can be a Walton-type player. (minus the injuries)
ming is also very lucky to have us. what are the chances of clutchcity posters also getting a percentage of his contract?
In this 5-game series, Yao averaged 12.4 points and 7 rebounds at 20 mpg. Not sure about the FG%, my guess is above 60%.
