That requires something that Yao just doesn't have TEAMMATES TO HIT OPEN SHOTS the knock on the Chinese is outside of Yao . . they are not great shooters Rocket River
Yep, Trent is somewhere between 6'6 and 6'8, while Oak is 6'9 or 6'10. Even in terms of strength, Oak is much stronger.
Actually Larry Johnson was smaller than Oakley. Remember the NBA finals when he couldn't handle Duncan or Robinson because of his height? he was only about 6'6" from what I remember but Oakley was and is bigger.
Oh and by the way I hope that Ming stuffs "Jay" Williams a good 5 or 6 times. Let him keep coming so that his stupidity eventually lands him on the bench. And I'll go even further in saying that I hope that Franchise puts some highlight material on him this year.
is there any chance that this game is going to be televised? i think the actual world championships will be on nbc. i'm hoping ming gets at least (and hopefully these are more realistic) 20 pts, 10 reb, 5 blks so all those ming haters can shut up of course on the replays of these games, they probably wont be showing the good stuff ming does, but more likely will show every time he gets blocked or dunked on
Well at least these World Games will answer the question, if Ming is ready for the NBA this year or not. Thursday will be a good test to see how he fares against "better then average" nba players. This is no dream team, but it should be a good source of determing if Ming can make an impact this year.
How Ming does against the US team will have no bearing on how whe will do in the NBA. He plays for a team that probably has the worst National Team guards in the whole world. From every report, it seems like they are running helter-skelter around the court trying not to turn the ball over. They cannot even get into any offensive sets. Do you think they cannot get the ball to a 7'5" Yao Ming with same wingspan because Yao's man is denying him? No, it's because the Chinese NT guards make all other guards look like Gary Payton on both ends of the floor. Plus, it's difficult to rebound from 12-18 feet away trying to cover the ass of an overmatched teammate, not mention 4 overmatched teammates. Ming's showing in the Canada exhibition game was about trying to cover up the deficiencies of everyone else. If he has a good showing, then we have much to look forward to - THIS YEAR. If he does not, well, I am not too worried. Let's see what he can do with one of the top backcourts in the NBA. I think he will be a rebounding and blocking machine because he will not have to worry about being the primary option on offense and the guards can play off the opposition more because they will have some potent shotblocking behind them. His being on the floor will be an immediate factor. Exciting season ahead and like someone above said - I hope Yao Ming has very thick skin. Another thing - Does anyone believe that he can be double, triple, quadruple teamed in the NBA without the other team paying dearly for it. Well, that is what Canada did and what the US will probably do. Watch. He will get double and triple teamed, have a hard time getting points and boards, play 1 on 5 most of the game, and then be criticized for not being worthy of the #1 pick. It's f#cking silly if you ask me.
Jay, Baron and Shawn are just jelous they weren't the first pick in their drafts! Don't be mad at the player, be mad at the game.....
If anyone is interested, it appears that you can listen to KNBR in San Francisco through a live web feed. It's giving a "Server Too Busy" error at the moment, but it might work for the game. http://www.knbr.com/
J.Oneal will get run over by Yao's big wheels if he's matched up against him. Ben Wallace and A. Davis won't be strong enough to contain Yao, but Yao's teammates will enable them to gang up on Yao, and Yao's stupid coach won't change the game plan to let Yao run plays and shoot from outside. Not a good situation for Yao if you ask me. Yao probably will be. George Karl is one cunning fox. Some long time fans should remember how he designed the Supersonics defense to contain Dream. It's hard to see why won't he be sweating his old techniques.
I'll root for USA of course, but hope Yao shows up well. Antonio Davis is a very physical player and will definitely stun Yao. He can have his way on the offensive end...sorry. I'll be more interested to see how he defends Jermaine O'neal with his barrage of spin moves and bank shots. Jay Williams didn't even dunk on people in college, so forget him dunking on Yao. I could see Baron do it, but it would be nice to see Yao get at least 5 blocks.
Yes China's guards sux, but I want to see how he plays defensively on the US squad (which has nothing to do with the guards). How does he hold down a stronger NBA player, "one on one"? Does he backoff? Give up easy layups? Or does he knock them to the ground? I want to see first hand. I am tired of reading about him being pushed around by "less talented" players (canada, chicago workout, etc..). I want to see an aggresive giant, intimidate his opponets (on defense).
True, barbourdg, if you are talking only about post defense. Defense in general, however, has everything to do with the guards putting pressure on the ball.
1) He could only manage 17/5/5 against a weak Canadian team who would have trouble scoring 50 on the USA - how can anyone think he'll go off for 20/10/5 against a vastly superior US team that will harass their guards even more!@? 2) If he does go off then the haters are supposed to shut up, right? So if he ends up with 13/5/3 (far more likely) then you're giving the "haters" free reign to say what they like? Didn't think so. Don't put me in the "hater" category, I'm just keeping my expectations very low for the time being. I think he'll have very little impact in his first season and won't be an impact player until his 3rd - but I do think he'll develop into a decent C. Just please don't expect much right away - or even vs the US this summer.
If the Chinese guards are "beyond horrible," to quote an eyewitness of the game on this board, against the Canadian guards, what are they going to do against Baron Davis and the likes? I'd say Yao will touch the ball even less on offense. And if the Chinese coach doesn't play Menk Batere alongside Yao, he will have his hands more than full on defense.
didn't that oakley fight happen in his first preseason with us and didn't barkley come off of his one game suspension for the fight and get 33 rebounds against phoenix and finish somewhere in the top 3 in rebounds for the season?
One poster who's been to the game made a very good point that Yao wasn't at his full throttle in that game. It's just an exhibition game that Yao didn't need to play hard. On the other side, the Canadian team needs to win in front of a home crowd. I'm sure Yao will turn up a few notches in WC games and plays much more aggressively.
If Yao had some strong guards to help him stop the penetration to the middle, then there wouldn't be any problems of letting anyone come in and try to dunk on him. But I know soon he is going to be leading the league in blocks and other categories once he has some quality players surrounding him. All he has to do is build some upper body muscle, and the man is set.
