Yes, it sucked that with out McGrady and the depth on our team is very very thin without him. But remember, that's what the trade was for. 1 very good player, 1 good player, and 1 rare serviceable center for the superstar. But what I want to look at is the benefit of Yao Ming having to carried the team. Even when people felt that it was Yao's team last year, he didn't feel it. He still defered to Cat and Steve. Which kind of sucked cause at the same time they were trying to defered to him, which led to all kinds of confusion on offense. But because Francis and Cat rarely missed any games, Yao never had the chance to be the best player on a bad team that a lot of other super stars had gone through. So while I think all this knock on Yao for lack of leadership and failure to take the reigns, I think we should all look at the last few games as a practice for Yao to hone those skills. He finally had a opportunity where he was heads and shoulders better every other one of his teamates on the floor with him. A situation that almost never happened in his first two years.
Yao already admitted in China that you can't change his temperment. Yao will never be a leader of an NBA team. This is not his culture. The best thing Rox got out of the T-Mac trade, besides T-Mac himself, is the ability to draw other all-stars to this team. Lot of people are gonna want to play with Yao and T-Mac. Once Rox get 3 other good solid players to play alongside Yao and T-Mac, they can go all the way.
you are right, Yao will get some confident playing alone in a bad team and win. Just like in olymics when he carried them to victory. it boosted his confident. i just hope he plays with the same intensity with t-mac.
what a yao hater!Did he ever say he could not be a leader!??? I am tired of your faked quote! Ok, ignore list!
havent Yao always been a leader? in his team in china, the national team and now he is becoming the leader of the rockets? right?
And the 16 year old strikes again with his ignorance. He calls 1.2 billion ppl non-leaders because of a 7'5" millionaire. Yeah, he's really a good representative of ur average Chinese person.
"I'm ready to be a leader," Yao said through an interpreter he uses a little less frequently now. http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/sports/10055121.htm stop making BS up.
Yao can be a leader without being a cocky, arrogant, self centered, me first, spotlight wanting, ball hog. Ala, Tim Duncan.
You sir, is a idiot! At first you only come out and bash Yao when he had a bad game, now you come out bashing him even he had a good game? Yao is going to carry this team to the championship whether you like it or not. So if you hates him this much, I suggests you become a fan of some other team.
Apologies; but since you don't seem to be using irony here.....at least use proper grammar when slamming someone. Especially like this. Reminds me when someone wrote a note calling another person a "looser."
This is not about Yao Ming. Yao is just fine the way he is. Anyone remember Abdul Jabbar? He wasn't demonstrative either and he did OK. Forchrissakes, the guy scored 32 points last night with virtually NO help from anyone else. The Rockets' starters other than Yao, only made 9 of 37 shots which was an absolute disgrace. So don't pile on Yao because he's not a type A personality because that's missing the point: This team, even with both Yao & TMac, is simply not very good. This is what you get when you have an organization that cannot draft players worth spit and tries to build its teams via trades and FA pickups on the cheap with a bozo (Dawson) at the helm. So get used to what you saw last night and quit predicting championships based on Rockets player press clippings or the fluff articles you read in the Chronicle.
Your own use of grammar and punctuation is laughable; try not to put yourself above others, when you're clearly not.
It's true. Not having McGrady for at least a few games could have a huge impact on Yao's on-court psyche. Whether he feels comfortable with the role or not, last night's game proved that outside of one other person on the team, he is by far the best player we have. Most of the time, to really learn something, you have to have that pivotal experience that clicks a switch inside your head. You can say what people want to hear, but it doesn't mean anything until you really understand it from a first hand perspective. Last night was probably the best experience Yao has had in the NBA from that perspective. Yao can certainly be a quiet leader if he wants to. I don't think he has become that yet, but there is no reason he can't.
The Yao pick was not the result of good scouting or great personnel evaluation by Dawson & Co. at all. No, it was the result of pure dumb luck (remember SF was there at the NBA Draft Lottery wearing his lucky gray suit when the Rockets "won" the pick). Outside of Yao, the only other draft pick still on the roster is Nachbar and, sad to say, we are still waiting for him to get it together in what could be his last year in Houston. Three years ago, they blew 3 1st round picks on EG and we all know how that ended up. The past 2 drafts have yielded no players that can help this team. My point is that Dawson & Co. have a pathetic draft record and as a result, have been trying to build a team through trades and free agents all the while doing so on the cheap. Until this is changed - until someone comes in who can locate and evaluate young NBA talent - you will continue to get teams like what you have now. By comparison, the Dallas Mavericks have: Found a player gem in free agent Marquis Daniels; drafted a gifted small forward in Josh Howard; drafted their starting PG in Devon Harris. They have added Eric Dampier to play center to go along with veterans Dirk Nowitzski (who they drafted) & Michael Finley. Through trades they have added Jerry Stackhouse & Jason Terry. Donnie Nelson is light years ahead of Dawson & Co. when it comes to finding and evaluating talent and it shows where it counts the most: on the court. Nothing will change for the Rockets until they address their problems that exist at the top of the organization.
