The time for Yao is now. There's no more room for procrastinating this NBA season, an

March 8, 2004
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor

The time for Yao is now. There's no more room for procrastinating this NBA season, and the Houston Rockets need to make a move ... starring their young 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming.

The Rockets have been as erratic as the weather in Texas this winter, but Yao and Steve Francis just now appear to be getting a handle on new coach Jeff Van Gundy.


Things are starting to click for Steve Francis and Yao Ming in Houston.(AP)
All season, this team has been special defensively, stifling opponents to a meager, league-leading, .404 from the field. But the free-flow offense run by Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley the past four seasons has been ground to a halt.

Francis and Van Gundy have struggled to compromise, Mobley has suffered the consequences and the presence of Jim Jackson has been vital in preventing an offensive freefall.

And now there is Yao.

They have won 8-of-12, and Yao has scored at least 20 points in seven of them. He had a career-high 41 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists in a victory over Atlanta, and he has battled Shaquille O'Neal to a standstill all three times they have played the Los Angeles Lakers. And in the best run of his career, Yao has averaged 29.7 points and eight rebounds the past three games.

Indeed, it appears the 23-year-old top pick in the 2002 draft has come of age and just in time for the late season surge.

In both Friday's victory over Minnesota and Sunday's victory over Dallas, Yao started off very quickly, dominating the post offensively with a combination of jumpers and short hooks. The difference vs. the Mavericks was his huge play down the stretch, scoring five points in the final 45 seconds -- including a three-point play with 15 seconds left. With 29 points and 10 rebounds, this was Yao's first victory over Dallas after six defeats.

Everyone in and around the league is learning something new almost every game by watching the maturation of this versatile talent.

The curious nature of how his game is building, however, could ultimately have a limit because of his durability. At some 315 pounds, his lack of stamina has been obvious as far as sustaining dominance.

Maybe it's his youth. Maybe it's the offseason preparation. Or maybe it is just the way his body is wired. When you consider how unusually tall he is, there might very well be some natural limitations that will have to figure in to his potential.

Then again, considering his youth, the sky really is the limit so to speak ... when you factor in his passing skills and feel for the game.

The other questions for the Rockets are just as obvious:

Will Francis ever really be comfortable as a point guard in Van Gundy's offense?
Or, will he ultimately become a shooting guard like Allen Iverson did with Larry Brown at Philadelphia?
The only certainty at this point is the unpredictability of Yao and the Rockets, now 36-26. They aren't good enough to make up the five games they trail the Lakers for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Nor are they bad enough to blow their 4½-game lead over Utah to slide out of the postseason for the franchise-record-tying fifth consecutive season.

What we do know is nobody actually wants to meet them in the first round. Nobody in their right mind would actually prefer to meet Yao and the Rockets ... now or ever.