But remember, Howard is averaging an insane 7.4 shots a game, and by insane, I mean insanely little. How can a future all-star only get 7.4 attempts a game (mark my words, he will be on the All-Star team on day)? Howard's problem is a bit like Yao's early in his career, nobody is passing to the big man. IMO, if the Magic coach can get his guards to actually pass to Dwight Howard, he can show the talent he has and average 20 pts. But hopefully our guards will make it difficult.
You are right. And the theory of turning Yao into a soft outside shooter/passer is a scarecrow argument. The argument was largely about using the face up game as an auxilary part of his game to open things up, not about turning Yao into a sole outside shooter/passer. Posters like me envisioned the next Tim Duncan, not Vlade or Miller. So altering the opposition's stance doesn't win an argument On the subject, I'm glad I don't have any crows to eat. I posted about Yao's potential to be one of the most offensively versatile big men ever before Yao's arrival and nobody believed me. I often got mocked as YOF despite me being a Rocket fan way way before he came. Now Yao is beginning to dominate but that's nothing unless he can win a ring.
If Yao does the same thing on the next three games, he will be number one center in this league or world. No More arguing.
We agree on the issues, but you're the one with the straw man argument. The person you were responding to stated that he did not want Yao to end up like Divac and Miller.
I don't know what's the point of continuing this. If you see things differently than I do. Fine, but please read up the whole thing first. This thread is about expectations on Yao's career achievement, not about how Yao should be developed. You can open up another thread if you want to talk about it in detail. Good night.
I've read these forums for a while now, don't really post much, but I'm finally annoyed enough to ask. What the hell does YOF and YOH and what not mean?
Well media are just stereotyped. Still remember the MSNBC.com article about yao b****ing Yao's personality? I don't what's wrong with the media.
Just out of curiosity (i haven't been on this board for very long), did most people here oppose drafting yao ming? what were all of your first impressions of the big chinese dude compared to other draft prospects?
Definitely the biggest piece of crow for me has been the high-post/low-post argument. I definitely felt that the Rockets were ruining Yao by forcing him into the low post, but man is it nice to be wrong. Yao is absolutely a machine down there now. In the future, you have to think that other teams will adjust, and I'd probably like to see the Rockets mix it up a little more, but hey, maybe not. This seems to be working.
Many opposed drafting Yao, many were pro-Yao, and others like me had no freaking clue who this guy was other than by what we read. lol. I must admit early last season (I think) I had pretty much given up on Yao being anything more than a good to maybe very good center. Never in my wildest dreams (at least after the beginning of last season) did I think Yao would ever become the monster he became at the end of last season. I honestly never thought he'd be able to find the "inner killer" in him to elevate to superstar level. Well he's done that. With this being said, I think whoever on the Rockets helped Yao with his stamina and endurance should be credited. I know Falsone did a lot for him here and in China. I think that above all else was the biggest stumbling block early for Yao. I don't care how good you are - you're no good sitting on the bench begging for oxygen.
Well very say. The question is, now, can Yao be even better? I really don't know. But I certainly hope so.
It would be interesting to see posts when Yao first came into the league and everyone agreeing with Francis that we should trade the pick for odom, or maybe that was mobley.
I think everyone assumed when the Rockets got the number one pick that it was going to turn into Yao Ming. Personally, I was thrilled. But on the other hand, I guess you never know exactly what you're going to get in the draft, especially from an international player who you've never seen play. The main thing I remember hearing a lot about Yao is that he was 7'6" and had 3 point range. Not that we've seen much of that kind of range during his NBA career, but that alone sold me. And then his rookie year when he first started getting playing time, he had that stretch where he made 31 of 35 shots or something, I really thought he was going to be great. I personally think Yao would have developed a lot faster if we didn't have Steve Francis running the show in Houston his first couple of seasons. I'm not even sure Yao would be as good as he is now if Tracy hadn't gotten hurt. But whether his newfound energy was born out of necessity or not, he's definitely become a force.
you know what....even WHEN he wins a championship....they'll say, he hasn't won multiple championships so no he's not good enuff.
I think it really just depends on what kind of face up game you are expecting. He most definitely needs to broaden his game. All players do. But, if you are expecting him to have Hakeem's face-up game, you'll be waiting a while. Yao doesn't have the lateral quickness to drive around most players, particularly in this era where speed and quickness are valued more highly than speed. It is possible that, because of the time in which Yao is playing, that he is better suited to focus on over powering guys than trying out quick them, but we'll see.
