Yao Ming: I hope you are reading this, and when the time comes with the contract situation, you remember this. Act rationally would actually benefit both you and the Rockets. When Tmac was down, the Rockets traded Rafer, assuming nothing big would come out of this season (Morey said it). Yet, Yao Ming played hard, got out of the first round, and continue to battle. Congratulations on that. But, move on.
To be honest it crossed my mind too. But I think he will come back for another year and play out his remaining obligatory year on his contract and then re-evaluate after that. Even if the odds of a championship are poor... I'd like to see Yao + Artest go for it for one more year. If Yao decides not to use his player option for 2010/2011 the team can blow it up and rebuild.
i don't see how leaving rockets would actually benefit yao...unless he leaves to ride a true superstar's cocktail, in which case he'll get less credit for what he does...which's not much better than leading rox past first round.
I didn't say he should or should not leave Houston. It's just better to cut the Royalty crap and go for the best situation. BTW: 1. If it's taking credit versus career, you take career. Yao Ming isn't a taking credit kind of guy anyway. 2. I don't see any of the Boston 3 not getting the credit they deserve.
+1000. The man led this organisation into the 2nd round for the first time in 12 years and everyone was on his nuts then but as soon as he gets injured, people don't want him to have anything to do with the Rockets. It almost sounds as though some posters are implying that he WANTED to get injured or something. The man literally fractured his ankle for you because of this 'true warrior, never give up' culture the Rockets organisation has built and yet the first thing people say is 'trade him' or 'yay thank god his gone, now we can play small ball to kick the Lakers ass'. Have some respect for the man.
Man there is a definite generation gap, but I'm no kiddie. I'm 28. I generally disagree with what you have to say, but lately I understand. I still believe T-Mac offers more from the bench than Wafer can ever offer at his peak, but whatever.
Never liked yao as a first option anyway. the offense becomes stagnant and slow with him. the guy has many weakness: cannot score when fronted, cannot guard PF/C that have a midrange game, cannot guard pick and roll, rebounding and shot blocking are average to above average, doesn't know how to draw fouls, most easiest "superstar" to take out of a game, and gets tired easily. NBA basketball is tiring, physical sport and yao in the past 4 yrs has shown that he is not built for this sport. which is why trading him and mcgrady is best way for the franchise to move forward. the future of rockets looks bleak too. I don't know who said this but the saying goes "a fan would take a lottery team w/potential than a mediocre team any time of the yr". Rockets have been a mediorcre team since the yao-tmac era. They have always been the 4 or 5 seed bounced in first rd. Well this yr, rockets got a good matchup in portland where yao did not have to guard anyone, so we won. but they are still mediocre because they are going to lose to lakers, who are head and shoulders above any team in the west and that is not going to change anytime soon. rockets also do not have a guy they can build around. wafer is a jr smith type player, not something you build around. lowry does not have jumpshot and landry and brooks are both undersized at their positions. None of these players have the potential to be a first option on a championship caliber team. Don't know much about james white. after the rockets lose to the lakers, i don't understand how any fan can be hopeful that the rockets can go to the finals anytime soon. the future is not looking good. i am bandwagon fan and proud of it.i have followed rockets basketball for over 5 yrs. tmac was and still is my fav player but know his time in houston is over. so sad, rockets could not win a title . Well, with all that said its time for me to leave. this will be my last post on clutchfans cause i am now jumping on the blazers bandwagon. i like roy a lot. his game is very smooth just like tmac's game, plus the guy is competitor. he is just going to improve. BYE BYE CLUTCHFANS. Maybe I'll come back if you guys are close to a championship.
I'm completely disappointed by some rockets fans They forget who carried this team over rnd 1 with 20 milion salary hole. They forget who made the rocky comeback after his injury and shot 8pts to beat the "unbeatable" lakers labled before the series started. They forget who fought 40mins almost every game after deke was out for the team when the right mins for his was under 35, just for the victory in theory. SO YAO, NEVER STAY AGAIN IN THIS SUCKING TEAM WITH THIS SUCKING KIND OF FANS.THEY WORTH NOT. JUST GO, AND MAKE THEM HAPPY, AND TO FIND A EASIER WAY FOR RINGS QUOTE=absent2007]Yao give 100% to this team night in and night out, and the so call fans just discard him like a garbage...no respect, no love, so be it... trade him...omg, can't believe, morons[/QUOTE]
More than anything else, the $$$$ that Yao makes us will prevent us from trading him. Without Yao, we would be in the same situation as the Hornets, Magic, and 13 other teams who had to take out huge loans from the NBA just to stay afloat. Also, Yao is a once in a 50 years type of player with his combination of size, skill, coordination, and mobility. You don't just trade away a guy like that. Also, lets look at people near Yao's size who have comeb back from various foot injuries. Zydranus Ilguaskus had more foot injuries than anybody not named Bill Walton. He actually came back stronger in his late 20's. He's still capable of putting up 20 points on any given night if needed. So it is still possible that Yao could be fine. He does need to change up his routine again. I think the biggest thing is playing internationally. We saw what its done to Ginobili, who's only 6'5. If it could hurt him, imagine how hard that is on a 7'6 320 lbs man. Also, I say sit him out of back to back games. Give him the occasional day off like Tim Duncan gets. Our defense is good enough to keep us in games. Lastly, we should expect this with a guy of Yao's size. Most 7 footers are prone to feet problems, let alone a 7'6 player. It sucks, but what can you do? He's by FARRR the best player over 7'2. Sampson was great, but only for 2-3 years. Smits and Ilgauskus are good, but not great, and only for a few years as well. Yao has been great for most of his career now. We should be glad that he's been able to play this good for as long as he has been able to.
Excellent post, I remember when there were rumors about Hakeem in 1992 about trading him because he was underachieving recently. This can only motivate Yao now though. I want to keep Yao, don't know the contract, but he's our franchise player and he's the best center in the league would you agree on that as well?
Being a bandwagon fan is the equivalent of chicks checking out players instead of watching the game...wonder if you're gonna go jump off a cliff if thats the next big thing too?? lol. What a joke...go have fun out in Oregon. Happy Trails...
We don't have to get rid of Yao (and likely won't because of how much money he brings in) but we can't have him as the foundation of the team anymore. The odds of him staying healthy throughout an entire regular season AND a deep playoff run are slim. That being said, he is still a valuable player if we lessen his minutes and make him more of a role player. To do that, we will have to add another all-star level player who can be the team's #1 option on offense. Wade is a free agent in 2010, though getting him here is probably a long shot.
Yes Then some years later, maybe some fans will appreciate one big guy who carry the boat across a 12-years wide river
I fully agree that he is the best offensive center in the league. His offensive skills are comparable to Duncan and Gasol. His defense isn't as good as Duncan's but is much better than Gasol's. If you ask me, thats a great package to have. I think if healthy, he is a great # 1 option, but like Shaq, he needs that dynamic guard to help free him up. He can't beat anybody off the dribble like Hakeem, he can't run the floor like David Robinson, and he doesn't like to shoot jumpers all day like Ewing did. He needs room to operate down low, and only the threat of that great guard can give that to him. He is a solid rebounder, a decent shot blocker, and he can defend the post pretty well. One of the top 15 players in the NBA today when healthy.
I think he's actually Top 10 fairly easily. But I was talking about Yao being better than Dwight Howard. I do agree he needs a perimeter player helping him out. Too immobile down there in the paint. Only the mobile and athletic Hakeem could take over by himself.
i've said this, and i say it again. yes it's human nature to react to an incident like this and think about what to do with yao long term. but to discuss it in detail right after he's out of the season is being disrespectful to yao, who brought our first victorious playoff series in 12 years, especially we don't have all the info yet. but since people can't help it... let me ask, if one decides now is the time to end the "yao era", what do you SUGGEST as our next move? wade? he led the 5th seed in the east to a 1st round exit, against a weak hawks team. don't you feel you're pressing the issue?
