Yao will start counting championship rings once we bring LeBron into Houston, or Yao becomes Big Z's replacement.
That sounds like having a Jordan out there and not use him...how dumb can a team get. Everyone will be laughing...from fans to media to Barkley and everyone will be saying, the HOUSTON ROCKETS are the DUMBEST TEAM in the NBA!
I really hope rockets trade Yao. Not that I think rockets would be better without him. I do not give a **** about houston rockets. The rocket owner is CHEAP (he only wants cut,cut,cut). The whole team is CHEAP (Yao does not even have a real backup). The fans are f**king ridiculous (look at how you guys react to Yao's injury). Yao should have a much more brighter future elsewhere.
I think Dwight is a much better shot blocker for obvious reasons. Yao's rebounding is comparable, but Dwight's leaping ability just makes it easier for him. Offensively, I think Yao has him beat by a mile. Dwight is improving gradually, but he still has a ways to go, skill wise. I say Yao is atleast top 15, just depending on if you need more offense or more defense, you could flip flop Yao and Dwight, in my opinion. My top 15 Lebron Dwade Kobe Chris Paul Roy Yao D. Howard Dirk Tony Parker Durant Al Jefferson Deron Williams Billups Joe Johnson Paul Pierce Honorable Mention: Nash, Melo, Granger, Bosh, Iguadala, Amare, Boozer, Ginobili, David West *Injured, but could be on this list when healthy: Garnett, Tmac, Arenas, Tim Duncan, Elton Brand
the guy plays his heart out while injured, keeps us in the series with a top 2 team in the league and a ton of you are ready to bury the guy alive the second he gets hurt
they won't trade him because of two reasons: he is offers a great market and he is too nice of a guy just like with steve rudy drafted him and couldn't part ties, once jvg came he let him loose, but with yao, no one wants to see him go, he is so good, but he truly is injury prone, i can't see them letting him go though because of his market value...what a dilemma we are in now
Let's get more information on the nature of Yao's injury before we throw him out with the bath water. As a trade chip, New Jersey and Golden State would be the most likely destination since basketball wouldn't be the main reason they would trade for Yao.
Backup center!?!?! What are you smoking? Yao is still one of the top 5 centers in the league, without question. Just because he's injury prone, doesn't mean we should regulate him to being the backup. We need to ease his burden. He's carried this team through most of this season. We can't have our offense be so dependent on him. But, we also had T-Mac, who as supposed to share the load. Artest also wasn't terrible as a 3rd (or 2nd after T-Mac went out) scoring option, and Brooks stepped up as a good 3rd or maybe even 2nd scoring option. Personally, I think as long as everybody stays healthy, then we'll have a very, very good team. With the questions about how T-Mac fits in our offense and his nagging injuries, I'd say he should be on the chopping block first. However, I'd like to see Morey pull some more of his magic and trade Cook, Wafer, and maybe one of the other scurbs off the bench for a better scorer that will balance out our three superstars should the injury monster rears its ugly head again.
I will. And I wish all rockets fans a very very sweet dream of landing LBJ or DW, just because you get tons of salary space via dumping Yao & Tmac. LBJ or DW would be an idiot like a lot of fans on this forum to come to houston. What a joke.
All I have to say is wow to most of these posts. Absolutely wow. Yes the series is practically just about over but before making any harsh judgements let's truly wait and see how it all plays out during the offseason. For the last few years our superstars have had to carry the load of the team on both ends of the court, for practically every minute of every season since they've been here. If you watch the other teams they have enough role players and back ups so that their superstars can rest. The ones that don't like our superstars get injured. I have been saying this for years now. We need good role players and backups. Our owner is still struggling to accomplish that. I am not saying Daryll morey or CD but yes Mr. Les Alexander struggles to pay and that is since his acquisition of the team. Even if we were to trade Yao Ming and get another big man that new big man WILL get injured because of how much strain is put on him. It is also the same with Tmac. Although this year with the acquisition of Ron Artest it could have helped alot. It was just too late. If you watch the Lakers, Spurs, Cavs,Celtics or any darn good contender team you can see how well they play their superstars. An example is just watching the Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Paul Gasol. They may spend alot of time on the court but they aren't forced to assert themselves completely on both ends of the court every second of the game. It's a nice luxury that Kobe has to be able to say that he's spending his time on the court getting his team mates invovled. He concerves his energy and concentration to bursts when he really needs to turn it on. Don't break up this team yet. We finally have a deep rotation especially when Tmac comes back. (Yes I want him back) What we should really look to is getting a big man with size to back Yao up and allow him to really rest.
This is a very smart thread. I never tought this wold happen but right now that is the only way. Yao has had FOUR STRAIGHT seasons with pretty much THE SAME INJURY. Doesn't that mean something? Yao is a great person, great warrior. He is just too big, his legs can't handle that tough NBA season. He is not your franchise player. McGrady + Yao = INJURIES. Time to end it. PERIOD.
Guess we Rox fans are the most classy bunch out there huh Then how come some of you guys remind me of Jazzfans
This is a translation of a radio talk show with a Chinese Basketball commentator (Yang Yi of Titan Sports). He is a close friend of Yaos. I hope you guys like it, especially the last part about the owner of the Rockets, and see why Yao Ming will likely leave Houston: May 9 on "Night Talk at Titan", Yang Yi talks about the 3rd game, with time stamps. 3:25 About Yao's foot injury Host (H): About today's game, I think you must have communicated with Wang Meng and Shen Zhiyu (two reporters in Houston) on the net? Yang Yi (Y): In addition to talking to Yao over the phone after the game. H: Oh. How is Yao's injury? Y: Quite serious. H: Ah? quite? Y: He disregarded this issue and fought without reservation today. H: At the end he was limping. Y: Actually he sprained his ankle in the second quarter. We didn't see it happening. I thought it's was only his toes got stepped on by others, because I didn't see him getting hurt after that jump. H: It seems that nobody noticed it. Y: Nobody did. Happened in the 2nd quarter. During the half time break, got fixed again in the locker room. H: What is "fixed"? An lutation shot? Y: No, just wrap the bandages on the foot again. H: Oh, rebandaging the foot. Y: Just wrap harder the place on the foot that hurts. But When getting back to the court in the 3rd quarter, he could no longer use force on the left foot. So, you saw that in the second half he has 4 chances to get close to the basket. If he jump up and slam dunk, anyone who interfere will get a foul. So at the time you might feel puzzled. I couldn't understand, either. Eventually Yao jump with right foot only. H: There were many rebounds right on top of him but he just couldn't grab them, because he can't jump with both feet. Y: He couldn't get up. Then in the 3rd quarters he sprained again. In the 4th quarter, he stepped on Landry's foot once. That time he hurt the Achilles tendon. So, you see, the game is so close, just 6 pts, how can he leave the court!? In the end he was limping, dragging his left leg. So, I think to fight like this, Yao should have no regret. He showed what he should regarding spiritual leadership, and I think he gave this spirit to the whole team. THis team is now a brave team but lacks talent. A team that lacks talent cannot get the title. Lakers is a Championship team, is the most powerful team... 9:10 Rockets have a mental burden Y: Secondly I think the Rockets have a mental burden. H: What's that? Y: After trailing by 10 points. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the Lakers got 10 pts lead quickly. Did you notice that the Rockets panicked. This didn't happen in Los Angeles. They once trailed by 14 points but they didn't panic. They did what they should do, play steadily, control the tempo, and also control their emotion well. I think the Rockets weren't afraid, because everyone thinks Rockets will lose 0:4, 1 win at most. But Rockets stole the first win. They had nothing to lose, so, the pressure was on the Lakers' side. The Rockets were just giving their best fight, with no reservation, no mental burden. So, those two games were played very well. But after the two games, 1:1, although they lost the 2nd, they still played well. You can see all the players were talking about how we will win when coming back to the home court. They now really expect to win after coming back to the home court. H: They expect too much too early. Y: They got their expectation up. Seems like we can beat the Lakers. As soon as they get their expectation up, they lose their calm, and got the mental burden. They lost their tempo when they worry too much. So, when the Lakers gained 10 pts lead in the 3rd quarter, the Rockets obviously lost their game plan, followed the tempo of the Lakers, the tempo was controled by the Lakers. This is much different from what we saw in the first two games, when we played strong and persistently, and not influenced by the opponent. The mentality is not different... 31:30 About McGrady H: Many listeners are interested in today's game. Let me read some text messages we received, before the next segment. Number 3093 says, "Yang Yi is right. If McGrady quit earlier, the Rockers would have already launched!" (//laugh) Y: Just compare the scores before and after his injury. Frankly speaking, this is rattle to talk about him. I really don't want to talk about him. He is already like that, and won't play anymore. H: He's gained weight and sitting on the bench wearing two diamond ear studs. Y: Hey, that's his taste. We may look unkind talking this way.... but during the last few games including the first round, whenever when Rockets can't play good offense, I would see some people on the net, including some commentators, say "never missed McGrady so much".... all the time. H: Haha, there are articles with such titles. Y: In the first round when they can't solve the fronting problem, can't pass the ball to Yao, "never missed McGrady so much", then today is the same, "never missed McGrady so much". Frankly speaking, if they didn't say it I wouldn't have wanted to talk about McGrady. Since so many people are talking about it, let me express my opinin -- I never missed McGrady. I think in the Rockets' locker room, no one miss McGrady, either. I know this team so much. I am friend with many people there, many staff members, including team doctor and president Mr. Jones. On the court, McGrady may give the team 20 more points, but when he is on the court, he makes the team lose 30 more points. I think if you are a senior fan, you don't just look at the offense, you must know defense gives you the championship, defense makes you go further. Another thing is, on the court, the mode of a player can affect that of other players. Losing temper, losing the fighting will, losing the belief, can you count in all these factors? How can you look at only the offense? Looking only at the offense, it's true that he gives more talent to the team, many fans talk constantly about how McGrady got 30-40 points against Jazz when Yao Ming was out in the last season. But if you look at the film, although he got 30-40 points, how many points he made the team lost because of his defense? He wasn't injured at that time, was he? I can say with my reputation on the line that, after the post season games with Mavericks in 2005, McGrady never made a serious effort in defense. That's why during the chaos time at the begging if this season, I once said, the problem in the Rockets's locker room is not new. It's just a final eruption. So people accuse McGrady, it cannot be because of his injury. If it's just injury, then why nobody accuses Yao Ming? When everyone around Yao Ming, such as Deke, Shane, and Ron, all say Yao is a fighter? Why nobody accuse Grant Hill of the Suns? Nobody accuses him after he couldn't play for so many years, because as long as he plays, he plays diligently, puts up his best effort in offense and defense, not like lazing away. So, what I want to say is, this Rockets team does not miss him. Now at this time of the season, we realize that the Rockets lack offensive talent, they are not a contender, they cannot pass the Lakers. But if this team has McGrady, although they have a bit better offensive talent, if they do not play defense, have no fighting will, no discipline, no team work, they can't even eliminate the Blazers, not to say the Lakers. Dear listeners, if you participated in team sports like I did, you know it's not just play the way you like. You need a coach, a good team, and under such condition you would understand how important the discipline, fighting will, unity are for a team. They are much more important than the talent of a certain player. So, I think the Rockets should be built on this foundation, and go further. Actually I am a bit worried about what would happen to many of the Rockets players in the next season, whether McGrady will return. Of course you won't see what I am saying on the TV interview, because nobody would talk about this in front of the TV camera. I won't say who my source is, either. So, I think the team still has a lot to worry about. What if he returns? You can't bench him with his 20 mil salary. Some source told me, McGrady may not come back, he can't recover from the injury. I think this may even be a relief to the Rockets. Don't just look at the 20 mil. I think without the 20 mil Rockets is still a very good team. They don't have the talent to win a championship, but they are still a good team. Just look at today's game. In the mid-season I said, what I want to see is that if the Rockets can play with concentration, with best effort, as a unity, how this team will achieve. Win, we know why; lose, we know why. I think like this second series, the Rockets now understand why they lose. We can't beat them in the end. OK, that's fine. This is not like we think we can beat them, but we lose our ability because of a lot of the mess-ups. H: That would be a regretful loss. Y: Right. After the loss today, everyone feels bad. But frankly I feel much more satisfied comparing with the loss to Jazz in 07, and those inexplicable losses in the regular season. This is because we can't win, I accept the result. As long as everybody gives their best effort, no matter what we get we have the peace of mind, calm, not like regretting constantly about what we could ... no such thoughts, right? H: Yes, we gave our best effort. Y: That's just fine. I think for a team, I don't know what the fans expect, this is what I expect. I expect them to play hard, make their best effort, to as far as they can, then there is no shame. Is there? No. H: At least there is no regret. 47:40 McGrady's financial problem Y: Also, McGrady seems to have some financial problem recently. H: Doesn't he have a private airplane? Y: He sold it. H: Sold? Also his BMW and Mecedez? Y: He sold his cars, too, then laid off his personal assistant, private cook, and nanny. H: He lost in stock? Y: I don't know. A Rockets staff member told me in email. He doesn't know where McGrady lost his money. But you can see that he is short of cash lately. McGrady usually spends a lot of money. The necklace he wears costs about a few millions, a lof of diamonds on it. He usually extravagant but now seems to have some financial trouble. So, although NBA is the largest stage in the world, is the most highly paid league in the world, McGragy still needs to scruple. He still wants to stay in this league. He is not like Jones (Dantae Jones, playing for the CBA) who worries about nothing. H: Such financial problem of McGrady would never happen to Yao Ming. 54:00 The personality of the owner of the Rockets Y: I know Alexander very well. From my understanding, I think Alexander doesn't know basketball. I made some contact with him before. I also know some of his business partners. He really doesn't know basketball. This may be hard to imagine to some fans. Some fans even called me, gave suggestions to Alexander. I enjoyed talking with these fans. Sometime we talk for 10-20 minutes. Eventually I would say, actually we know your points, and also talked to him about these. But do you think he as an owner of an NBA team he would know everything? You may be surprised that he knows nothing. H: Not his field of expertise. Y: Yes. Because Alexander got his wealth from stock markets in NY. In the bull market days he can make 2 billion in one day. The annual revenue from the team related business is just 3 billion, together with Lakers, is one of the top two NBA teams in revenue. But you need to know, this is peanut comparing with his revenue from the stock and investment markets. H: He got rich from colossal profits. Y: So, Alexander puts his attention in New York. His family is in New York. His home is not in Houston. He goes to Houston as a business trip. It's like going to Houston to watch a game, not like living there. His stays in New York for his business, only go to Houston at his leisure time. He actually doesn't know much basketball. So, sometimes his judgment, for example, when Prince and Billups are on the table, he won't take it. You think it's hard to understand? I think it's easy to understand. H: Different professions to him. Y: It's because he doesn't understand. But if he makes decision even when he doesn't understand, this is what we called layman directing the professionals. But this is the capitalism. He has the money, this is his property so he can do whatever he wants with it. Another thing, I have always felt that he lacks the adequate respects to the Chinese. H: How comes? Y: He never came to China. H: Doesn't he have an apartment here, in the World City complex? Y: That's jointly owned by him and his partners. He doesn't plan to come to China. In his mind, to say it nicely, China is mysterious, to say it frankly, he doesn't know what kind of world China is. Many Americans don't know the world outside the US. Also, Alexander once said something that very impressed me, and made me very unhappy. H: Something unpleasant. Y: Alexander said, " when 15 million is laid in front of a Chinese, I don't believe that he won't sign." (If Yao Ming choose to stay with the Rockets, he will get paid 15 million more than going to another team.) H: haha, he surely doesn't know the comedy show we all watched, Yao Ming really doesn't feel short of money. Y: He cannot understand it. Did you know, he can't understand how the success would attract a player, how valuable the dream is to a player. H: Honor is very important to a man. Y: He can't understand why Yao Ming with such a serious injury, swears to want to play on the Olympics, would rather die to play. Alexander can't understand it. He said, how much can he make to play the Olympics? H: Well, he is a businessman so he talk business. Y: So, I think they are not in the same world. So, they can't have the same topic. Yao Ming has been in Rockets for 7 years. How many times have they talked? Alexander sometimes helps Yao Ming to arrange charity bouquets. But they almost never have serious conversation. He would not talk about players with others in private, either. He once told one of his partners: "Don't be too close to those players. You would lower your status by doing that." H: Uhm... hmph, what can I say.. Y: It's very simple. This is like "I am the boss, I am the one who pays you. I pay you so you play for me." H: Sound like a popular TV drama we are watching. Y: "You are playing ball for me. Why should I be friend to you. You are my employee, like the nanny in my house". I just learned these trivia recently. It's near the end of the season. Whether Yao Ming should stay in Houston, there are many opinions. Some commentators say Yao should stay in Houston. But I am pouring my heart out by telling them that they do not know the Rockets, they do not know Alexander, his thoughts, his backgrounds. If you really knew Alexander you would have known that if Yao stays in Houston, it's very difficult for him to realize his championship dream. Alexander doesn't want to make big changes to the roster in the summer either. He probably will re-sign Artest. But if we give him a contract of $10 mil/year, -- right now he gets $8 million/year, it'll be very hard to keep him with less than $10 million, they are talking about a 3+2 contract, team option for the last 2 years, so you give him a 3 year contract. It's hard to say how good he will perform after getting the contract. Even if he performs well, the athletic talents of Yao Ming and Artest still are not enough to make a championship team. They can still play as well as this season, but it's still a long way to a title. So, staying in Houston is really not a good choice for Yao Ming to realize his championship dream.
Correction: Aside from the numerous typos and grammar errors, I got two important numbers wrong. The 2 billion/3 billion below should be 20 million/30 million. Y: Yes. Because Alexander got his wealth from stock markets in NY. In the bull market days he can make 2 billion in one day. The annual revenue from the team related business is just 3 billion, together with Lakers, is one of the top two NBA teams in revenue. But you need to know, this is peanut comparing with his revenue from the stock and investment markets.
