I never jumped on the Yao bangwagon, been on it all along. B4 the draft I read on ESPN and elsewhere all the Bulls fans dissing Yao Ming, like how he would be the biggest bust, like Bradley and all. I said the diff between Yao and Bradley is that one of them actually got talent and potential. I thought Bulls should draft him first overall (nothing against us, just never thought we'd go that high cuz we ain't the worst team). I said Chicago does need a PG, but when their team high is Oak's 6 rpg and Chandlers 1.1 bpg, they need much more inside help. I was really happily surprised that we got him and the Bulls didn't. I said Yao might be in foul trouble (OK he's proving me wrong), I said he might be a bit lax on D, but he'll put up about 15pps, 6-7rbs and about 2bps (looks like my figures are pretty close in recent games). So to all the Bulls(hit) fans I say in your face, and let the real fans talk hoops instead.
The problem Chicago had last year is the same one Portland had when they were choosing between Jordan and Bowie. The Blazers were loaded at guard; Drexler wasn't starting cause of their depth. They desperately needed a center and they took Sam Bowie despite his frailty (Sam, incidentally, is in the top 50 all time shot blockers in bpg, something I found interesting the other day. Too bad his health failed him.) With Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry on board, and Chandler at least looking promising, its hard to draft into your position of strength to get a better player. I can understand the emotions then, that would want to discount Yao Ming. In terms of Yao's performance, he's headed more to 18-19 ppg and about 9 or so rpg at current pace. Thing is, if he gets to the point where he can play 3-4 quarters as hard as he plays the first, he'll become a scorer in the Chamberlain-Jordan mold... Dave.
