I am not Anti Yao. I am Anti-Fan's View of Yao. Fans believe he is the player that will bring us the championship, i know that is not true. He can be a good piece to that, but never to lead it. I love the guy when he is healthy, its just that....that is never the case. To believe in a falsehood for 7 or somewhat yrs is just ignorance. Don't classify me as a hater, I treated mcgrady in the same manner. The fact is, both of them just can't stay healthy. Try to root for what we have, and try to appreciate it is just about all I can say. I know what I'm saying is true, and the most I can do i believe in it. It is useless to carry this discussion on any further and I probably should have never brought Yao up in the first place so I won't derail it.
If this was my sentiment in 2006 how would you feel about it then? If it wanted to get rid of Yao and save us from injuries suffered in 2007,8,9? You are not understanding my point, Yao can be good but what honestly makes you believe he will stay healthy? What then after the inevitable happens? There will be a point where enough is enough, personally, that was long ago. But sooner or later we will have to find new talent, you're acting like I'm a bad person for dismissing falsehood. The Yao/Mac era has failed. You are a true rockets fan, but you are blinded by what you fear the most. That our only remaining link with popularity, greatness, Yao Ming will be lost and we will have to start over. But thats ok. Whether you want to delay it or not, we will have to be bad in attempting to find another star player before we can be good again. Sorry but there is no way between that, it has to happen. That is why we should stop depending on Yao. Delaying the inevitable is ignorant.
Oh, this is great. Now we're all going to get into "...the name of the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back of the jersey..." arguments, right? I thought everyone here was of the understanding that the Rockets were going to tread water and cut dead weight this season, wait for Yao to come back next season.... ...and kick some NBA ass. It's Aaron Brooks' team? Really? If it is, it's strictly out of necessity, and strictly temporary. Yao is the difference. The organization has more faith in the future of Yao recovering and being the player he was for the past couple of years than they have in anything else, apparently. All of this "alpha dog" and "who's team it is" babble is just about guys knowing who's going to do what in different game situations to make sure that the team is successful. As well as Brooks has played this season, he will have to fit his contributions around Yao. Not the other way around. But Yao himself is willing to defer much too often because of his nature. That can't continue. Especially if he comes back healthy. Aaron Brooks is on his way, seemingly, to becoming what Yao already is....and that's a difference-maker. A game-changer. An impact player. You can't give me enough numbers that can show me that impact isn't as important as efficiency. Brooks (and Carl Landry, to a degree) are getting a small sampling of what happens to Yao on a nightly basis. And guess what? When Yao's back, three guesses who teams game plan to take out of the game. Well, two guess. Not Aaron Brooks. Not Carl Landry. Yao Ming. Panicking about a season in limbo (where the goal was to bridge the gap between Yao being out and Yao being in), is fandom incarnate. And totally useless. Let the kids develop and get better and gain some individual confidence in themselves already. They'll be all the better for it next season. I hope......
I really liked the optimism in your post, i can only imagine what brooks/landry/scola/Yao would be like and it gives me GREAT excitement inside. But seconds later I find myself realizing it will be landry/brooks/scola again at some point when Yao goes down.
Big Z has lasted long enough to have a resonable hope for Yao. That is not decided by you, it will be decided by Les/Morey/RA. More importantly, it will be decidec by how Yao plays once he comes back. Yao's one year contract is the best to test it out.
Yao is a hard target and does a poor job of sealing his man because he has slow feet. He has a hard time picking his feet up and moving them so entry passes are very difficult to him.
The Rockets are not Yaos team by any means. He might be the face of the franchise or the guy you think of when the Rockets come to mind, but its not his team. How can it be a specific players team when Yao is out on a yearly basis ? How about you praise the current team for doing what they have done. If it was Yaos team we would be screwed once again. To say that this is one players team is a slap in the face to every other hard working individual on this roster.
That was not really the case last couple years. Yao was big and strong enough to seal most guys playing behind him. Only fronting gave Yao fits. But anyway, in the video Yao sealed his man well under the basket but didn't get the ball. So it's not just Yao's problem here. AB was not even an average post passer at that time. I'll wait and see what happens next year.
Hey, hey, True Beaner. Lovely night tonight, isn't it? You shouldn't ask yourself why anybody in the stands doesn't think Yao Ming could make a trip up and down the court before something on him breaks.... ....you need to ask your GM and coach that. This is their gamble and their call. And you don't make that gamble or call with just any player. I don't want to hear anybody's reasoning that Yao's a cash cow for the organization or he's a really good guy and a good teammate, so we owe it to him to stick with him and ride him out (of the league, eventually)..... I've always been fond of Yao, myself. And I've come to understand just how much of a difference he makes to a team in this sport. Yao makes the game easier for most players. That's the only reason why anybody here is still hopeful that the legend of Von Wafer will be resurrected. But Yao Ming is possibly (through no fault of his own) injury-prone. He's been remarkably durable (relatively speaking) for someone his size. But he's becoming a bit like Gheorge Muresan or Manute Bol. More sideshow freak than NBA Championship Team anchor. But people will make exceptions for people they like or are partial to, and Yao is no exception. I'm rooting for him to return and play well and for a long time. But, between you and me, True Beaner, I've been known to back the wrong horse a time a two....
I agreed, our best bet for a championship team is to build around Yao. This strategy shouldn't change until we have a healthy Yao back next year and see what he can do for us. Then of course, if the management wants some kind of insurance by trading our rotation players for the next franchise player, there is nothing wrong with that either. But gentlemen, Brooks is not, let me repeat, he is not that franchise player that we can count on. It's mind bloggling that people continue to compare Brooks to Parker, even when Brooks clearly doesn't have the playmaking and decision making skills that Parker has. For posters who said Brooks is an allstar caliber player, I really don't see how Brooks could crack the long list of Kobe, Chris Paul, Brandon Roy, Billups, D William, Nash, Parker, and etc...
Ouch. Well, at least someone's finally paying attention to what I say around here.... RocketMania1991, I think I have, on more than one occasion, given this team all the credit it deserves for not throwing in the towel this season, when they knew that the "face of the franchise" would not be playing at all this season. More credit than most people here have, in fact. Because I've never let my fondness for the team cloud my judgement or perspective on the big picture of why most of us spend more time on this forum than is probably healthy. I haven't scoured record books to point out how historically inconsistent Trevor Ariza has been in a role that's too big for him in the first place, and slap the kid around for it afterwards. I haven't chastized Aaron Brooks for being unable to make a good decision at the end of games, when the decision for him should be to put the ball in the basket, or been disappointed in Carl Landry because he doesn't defend or rebound at all like an undersized power forward should..... ...or any of this other junk that comes from forgetting that the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint. Especially when you're running the race without your anchor leg ready to bring you home. And how awful a pun was that, with Yao's feet....! I've never said, RocketMania1991, that the Rockets were Yao's team. I've said that Yao will make the biggest difference between wins and losses with this group if he's healthy and playing. Nothing about this season changes that. But it is interesting to point out how NOW, everybody's saying this has to be everybody's team and everybody has to play a big part, whereas before we were all willing to say one or two guys didn't get the job done, and give everybody else a pass for losing and failing. Cute. Predictable...but still cute. If your problem is with the Rockets hanging their hats on Yao in any fashion....take it up with the GM and coach. Those are their words. Not mine. But try and take it easy, RocketMania1991. These Rockets are who we all thought they are.....right?
We certainly can't count on Yao any more than Brooks....so we have a problem. I just don't understand why we continue to build around the unreliable. Morey is not an idiot he realizes that the best chance to win is with a healthy Yao, but we have no reason to believe Yao can stay healthy. Every year we commit to Yao has been a waste of a season. It's time to move on from the Yao era and stop having to worry about when he will go down. I'd rather see all of our teams money being used rather than have 16+ Million from yao sitting on the sidelines. Even if that money isn't spent on a star it's at least helping the team.
Yao's contract last for one more season only. While you can count on AB to play more game than Yao, you can't count on Rox to be a contender without Yao. Isn't it worth a try for one more year at a chance of Championship?
It depends, if we try to go all out and take on bad contracts just to make a contender next year I don't think its worth it. I'd rather stay mediocre next year then have no hope for the next 3+ years.
So, you are willing to wait 4 more years than accepting a over pay a player for 1-2 years? Especially those aren't your money?.. :grin: :grin:
