Treatment LeBron James receives v.s. Yao received last year

yao averaged 13 points 8 boards a game that is not numbers for a star. its the media(ie charles and kenny) who made him a star.

 

I think as civil Rox fans, we need not wish ill upon LeBron.

While it's true that LeBron's inauguration into the league has been quite different from Yao of a year ago, I wouldn't be so quick to harp and criticize LeBron as some disgrutled Cavs fans seem to be doing. LeBron's greatest challenges still await him, not least of which, is how he conducts his life off-the-court. Without drawing premature comparisons, I think, the one greatest things we, as Rox fans, witnessed last year, was the incredible maturity and deamenor of Yao Ming, on and off-the-court. Granted it's only been one year, but it's a good feeling to see your first round pick exemplify qualities of:

(1) humility
(2) teachability
(3) likability (with the media and fans)
(4) humor
(5) competitive spirit

On number 5, something just tells me that Yao will be there for us, delivering for us, late in games with both field goals and free throws.

Anyways, LeBron has a monumental task in front of him, being in this unenviable position of having to deal with high public expectations. Will he rise to the occasion or crater??? It's still too early to tell. However, I do agree with some earlier posters that the media seems to be very biased in getting caught up with all the sensationalism and hoop-la of this LeBron story. In contrast, I do think the media was out to humiliate Yao in the early going and embarrass the Rox for what initially appeared to be a lemon of a first round pick. Ironically, this worked to our advantage as I think the adversity not only helped show us the REAL Yao, but also turned naysayers into believers as the season went on.

LeBron is in the reverse situation. He has lots of believers. But you better believe that if LeBron fails to deliver or even gets remotely embarrassed, many of those believers can fast become naysayers too.



theSAGE

 

Well said Sage.

Can I tell you again how much I have missed your common sense posts(without sounding like a kiss-ass)


You really got to feel for the poor kid, to be so hyped up and then struggling like was inevitable from the get-go...and of course all the people who bought into the Lebron=Jordan hype are going to be disappointed when he struggles.

He seems to have some good skills, but you just know it is going to take time to realize the potential. Unfortunately, patience is a virtue sorely lacking in todays sports fans.

 

IT WAS HIS ROOKIE SEASON. THOSE ARE REASONABLE NUMBERS FOR A ROOKIE, ESPECIALLY A ROOKIE FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY. SO YOU ARE SAYING YAO IS A STAR ONLY BECAUSE BARKELY HAD TO KISS A DONKEY'S A$$ ? YOU PROBALY ARE ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO THINKS JAMES IS THE NEXT JORDAN.

 

If you are going to list out numbers, why dont you also compare Lebron's 38 mins to Yao's 23 mins, and Lebron's 18 shot attempts to Yao's 10 attempts...

and if you watched every rocket game on NBA league pass you would know that every announcer is bewildered by the fact Yao doesn't get more touches....and on and on and on...

disapproving a jackass is a true testament to Yao, chucky did not make Yao anything, Yao still had to drop 9-9 on the lakers...and score like 30-35 field attempts at one point in time...

 

This got to be a most rediculous claim for a long time on the board. Barkley and the most of the media tried their best to diss Yao, calling him a bust, and wanted him to fail. It was Yao who played himself into the star he is today. It was Yao who toasted Shawn Bradley's ass, dominated the Twin Towers, and blocked Shaq's first 3 shots in their first meeting. Geting 13 points in the rookie season with just 9 shots a game in a guard oriented offense is not bad at all.

Watch Yao to have a breakout season under JVG! 20/10 averages. He has already completly dominated Divac and Brad "all-star" Miller in the preseason.

 

The media wants a Chinese center to succeed in the NBA.

 

13/8 are solid numbers but not numbers that would get the hype Yao's getting if it was any one else. But the reason Yao's getting the hype is people see's 13/8 just a tip of the iceburg and Yao's ceiling being much higher. That being said, last year's draft class was all about producing more than the line, caron butler, Jay Williams, Amare Stoudamire, Nene Hilaro, Dajuan Wagner and ofcourse Yao all had the potential of becoming amazing players but the numbers in their rookie are weak compared to other years. With the exception of the year that Mike Miller won the ROY, both Yao and Amare would not be even be considered candidates for ROY in the past 10+ seasons based on the numbers those winners put up.

 

Huh??? ??? ???

 

sure they do! and Jenna Bush is a hottie, Hakeem isn't the greatest center ever, Santa Clause lives at the north pole, and Britney Spears is still a virgin.

 

You r funny

 

Well, another Charles Barkely.

 

What 'Expert' Hall of Shame said - From YaoMing**********

Hopefully, it would remind someone need to be reminded

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"Years from now, we will remember 'Yao Ming over Jay Williams' the same way we remember 'Bowie over Jordan,' 'Traylor for Nowitzki,' 'Carroll for McHale and Parish,' 'Aguirre over Thomas' and every other great draft day blunder in NBA history. I'm not just predicting it, I'm guaranteeing it.

"Think about it. At best, Ming develops into a bigger, more athletic Rik Smits. Fine. But then you throw in Yao's adjustment problems (going from China to the United States -- yikes), his laid-back demeanor (what happens when NBA players start pushing him around, elbowing him and intimidating him?), his inability to play in the low post, and the way he'll struggle fitting in with his teammates, as well as lofty expectations, inevitable problems adjusting to a higher level of competition, the fact that NBA players will go out of their way to dunk on him (just like they did with Shawn Bradley -- and they ruined his confidence, too), the isolation of playing here, the meddling Chinese government ... I mean, did Smits have to deal with any of those things?

"Can't you picture Shaq rubbing his hands together and saying, "I'm going to dunk on that Chinese guy as much as humanly possible next season"? This is a disaster waiting to happen. Repeat: This is a disaster waiting to happen. I feel very strongly about this. Just wanted to get that heard before the jury."

- Bill Simmons, ESPN.com, May 2002

Editor's note: Simmons wrote the following retraction in his January 6th column:

"I'm an idiot. Forget about Yao's emergence as the most polished rookie big man since Brad Daugherty, or that he offers the first worthy challenge to Shaq since Hakeem was still The Dream. If you're a basketball fan, you love Yao Ming. He's a godsend, the best Chinese import since General Tso. And I thought he'd stink. I may as well have predicted that Vin Baker would be the missing piece of the puzzle in Boston or the Blazers would be a team you could be proud to bring home to Mom.

"Like many hoops junkies, I now stalk SportsCenter every night for a Yao fix. Exceptionally well schooled and mobile, he affects the game at both ends like nobody since Bill Walton. His turnaround jumper -- a borderline work of art -- might be the most unblockable move since Kareem's skyhook. And when was the last time you saw a 7-footer start fastbreaks with 50-foot jai alai passes, or find open teammates with backdoor looks? In the Me-Me-Me NBA, that stuff isn't supposed to happen..."

 

Ming was bashed by a lot of the media, and was bashed by posters on this very board. People kept whispering "bust", "Shawn Bradley", etc.

The second he started showing real flashes, people started hyping him up. In a way, you could view that as a positive, because Yao didn't have to live up to the unrealistic expectations the media and a lot of talking heads force upon a lot of players.

Lebron on the other hand is being compared to Jordan and Magic already. No way he reaches that level of play his rookie season, so he will probly be a dissappointment in many people's eyes when he is still just a young kid who has time to improve his game.

 

Let me start by saying that I think both Yao AND Lebron have phenomenal talent (although Lebron's FG% worries me greatly), the difference is how they were treated before the season. Yao being Chinese (and Chinese people supposedly aren't supposed to be good at sports) and at 7'5 tall was supposed to be an even bigger stiff than the rest of his countrymen.

Lebron was hailed all across the board as the next Jordan even before he even played 1 NBA game. So can you really blame people for saying media blows it in terms of Yao? By the same token, can you really blame people for saying Lebron sucks (a lot) as compared to his hype (better than Jordan + Magic combined).

Lebron might become very good in the league one day if he works hard but I doubt he'll ever become Jordan.

For the moron that said Yao is not a star, true 13 - 8 is not allstar numbers, but the reason he is a star is because of his vast potential, his desire to succeed and his charm and humility. Does anyone remember what Kobe averaged first season? Does anyone care?

Not comparing their bball skills but on the sentimental side, I would never choose Lebron over Yao. I have probs with people labelling themselves King James before they play one NBA game .

 

exactly. very hard to imagine there will be another Jordan.

 

Well maybe not exactly like jordan but we have a close enough awaiting trial at eagle county right now.

 

LeBron continues to suck it up after the Lakers game. Shooting 5-14 against Clippers and committing 7 TOs. Man, if he can't play well in the pre-season games, how is he going to do any better in the regular. That's going to be tough.

 

Likewise, Rockets2k!

It's great to be back, and great to be joining good company on the cc.net boards!

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As far as LeBron goes, I'll also point out that he's being given the opportunity to succeed OR fail from the get go. By my recollection, LeBron is averaging 10+ FGA per pre-season game, and if this is any indication of his FGA opportunities in the regular season, watch out! Unless, LeBron can get his FG% up, net-net, he will COST THE CAVS lots of games. Think about it. If you have one sub-40% shooter getting over 20% of the team's FGAs, how good does the rest of the team have to shoot in a league that averages 45%+ shooting???

Thus, when I think of latent risks to the Cavs, I think of issues of team morale, team patience, and intense media scrutiny. Personally, I like Iglauskas. I saw him play on a number of occasions, and IMHO, at this stage of the Cavs evolution, Iglauskas should be the number one or two option right now for them. But enough on the Cavs....

...onto the Rox. What's interesting about Yao's experience last year vs. that of LeBron this year, is I that people had NO preconceptions with Yao since so much about him was mothballed while even your neighbor's kid has an opinion on LeBron. Yet, how much exactly IS just marketing hype? Fact is, the league is always looking for the next big thing, and I wouldn't be surprised if SI and ESPN start touting the next "LeBron" w/in two years. I think b/c there were NO preconceptions with Yao, people had to objectively, perhaps even begrudgingly, evaluate Yao on his proven merits and when those merits become obvious, most of us, including myself started to say: "hmmm, this guy is special b/c he has some clear unfair advantages... could it be he's 7'5"???"

Great players usually DO have some unfair advantage. Youth is a fleeting unfair advantage. Height is NOT. The league is constantly getting tougher and I'm glad that we have at least two players with unfair advantages on our team.



theSAGE

 

Comparing Yao to LeBron is comparing apples to oranges.

Yao had to learn a new culture, new language (thats under investigation) and play in a system geared too and dominated by a backcourt.

LeBron on the other hand is going walk into a system....no, a FRANCHISE built around him. Even though he's 18 (19?) he'll have a much easier time getting adjusted too the system

Who cares anyway. LeBron is going to have to practice on his jumper instead of hanging out with Jay-Z all day if he wants to be one of the greatest.