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

that was durring the draft/build up on espn.

there were alot of articles by people offering their opinion that the best yao will ever be was the next rik smits and that jay williams or mike dunleavy should be the overall choice.....the same idiots that are writing up all these anti-rockets articles even now...

 

Funny - in this thread, after Yao's first game, a user named t4651965 says "Ming has terrible lateral quickness, and that negates his height. I think the pick was a mistake."

SI Poll results from 2002 draft
Q: Who will have the biggest impact as a rookie?
results:
Jay Williams, Bulls 42%
Caron Butler, Heat 23%
Yao Ming, Rockets 17%
Mike Dunleavy, Warriors 11%
Drew Gooen, Grizzlies 6%

In this article from June 27, 2002 SI's Jack McCallum says "I don't see Yao Ming being good enough to justify being the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft." Also, lots of great Yao-bashing there! A good read! (I say it's great because I like to see how clueless many people were).

In this article , Charles Barkley (commenting on Yao Ming) says, "if I had the number one pick I'd take Caron Butler or Jay Williams."

Not too much Yao bashing in his 2nd game (against the Nuggets). official thread box score

-- droxford

 

Not sure if anyone already read this from Yahoo! . Interesting reading...



LeBron James struggles with his jump shot

By CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Basketball Writer
October 18, 2003

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After LeBron James' first five exhibition games, the word ``Hype'' could stand for: ``Hey, You Practicing Enough?''

James can't shoot -- that's the early word around the NBA.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' No. 1 draft pick is a great passer and tremendous athlete, but he needs to work on his jumper.

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``His shot has a little of what we call 'play' in it,'' Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. ``When he brings it up and locks it in, he's fine, but sometimes he doesn't lock it in right away, and that's the reason you get the waver in it.

``He flips it up there sometimes.''

James is shooting a mere 29.8 percent from the field, and opposing defenders are already backing off.

When he shoots, the ball leaves his hand with a nice rotation and plenty of arc, but it's not a soft shot. If it is slightly off-target, the collision of rubber and rim is a violent one.

``When I first started, it was elbows out and all,'' James said. ``So it's evolved a lot. It gets better every year.''

Part of the problem is James' tendency to fade away as he jumps -- a habit he developed in high school and resolved to correct over the summer. The transformation remains incomplete, however, with James still stuck somewhere between his old technique and the new.

Until he works out the kinks, defenders will dare him to let fly.

``I'd do the same thing,'' Silas said. ``That's part of pro ball. They did that to Baron Davis his first year, and he stayed three weeks (after his rookie season) and worked on his shot and became more proficient the next year, and they couldn't back off.''

James enters the NBA as the most hyped prep-to-pro rookie in league history, and like all No. 1 picks, he'll be a marked man in every arena he enters.

``It's not like this is going to be an easy thing,'' Minnesota's Kevin Garnett said. ``He should have an endorsement with Target, because he has a bull's-eye on his back.''

Opponents have been pressuring James in the backcourt when he brings the ball up, getting a measure of his ballhandling skills.

Marcus Banks of the Celtics overplayed him to the right during summer league, daring James to show whether he could drive to his left. Tayshaun Prince of the Pistons blanketed him on the perimeter, forcing James to dribble and create. Devean George of the Lakers was the first to back way off.

``He's going to be scrutinized more probably than any rookie in the league, but right now they're going to step back and see what he has,'' Pistons director of scouting George David said. ``I think everyone realizes one of his main assets is his body. He doesn't have a body for a kid his age, and that allows him to be explosive, to be quicker than a lot of people his age. The main thing now is to see how well he can shoot the basketball.''

James says his daily practice routine includes making 100 jump shots, even if it takes 500 attempts to do it.

But shooting hasn't been a big part of his pregame routine. James typically hangs back in the locker room, stretching and listening to music on headphones while the rest of the Cavaliers are out on the court shooting an hour before tipoff.

He insists his jump shot will be fine, citing his 3-point prowess over the final three years of high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary's in Akron, Ohio.

But the 3-point line in those gyms is almost five feet shorter than the NBA line, and James does not have the type of pure natural stroke that will allow him to easily adjust to the long-range nature of shooting in the pros.

``When Michael (Jordan) first came in, he was not a real good shooter. Kobe (Bryant) was not a real good shooter, and both those guys worked and worked and worked, and with the confidence and the hard work they put in, became excellent shooters,'' Silas said.

``The expectations are way, way, way too high. LeBron has the potential to be great, but it will take a while.''


Updated on Saturday, Oct 18, 2003 2:20 pm EDT

 

Maybe we should send all our talented high-school players to China so they can learn fundamentals before they decide to try the NBA

-- droxford

 

God , James is so full of crap. Does he really believe that the NBA is the same as highschool? HE SHOULD really go and work on his shooting, cause his shooting aint "fine". He isn't in highschool anymore dunking on pimpled face teenagers who are smaller than he is. The NBA is where the BIG boys play. he better figure it out soon cause I have a feeling that once the real season starts people are gonna be out to get him. Does he think that guys like Shaq , Wallace, Tim, and Yao Ming won't hesitate to posterize him? These guys are established stars and they are not about to be embarrassed by a hyped up rookie straight outta highschool.

 

sigh.....after reading all of these yao articles.....his humility, charisma.....and then i read a lebron article..."i made 8 three pointers in a highschool game, these are shots i can make" blah....

 

Too bad Yao didnt brag about how he has dominated in Asia, and it aint high schools there I am talking about.