Good piece. Good to see that Stevie realizes that Yao is the man in Houston. Contrary to what Wizkid83 stated earlier Stevie is the safety valve while Yao is the #1 option (as should be). The sooner the Rockets realize that Yao is their best player (echoing to "The Jet") or at least their #1 option or team will become a more consistent team. Also I am still glad that Stevie's good fortunes got us the right to draft first in last year's draft. Overall Stevie is a nice guy easy to root for.
Yao = pub for Steve et al this year. Win = pub for Steve et al in the future. This was a good article for Stevie and the Rox.
Fengwu, honestly why does Yao have to be better than Francis? Why can they coexist? Yao at times can be more dominating than Francis but isn't as consistent because of fatigues. In three years I see a relationship of a more equal status. Think Stockton-Malone, Pierce-Walker and Magic Kareem (early magic years)). It will be hard to argue which one is better because they bring a diffent dimension to the game. Yao is/will be an excellent post player that can play point center and is perfect for an half court offence and can control the tempo. Francis is the opposite as a energetic guy who can create something out of nothing (though sometimes foolishly but hey even Yao forces a couple of bad passes sometimes). One of the big problems with the Hakeem led offense of the 90's was that it became predictable and teams can locking in on on stealing or preventing Hakeem from getting the ball inside. It became even more painful as Hakeem lost his athletecism and was unable grab lobpasses cause the defender was more explosive than he was. Now with the zone allowed, it will be even harder to get a big the ball. Shaq can do it because he can bully himself right under the basket to force spacing and ofcourse Kobe is always dangerous. I see us in similar ways, people can't zone in or lock on to Yao because we have a guard that can create on the outside. I see them as a good Ying and Yang combination.
How else are those fans going to get back the marbles they lost? The real question is if the Rockets have a coach who can pound that in on a daily basis.
I don't know why people hate Francis. But he is one of the elite to me. He grew up with one parent. That must have been very tough. He was very small but very diligent and brave. I don't feel sorry for him because he's making 14 million a year. But I don't know why people dislike him. I think he did very good in welcoming Yao and accepting him. And he and Yao are going to lead the Rockets to another championship!
