What changed Hakeem's career, and could it change Yao's?

Maybe Yao can take a plane ride with Charlie Thomas.

 

Surround him with Joe Johnson, Q and Nash. This allows him to
go 1-on-1 all night and lead the league in scoring.

 

Yso just doesn't view himself as a franchise.

He once said in an early interview that he knows his role for this season is to be like last year's Cato.

I think he probably doesn't even consider himself as a top2 offensive option in this system.

 

Dream had times when he WANTED to be nasty (best example: WCF against the Spurs). Yao dont' have a nasty streak or haven't shown it.

 

That's the definition of lack of confidence and soft.

 

A right hand to the dome of Mitch Kupchak never hurts.

 

ship Yao to the innercity slums for a bit

have him play b-ball in the hoods of Houston where people will steal his lunch money if he isnt willing to scrap

 

I believe that the mean streak in YAO will be on display the rest of the season. The reason I believe this is because I noticed towards the end of the game when JVG had something to say to YAO, YAO sat there in look of I want to kill you JVG and I hope the anger he felt he can take to the court.

 

Really? Which game is it?

 

One summer at the Fonde taking Moses Malone elbows in the chest. That'll toughen him up.

 

Yeah that happened last night. JVG was pissed at Yao about something. Does anyone know what it was?

 

also, dream (after the twin towers went away) was all by himself as the primary scorer. sure there was sleepy, maxwell, etc but everyone knew their role and that was to get dream the ball. on this team and the teams of the past few seasons, Yao had to play 2nd or even 3rd fiddle behind Francis, Cat and now Tmac. I think if you put him in a situatoin where he knows he has to carry a team, he'll put up better numbers. They tried that at the beginning of the season but Yao was so foul proned that he never got into rhythm. And now that he's fouling less in the first quarter, it's too late. JVG basically abandoned the notion that yao HAS to be getting hte ball and has gone towards his other players.

 

I posted this in Daddy's thread and I think it applies here as well.

Francis, just like Tmac now is a "crutch" for Yao. He knows if he doesnt get it done, the other star player will do it. Once Yao realizes unless HE gets it done, we are sunk. And that's when he will start to dominate.

 

Definitely.

I remember hearing that Yao has never played a pick-up game in his life. Is that true?

 

The great ones have a burning determination to get better and prove their detractors wrong. Hakeem, Drexler, Jordan, Malone all improved over the course of their carreer. Hakeem only really dunked and blocked shots when he started with the Rockets. Jordan and Drexler didn't have outside shots. Malone could hardly hit the backboard on a free throw early on.

Yao needs to find that burning determinatin to dominate, not just be a part of the team. Basketball more then any other team sport can be dominated by one player.

If Yao doesn't find the desire to become dominate force to squash all others, then he will be nothing more then another Joe Barry Carroll. Lots of talent, no passion.

 

I love the Dream and all, but lets be honest, after he won his friend Clyde a ring - he really took it easy and started playing for the money.

Barkley showed about 100x more heart in the Western Coference Finals than Dream did in 1997

 

I don't get the correlation. Dream may not have won championships til he was older, but even in his younger days he always played hard and dominated. If Dream as a rookie was on this team now, we'd be a top team in the Western conf.

 

Moses Malone to Akeem "Come on, be a man".

Hakeem learned a lot from Moses at Fonde.

 

I really don't get this idea I've seen on this board that Dream wasn't always Dream. While he did become a more skilled player over time, he was always a dominant force.