Well, not just that Uncle Mutombo can't give you more than 20 minutes a night. He can't give the team consistently 20+ points every night like Big Yao has been doing this full season before he is down with his untimely injury. And to say Yao Ming clogging the lane in offense, and not playing as great defense as Uncle Mutombo is just blind ..... While the team seemed to be clicking in all cylinders playing san Big Yao, but do remember, when Big Yao is playing with the team, he demands double and triple teaming, meaning at least 1 to 2 of his team mates are left unmarked. And with more patience and crispy passing, the shots are going to fall anyway. Right now, even when the team is clicking like a well oiled machine, our interior is not as fearful and dominant in the low post as before even if Scola + Landry are playing to their best to fill up the void left by Big Yao. And not every night our guards are scoring at >50% 3-pointers. When the exterior shots start to miss......fans will remember how they miss the Big Man contributing 20+ points down in the low post.
Ill tell you all a bunch of things that WE fans are good at with or without Yao and Mcgrady. Being a bunch of Hypocritical 2 faced dickheads. I called this, I knew it long before that it was gonna come down to this. Last year, the rockets website had to respond to Yao's trade hype, and the rockets website even predicted a "Trade T-mac" hype, guess what, it happened. During the "trade t-mac hype", I predicted that if t-mac comes back healthy and Yao goes out, "trade yao" threat would come up in no time. Am I a genius or what? When the rockets lose or have a 3 game losing streak, t-mac's mentality will be questioned and "ROCKETS ARE SCREWED" threads will go all over the place. Damn I can read minds, isn't that amazing?
Yao we should keep. Great offensive minutes but y' know what? He does get tired. His feet are an issue. Coach should cut his minutes and let the current lineup play more minutes. I think if we do this, we outscore opponents even more.
The latest rox team to play vs new orleans won by 10 minus yao and west. earlier in the winning streak they beat new orleans by 20 with yao and west in the game. The team has a really good rhythm right now, but to say that they are better without yao is a little premature. They have yet to play the best teams in the league minus yao. Last time they played utah minus yao they lost....
Good point about Yao led Rockets beating the Hornets by 20 last time. I bet last time T-Mac didn't play 48 minutes too. We had another 7-6 dude as another go to guy so T-Mac could get some rest. This time, guess what, T-Mac played 48 minutes and we only won by 10, also, our 3s just kept falling. We made 9 threes in the 2nd qtr. Ain't gonna happen every game right grasshoppers. We needed overworking T-Mac and red hot 3 point shooting to overcome the hornets without Yao. In the playoffs, teams will play much harder defense.
I find fans here are very stupid to compare the Yao team(w/o Tmac) and Tmac team(w/o Yao). I want to know how you compare the Yao+Tmac team (on 6 loss streak) and Yao+Tmac team(on 19 win streak)? Compare the Yao team and Tmac team in the same time! Yao team beat Golden state Tmac team loss Utah Rocket with Yao destroy New Orleans with West Rocket w/o Yao barely beat Orleans w/o West with Tmac playing 48min
This is wrong, it's not premature to say the team is better without Yao, it's just straight up stupid. Yao is the most dominate big man in the game and any team would be better off with him. A big factor in the games we've won without him is the confidence and chemistry that was developed with him.
Why does everyone think its a knock on Yao to say he clogs the paint? Most dominant big men do, when he's fighting for good post position and teams are trying to defend against that their will always be 2 or more bodies in the lane. If anyone tries to drive they will be met by an apposing big. Now, w/o our big guy we just spread the floor, making it easier for slashers to get buckets. I don't think the defense is better unless we play smaller faster teams. I think Deke should be given credit for being one of the best defenders of all time and I think for about 10-15 mins a game he is the best in the game before he starts getting tired. Yao is just not as great of a shot blocker or post defender but he is still good enough at that and many other things to be considered the best 5 in the league.
Deke is a great defenders, maybe a better defender than Yao, but also Yao do a better job to defend the real big man such as Chandler, Howard, Oneal, duncan, overall.
I kinda assume that Yao is better but Deke has performed better defensively. Most of it is because people try to take it right at Mutumbo before they realize he's still good (surprisingly it happens to Yao every now and then too). With that said I think you have it a little mixed up, Because of Deke's insane blocking ability he can disrupt these big guys inside w/o fouling them. As weird as it sounds to say this, i think Deke's hands are a little faster than Yao's. Yao does a better job on lateral movement, the only guy on that list I think he would do a better job on is Duncan because he can stop his drives and craftiness.
I've said it ad nauseum, deke is a better defender than yao. The reasons are simple,deke has better instincts and awareness and deke plays lower. When u see deke even @ his age and guys have him away from the hoop, his back is bent,ass low, and arms up. Go and watch yao and u will see a guy with a board in his back and arms down. This isn't knock on yao, its just something that he hadn't picked up from deke. Deke is one of the greatest defensive center in the history of the nba. He is long,stronger than he looks and has great defensive awareness. I've always said our defense would be better when deke replaces yao. This team isn't better without yao because u can't replace his talent this late in the season. There isn't anyone on this roster right now that can do what yao do, but the team can still win. Tracy has shown that he can get a ok roster in the playoffs. He did it in orlando and last yr they won 20 of 32 without yao. This team has better talent than the one that played without yao last yr. I do think there will be games when yao is missed and it will be a strain on tracy. Someone used the logic about beating gsw,no, or dallas with or without yao. I do remember yao killing gsw and phoe last time, but I also remember 13pts and 6 rebs against those two clubs by yao also. If yao would treat those teams like he did last time, they would never play harrington or diaw on yao. In the nba, they double poor ballhandlers as much as good players also. If u know a guy can't make a pass under pressure, u put pressure on him. Good to great passers love double teams. Its the easiest pass they can make. I understand that yao gets doubled over 50% of the time, but all post players get doubled if ur good. Randolph, boozer,jefferson,amare, pau, kaman all of them. When ur good in the post and ur a great passer it like taking candy from a baby. The rule is make good shooters passers and good passers shooters. That's why tracy,kobe,james, and guys like that are difficult matchups. In the day Shaq getting doubled was a non issue because he would get his position, hold the ball strong,watch the cutters and make a decision to score or pass. When this team lose, it won't be because someone dominated the post. When they lose it will be from not going to the basket or maybe that team played better. Defensively deke is still a huge presence at the goal.
yea... Yao is the most consistent performer? sure. Then why are we 11-36 without TMac and 126-70 with him in team? I know I am throwing out this number a lot, but man does it show a trend, no? if Yao is anything like last years playoffs where Boozer went berserk on offense and Okur went loko on defense. Not to mention 6 rebounds by Yao in game 7!!! Regardless, no without Yao we are not better. But dont give us BS like Yao is for Playoffs while TMac is not and that TMac's "normal" shooting means we would lose. Look at our numbers again with TMac. YEA RIGHT!
I think that's what's crazy about people. They continue to talk about yao being our best player and stuff, but since yao and tracy have been here, we struggle without tracy and win without yao. Its not a battle though over who's team its is because the results are the proof. I don't think either one of our 2 guns had a great series last yr. If both play up to their level, the rox win. When the didnt , they lost to a team that really had more talent in utah. The key is playing to ur talent level. Right now the team is playing to the talent level without Yao. Like I have been saying, yao is good, but its not like we lost a hall of fame type guy. Teams learn to play without good players all the time. Phoenix played the entire yr without Amare and made it to the wcf before losing to Dallas. They have also proven they can't win without Nash. Certain guys just do so much for a team that is really irreplaceable.
why can't we just be happy that this team can play without yao? maybe next yr, he'll see less minutes and avoid injuries. a sign of a great team is your level of play doesn't drop off when one of your main core guys go down. we have proven that the past 2 years we can play without yao. be happy, and welcome him with open arms when he returns. tmac and yao will NOT be traded regardless of what happens this season. we have FINALLY surrounded them with a group of role players who know their roles and actually are consistent. this team will fulfill its promise next year when yao comes back healthy. and we might have 2-3 rings if both stay healthy over the next 5 years.
ONce again Yao was averging 2blks a gm and we won 12 in a row with him.Get through ur heads.we were dominating when he was there.go back and watch the 12 gm win streak.U will see everything was clicking and Rick said he would of started playing MT some mins too right before yaos injury.So we would of even be better.We are not better without yao.one of these gms our jumpers won't be falling just u wait.
I couldn't agree more. Inasmuch as I love Yao, objectively speaking, Deke is by far the better defender. I've watched Deke throughout his career going back to Georgetown and that man is just phenomenal at defending the paint. Yao's OK, but call it the 6th sense, or perhaps, just better instincts, Deke is hand's down more effective as a shot blocker and overall defender. Also... I submit to the board yet another moot point. imho, I think Deke is far more inspirational than Yao i.e. I think there are serious on-court leadership and inspiration points that Deke scores that Yao does not. Again, many will probably disagree with me, but short of getting that occasional technical foul, I really do think Deke has a thing about him where he can energize our team and inspire them to play harder. Heck - Deke was invited as an honorary guest to the Presidential Union address! Seriously though, whereas Yao leads by example, imho he's still very much soft spoken, and not a big-time "inspirational" player. Nothing wrong with that. Just different. He does his job great mind you, but insofar as making the team better from a leadership standpoint? My money is on Deke. Leadership is key! So is inspiration! And it'a great having inspirational players like Deke on our team! Flame on. theSAGE
