oh please...you are so transparent it isnt even funny....I explained you to swilkins in the other thread...and I stand by my analysis...you are a Yao fanatic tryin to disguise yourself by claiming that the ROckets need to trade Yao....but we know why you say that...you think that a California team will get him so you can go watch him play... btw..Im sick of your broken record posts....so onto the ignore list you go...bye bye
Your post is dead on righteous. The frustration comes from this seemingly endless "merry-go-round" of mediocrity created by an incompetent organization. Until Uncle Les gets off his duff and starts making changes, nothing will change except another year will be swallowed up on the road to nowhere. Strangely I am not frustrated nor angry at all because during the off season after the big trade was made I downgraded my expectations for this team once I saw the pathetic job done by CD in addressing the holes at the point guard and the power forward position. I saw no reason to expect much form this team and sad to say, I haven't been disppointed so far.
Fan are by definition fickle. Face it. The majority of fans are fickle. Some more than others. The Rockets are not good. So you have to blame someone. Last year it was Francis. This year it's Yao. And I think he deserves the cricism. Doubters, haters everywhere now. Sam Smith and Greg Anthony think Rik Smits was better. Rik Smit's career highs are something like 18 points and 7 or 8 rebounds a game. Career average is something like 15 and 6. But you know in a sense they're right. Yao doesn't rebound. He doesn't block shots. He's not aggressive going to the basket. Who knows why? Hopefully he can prove the critics wrong.
I think Yao played pretty well last season with Cato helping him with defence. Who helps him with defence this season?
I don't want Yao to be like Rik Smitts, I want him to be twice as good. But I must face up to the facts, he might just be another Smitts. That's OK for a serviceable center, but not a superstar.
Until Yao gets an attitude or maybe until the Rockets get a real coach, they are doomed to mediocrity..
Jeff, Good thread and nice observation about the fans and Yao. It's true that Yao is passive, but the Rockets have to use that to their advantage. At the present time Van Gundy and crew are trying to make Yao into a player that he is not. Yao is not a power center like the Dream or Malone. Yao is a finesse center such as Kareem, his biggest strength was and is his basketball smarts and court awareness. In his first year Yao was making some sweet passes, looking for the cutter and passing out of double teams. Which gave him space for his jumper. Now everytime he gets the ball, he is shooting the ball regardless of the defense or the situation. This is not his strength, this is his weakness. Yao should be used as the set up guy to get the other players involved in the game. Use his strength and stop trying to make him the next Hakeem, Shaq or Ewing. I believe the combination of Yao and TMac could be a great combination for years to come, if they are used the right way.
I remember one year ago, people always said Yao should not stick to fadeaway and jumpers, just go to the basket and dunk.
I am YOF, if it means I would not follow Rockets as close as I do once Yao leave. I said it from day 1 here and I have nothing to hide. I never think Yao's greatest of all time or any Yao's wrong is someone else faults. I hope I have the search function to show u my posts before. I think I have paid enough respect for this site and tried my best to post in rocket fans perspective. Am I frustrated with Yao's play? Sure I do. Am I frustrated with some rocket fans here? Sure I do. But I think that's ok, rocket fans show loyal to the team only, not Yao. Though I dont call myself rocket fan (I have too much respect for the term), I can understand your feeling. I am long time loyal Liverpool FC fan and I show loyal to the club only but not michael owen or Steven Gerrard. I know how u feel when fans loyal to players only instead of the club. That's why I understand posters here criticise Yao. One thing I dont understand is that: while a lot of posters here think Yao sucks or at least very frustrating, and never show much improvement or consistency. They seem at the same time feel offended when someone suggest to trade him to improve the team. It doesnt make a lot of sense to me. I suggest Peja and Miller for Yao and Mo. It makes sense to rockets because they get rid of Mo's contract and Yao's inconsistent play. They get 2 borderline all star. That's what I call I tried to post in rockets perspective. Am I thinking Yao better suit in Kings offense? Yes I do. Does it do any harm for the rockets? It's not like I suggest u to reject Duncan/parker/Manu and accept Peja/Miller. Why feel offended? It's like u think he's not contributing and it's his own fault but u wont consider to trade him. Make no sense to me. Are u scared Yao will blossom in another team? And I dont live in america. Ignore list here I come.
I think the frustration is from the whole team. And the reason is plainly simply: this is a slow, old, passionless team. We attribute the frustration mostly to Yao because we have higher expectations of him than from others. Yet now he is sort of disappointing because of his soft plays and passiveness. But I am frustrated with the whole team- a team with no passion. The only exception is Dick. Pathetic!
I am not YOF. I dislike your suggestion for trading and I donot think YAO should be the target for the loss. He is always double teamed and he still got 25points in 30 minutes. His efficiency ranking/48minutes is ranked #14 in the league. Wesley and Barry are the ones mainly responsible for this loss. They combined a 2/14 as SG which is terribly bad. If you want to talk about YAO's inconsistency in the first half, did you noticed kobe did not score a single point in the whole third quarter? But their fans know what he will do in the forth. Why don't our fans pur more confidence on YAO for his second half?
Now it's funny if u talk about confidence. Does the coach show any confidence in Yao? Do his teammates show any confidence in Yao? Does Yao show any confidence in himself? Does Yao show he deserves others confidence in him? It's like a dead loop now, the effect accumulates. Change is a must. Trade is one of the solutions.
Surely I see YAO showed he deserved others confidence in him in the second half. Why you suggest a trade for Peja and Miller for YAO and taylor if you donot have confidence? Again, you think Peja and Miller deserve Taylor and a joke?
Consistency. We all know Yao's great from time to time. That's why fans feel frustrated. Peja wants out of the Sacramento. If he walks away after next season, kings got nothing in return. If nothing changes, his trade value goes down until to zero at the end of next season. Before the season start, 90% of fans would say rockets would never do this trade. Now u wonder if Kings would do it. After the season maybe kings would not trade miller for Yao. Who knows? I am no expert but IMHO it makes sense, of course it doesnt mean much.
If you look at KG's stats in the first three seasons, very similar to YAO's. And Yao only played 32min/game while KG played 38min/game. So at least Yao's efficiency ranking is higher than KG in first 3 seasons. So, why not give more confidence? Let YAO figure out his own problem. What I want to say is that it's not easy to get a potential player. You gonna have a little bit more patience.
I agree with you. I am frustrated with the players we have no doubt, but I'm even more frustrated that ownership has allowed the team to just sit in mediocrity. I wonder at how much scouting this organization actually does. The Rockets haven't found any kind of solid role player in quite some time. We can have 2 great players but if they're surrounded by complete garbage then there's no chance at a championship. We can play the blame game all we want (hell we've done for the better part of 4 years) but if we don't get a roster that is solid from at least 1-10 this team will be stuck in mediocrity for awhile.
