don't matter, the team will always build around him no matter where Yao is traded at this point, but again if the BS refs can be fair w/ him, Yao is greater than ANY player in this league you can name.
What is getting lost in all of this silly thread chatter is that Alston in playing incredibly well right now. If he can keep this type of play up, running the floor, starting the break, getting both tons of points and assists, there is not any reason for us to look for another starting point guard. Granted, with Yao we are a slower team, but there is no reason we can't run the floor with four guys. If Yao gets a little better defensively, we can be this type of team. Blocked shots, steals, and rebounds are what really initiate fast breaks. Yao isn't ever going to be the one finishing them, but he can be the one starting them like Chuck Hayes was doing last night (remember the touchdown pass to Luther Head leading to a wide open three for McGrady?). Trading away centers averaging 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game is probably considered a good trade only by the Knicks. Yao needs to challenge a bit more against penetration by guards, and we'll be a lot better as a team. That's the difference with our current centers, especially Mutumbo, Landry, and Hayes - they usually don't let guards get inside to slice and dice. Granted, Paul is very good and was able to do that, but at the end of the day, late in a game, T-Mac can get any shot he wants or create shots for other players JUST LIKE PAUL, IF NOT BETTER. If we already have one player that can do that, two would be superfluous. Yao has a completely different skill set that is incredibly valuable. Late game post points are crucial in close games. Whatever we do, we cannot trade Yao for Paul.
I wanna talk about the differences between the Rockets with and without Yao. With Yao we have an interior presence we can go to. However, an offense that relies on Yao every time down the court will reach a ceiling. Our offensive ceiling was noticeably reached last year. We simply rode Yao, but riding Yao wasn't good enough. Without Yao, instead of relying on one player, we now have 4-5 guys that can step up any given night. The lane is never clogged, and most importantly, there are significantly LESS terrible turnovers from the inability of Yao to catch a pass or from a bad post entry pass. The reason we are winning so soundly is because we're now incredibly more efficient offensely. With Yao, there were at least 2-3 times a game where Yao would get picked off and the opposing team would get an easy two points. In basketball, momentum is everything, and those types of turnovers are serious momentum killers. I havn't even talked about us defensively, but did you know when Deke is in, the opposing team's FG% is around 30 something percent? I'm bringing this up because its becoming apparent how better offensively and most obviously defensively we are without Yao. If we actually advance past the first round, i expect there will be a lot of "Trade Yao" chatter.
How do you explain the Rockets winning 13 straight before Yao went down? Because the Rockets double-digit winning streak started several games before Yao went down. Our defense was also as efficient.
Why not post a same voting thread in New Orleans fans forum. I wonder who will be their choice, Cris Paul or Yao ming
Would you trade yao for kobe? would you trade yao for Lebron, for D. williams, for KG, for ........ Lock it.
yes, look at NJ, when they have Deke they go to the final, after Deke left, they had kidd, carter, jafferson, kmart but still a mid-level team.
let me say this again - this with/without analysis is very piece meal and overblown. with mcgrady, we're 1st round and done - same without him (jvg's 1st year), so what's the point of spending extra $20mils? with amare, the suns made it to the wfc; w/o him, the same wfc. so why not get rid of amare if you're suns gm? i can go on and on. but you get my point. yes, i think everyone is well aware of the fact that our team's records w/o mcgrady are far worse than w/him. but if you take that as a YAO'S WIN-LOSS RECORD - that just says how much you know about bball and how personal you've gotten b/w yao and mcgrady. (and why did you bring yi to the discussion? are you a chinese fan? yi imo is nothing special.)
I don't know if you noticed, but the Rockets are having a much more difficult time getting inside without Yao constantly commanding double teams in the paint, leaving Scola and/or Landry openings. As a result of that, the opponents are having 1 extra defender on the wing for the Rockets shooters. Right now it may appear that Yao's absence hasn't been a problem for the Rockets, that's because their outside jumpers are falling. However, when we play good defensive teams like San Antonio or Detroit, there WILL be stretches when those jumpers become ice cold, and that's when Yao's low post scoring will be missed the dearest. There are many great guards in this league, but Yao is just one-of-a-kind special, so no.
For all those of you said yes. Couple of simple facts, Undersized PG is always the Robin, maybe except for Zeke. Stockton, Nash, on and on, they cant win it all, and they need big people. In the last decade or so, we have seen 3 championship level centers, Shaq, Yao, Howard(maybe). We have seen 6 or 7 championship PG, Nash, Billups, Deron, CP3, Payton,Roy(maybe) ... Enough said.
