Even Olajuwon picked his spots with O'Neal and knew there were times you had to get the hell out of the way. Nobody has stood up to Shaq like that ever, as far as I know. I was really shocked, but if Yao continues to improve, I can't wait to see future matchups between these two. I was wondering, is the Rookie of the Year award determined by sportswriters, the NBA, or do fan's choose? If the league chooses, I think it is Yao Ming's award to lose for no other reason that he is the most marketable and intriguing rookie right now and the league never fails at trying to promote itself. I imagine it is voted on by sportswriters though, who would be less biased.
Yao has been on target....just FANTASTIC the last 2 games. I hope his game has come back to him. 20+pts the last two games, and double doubles. The guards found the way to use Yao last night, and themselves. It was soooo good last night.
For all the reasons mentioned in this thread, there is no contest that the ROY will be Yao Ming unless he fades away quickly. The NBA power ranking has been biased toward Stoudamire and Butler from Day One. The guy never looks at how much minites the rooky plays, how much he assists the team with his defence, how efficient the player is, how much intangibles he has on the team, how much influence he has on and off the court, how the rooky plays against big name players such as Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, etc. The list goes on and on. Yes, the first few minutes against Shaq was huge. If you don't believe it, just look at ESPN photo today on the games between the King and the Laker - how Shaq shot with his right hand and an elbow on Divac with his left hand. That is why tough against Shaq as the ref allows that. If you remember how Shaq elbowed Yao Ming's nose at the end of the game without a call. That hurt Yao Ming for a few games. (Ming admitted that it was sore after the game.)
i think it is based on the votes of lots of sportswriters from all over the country. people will also remember Yao has had no break/off-season from bball for over 2 years, had no training camp to aclimatise/learn plays, and that he has been "plonked" into a completely different world/culture from his last year as a player. while the jump from HS to the pros is huge, and amare has been better than a lot of people thought, he was never thought of a "bust" of a pick by the nations sports media & harrassed the way Yao was (until he prooved them all so very wrong). he knew what the nba game & culture was about before he stepped into it. He is a force in the single teamed low post, and makes his team look better... on sportscentre, but he doesn't make his teammates better. Yao has had to learn all this on the run, still dominates (except for his "wall" period - hope it's over) and makes his teammates better. when people vote, they will remember the slick passes and big games against big names. This is why he will be ROY.
Agreed. But my point is that a players SUCCESS and FAILURE can not rest upon themselves entirely. Granted, Yao missed layups but if you watched the games, you would agree that there were numerous times each game when he had wide opened layups but our guards opted to shoot jumpers. As to my earlier point about success of a player. I feel that a players strengths has to mesh well with his team mates and vis versa. Lets compare Amares cast vs Yao. Guards - Phoenix has a great passing guards. Marbury and Penny are amongst the top assist players for their respective positions. Francis and Mobley are great scorers but the rest I dont think I need to get into. Style of Play - Amare's playing his OPTIMAL style of play. Phx is a run and gun team (dunk on Fast breaks etc). Yaos OPTIMAL play is in a PASSING offense. Like Sac, Dallas or Utah. Houston is not a good passing team YET. Supporting Dirty Work Player - Although Amare gets alot of rebounds, he has a good supporting cast that helps with the dirty work (Tsakalis, Bo Outlaw etc.). Essentially, he has some one to BACK him up. Yao has Eddie Griffen who weighs about 220 and excels at shooting 3 pointers. Conclusion My point isnt to bash the Rox. But Yao not playing well in those few games is NOT completely his fault. If the Rox did any of the 3 things illustrated up there a bit better, Yao would have produced more. Simply said, at this current stage of Rox basketball, Yao is still trying to fit in with his team mates instead of his team mates fitting in with Yaos style of play. Until Rox realizes that the key to winning is with an inside out game, Yao nor the Rox will EVER realize their full potential.
I agree with you on all of that. One thing that I would like to add to is Yao has been a huge inside presence for Rockets defensively; he altered/changed so many shots by opposing teams. I don't think Amare did that for the Suns.
LOL, you don't think amare's .9 blocks a game is a testiment to his great defensive 'prowness'? Seriously, Amare's defense is as bad as his one offensive move(drive to the right and dunk it) is good. And that's pretty bad. I couldn't imagine anyone thinking Amare makes a bigger difference in a game than Yao. Of course all the Suns fans think Amare will improve his D and eventually be a better player than Yao...like Yao won't improve his game at all.
Yep. Many people rightly highlighted Yao's play against Shaq in the first quarter. But if you looked at Kobe's performance in that game, you'd notice Yao's presence inside was a huge factor. (How many times did Kobe dribble into the lane and shoot, like he likes to do normally? I don't remember even once. I do remember at least a couple of times when Kobe dribbled into the lane and saw Yao there, he either dribbled back out of passed.) His defense, in effect, diminished the performances of the Lakers' two big guns.
To add to what harumph posted: I hate to play devil's advocate here (well, someone has to ), but if the sportswriters are truly the ones who vote on ROY, wouldn't it chap their hides to have to vote for a rookie whom most predicted would be a flat-out bust? In most cases, a ROY vote for Ming would be an acknowledgement that they were dead wrong about Yao. Now, I'm not implying that certain sportswriters will not vote for Yao due to ego or pride, but, as I see it, it's not necessarily the open and shut case everyone here makes it out to be. And yes, that would be truly a shame, because Yao is indeed worthy and deserving of the award.
It is Yao's to lose. It is Amare's to lose if Yao really falls off (Yao's performance falls and the Rockets don't make the playoffs). It is Caron's to lose only if both Yao and Amare free fall. Basically, you can almost count on Caron not getting it (his team is last and the other two guys have similar numbers and may reach the playoffs), and Yao would really have to fall off for Amare to really have a decent shot at it.
Wow, Amare is averaging more/has more total turnovers?! Wow. I would have assumed Yao had more turnovers by a landslide seeing as they go to him on set plays more, passes more and tries riskier passes. Says a lot about Yao's decision making. STuart
