Yao Info

Hmmm..interesting.

Why only 10.5 ppg in the Olympic Games? I didn't watch them much, I guess.

 

Holden, thanks a lot. I saw this a long time ago, but didn't read more than an article or two. I forgot they had such great coverage. Just what I needed this morning as my Chronicle hasn't arrived yet.

At the time, didn't think it had much to do with the Rockets!


Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming Draft Ming

 

Chronicle is one of the articles. Interesting to have Dawson before he thought they had much of a chance.

Chinese giant leaves favorable impression
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson raved Wednesday after his first in-person evaluation of 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming.

And though he was not ready to proclaim Yao the certain first pick of next month's NBA draft, Dawson did take a step toward learning Chinese:

That would be Yao as in "wow."

"Very impressive," Dawson said in a telephone interview from Chicago, where Yao worked out Wednesday for 65 representatives of NBA teams. "Tremendous size. Shot the ball and ran well. He dribbled with both hands very well. He's very solid from 17, 18 feet. He makes a lot of shots. I've seen a lot of tape, but seeing him in person was a bit different."

The Rockets have a 9.8 percent chance of getting the first pick of the draft via the lottery May 19 in Secaucus, N.J. But Dawson had more work to do before he could determine whom the Rockets would select with the first pick if they get it.

"I want to see everybody else in that area," Dawson said. "I think you'd have to think about him (Yao) if you got the first pick. You've got to think about him in the top three for sure."

There are questions about Yao's ability to adjust to a much more physical style of basketball in the NBA. When he faced teams from the United States and France in the Sydney Olympics, Yao was in early foul trouble. He had trouble Wednesday inside against 7-2 Chris Christofferson, the ex-Oregon center.

"How many low-post players are there in the NBA? There are not that many," Grizzlies president Jerry West said when asked if Yao will be physical enough against NBA centers. "I think the biggest adjustment for him will be the level of competition."

West would not say if he considered Yao worth the first pick of the draft, but he did not see much risk in choosing him.

"A team like Chicago has two terrific young big guys (Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler), so maybe they are looking a different direction," West said. "A guy like him will be a nice NBA player, but it is going to take him some time to get where you want him.

"I don't think it is a roll of the dice. He will be a player in the NBA. His size alone is unique; his shooting skill is unique. I think the things he can do as a big player, the coaches will like that. Everyone is looking for a center, so I think that will make him even more valuable."

Yao has agreed to provide additional workouts for the New York Knicks and Bulls.

Dawson said he might like to have Yao in for a workout in Houston, likely depending on the lottery, but that nothing has been arranged. Rockets scouts and coaches have seen Yao in China and in international competitions.

But Wednesday, Yao did enough under pressure to remain the tallest player on the short list to be chosen first.

"I'd agonize over it a lot, but I would depend on other people," said P.J. Carlesimo, the former NBA coach who served as the workout moderator. "Would he be in the hunt? Absolutely. I think he has to be. He's someone you need to think about. You don't get people with his kind of skills at that size at his age, so I think you have to think about it very much."

 

I'm not sure bout him!I can't say why!But the picture from nbadraft.net on the right is unblieveable!!!!