You people are psychotic. Yao's an excellent center. Almost certainly the 2nd best C in the league (unless you count Tim Duncan, which you probably should). He looked fantastic against the Knicks. He's looked great a # of times this year. Sometimes, he doesn't. But he's still very young... Does he live up the the original hype? Probably not so far. But compared to other recent big-men high picks... he's a ****ing terrific value. Kwame Brown, Curry, etc... aren't fit to clean Yao's shoes. Jeez...
Holy ****! Let's use a single game to conclusively prove your point! Does this mean that I should go look through box scores and find every game where the Rockets have been significantly up in the +/- statistics with Yao on the court? What about looking at box scores where the Rockets play better without Francis? How much do you want to bet that many such games exist? I'm not taking sides as to which player is more valuable right now. But that argument was ****ing terrible.
Very interesting. So, despite all the criticism, Francis and Yao are both quite useful (though Francis even more so). To be fair, though, part of Yao's problem is simply the amount of time he plays. That's going to skew his statistics vis a vis the other starters. On the other hand, it makes sense to hold his lack of stamina against him. Especially interesting that Cato is so statistically useless. I dont' really like him at the 4... but didn't expect him to be that poor.
It's true, Yao isn't ready yet. He is way too soft, slow, and has Cato's old hands (drops the ball, or has it bounce off him). He needs some more time. He will be a good Center, but I am not sure if he will be a "super star" in the center position. Time will tell. Anyways The whole team looked great last night in NewYork.
I see how you didn't want to mention Yao-Shaq II. Wasn't that the game where Steve Francis went off for 45points?
They have a number called Net48 that shows the average +/- net points over a full game. JJ 3.8 Steve is 3.1 Yao 2.9 Cat 1.9 Cato .2 ... Click on a player's name, you will be amazed at some of the statistics they keep.
These +/- does not reflect the real situation either because Yao and Francis (probably mainly Yao) do not play much against the bench and garbage time. For example, if you recall last night, our scoring was piling up mostly when the win was decided in the first quarter. Also, such stat does not take into consideration that Yao has to face double team and Francis against the pressure most of the time.
Trading YM doesn't make sense from any angle. The revenue and attention to the Rockets for games like last night are $$$$ alone. He ain't going anywhere.
Very good point. The reason I was skeptical about Griffin before was because of his %. Traditionally, players that blossom late normally have good %'s early in their career but Griffin lacked this. This is why I've had my eye on Stromile Swift for a while, and it's also why I think Yao will blossom at some point in his career, it won't be gradual/
right off of the top of my head, how about Brad Miller? He is having an unbalievable year. also, can you name just one other person in history that has come into the league with almost zero experience playing against the type of athletes the NBA has? I would not trade him for Lebron James
More to keep in mind: Language barrier, cultural difference, all-year basketball.......too many to list................. But seriously, as long as these kinds of excuses exist, Yao will not become a boy, not to mention a man or superstar. He is playing like a timid girl from 19th Century China.
Hate to burst anyone's bubble, but YAO isn't going to get any better in his third year. He will be just as fatigued (if not more so) because of the 2004 summer Olympics. The ROX rebuilding plan isn't exactly going to plan now is it?!
