Yao Ming: Carroll Dawson Knows Me Better As A Coach

... Far better??? Duncan is great defensively, but Yao does his share in altering shots. Why do you think JVG made Yao bang with Boozer when he could have strolled next to Okur?

And if you actually watched the last minute of Game Seven, you would know that those rebounds were long rebounds. Yao boxed Boozer out for the most part, but the ball just bounced high off the rim and toward the sidelines, where Boozer made the catch. I doubt if even Duncan can get those rebounds. The only way would be to push Boozer back, but that would have most likely resulted in a foul. If you watched the show Pros vs. Joes, there's an episode where some Joes went against Kevin Willis for freethrow rebounds, and Kevin didn't get every one, because some of them bounced out of his reach.

doublehh03- your seem to take pride in making great efforts toward discrediting Tmac and Yao. Why don't you stop trolling around here and become a Spurs fan or Lakers fan instead? I mean this is the first time you mentioned "defense" as an argument in this thread. You completely contradicted yourself, arguing that Yao was inept at offense and how Duncan can shoot face up jumpers and can drive. And now you say Yao and Duncan are equal offensively... Give me a break. You're just pulling out random crap and using it to diss our stars. Also, is there any particular reason why after 2000+ posts you're still a rookie? I sure would hate to waste so much time in a forum only to end up in a point where even the presence of my name is an embarassment...

 

lets not argue about who is better between duncan and yao...lets just hope yao accomplishes half of what duncan has.

 

it is amazing someone actually believe Yao > Duncan, Yao> Ewing.

 

i have discredited tmac and yao??? just b/c ur a fan of a player or team does not mean u can't constructively criticize them?

if anything, i'm a tmac fan. but i know his faults and hopefully he'll improve.

all i know is yao still has ways to go before he's truly dominant. but he's on the right path. he has improved every yr and i expect next yr him to take another step towards that superstar level.

i find it odd that some ppl on here cannot enjoy other players or other teams. don't mean to root for them, but if the rockets aren't playing, i'll watch players/teams if they're fun to watch.

didn't u watch MJ? magic? bird? wilkins? kobe? bron? AI?

again, offensively duncan and yao are similar in terms of production STATISTICALLY. but duncan i still believe has a more well-rounded offensive game b/c he can go to the mid-range, he can drive past his man, he can post up, or he can simply shoot the J. yao is basically avg outside of 8-10 ft (as JVG claims and we have seen). so in that sense, i do think duncan is better than yao offensively. but ultimately, it's not that "huge" of a difference as compared to the defense.

the reason JVG put yao on boozer is b/c yao is slow as hell. he would be in foul trouble if he guarded okur way out in the 3pt line. plus, we need his size to get rebounds since we can't have hayes patrol the paint. he put yao on boozer not b/c JVG wanted to, but b/c he has to. yao can't guard anyone else. JVG even said this.

 

I think its just pryuen logging in on his many accounts just to make that accusation. I mean there can't be that many stupid people on this board and that includes Yao fan also.

 

Actually, I thought people were arguing that, based on the way Yao and Duncan played against Okur, Yao = Duncan.

A few guys are also saying that Yao could have taken Ewing one on one and beaten him. So yes, Yao > Ewing.

Now, for many people on this board, the current mental picture they have of Yao is the post injury Yao, who was struggling with decreased speed and agility issues. I wonder how many of you really remember the pre injury Yao.

Pre injury Yao was an MVP candidate. Oh yeah, he won Player of the Month too, BTW.

Don't forget that.

 

as far as public perception goes, yes Duncan is far better than Yao defensively. How many defensive first team has Yao got into? Actually make tat 3rd team! None and I don't expect him to make it the rest of his career. how many has duncan got? Outside of Yao fans where has Yao's defence been recognized? You can think of Yao as a great defensive player all you want, but at this rate, he's going down the history as an average defensive player at best, if not a liability where he definitely was during the Utah series.

 

I agree with you on this. If Yao could get 2 rings that would be awesome!

 

The trend with Yao seems to be to publicly praise who ever his current coach is, which PR wise makes alot of sense. I doubt any interview from Yao will ever truely bash any coach past or present, which makes any comments about his current coaching being the "best he has ever had" par for what he says about every coach he currently has.

The funny thing is that people don't seem to think that both JVG and CD could be good coaches for Yao. Personally I think Yao took huge steps under JVG, but I certainly don't think JVG is the only coach that can help Yao develope. I expect that CD will help Yao improve, but that likewise doesn't mean that JVG was holding Yao back. They both did their parts to make him better.

 

i cant let this die...cd is a joke as a coach who is trying to run a backdoor media play that he developed hakeem...hakeem averaged 20 a game as a rookie...

 

quit lying d'cd. Akeem was a nightmare until CD came along. He couldn't run, jump, dunk or block a shot. Hell he couldn't even tie his shoes.

CD is a mad genius. If he could turn Dream into an HOf'er, just imagine what he could do with Yao.

 

With Rocket Fan's like you who needs idiots.

 

See. I am not the only one who thinks that.

 

I don't know, Hakeem seems to have a different opinion than you dennis. And CD doesn't sound like he is a credit grabbing monger like you suggest.


Article on CD with quotes from Hakeem

Dawson ending up staying with the Rockets as an assistant coach for 16 seasons. During his coaching career, Dawson became renowned for his work with big men. He worked with pivots like Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. Above everything else, Dawson loved teaching the game.

Olajuwon has always credited Dawson with helping him develop his jump hook.

"From the beginning of my career to the end of my career, CD has always been my coach," Olajuwon said. "He always helped me on the technical aspects of my game. He contributed a lot to my career and I'm very happy to have worked with a coach like CD."

Dawson, unsurprisingly, scoffs at the notion that he had that big of an impact on Olajuwon's career.

"I've always given credit to the players because those are the guys that work hard," Dawson said. "Olajuwon always added something to his game over the summer. That's what all the great players do and that's what he did. He might be known for the jump hook, but he could do so many things. We didn't actually start winning with him big time until he learned to pass the ball. We'd talk before every summer about what he was going to work on and he'd come back in the fall with something added to his game. He worked."

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And Dennis Lindsey chimes in:

"Carroll has a relationship with 29 other general managers," Rockets vice president of basketball operations/player personnel Dennis Lindsey said. "He doesn't have subplots with other coaches in the league and he doesn't have subplots where he can't deal with agent x because he honors his word and he takes time building those relationships. We literally have the whole field to deal with in terms of potential trades or moves. I don't know if all the other teams can say that."

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And still more :

Since becoming the general manager, Dawson has always had a policy to return a phone call. He didn't care who was calling.

During the early stages of Dawson's time in the front office, he got a call from sports agent Jeff Fried. Fried had zero NBA clients, but the general manager returned the call anyway even though they didn't have much common business. Nothing, initially, came out of the call.

Then came the 1999 NBA Draft. During the draft, the then-Vancouver Grizzlies selected Francis with the No. 2 overall pick. Francis refused to play for the Grizzlies and immediately sought a trade.

His agent at the time? Fried. Dawson picked up the phone.

"Carroll calls Fried," Lindsey said. "Fried says, 'Glad you called. When I had no NBA prospects, you guys always returned my calls and helped me in the business. I want to reciprocate.' He said they'd do what they could on their end to make a deal happen."

The trade happened. Franics came to Houston and ended up playing five seasons with the Rockets.

All because Dawson returned a phone call.

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denniscd, I don't doubt for a minute that you hate and despise CD, but do you concede that your view point could be skewed by some X factor like a broken promise to you or to someone you are friends with????

DD

 

I don't understand why ppl compare apple to orange...

Ewing is great, Yao is great, there is no doubt about that, but you can't really compare Ewing to Yao because they played under different NBA rules and generation. Rules today favorite guards much more than centers, and compare to the past, older centers like Shaq/Ewing were allowed to do so much more...

 

dadakota...believe what you will...i know different from my experiences...and i never trust the media to portray people correctly...

 

I agree with this one. Take tmac for example

 

It's not just the media. It's Hakeem himself. It's Rudy. It's Lindsey. Are you saying that they all lied to sour up CD's reputation? You have to give a little more evidence than just keep harping on your assertions with no factual proof at all. Until then, whatever you say has no credibility.

 

IC2000, I trust you. And I agree that the media portrayals are not always correct. What is your take about denniscd's hatred about CD?