Yao Ming: Carroll Dawson Knows Me Better As A Coach

They are not. They have been buddies since childhood, though, when they met each other falling off the ugly tree.

Mentor: Yes. Ewing can do that. Coach.. not so much. I just don't think he has the motivation to put in the kind of hours guys like JVG and Thibs put in for this job.

 

Just an observation, but, this started as a nice post telling us Yao is getting some good instruction and working hard for next year. Good news to all of us Rocket fans. Like most posts, It has fell into a battle of the JVG lovers and the JVG Haters with the occasional interjection from somebody who really must have got F'd over by CD in a prior life. Am I the only one who gets tired of all the JVG rhetoric. The man is gone and he is never coming back. Can we all move forward. Is there a place where Haters and Lovers can go fight and post and stay out of all the other posts unless posting on the subject? Maybe we can make one where anyone who wants to argue with Denniscd can go and battle whether CD is the Anti-christ or not. Like I said, just an observation but it is getting a little bit old.

 

I still think someone should start an "Official thread on the JVG aftermath" and let the JVG lovers and haters slug it out there. Please spare a good basketball discussion here. JVG is gone. Let it go.

 

late to the discussion...

i always wondered what hakeem hoped to teach yao considering the only similarity between the two is that they both play center.

yao's game will never resemble hakeem's. hakeem's game was based upon the rare combination of strength, size, speed, and agility. and we saw that as his athletic ability faded, so did his overall performance.

yao must learn a "position" game for both ends of the court. he could learn a post move here or there from dream, but that's about it. yao will never have speed on his side. speed is what allowed hakeem to blow by his defenders. that and his tremendous leaping ability.

what i hope yao learns, whether from hakeem or sikma or dawson or whoever! is how to manuever himself to be in the right "position" at the right time. this should lower his turnovers and fouls. that should keep him on the court for more minutes...

 

Excuse me, but you called Ewing top 10. What did he win?

Yes, it is about winning. That's why I said if Yao wins 1 or more championship, and maintains his current progress, he is a HOF player.

So, if Yao wins a championship, is he better than Ewing to you? Yes or no.

 

LOL, until Yao figures out how to dominate Memo Okur, he's going nowhere.

 

LOL all you want but JVG agrees with me. He himself said that Yao is on his way to the HOF, and I think he's right.

 

Dawson is a TERRIBLE coach. Trust me. Yao is wasting his time with him.

And you can attack me if you want but I know first hand.

Sit there and wonder how I know. I could care less.

 

post of the year? i think so boys.

 

Why would anyone want to attack you. Personally I won't... you remind me so much of my brother. Yeah he was r****ded too! You know that terrific and terrible start off the same and have the same number of letters and the only difference is the fic n ble. I would say your post are fic-n-bul.

 

perfect post. i don't know why yao is getting all these tutoring? is he still a rookie or what?

what yao needs is to improve his upper body strength and learn to how get the "post" position where he's unstoppable (8ft in). it's that simple. w/ adelman, he can mix in the occasional mid-range jumper. but he's at his best when he's in his comfort zone, take one dribble and shoot.

when yao does more than he should be, he's not that good as we saw v. the jazz.

all this tutoring is pointless if all he does is take stuff from different ppl and expand his arsenal while not perfecting his main skills.

 

top 10 center, not player bro.

he's widely regarded around the NBA as one of the top 10 centers of all time. and no, a championship doesn't make u better. ask bill walton.

if yao can have 25/10 seasons for 7-8 more yrs, then yes. ewing did his work for 10+ yrs at a high level. yao has only done it for 1.5 seasons.

 

Let's wait and see Yao's performance in new season!!

 

Did you see Ewing play? The man was a go to guy in the clutch, when the game was on the line, they went to him. Yao's stats are close, but his presence is not nearly close to that of Ewing. That is what separates good players from great players. Yao has shown that he can, but right now he cannot sustain that type of presence. Its difficult to see at this rate yao having the impact that guys like dream, drob, patrick, and shaq had in thier careers.

 

Im glad though that CD is tutoring yao. He has experience and is a good teacher. At this point in yao career he is pretty much set on his moves and skill level (he can add stuff every summer ) but his timing and knowledge of what to expect can be improved, and it seems like CD can help with that

 

Actually, the same can be said about LeBron. LeBron has proven that he cannot lead a team after that fiasco at the Finals.

But seriously, what makes you say that Yao cannot lead a team on his own?

1. Yao and the Rockets suffered a couple of losses after T-Mac's back went out while playing against Washington. That shows he was unable to lead a team on his own.

a. None of the role players stepped up. Rafer did not step up. Juwan did not step up. No one stepped up.

b. Yao was putting up MVP numbers in those games. he practically held the Rockets' ground in LA until the 2nd overtime. Even Kobe Bryant took his hat off to him. The role players on the other hand, were putting up scrub numbers.

c. The role players were in the 'we've been here before last season' mode. There was completely no urgency from them.

2. T-Mac led the team during Yao's absence and won 20 games out of 32 (or something like that). T-Mac can lead the team without Yao but not vice versa.

a. All the role players stepped up. Dikembe, Juwan, Rafer and Luther put up huge numbers. They stepped up big time.

b. The reason why they stepped up big time was because they had a chip on their shoulder. They had something to prove. Everyone had written the team off after Yao went out. No one wrote them off when T-Mac went out.

c. The times the role players stepped up, they beat good teams. The times they couldn't give a damn, they lost to bad teams.

3. Yao has not beaten good teams without T-Mac / on his own.

a. Yao and the team beat the Cavaliers when T-Mac was out after the 1st (or 2nd) quarter. He was the go to guy.

b. Yao led the team in the win against Washington in the 4th quarter. He had no T-Mac. Washington had their big 3 on the floor (with none of their centers though).

c. When the role players actually do step up for once, Yao proved that he could lead the team to a victory against the Spurs on their home court.

d. Don't forget the 'You can't @#$%^&* stop me' game.

My humble conclusion is this. The role players surrounding your franchise player need to play like they give a damn. You can take Michael Jordan, put him together with 4 scrubs and a bench full of other scrubs, and he won't be winning anything either. Best example here is Kevin Garnett. No one is questioning his leadership eventhough his team isn't winning.

Seriously, all these talk about Yao not being able to lead a team is utterly flawed.

 

You know first hand.....HMMMMMM
You should post more often - do not be a stranger.....

 

Russell will never ever drop down to #6 let alone #5. the common denominator for all 11 championships is an argument that can never be beaten.

heck, Kareem will also never drop down to #5. as much as Hakeem is revered, you're talking about 6 titles and 6 mvps, and the most points scored of all time.

Yao chances of breaking the top 5 are pretty slim, even more so if Duncan becomes classified as a center.

 

Wilt
Russel
Shaq
Hakeem
Kareem

Moses Malone
David Robinson
Alonzo Morning
YAO
Mikan
Artis Gilmore
Robert Parrish
Bill Walton [PreInjury]
Ralph Sampson [preInjury]
Bill Laimbeer

Stanley Roberson *snicker*

Really Ewing is at best a second Teir Center

and this is off the top of my head
Robinson, ZO, Yao, Gilmore and Sampson I would DEFINATELY take before Ewing.
Walton in his prime too.

Rocket River

 

I will always remember Ewing Missing a Layup that could have taken them to the Finals.

Rocket River