It is good to read a sensible post for once! I certainly think he can improve as well but I think that many of the expectations of him are way overinflated. I think that when Yao Ming's career is over, optimistically he will be an 18 ppg, 10 rpg, 0.75 bpg, 2 apg, 47%FGpct player, which is around what he is averaging in his recent games. This is what I mean when I say he has "peaked' in the sense that his production is about as good as its going to get (which is not bad at all by any means). Now the above stats over a career is very very good and if this is what Yao can provide for the Rockets over the next several years he is certainly worthy of being a number 1 pick especially in comparison with other number 1 picks and no one should be disappointed. People should have realistic expectations and at least consider the fact that Yao Ming may be about as good as he's ever going to get (and any NBA team would be more than satisfied with having an 18/10 center!)
Gotta love a newbie that seems to know it all. Good work polypheus, keep posting but don't do any of that thinking first now, ya hear!
0.75 blocks per game? are you for real? How can anyone even consider that a rookie has hit his peak? Especially a rookie that is not only new to the rules of the NBA, but the culture of the nation. He can go nowhere but up from here.
You are right. Yao has peaked. There is no need to watch anymore games this season. Thanks for informing me so I don't waste time watching.
That's a good one, A-Train. First time in my life have I heard someone say a basketball player peaks at age 22! If Ming does peak at 22, he must be more special than all of us have imaged.
You're entitled to you opinion, as do all of us are. But how can we even suggest the past week will be his career average? He's still getting used to the league and hasn't had the chance to build up his upper body and his conditioning. In time, he'll even learn more post moves (maybe dust out some Kevin McHale tapes) and continue to work on his dribbling going left or right. You have to keep in mind that stats tell half the story. He can probably average close to 30 points if he took 25-30 shots a game. But his great passing skills and along with having Franchise and Cat there, he probably won't jack up that many shots. I haven't checked, but you're prediction for his career avg seems like a career stat line similar to Rik Smits. I mean only .75 bpg and 2 apg???
Exactly. Well,I hope Chicago and Golden State know that their rookies ( Jay WIlliams and Mike Dunleavy) have peaked too.
You present a valid point that teams will start to adjust to his style of playing, but on the same token, it takes a few games to learn how to stop him. It took the Lackers 3 years to master their game ... and its taken the league 5 years to even start to learn how to overcome the Fakers. As for Ming, he's only played 20 games, and made all the naysayers eat crow. It was predicted it would take 2 years to get Ming up to speed in the NBA. He's done it in the fraction of the time. His learning curve is much greater than the rest of the NBA. Soooo your point is invalid ... IF teams find a way to over come Ming, Ming will find new ways to play the game much quicker than they can overcome.... of course, this is only coming off a 20 game span ... so no one really knows in the end. Ming plays for the game, not money. THis puts him light years ahead of most NBA players. He will turn out to be a great player, providing he stays healthy.
PLEASE STOP POSTING REPLIES TO THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!. I hope my post will be the last reply (probably not though). She --- polypheus is the idiot who compared Yao and Bradley JUST FOUR DAYS AGO!!!!. In my opinion, she is: 1. A loner trying to get attention by coming to Rockets fan BBS posting anti-Yao posts. 2. A ming hater who just can't get a life. 3. Just an idiot. I think number one is right. Please stop posting and piling up the reply numbers, or she'll get satisfaction out of this thing. JUST IGNORE HER!!!
Lord almighty. Let me count the ways.... First of all 5-14 is not bad, and certainly not abysmal. If he made just two more shots he would be at 50%. Second of all, one or two bad games is not a trend. Third, Yao didn't even play two bad games. He was incredible in the Kings game, despite the 5-14 shooting. Uh...why is that more likely? You need to give a little more support for your argument that that. So far, all you've given us is that he shot 5-14 in one game and defenses will start paying more attention to him. In other words, you've given us nothing to make us think he has peaked. again...why? You keep on saying that without giving anything to back it up, and then you judge other people's post as not being "sensible."
You're absolutely right, Polypheus... Yao Ming has peaked and we've all been deluding ourselves of his potential. The guy's a scrub and we should trade him the first minute we get. PSYCHE! It won't matter if teams double up defensively on Yao. Why? B/c the dude can pass and will make him pay. That's as much a compliment to our guards as it is to Yao. It's our wonderful guards who will make opposing teams play. Moreover, I think you overlook one "unfair" advantage that Yao has... HE'S 7 FOOT 5 Do you understand what that means as far as getting clean shots? The dude regularly has GREAT looks at the basket. And forget about the Sac game. Yao had the FLU! Normally, he would make 60% of those shots. Remember! A point does not a trend make. theSAGE
Why don't you just come right out and say exactly what you think and stop wacking behind the bushes!! Why are you so anxious to try and convince people what you think? To me you don't want Yao to succeed but keep on downplaying him and making excuses. Why don't you try reading your post once again. To me you make it sound like Yao isn't worth the number 1 pick yet and we have to wait and find out in a couple years if he worth the number 1 pick? To me you're not a very bright Troll trying to cause problem by making a fool out of yourself by preaching to people that Yao's already reach his peak and isn't going to get any better. To me what you really want to say but afraid to get more bashing is that Yao isn't gettting any better. So far this is back up by your earlier posts about your negativity about Yao an d your basketball IQ.
I love this guy. 20 games into the season and a rookie has already peaked. We could also apply his logic to MJ, Bird, Magic, Kareem, Dream, Shaq, Kobe,... "MJ may have already peaked", one guy claimed in the middle of MJ's rookie season. "I mean, he can't score 40 points against other teams when oppnent's defense start to focus on him, right?"
When is the last time do you see a players peak after 20 games? The theory that the league will figure him out and will find a way to stop him might be true only if Yao is just an average player. All the good and great one, they keep doing well no matter what the league try to do. If the league can stop a player when they figure him out, then Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Jordan, Bird, etc. would not have the kind of career that they have. Their stat should go down compare to their rookie year since the league had figure them out. But as we all know, this is not true at all. All the league can do to a great player is hopefully they can slow him down a little bit on certain day. They will never figure out a way to shut him down completely night in and night out. Just like with Hakeem, they know it's coming but couldn't do much to stop it. As far as Yao is already peak, I do not recall any players (bad, average or good) stop improving after 20 games. Even the bad one improve during the next few years compare to their first 20 games in the league. I think the only way that Yao will not improve or even getting worse would be due to an injury. Otherise, we can expect Yao to get better and better over the next few years.
However, as NBA defenses adjust his progress will slow down significantly. NBA defenses adjust to every player who plays well. What's your point? And his last game's stats reveal a disturbing trend, namly that Yao may start forcing bad shots Forcing bad shots? Can you just point out which one was a bad shot? in order to keep his ppg numbers up What in the world leads you to speculate that he was shooting in order to keep his ppg numbers up? You can read his mind or what? At least give us a reason which sounds convincing. It is true that Yao Ming may actually get better with time and experience. But it is far more likely that Yao Ming right now is as good as he'll ever be. Why? At least give us a reason which sounds convincing. However, one should not expect more now or in the future from Yao than what he has already provided. Why? At least give us a reason which sounds convincing. You did not explain anything which you have said in your post. As you can see, a lot of our fellow posters said you are a troll. They did explain why they said so. I think you can learn from them how to make a post.
