I say none of them are streetballers, as I don't believe that exists in the NBA (you missed my structure and design statements). I say that they are all similar players in that they can create there own shot, get to the rim and finish, and can pull for the jump shot. All three require the ball to be effective, in that they aren't as good shooting off screens or just catching and shooting. The difference between Kobe and the other two is the obvious size advantage and the fact that Kobe's jumpshot is more reliable (at least this season). In any regard we will have to agree to disagree on whether or not Yao and Steve can co-exist, but you did indeed put your money where your mouth is and I can definitely respect that...
I agree whole heartedly. People like Chucky and other basketball commentators ALWAYS say, why don't they give it to Shaq more often down low? Why are the lakers so dumb not to feed him? Sometimes people here also wonder why don't we dump it down low more often so Yao could do his moves on Shaq. It's the same reason...because it's not very effective this series. Shaq does a great job defending Yao. Probably the only person who can hold Yao down by playing legitamate defense in this league. There seems to be no credit for Yao disabling out Shaq defensively though. It's because of Shaq's knee/fatigue...it's because of the doubleteams...it's because Kobe and Malone shooting and forgetting about shaq...it's because he's reserving his energy for the spurs. Not once did I hear Shaq is being bothered by Yao's combination of strength and size. They pretty much disabled each other out this series with a slight edge to Shaq.
Note that he has not reached his potential yet. He's already on Brad Daugherty/Rick Smits level IMO. He probably will be near or around the Robinsons and Ewings level at his prime if he continues to work hard at this pace, but he certainly have the potential to come close to Hakeem/Shaq/Moses/Jabar <b>IF HE REACHES HIS FULL POTENTIAL</b>. (I've got to all cap & bold that or else I'd drown here). He's shown glimpse of his aggressiveness this year which gives me hope. Give him some more time to adapt to this culture and maybe he can pick up more agression.
year after year, shaq dominates everyone, and the only thing that can stop him is health and double/triple teams... oh yeah, and his own team. but lets not be mistaken, yao had nothing to do with his performance here. shaq is not healthy, lets just be clear on that. and for the last 2 yrs, yao has proven that he is soft, lacks agression, and is not tough enough to truly dominate. the games he does well in are the ones when he is single teamed by another player not as physically gifted as him. smaller, tougher players REGULARLY lock him down. i am not saying he is rick smits, or that we should trade him, i am just sayin that he is NOT our franchise player and will probably be a very good, not great, nba center.
SamCassell nailed it, I believe. I've never seen a player "develop" the intense desire to be one of the elite players, but I'll keep hoping. I have to say: what really shocked me about the posted Smits statistics is that he averaged about as many points and just as many blocked shots in substantially fewer minutes than Yao gets (Smits averaged about 25 min/game his first few seasons and only 26 min/game for his career). That's disappointing.
1. I am very disappointed with Yao's performance at the end of the regular season and in the playoffs. He lost his shooting touch. He lost his aggressiveness as in Febuary. Something's wrong with him. I think it's mostly mental. I don't believe stamina is the major problem, although it could be a factor. He seems to have lost his confidence. Maybe Malone did get into his head. But whoever says he's worse than Smit needs to check the facts. 2. Yao's problem is not heart. People confuse toughness with heart. Heart is the desire to win. Heart drives a player to try hard for victory. I don't think Yao lacks that. I agree that "heart" cannot be learn. But that's not his problem. His problem is toughness, physically and mentally. That hopefully can be corrected by training and experience. That said, his personality can't be changed. He is gentle. He defers to his teammates. I remember one time, both he and JJ were after a rebound with nobody near them. When he saw that it's JJ, he quickly withdrew his hands from the ball and let JJ take the rebound. I never see any other big man do that. 3. Yao is not at the level we want him. He is not a franchise player at this point. He can't carry the team. Does that mean we should give up on him? Absolutely not. If Yao is not our future franchise player, we have no future. I don't know if he will ever become that. But we have no choice but bank on him. Why? because we know that Francis is not Franchise either--even if he finally becomes what JVG wants him to be. If we want to just make the playoffs every year, then maybe an improved Francis is enough. But if we want a championship, he's not the answer. Francis is a second star material on a championship team. (I'm not addressing the issue of whether he and Yao fit together.) If he is our leading star, then we are not a championship team. The only hope we have is Yao becoming our leading star. It's Yao or never (can't resist the pun ), unless we can get a championship caliber leading star such as Duncan, KG, Kobe, or maybe T-Mac.
All I'm gonna say is, I just love it when Shaq rejects Yao and the ball goes straight up. I mean hey, I thought it was physically impossible (from my observations they either go down or backwards) but I guess Shaq is the MDE so the laws of physics doesn't apply. Or how about when he pushes off Yao on a fade and gets all arm and gets credited a block. Sad thing TNT is so stupid that they've never heard of the term "replay," or we wouldn't be having Fakers fans bragging. PS. Yao played like crap the whole series.
I had expected this thread from 3 quarter of last night. The only surprise is it is not started by juggie. Well, it is a terrible game 5, a horrible performance by Yao. But I do think Yao plays ok to well in the first four games. He hasn't showed he can single-handedly carry this team, but he contained shaq pretty good, his offense ranges from acceptable to effective. I don't want to give any excuses to Yao, but I do believe he will return and keep improving. There is no way rox will trade him under the rookie contracts. So you guys want a yao trade have to wait another two years in pain. -Littlefish
what is going on? New users and fans from other clubs (such as Nene) came to our forum to bash us after the season is over, and they got responses from some of our seasoned users (mostly bandwageners who jump on and off several times a year).
if u were responding to me i think u didnt interpert my post right. What i meant is that shaq is the most dominat center in the leauge, so dont expect to much from yao. That why i had the wait a minute.....
I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I've been on the Rockets wagon since before we got Moses Malone, and I've never jumped off. But Yao does frustrate me. It's like he has a flimsy, clumsy testosterone-deficient twin brother who sometimes shows up. Argh.
Yeah I expected it though. Lakers were hacking like crazy in the third and getting away with it. The rockets on the other hand gets called for so many cheap touch fouls its amazing. I just stopped watching after that because I just knew they will screw us sooner or later. The refs did a great job in the series with an exception of the third quarter of last night and Game 4 overtime. We made a lot of bad mistakes but it has something to do with them letting the lakers play and calling everything on us.
You have extreamly short memory. Yao started gurding Shaq last night, and only switched to guard Marlone after he picked up a foul around 6 minutes in the first quarter. I think your bias against Yao affects your memory. I am not saying all you ever said was wrong, but at times you do lose objectivity because of your bias.
Check the statistics of Hakeem, Robinson, Abdul-Jabbar, Ewing, Malone, etc. - they all hit the ground running. 20 points, 10 rebounds, etc. Yao is great, but he didn't have a similar start. There's no precedent for him "growing into" that tier of guys. Yao Ming was 22 during his rookie season, 23 during his 2nd year. He put up 13.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 1.7 apg his first year. Those numbers increased to 17.3, 8.9, 1.9, 1.5 this season. Daugherty was 21 his rookie season, 22 his sophmore campaign. He put up 15.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 3.8 assists his first season. 18.7, 8.4, 0.7, 4.2 his second year. Daugherty grew into a 22 point / 10 rebound / 4 assist player. Yao's not at that level, not close, but I think he can get there someday. That Cavalier team actually is one that Yao would have thrived in - 4 guys scoring 15+ a game, including an underrated Mark Price running the show and the physical toughness inside of Larry Nance.
Daugherty and the Cavs fought my Bulls very hard over our first run of championships, let me tell you that guy has much more athletism than Yao will ever has. He rans the floor like a SF, had a variety of offensive moves around the basket. The only thing Yao is better than Daugherty is outside shooting at this stage of his career. Daugherty's stats are not really reflect how good he was because that team had some very good scoring and rebounding power in L. Nance, M. Price. That shows from his assists number per game. To bad, the injury ended his career prematurely. BTW, Daugherty had the same "SOFT" reputation as Yao has now.
We (Cato/Yao) did not neutralize Shaq while doubling him all the time (thus leave Malone open). Shaq averaged only 16 ppg this series because he was taking LESS shots. In fact, His FG% is still 52% and he averaged 11.2 rpg, 3 bpg. On the other hand, Yao's stats are 15 ppg, 45% FG, 7 rpg, 1 bpg. Then, look at Francis: 19 ppg, 43% FG (40% 3-pint), 8.4 rpg, 7.6 apg. I know Kobe is MVP of the series but he is shooting 38% with less rebounds and assists. I would trade Yao before I trade Francis, which means I will keep them both.
