Yao Ming's 2005 Review and 2006 Wishes

"The Rockets at Steve Francis era already made the playoff regularly."

I looked up the word 'regularly' in the dictionary. It does not compute. Any idea on sources of error?

 

I think the use of "Steve Francis" and "Playoffs" in the same sentence has happened only once.

 

You translate this article? It is very nice to have someone who tranlates Chinese into English.

 

"I cannot just take this US$ 70M contract but perform like someone with a US$ 7M contract. Therefore I have to give my best to show my worth."

I guess all GMs in NBA wish every players think the same....

 

Although a factual statement consistent with Yao's humility, this line in my humble opinion also speaks to Yao's lack of confidence as "the point man." He clearly doesn't like to be in the limelight and he clearly doesn't like the bearing the pressure. At some point, he just has to get over it and say: "you know what? I deserve the max, no less than Steve Francis back in the day. Now let's go play some winning ball."

theSAGE

 

Some people bash Chinese unnecessarily too much here. Thanks for the translation.

 

I don't see it that way. He just pointed out a mere fact, that the bigger the contract is, the higher the pressure is. where is the lacking of confidence? In fact, when he said it was something he expected all along, indicated how confident he's about the contract, hence confident about the pressure he's going to face. He also said along the line, that he proved that him alone can't save the team; now is time for TMac to prove that - TMac alone can't save the team, without his help. There is plenty of confidence in his own influence of this team. Don't you think so?

 

I guess my beef with Yao is this... and bear in mind I am not a Yao-hater by any means...

When T-Mac went down, that was the time for Yao to REALLY and I mean REALLY step it up a notch. To make up for someone like T-Mac, you can't simply play your "old" game and expect good things to happen. Whlie this applies to all players, I DO think that "Max" players have to understand that they are being paid as much as they are b/c they are expected to step it up BIG TIME... especially when the team is hurting. But how much exactly did Yao's stats improve in the five games that T-Mac was absent?

Not appreciably much from what I see.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3599/gamelog;_ylt=AvD1QcIQ7TauhkGx7wmZN26kvLYF

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After T-Mac's return Yao started playing better, and I realize that clearly this team is better off with both T-Mac and Yao on the court than only one of them. But IMHO, a Max Player = a Franchise Player, and a Franchise Player is expected to be able to carry your franchise. In our case, we have two so-called Max Players. But when I think about it, and for all the debate about Yao being a premier vs. merely a good center, do we really have TWO franchise players? Or is it more ONE and a good center who coincidentally gets paid the Max?

Bottom line is from an attitude standpoint, and perhaps something is lost in translation here, I would like to see Yao for once say: "this is MY team and I take full responsibility for the losses and for not playing my best." Yao's play, IMHO, is inconsistent at best. And that's what's most frustrating about it all. Some may blame our lack of good guards but I don't buy that argument. The day Yao goes out and dominates the game night after the night is the day that he truly exemplifies a confidence that goes beyond mere words.

All IMHO of course.

theSAGE

 

Same reason T-Mac's stats are down now that Yao is absent--this team can't shoot and an opposing team can now focus 2-3 defenders on either of them.

 

I think the last several games have proven that basketball is, in fact, a team game. All the stuff about "MY team" is just egocentric drivel - IMHO. TMac hasn't exactly been able to "carry the franchise" either. If he's not a max player, then there isn't one currently in the NBA.

 

Exactly, it's a team game. Max players as very important pieces of the teams, they need to step up as leaders, but not to claim that's XX's team. It's not! It's just the owner's team. You making 2 million or 20 million, you are just an employee. As simple as that. None of the CEOs of Fortune 500 claims that it's his/her company, although he/she shoulders the biggest responsibility within that company. None of the star player in a soccer team or hockey team claims that it's his team. What makes NBA so special? Why are people so obsessed with the catch phrase, this is A's or B's team? What is the point? I guess big talks wet fans' pants. I still want to laugh when I recall that James said he would provide leadership on and off court before he played one single pro game.

 

In theory I agree with you egal. But in practice, I sincerely DO believe that a single "franchise" player can and should be able to carry a team to at least a .500 like season. Maybe my standards are too high. But IMHO, if you are a true franchise player, who deserves the big bucks, you must be an incredible talent -- at least enough to singlehandedly help your club win games at least 50% of the time.

Otherwise, how can you justify the big bucks when the big bucks assume that you are a franchise player?

IMHO, this isn't about bravado or selfishness, it's about leadership IMHO -- leadership as seen on the court and as reflected in contract salary. At what point is all this talk about "team" just a poor excuse of: "in reality folks, I can't carry a team b/c I'm not a real franchise player?" Surely after reading all the post-game quotes and Feigen one-liners, one gets to a point where it's simply "put up or shut up" and to date, I'm not convinced that Yao has played consistently at a level that is demanded of a leader.



theSAGE

 

Our role player are really not that good, which is one of reasons why rox struggles so much when one of our two stars is absent.

One stereotype is leadership is equal to some words like "this is my team". It is right against what yao is taught. Even in China national team, no doubt he is the leader and he exerts his leadership, Yao never issues such a statement. So don't overread what he said. I don't want to argue if yao has leadership personality, but I am pretty sure he won't say this is my team BS in the future.

 

thread rating:

thanks pryuen.

sagehare rating:

no thanks wascawee wabbit.

 

I think you're placing too much importance on these max-contract players. By your definition - there's probably no max-contract guys in the league (including TMac). Since Yao's been gone, the Rox have plain sucked. TMac (whose credentials here should be unquestioned) has not been able to lead the team to a .500 record. Would you consider TMac to be a non "franchise" player? He'd be the best player on all but a small handful of teams.

Maybe if Yao screams and pounds his chest after dunks - he'd be more highly regarded.

 

according to some of u knuckle heads, i guess kobe, ai, vc, jk, kg etc arent max players....

 

"Rockets2K, MOOMOO, and Me Watching a Rockets Game"

 

I agree with you.

As YAO' team said: ROX try to build around YAO. So at least he is part of franchise players in this team.

He needs learn and show his leadership