Good reads, especially on the first page, you can't blame these guys for saying what they are really thinking though and at the least, they acknowledged they were wrong. What I don't get is why the Texans passed on Bush! Btw, he scored all four Saints TDs yesterday, damn that boy on sportscenter 24/7! The only time I saw Mario on sportscenter was when he blind sided a QB and injured him. I was going to become a Texan's fan this year too...
Which is just one more reason why Simmons is so awesome... he actually mans up when he's wrong (which seems to happen less often than you'd think).
In the face of Yao's posting 26/10 night in and night out, if these guys dont admit they were wrong, they are sure to lose their jobs. And yet they still have not run short on coming up creative way to compare Yao with other stiffs. Every year, there is this new theme on Yao. I remember one year was that Yao's not agressive enough. Now it seems nobody's talking about that since Yao has become a scoring machine. This year's theme is he is good but his production is not dominant. Never cease to amaze me.
It looks like you pretty much agreed with what I said. Let's be a bit logical here, the draft was weak does not mean that both Boozer and Prince would be busts. It's just nobody would believe they are #1 picks. Okay? I offered two reasons. 1. it happened BEFORE the draft, given the information AT THAT TIME, no matter what kind of expectation you have on Yao, RATIONAL people would pick Yao #1 or #2 because of the risk/return tradeoff. That draft is weak at that time except for J. Williams. People even talked about Dunleavy as the #1 pick. The consensus on Boozer is bad, on Amare is that he was very risky.So I am NOT using any hindsight That draft was weak even at the time given the information. Some people don't expect Yao to be Shaq, but they HOPE for something big but hope is not expectation. So given that information and so-so expectation on Yao, why did the media (not GM) bash Yao? limited information about Yao + uneasiness about a foreigner to be a #1 pick + Shaq's comment. Shaq's comment revealed a lot of information what people think of Yao, but people let Shaq off the hook. 2. Given the information we have now, so with hindsight, we know Amare has been injuried, Boozer was in and out, there is no doubt that Yao as the #1 pick unless you wear a colored glass, then why do the ESPN/TNT crews continously put him down given all those information? especially they have established two different criteria in judging players. If you are Dwight Howard, 17/12 is dominant, if you are Yao, 26/10 are just insignificant. What are their motives? You tell me.
Good read, anyone have any other vids of those ppl commenting on yao? Like the Barkley one or the Dick one?
Oh my goodness...any discussion about Yao Ming these days has been heated enough already. Now you even try to bring up Reggie and the Texans. Sooner or later guys will start talking about Vince Young, David Carr and Mario Williams here too. Yao, Reggie, Texans, Vince Young, Super Mario and David Carr in the same thread... I smell a mini-WWIII going to break out.
I thought we should trade the #1 pick for a high caliber front court player to team with Steve and Cat. I just thought drafting a giant dude from China with the top pick was too risky. But I was curious about this dude. So I searched the internet to get more info about him. And I found ClutchCity.net. And when I saw the videos posted here, I became a believer. The rest, as the saying goes, was history.
man, reading this articles, yao must have been having a really hard time over the years ... unbe-f**king-lievable ... but i bet he is smiling now ... he is indeed a wonder ... i believe 99.9999% of people would have collapsed under a situation like that ... GO YAO!
Bill Simmons, ESPN.com, May 2002: “Years from now, we will remember ‘Yao Ming over Jay Williams’ the same way we remember ‘Bowie over Jordan,’ ‘Traylor for Nowitzki,’ ‘Carroll for McHale and Parish,’ ‘Aguirre over Thomas’ and every other great draft day blunder in NBA history. I’m not just predicting it, I’m guaranteeing it. “Think about it. At best, Ming develops into a bigger, more athletic Rik Smits. Fine. But then you throw in Yao’s adjustment problems (going from China to the United States — yikes), his laid-back demeanor (what happens when NBA players start pushing him around, elbowing him and intimidating him?), his inability to play in the low post, and the way he’ll struggle fitting in with his teammates, as well as lofty expectations, inevitable problems adjusting to a higher level of competition, the fact that NBA players will go out of their way to dunk on him (just like they did with Shawn Bradley — and they ruined his confidence, too), the isolation of playing here, the meddling Chinese government … I mean, did Smits have to deal with any of those things? “Can’t you picture Shaq rubbing his hands together and saying, “I’m going to dunk on that Chinese guy as much as humanly possible next season”? This is a disaster waiting to happen. Repeat: This is a disaster waiting to happen. I feel very strongly about this. Just wanted to get that heard before the jury.”
Here's a classic thread from June, 2002, and that it's only 3 pages is a shocker. Clutch provided us with some video of Yao, and a bunch of us just went nuts! Most of us called him Ming, and I can't believe I used Yao. Probably was an accident, lol. Anyway, enjoy: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=36243&page=1&pp=20&highlight=potential
I will agree that the draft was relatively weak but still Yao coming from the PRC and having never played even a US college game was still the number one pick. Over US college players who had been well scouted and likely more known properties. That says its revisionist history to claim that the media all hated Yao and have always hated Yao. Many of those with the biggest mouths haven't like Yao but many did also. Remember many considered Yao one of the most highly anticipated rookies. That's hardly universal hate.
Check what has been posted here about the media anticipation. Sure Yao could be one of the highly anticipated rookies, well, not for success, but for failure, and to be laughed about, by the media. I suppose that's not hate?
