Although the team up to now hasn't shown anything to foreshadow a long post season run, I won't be surprised if both Tracy and Yao give a collective F U to Simmons before it is all said and done.
What this team desparately needs is a reliable 3 point shooter. Which is why even though Novak is going to be a liability on defense it'll force opponents into guarding him which will open up the floor. Leave Novak open, and you get a three drilled in your face. Brooks can hit that 3 pointer too. So if we can open up the lane with good 3 point shooting, it should also free up the other guard or forwards into penetrating and scoring. Novak however will have to have plays drawn up for him. He is going to be most effective coming off a screen or catching a kickout. Novak's speed and ball handling will be a detriment though. Landry at least can hit the 18 footer. He's also a lot more athletic than Novak. Remember Landry played Chris Kaman, who is putting up near All-Star numbers now, straight up and held his own against him. We really just need a guy veteran or rookie to step it up and start nailing these 3 pt shots. Sigh, if only we had a Reggie Miller cause he was strong in a lot of areas and had the quickest release I've ever seen. He'd come in and run along the baseline, come out on the other side with a teammate setting a screen for him, catch and shoot the ball. Nearly unstoppable shot. I'd even settle for Jason Kapono. Three point shooters are at a premium in the NBA these days. All you have to do is look at why the USA lost at the last Olympics. Lack of shooters is what caused Team USA to go down.
The thing about Yao is he is at a cross road in his career, he hasn't really hit ceiling until his game starts to decline or if he gets another serious injury. Both Yao, RA, and T-Mac, all they have to do is go deep into playoffs on year and win exactly one title and that will forever change everyone's perceptions....like what happened with Peyton, Dungy, and the Colts. Even though the Rocks are struggling and barely above .500, it's not impossible for them to beat the Spurs or the Suns in series and go on to win the NBA Championship. Their both better teams than us, but weaker teams win all the time. I could understand if we were trying to get passed the Bulls of 90s or Lakers of the 80s, really there are not any teams in the league like except for the Spurs, maybe.
LOL. i have my opinion about yao and you have yours. no need to get personal. ewing was a franchise center and the cornerstone for the knicks for many years. he took the knicks to the finals but ran into jordan's bulls. when yao at least makes an all-defensive team and can carry a team deep in the playoffs then i'll give him some respect.
we have a better chance against the spurs than the suns. if we play the suns in 10 playoff series' we would lose all 10. its very unlikely we would beat the spurs as well.
No need to be caught up on the comparison. Winning will shut everyone up. Until then, no need to argue who should Yao be compared with. If BS said Smits was better than Yao, then you have a legit outrage. But he's technically correct by saying Yao is a rich man's Smits. Besides, Smits always competed hard. Well, Shawn Bradley played hard all the time as well. They all had their bright moments. Didn't Shaw have 3, 4 games with 12, 13 blocks? I think we fans tend to be too excited about some random rankings or some blogs. You can't control other people's minds, especially both Yao and TMac hasn't had any postseason success. There are even haters for MJ and Dream. RELAX!
Taking yourself too seriously? You are surely entitled to your own opinion about anything. But I thought if you are arguing with others on a public BBC, you would at least make an effort to sound reasonable and logical. When you claim that Yao couldn't even dream to be half as good as Ewing, how would you expect others take anything you say seriously? Would you mind defining half good as Ewing, like his points, rebounds, blocks, assists, steals, or even rings? Give yourself and your own posts some respect.
Its funny how many criticized Yao and the rebounds and Ewing never average 10+ board until his fifth season playing in a centers era and way more athletic than yao, and ppl criticized Yao for his fade away shoots and Patrick was MR. fade away.
If we play them in a back to back yes 0-5 last 5 at the end of a back to back. with a minimum of a day of rest 2-0.
basketball-reference.com has http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mingya01.html Based on per 40 minutes I think... I guess all the super tall guys play alike. If Zydrunas Ilgauskas is basically Rik Smits all over again, and you had to get a current "rich man's" version of him and Smits, it'd have to be Yao Ming.
Did Yao Ming make it deep in the playoffs? No more excuses please...Dream did it with double and triple teams around him all the time, and I don't care what anyone says Rudy T was a bad coach.
