Yao told his buddy Yang Yi that he wish that Marc Jackson were 5 years younger

Mark Jackson looks and plays the same way he did when he was a rookie into the league. He never had quick speed, never really could shoot, but always had the great courtvision. Watching the man play at 38 is pretty much the same as watching him in his prime.

 

If MJ is 5 yrs younger, he wouldn't sign a 10-days contract with us.

 

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why Yao is suddenly flourishing with MJackson playing lots of minutes at the point. Yang Yi is closer to Yao than any of the fans complaining here. The way Yao is quoted is very similar to what Yao posts in his official forum.

I wouldn't worry too much about Jackson's age. A point guard with passing ability to a 7-6 guy, that a dime a dozen in the league.

 

Sure, except that Yao's game got suddenly stronger several games before Jackson made it onto the court.

 

I agree Juan. Jackson sure hasn't hurt his game, but all the credit pretty much has to go to Yao on this one. Once he started playing with more fire, his teammates, including Jackson, really responded. Not the other way around.

 

If Mark Jackson was playing on the Hawks, he wouldn't be doing a damn thing. He's getting assists because he's passing to a group of talented scorers. That's exactly why basically any competent, fundamental passing point guard taught for 4 years at a respectable college program would work well here. You don't need a guy to dunk at the point guard position. However, the Rockets don't have to unearth another John Stockton.

 

I don't see Yao saying anything like that. He is pretty reserved, and IMHO saying something like that is basically a slap in the face to Stevie.

 

Yao would never say something like that to the American media. He is just too classy for that. Remember in Yao-Shaq I, Shaq whispered to Yao before the game, and ESPN reporter asked Yao what Shaq said. Yao said it was private.

On the other hand, he clearly loves Mark Jackson's play. He is much more active on offense, and even running hard for the fast breaks.

 

SF deserves one, maybe two.

 

A grain?

more like a block..

 

Um, how about professional ethical standards? Jonathan Feigen makes his living writing about the Rockets but manages to maintain a fairly un-biased view of them. It's called being a good journalist. You learn it in Journalism 101.

I'm sure Yao does love Jackson. The whole team does. That's no shock. But, to turn that from "We love Mark Jackson" to "We hate Steve Francis" is just idiotic. Edward R. Murrow is probably spinning in his grave about now.

 

I wish I was five years younger...

 

I dislike this guy as much as you do, but what do you expect from a guy who got his fame by writing about Yao ONLY. He certainly is Yao centered in anything he reports, but that's what his audience in China want to hear/read.

The only thing I don’t see is the accusation of him cooking the “conversation” up. I just don’t see him risk of losing his relationship with Yao, whatever that relationship is.


--daoshi

 

I wish MJax and Pike were 5 years younger.
I wish JJax, Padgett and Spoon were 3 years younger.
I wish Yao, Mobley, and Francis were 2 years older.
I wish Rudy were 10 years younger.
I wish I were 20 years younger.

And I wish Eddie Griffin were never a Rocket.

 

Good point,topfive.

 

Clarify 3 matters here:

* Yang Yi is NOT Yao's only close feiend in media.

* The guy is a journalist in china.He makes a living on writing article about games of CBA(China Basketball Association).Writing about Yao is just a less part of his work.

* He often talk with Yao by cell after games especially when Rox's on road waiting at airport. He gathered news from what's Yao talk to him then wrote something that combineed his own opinion(not Yao's opinion)for sure.

To sum up, you can either peep some inside through quote of Yao, or just take it with a grain of salt if you will.

By the way,I commend two articles included some inside news.(Sorry for no translation,Could someone here make a translation?)

Here is a link:

http://sports.sohu.com/2004/01/28/08/news218790800.shtml

http://sports.sohu.com/2004/01/28/94/news218789413.shtml

Thanks in advance.

 

gotta disagree.

mj gets assists not because we have talented scoreres, it's because he knows when and how to pass to talented scorers. we've always had these talented scores, we just never had the assists until he got here.

as long as he's still got juice, mark jackson is unique and almost a perfect fit for us. he's got excellent court vision and judgement, court leadership honed and refined from many years of nba basketball, and that's what we need for a team with high turnover, low assists, and no nerve and resolve down the stretch in close games. his age is his asset. a rookie out of college would never have this. sure, he's a little slower than he used to be, but that's ok cause speed was never part of his game. steve's fast. look where that got us with him at the point.

2nd all time assist leader. former all-star, 1987-88 rookie of the year (and he set an nba record for most assists in a rookie season at 10.6 apg and 13.6 ppg!). these are not the commendations of just any ol' rookie passing point guard just out of college.

plus, he's got exclusive big man experience, feeding smits and ewing for as long he remembers, so 2nd nature that it's like scratching his ass. another reason he is not easily replaceable by any decent passing pg.







imho

 

totaly wrong.

 

First of all, Yang Yi is entitled to have his opinions as a column writer like Fran Blinebury. He analyzes things and makes comments.

Second, Yang's article should be translated, at least partially, if someone would like to post it. For relying on poster's interpretation might give people wrong impression on Yang's article. For example, Yang is not a Yao w**** that just sucks up to Yao. In his articles, Yang mocks Yao and point out his deficiencies. Yao said he likes Yang because he likes people who treat him like a normal guy instead of getting intimidated by his imposing stature.

In this article(written right after Yao's 37 pts game), Yang has attributed bad inside execution in the past Rockets games to two factors, one, the outside players didn't give Yao enough support, two, Yao has not been consistent, even when he got fed the ball in the post, it wasn't guarenteed for him to be able to show his post play prowess. When Yao gets consistent in the post, then outside support will be more stressed.