Yao: too slow for offense, awfully slow for defense

Pretty ridiculous argument, but I'll chime in:


1. He's not slow. As pointed out earlier, one of the things that the scouts like is Yao's athleticism and footwork. He's got very good lateral quickness and he runs the floor extremely well.

2. Shooting percentage. The guy shot 63.9% at the Sydney Olympics. That's probably as good of competion you'll get other than the NBA.

Even if you believe that he won't be able to get his shot off against NBA competion, does it matter? If you leave the guy open, he'll stick the shot. If the opposition comes out to play him, then that opens up the middle for Francis and Mobley. Hasn't that been the whole design of the Rockets offense for the last two years? So, who better to open up the middle. Did you see what the Kings did to the Lakers D when Shaq had to come out and play Divacs and Webber?

Will he have to get use to the speed and physical play in the NBA? Yes, so will every other rookie entering the league. But, it's not like the guy doesn't have the skills, size and athletic ability to succeed. He's not being asked to be a one man team. He's being asked to contribute to our current team and he's a perfect complement.

 

Just to add to that, this was 2 years ago when he played in the Olympics as a 19 year old. His shooting percentage/accurracy in the CBA has increased by a fair margin every year since.

1999-2000 : .585
2000-2001 : .678
2001-2002 : .721

-G'day-

 

Didn't people say that Ichiro would get eaten alive by American pitching because he never faced anything like that over in Japan? He's doing just fine. I don't know about lowering our expectations since everyone has pretty much said they expect him to start slow and take a year or 2 to fully develop.

 

<i>3. He cannot get many rebounds because he is boxed out. </i>

This I don't understand. You don't grab 20 rebounds per game without knowing SOMETHING about boxing out and avoiding getting boxed out! And where is your proof that he gets tired quick!?

 

Blah Blah Blah. Same crap. New thread!

 

Ichiro Suzuki's greatness does not equate to greatness from Yao. Baseball is more revolved around skill then talent.

"Jay Williams (Dude may come in as a monster offensively, but have you ever seen him check a Marbury or Payton?),"

Who can?

"No doubt in the first year some cocky smartass guards are gonna try to hoop this 7'5 monster up."

In Practice?

 

Thank you!

That should pretty much destroy the 'Ming can't stop Shaq' argument for good.

Who can?

 

Shaq will be gone when Ming goes into his prime anyway. Its really a moot point. The real worry is the swingmen in my eyes, and if they can stop the middle-echelon Cs (which there are none) and PGs, in Jay's case (which I think he will). I'm starting to lean to the side where I think the Rockets should take Ming. Although EVERYONE should lower their expectations of him.

 

In the CBA it seemed as if Yoa was being double and tripple teamed every posession, so how could there not be any presure on his jump shots. One of those guys would have to be matching up on him for the entire game. It's not as if the defense only follows the ball....

You don't have a guy averaging those kind of numbers and have only single coverage on him at all times. I am sure he would have faced some pretty tough defense.

 

EXCELLENT POST!

ming just too big a project and too great a risk!

rocket's time is NOW, not three years from now. get Odem, get nene with clipper's pick, we are all set!

nene going to be a bigger star tha ming will ever be!

mark my words!

god i hope china give us the finger and tell us to hit the road this week.
it could still happen...please make it happen.

 

I can't wait until this season starts. I hope we don't get Ming, but we almost definitely are. I'm just curious to see how since the majority of you are Ming-lovers, what you will say when he falls way below expectations. I wonder how long will you defend him...a few weeks, months, a season, 3 years...How much patience???Keep convincing yourselves...Keep Hope...It'll be interesting to see how quickly people change their positions and how long they'll defend Ming.
Yeah Ming=Championships...haha

 

rocket's time is NOW, not three years from now. get Odem, get nene with clipper's pick, we are all set!

nene going to be a bigger star tha ming will ever be!

Somehow, I doubt a team that won 28 games last year has their time as NOW. Oh, and I love the evaluation of Nene becoming a bigger star than Yao, especially since you haven't seen one game from either.

I can't wait until this season starts. I hope we don't get Ming, but we almost definitely are. I'm just curious to see how since the majority of you are Ming-lovers, what you will say when he falls way below expectations.

You're a Rockets fan and you can't wait until the season starts so that you can see a player on your team fail? That's pretty sad. I really hope I'm wrong, but it seems like there are some fans on this board that might get as much enjoyment out of Ming having a bad game than a Rockets win. You anti-Ming guys seem awfully sure of yourself for a guy that you've never seen play.

 

totally agree. ming is going to be the biggest bust in the history of nba!

but there still hope that china will not let him go. keep your finger crossed.

 

Ming was the whole Sharks team. He was the go to man. He was the man the opposition had to stop. Guess what, they didn't because they couldn't. You don't think they tried double/triple teams? Ming might not demand respect as a rookie but once he starts making the jumpers, he will. And if they try to put a shorter guy on him....Hahahahahaha

Any why would he lose his shooting touch all of a sudden?

Noone was guarding Eddie until he started making the 3s consistently.

Ming will do fine once he gets some good teaching from the coaches.

Can't wait to see him in a Rockets uni.

 

Man you sure our confident arent you??

I will be sure and jot down that wonderfully insightful statement and put it in my hope chest.

*sigh*

Can the draft be today instead of next Wednesday?

 

I thought he had a 50% chance of being a bust yesterday? Now today he's 100% certain? Of course, many in the the anti-Ming crowd don't need to see him play a game before knowing his future, so I guess this makes sense.

 

I believe by posting on this site and thread we have marked your words...

 

Almostready, it is time to change your name to reallyready. I agree with you. A few details I question, but I wholly agree with your premise. Ming expectations are way out of line. He may not suck (though he may), but he won't get enough time on the floor to be ROY candidate. And he won't get the time becasue his defense will keep him on the bench. Blocks are good, but do not equal defense. See Shawn Bradley (I am not making that tired old comparison). Bradley was (I think) second in the league in blocks. Does anybody consider him the second best defensive center in the league?

Several comments about how weak the curent group of centers are, one pointing out the absurdity of Ostertag scoring 40 points. Yes, that is exactly my concern. Some college guy in a controlled scrimmage designed to show off the streangths of Ming, can back Ming down and score, I'll take a guess that Ostertag can do that too. And man does that suck to say.

Cato sucks, therefore Ming must be good. Ouch, ouch, ouch, Cato will still be our starter. And man it sucks to say that also.

If we draft Ming, which seems a forgone conclusion, I will root for him and hope that he improves fast. But my guess is that after three years his average playing time is less than Cato's is right now. That is ok for a rookie, but not the number one.

 

There are lots of questions about whether he can hold up for 82 games and whether the level of competition in China is a worthy measuring stick to gauge his talent. I'm not 100% sold on Ming, but also don't see anything better in the draft or feesibly possible trade wise.