It was a trade him or lose him scenario. Ask any GM when Kobe's not in town if he would trade Shaq for Odom. And I mean last year, not 5 years down the road when Shaq is retired.
I was really encouraged by Yao's game last night. He seemed confident, aggressive and, at ease on the court. He was able to handle some passes that were not perfect and he was an extremely effective defender without getting into foul trouble. I also liked the way got a technical for pushing that Celtic. Heart of the Tiger!
I agree, the team should free up Yao. But JVG is probably too rigid to do it. Our genius coach has stated several times last season that his ultimate desire is for the team to play the same way game after game, come hell or high water. JVG wants a puppet team, with him as the micromanaging puppet master. JVG has forced Yao to play the same way for over a season, so what we see now is probably what we will be seeing as long as JVG is here.
Do you honestly believe that the Lakers GM would have traded Shaq for Odom if it was not because Shaq had practically forced LA to make a choice between him and Kobe? Well, we might have to trade Yao for Kandiman one day if Yao also tries to force his way out. But I don't see it coming at this time.
I have to agree with You YH, T-Mac could grab any body in the league, why does he just grab Yao's leg and never loose his hands. I love to see Yao with PJ in LA, unfortunately, ROX would not allow, which I wish they would
^^ WTF, this 'I want to see Yao on the Lakers/somewhere else' business is getting out of hand :-/ ...
I noticed that too. I also noticed an article (i forget who, charly rosen maybe?) a few days before the game saying that JVG should use Yao at the top of the key more often so he can have more room to pass. Coincidence?
lmao.... wow, clearly a thread that is the epitomy of YOF against the rest of the team. I think it is an understatement to say that they are both essential to the team. At the beginning of the season we expected to be one of the elite teams. Without Mcgrady we are not. Without Yao we are not. Unfortunately in any sport, without one of your star players you are going to loose. Without either one of these guys this team is not going to compete at the level we all expected them too. However is there really a question as to who the leader or most important player is on the team at this time? We can post numerous threads trying to justify this but I will just go on record and past performances to justify my opinion on who our best player is. I still wonder if Yao will ever have aggression to become one of the best at his position (including all players to ever play center). That being said who wouldnt do a 3 way trade to get Garnett here for Yao?? J/K !!!!! J/K !!!!
You've allready proven you are a boafide fool. saying Sura instead of tracy got us to the playoffs, guranteed you're place in the hall of shame.
Pistons was a good team without Sheed, but they added Sheed and became a great team, eventually won it all. Can you say Sheed got Pistons the Championship? You think they'd win it all without Wallace or any one of their starters?
Everytime Yao plays well, it seems like it is during irrelevant times. When we're down a ton and the presure is off for instance. So much work is done by everyone on the team to get yao points that a lot of times we fall behind trying to hammer to yao. Aren't we 0-7 when Yao is the leading scorer. A lot of his bust out games this year had no impact on the ultimate end result because everything else is sacraficed on his account.
