Here is how I see this unfolding.... I have always thought that Yao was like a guy coming right out of high school into the NBA; raw talent in a freakishly big body. This year the lightbulb seemed to go off for him and he clearly has been putting the work in to improve. At the start of the season JVG made it clear that he wasn't having high hopes for this season due to the large number of older guys on the roster and the uncertaintly of the new additions. Clearly he was right! A lot of you guys want to blame JVG for the personnel we have but I have a different opinion, its all on CD and the leftovers from the Rudy T legacy. And before the flamiing starts we wouldn't do any better with the losers we traded away either. Heck even pass some of the blame onto Les too but its all good. There is a new GM coming in so bye-bye CD and hello new way of thinking. Hopefully T-Mac will get better for next year and with the current leap of Yao's play its kinda scary how good those two guys can be. Now infuse a little more youth from this and next years draft and maybe a pickup or trade in the offseason and now your starting to cook with gas. Now here is where the 2008 comes into play.... Its going to be a tough road to how for a new team to gel enough in one season to make it to the NBA Finals. But maybe lose in the second round or squeak into the WCF and get knocked off is possible next year. Fast forward one more year, maybe add one more piece and the team has a whole year under thier belt together. Enter the 2007-2008 season, Yao is beginning to take over games, T-Mac is loving life as a 1a with Yao getting all the double and triple teams and we win the WCF and make it to the NBA Finals and win. Why you might ask? Because of Yao Ming. He carries us to a championship and then follows that up with an olympic gold for the Chinese national team in the 2008 games. WOW you say.....What a pipe dream you have conjured up you might think... But let me leave with a thought or two to pontificate... Yao's number 1 and 1a goal is to win an NBA Championship and an Olympic Gold (not necessarily in that order of importance) to bring pride and honor to China and he seems to have enough determination and work ethic to achieve those goals. I would even bet he has the date of the 2008 Olympics circled on his calendar... think about it......and then remember who the prophet was when it comes to fruition
Our best hope at a title is Yao and TMac dominating like Shaq and Kobe did a few years ago. This roster is not going to get any significant upgrades over the next couple of seasons unless something out of the blue falls into morey's/cd's lap. Number 9 or 10 pick in the draft in a weak year. MLE with crappy fagency. No trade bait worth mentioning. There just isn't any ammo. Get better TMac and Yao, because this team can't win jack **** w/o having both of you at full strength.
Good for you......way to contribute in a positive way I'm dissappointed in the response here, I suspect if this were a negative, bashing type of thread I'd have more then 5 replies out of 900+ views...
well you left a lot to be desired in your "pump myself up" kinda post. Whether or not you have something of interest in the post, it's hard to read past the fact that the last line says "I'm cool! Remember me!" Sorry, it's just the way it reads.. Aside from that, what responses did you want? "We'll never win the championship" ? Not gonna happen. "China cna't win the gold"...I guess that's a decent response, but I'm not gonna pretend like I care about predicting Olympic results 2 years away until I see how Team USA actually functions and if this new plan actually works out decently this summer..
My guess is, the disappointing response has something to do with the thought process shown in these sentences: Please enlighten us: Why do you put one coach (i.e. Rudy) to blame for the personnel and not the other (i.e. JVG)?
