Yao did a very good job against Mourning, since Mourning is a great denfender. ALL Rockets players were daydreaming besides Yao and Horward. When will we get a victory?
trading mike james for rafer alston is worst than previously thought. Rafer can't make layups or open 3's when the rox need em most .... 1-9 shooting is pitiful at this level. He should go back shootin hoops on the streets. Wesley, bowen and barry didnt help much this game either.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting aznkillabeez:</div><div class="quote_post">trading mike james for rafer alston is worst than previously thought. Rafer can't make layups or open 3's when the rox need em most .... 1-9 shooting is pitiful at this level. He should go back shootin hoops on the streets. Wesley, bowen and barry didnt help much this game either.</div> I disagree. Mike James can only score. Alston can score and pass. Remember, Alston did dish out 9 assist in the Orlando game, and thats something MJ could never do. The whole team is just stuggling right now. Give them more time to get comfortable. And they dont even have McGrady. So let the team get to full strength before you make your opinions.
the assists he made were not that special.. howard and yao just happened to make the shots last game... You prolly forgot he missed a wide open 3 pointer and free layup in the dying minutes? and his marvelous 1-9 shooting today. 3 points in 35 minutes is not good enough.. You only state one of his games that he happend to have 9 assists.. Its all about consistency in basketball.. not about one or two games and making the big shots when it matters.. he hadnt. Mike james biggest game this year = 17 pts 6 assists 4 rebounds . That would be valuable when yao is not being helped by any of the supporting players without mac. Julio its advisable to watch the actual game instead of watch stats only...
Julio if u watched the game against orlando or any of it, if you paid attention to Rafer 's plays he can't even run one decent play. I don't know if it's because of new JVG system (but not too new since he was with SVG) but he looked lost and his assists weren't even off good openings it was just off broken plays where a player he passed to made a jumper in the last few seconds of the shot clock. And he can't even make a layup to save his life whether it's an open layup or a driving layup. He cant drop his shots and his defense is bad. If you didnt notice today, last game, point guards in the 4th got hot and were attacking rafer's deficiency
Just because they're brothers doesn't mean that they run the same plays, even if I ignore how ludacris that reason is, Rafer is two years removed from SVG anyway.
These guys are used to being with both Yao and TMAc, and therefore they are role players. Now that TMac is out you can't just expect them to start playing out of their comfort zone.
Yao's stamina is somewhat of concern. He usually shoots well in the first half but starts to get cold while you notice that he's energy begins to go down. If he was able to stay agressive in the 2nd half especially now without TMac he could have scored 30 or even 40 points and could have helped his team won the game. It's just too bad that whenever he struggles to put points his teammates does the same also. It's contagious for the Rockets right now as they are still familiarizing themselves. Sura could have done better holding this team in the absence of TMac but he couldn't play until December.
Mike James is better than Rafer Alston for play Rockets. If MJ can only score but he always can scoring 10~20pts Rafer can't always scoring high and everygame playmaking well
Yao needs the help from himself. He has all the weapons. Speed, power, height for a center. I just don't see he his desire to win. He seems to just walk around and get some pts and rebounds every game. Rarely see him to get more than 25 pts each game. I miss T-Mac. I am VERY DISPOINTED at rockets these couple days. There's no excuse to lose Hornets and Magic. Yao has proved that he is just another so so starter center in NBA.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting aznkillabeez:</div><div class="quote_post">trading mike james for rafer alston is worst than previously thought. Rafer can't make layups or open 3's when the rox need em most .... 1-9 shooting is pitiful at this level. He should go back shootin hoops on the streets. Wesley, bowen and barry didnt help much this game either.</div> You make some really silly statements. If you had watched ALL the games instead of just this one, you'd know that Alston has been solid as pg. Having Mike James would be even worse, because instead of pass the ball, he'd be jackin up 3's and turning the ball over. It's funny how you can come down on Skip, and praise David Wesley in the other threads. I guess I'll never figure you out..........
Agree with you. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting perrypan:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao needs the help from himself. He has all the weapons. Speed, power, height for a center. I just don't see he his desire to win. He seems to just walk around and get some pts and rebounds every game. Rarely see him to get more than 25 pts each game. I miss T-Mac. I am VERY DISPOINTED at rockets these couple days. There's no excuse to lose Hornets and Magic. Yao has proved that he is just another so so starter center in NBA. </div> Yeah, Yao should play better than he did. But he just didn't. He has all the weapons but don't know how to use. I agree with you at this points badly:"just don't see he his desire to win"! But I still believe Yao is getting better. He IS the second best center in NBA nowadays.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting throtherye:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, Yao should play better than he did. But he just didn't. He has all the weapons but don't know how to use. I agree with you at this points badly:"just don't see he his desire to win"! But I still believe Yao is getting better. He IS the second best center in NBA nowadays.</div> Baloney. Yao is just not expressive, so you can't "see his desire to win." but it's there, try watching China National Team games. The problem is Yao still doesn't command the respect of his teammates even as a second option. When TMac is out, he should be the first option. Yet, what do we get? In the Miami game , a great 3 and 1/2 quarters, and no more touches from the Houston guards. They should have continued what was successful early, bring up the ball, make entry pass, run offense through Yao. Yao should be more Americanized in that respect, DEMAND the ball, like Shaq-Fu.
Rafer Alston wasn't brought in to score. He was brought in to run the offense, and make the open jumpers that Tracy and Yao will be creating for him. Mike James may be more valuable now, but that's only because Tracy McGrady is out. I can't tell you how many times Mike James ignored passing to Yao or McGrady last year. To the Rockets Mike James was only valuable as a spark off the bench. But there's no way he can run an offense. And that's why James got traded. Rafer Alston is a much better fit for Yao and McGrady. He can make great passes, push the ball up the court in a hurry, and make the open shot. Things aren't looking to great now because the Rockets are still trying to build up chemistry with eachother. And that becomes alot harder with McGrady out. Last year it took T-Mac until December to get comfortable with the team. So everyone quit freaking out, and just give it time. The peices are there, but they just haven't been put together yet. And you guys say I don't watch the games, but atleast I know that a slow start doesn't mean the end of the season.
The guards couldn't get the ball to Yao because Miami was fronting him and denying him the ball. It's not like they just decided not to pass to him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">You make some really silly statements. If you had watched ALL the games instead of just this one, you'd know that Alston has been solid as pg. Having Mike James would be even worse, because instead of pass the ball, he'd be jackin up 3's and turning the ball over. It's funny how you can come down on Skip, and praise David Wesley in the other threads. I guess I'll never figure you out..........</div> You arent that bright are you??? I just signed up yesterday so when did i talk about david wesley???Are you imagining things?? please find my quote when i said it?? I'd rather have mike james Jacking up 3's. Dont you realize rockets are lacking in the offense without mac???? or you didn't realize that in your myopic world.?? Alston 1-9? hes been shooting below 30 percent and been missing big shots in big games.. you still find it great to be on his nuts.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The guards couldn't get the ball to Yao because Miami was fronting him and denying him the ball. It's not like they just decided not to pass to him.</div> At best, I think Alonzo did a decent job on Yao. The reason why he really didn't get the ball that much in the last quarter was because the guards weren't really patient with it. Just way too jumpy and get swinging the ball around before Yao could establish the post. Plus, once Yao started getting a bit tired, he started to try and make screens for the guards since he really wasn't getting the ball.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting batman9970:</div><div class="quote_post">Baloney. Yao is just not expressive, so you can't "see his desire to win." but it's there, try watching China National Team games. The problem is Yao still doesn't command the respect of his teammates even as a second option. When TMac is out, he should be the first option. Yet, what do we get? In the Miami game , a great 3 and 1/2 quarters, and no more touches from the Houston guards. They should have continued what was successful early, bring up the ball, make entry pass, run offense through Yao. Yao should be more Americanized in that respect, DEMAND the ball, like Shaq-Fu.</div> You mentioned it, It IS CHINA National Team. Not like the NBA players, the Chinese guys trust on Yao. He is the spritual leader, why he need to command the respect from his teammates? Now he is in US., the only thing can show his desire to win is to get the ball and try to put it in the basket. To get the ball not only means to get the rebound, but also yell to his teammate" Give me the damn ball!!". You see it, Some guys thought that they are T-macs and shoot the ball by themselves while Yao get the position. We all see the problem, it is not just Yao's fault. Once again, I still think Yao should play better and I bilieve he could.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">The guards couldn't get the ball to Yao because Miami was fronting him and denying him the ball. It's not like they just decided not to pass to him.</div> a true point guard will always find a way to pass the ball no matter how many defenders there are..... Rafer just isnt good enough... no excuses.... Nash and kobe never put excuses passing to the double tripled shaq/amare.... thats cuz hes just that good.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting perrypan:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao needs the help from himself. He has all the weapons. Speed, power, height for a center. I just don't see he his desire to win. He seems to just walk around and get some pts and rebounds every game. Rarely see him to get more than 25 pts each game. I miss T-Mac. I am VERY DISPOINTED at rockets these couple days. There's no excuse to lose Hornets and Magic. Yao has proved that he is just another so so starter center in NBA. </div> Yeah, Yao sucks, he's worse than Jerome James, he can't play basketball, he's a wuss. Please, you want to see walking around and getting points for his team? You should've watched the Hawks last season, specifically Antoine Walker. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting throtherye:</div><div class="quote_post">You mentioned it, It IS CHINA National Team. Not like the NBA players, the Chinese guys trust on Yao. He is the spritual leader, why he need to command the respect from his teammates? Now he is in US., the only thing can show his desire to win is to get the ball and try to put it in the basket. To get the ball not only means to get the rebound, but also yell to his teammate" Give me the damn ball!!". You see it, Some guys thought that they are T-macs and shoot the ball by themselves while Yao get the position. We all see the problem, it is not just Yao's fault. Once again, I still think Yao should play better and I bilieve he could.</div> Do you know what the word spiritual means? Yao isn't a spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader. Your local pastor, reverand, rabbi, he's a spiritual leader. You know I've always been under the impression that ball hogging was a bad thing or that basketball was a team sport. See what happened to T.O. and Keyshawn? AI and Kobe?
