With Artest and Tracy out with injuries (surprise, surprise) I was expecting Yao to take his play to the next level....but instead, he played sub-par, REAL sub-par. Great players always step it up when they have too, and at this point in time, sadly, I'll have to say Yao Ming is NOT a great player....he's a GOOD Player, he's no Hall of Famer, he's just a Good All-Star Caliber Center. I'm probably the biggest Yao Ming fan on here, growing up I even got 5 of his autographs and collected some of his rookie cards, and I used to be obsessed with his statistical performances....but now, I'm kinda starting to lose faith in seeing Yao turn into a TRUE super star, the kind of player that can take over a game when needed to, the kind of leader that can carry a team on his own....at this moment, Yao sadly does NOT fit the bill. How many points did he score yesterday? I think it was 16 or something, and he rebounded poorly...it seems he needs an all-star team mate to put up all-star stats....and that shows you he isn't really "The Man" yet. Anybody feel the same way about Yao?
You are correct. Since the b ball hall of fame is based on numbers and what players contributed to the basketball world then Yao will probably get in, but I see what you're saying. Yao is a veteran now and he still has trouble when guys push him around or when smaller guys play him.......this is as good as it gets for Yao.........With that being said he "topped out" at the level I thought he would top out when we drafted him, and I wanted to draft him for the simple fact that he was 7'6...........Like you said he's a good addition to have, but neither he or Tracy are guys you want leading your team for multiple reasons.......
I want to see the Yao of last year (or was it the year before?) when Tracy was out, Yao was averaging almost 30 a game, and had that 40pt game. I want to see that dominant Yao. He's shown he can do it, but I want him to do it consistently.
That was the 2006-07 season, he finished with a 25 PPG average on the year...woulda been higher but after the injury his scoring dipped.
I started this thread when he posted 14 and 4. The last 5 games yao is averaging 22.6 ppg and 11.6 rpg....the thing that pissed me off is that Yao seems to struggle when he doesn't have another all-star player to feed off of....look at Vince Carter, back in Toronto it was virtually a one man show, Carter was getting doubled and sometimes triple teamed but VC still managed to average 25-27 ppg on efficient shooting, same story with Iverson, and Olajuwon, those guys didn't need a 2nd All-Star to carry a team...they can do it ALL ON THEIR OWN...Yao on the other hand (at this point in time, already in his 7th season) still needs a All-Star player to play with to win ball games, Yao should be MORE CONSISTENT, MORE AGGRESSIVE (if Yao is within 2 feet of the basket, DUNK IT, DON'T go for a freakin FINGER ROLL)....Dunking a ball is as high percentage of a shot a player can get.
you can't compare yao to perimeter players. it's much easier for perimeter guys to succeed on their own because they can have the ball in their hands at all times. yao being a (reall) big guy can't do that. he depends on other people getting him the ball when he has good position and the best person the rockets have had to do that is tmac. when tmac has been out, it's been harder to get yao the ball and teams have been willing to commit more guys to keep yao from getting the ball. that's just the reality of having a big man who you can't rely on to face up from the perimeter and force his way inside. this season with aaron brooks playing well, battier now back, and with the addition of artest it should be easier to still get yao the ball and for him to have success with tmac out but he's going to have some nights where it just doesn't happen. i mean he started the slow but now in his last 9 games he's had two bad games and 7 double doubles. i'll take that.
I threw Olajuwon in there...but okay that's not a fair comparison....I'd say statistically, Yao is closer to Patrick Ewing (barring the blocked shots per game). Patrick Ewing didn't really have help, but he turned the Knicks into a force to be reckoned with during the Hey days of the Eastern Conference, Ewing didn't need another player averaging 18+ ppg, Ewing was THE man for the Knicks....sadly 7 years into Yao's career, he's more like a sidekick (he can't takeover a game consistently). Yao Ming is definitely a GOOD player....but he's nowhere near the vicinity of being called a "Great" player, as of now....until he can become THE MAN for Houston.
Yao Ming still plays like a big pussy. I mean common you are like 7'6''. Half a friggin foot taller than all the guys out there. He needs to put some firepower in his ass and dunk EVERYTHING! He needs to stop with these pussy layups around the goal, and for once, just JAM IT IN THERE! I'm tired of these weak plays from Yao Ming where he gets ripped or pushed around. He needs to get more physical!
the knicks didn't go anywhere until they had guards like marc jackson and john starks. big men need guards that can get them the ball. yao's career has been full of rafer alstons and bob suras and that really makes things hard especially when tmac is out. this rockets team isn't really built for yao to be "the man".
When we first signed Van Gundy (the 1st sign that we wanted Yao to run the show), Piatkowski and Glen Rice (Perimeter shooters to help take the concentration off of yao), we even brought Mark Jackson in, then Steve Francis and Mobley were both forced to step back and let Yao run the show...but Yao didn't really put up the kind of numbers that would deem him a Top Caliber Center...he isn't getting the amount of blocked shots per game he should due to his reaction time, he's a good rebounder...but he should be grabbing 12 boards per game easily (which he has yet to do, AVG 12 a season), and with his court vision, he should be dropping atleast 4 dimes a game (this is Rick Adelman's system for crying out loud). Don't get me wrong, I'm Part Chinese, I really want Yao to go down as one of the Greatest Centers of All-Time, but it's just that Yao doesn't have the "Killer Instinct"...the kind of Instinct were you want to GRAB every rebound, SWAT every shot, and put up 30 points every single night. At 7 years into his career, I fear that this might be the best it gets for Yao....I really hope he proves me wrong.
i don't know why you have decided that he should be getting 12 rebounds a game, more blocks, and 4+ assists per game. that's just not the player that yao is. his shot blocking is on par with the rest of his career. he's doing what should be expected of him in that area. same with his rebounding and assists. just because you have unrealistic expectations doesn't make yao any less of a player. yao's scoring is down a little this year but that's because his shot attempts are down some. that's what happens when you add another good player like artest into the mix and have a guy like aaron brooks start deserving more chances to score. and no the rockets have never made an effort to build this team around yao and specifically play to his strengths. the trade to get tmac was to put together a two star team with an inside/outside duo that could play off of each other. and it's worked out pretty well when they have managed to stay on the court together. yes, the rockets have brought in various outside shooters but just look at who they are. glen rice, piatkowski, jon barry, david wesley, jim jackson, etc all at the end of their careers. at the point they got to the rockets, they were absolutely one dimensional players and at times even struggled in that aspect. and like you said, yao is what he is. it's his 7th year. you can't expect him to jump up and start getting 12 rebounds a game now. he's going to get 20+ points(how high depending on how many shots he gets) on over 50% shooting and around 10 rebounds a game and be a defensive presence inside. he's a very good player. but no he isn't hakeem or shaq or duncan or on that level, but who says he needs to be?
You gotta understand I aint the only one that wants to see Yao Dominate. 25 pts 12 boards 2 blocks 3-4 assists a night isn't unrealistic...he's capable, he just needs to get a little "greedy" on the offensive end. Sometimes you have to be "greedy" and a little selfish to be GREAT. Yao is GOOD, true, we never expected him to be a Chamberlain or a Lew Alcindor...we just want him to pick up were he left off from the 2006 season, were he was putting up close to 30 a night.
