<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sniper:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not saying that Yao will always be this way, but CURRENTLY he has the mentality of a little b*tch. He seems to expect to get bullied, and when he doesn't, he looks scared...like he's apologetic for actually doing something good, and that he pissed of his defender and is going to get a retaliatory owning on the other end of the court. He will NEVER be consistantly effective, and certainly not dominant, UNLESS he realizes how to play AMERICAN NBA basketball. He'll need to develop the mentality that he is the biggest and best post player on the court and nobody is going to stop him. If his Chinese upbringing won't allow him to play in a way that puts his opponents to shame, then he really needs to leave the league, because a player with that kind of mentality will never win a championship, and therefore will always cause his teammates to fall short of one. It's the sad truth.</div> Yao Ming is just... a wussy. It's like everytime someone hit into him he'd start crying to the refs or his team. He shys away from the basket when he shoots because he's afraid. If Yao Ming did have the mentality "that he is the biggest and best post player on the court and nobody is going to stop him" then he would be so... dominant. He would be like a Shaq that can actually make free-throws, and the nice thing about this Shaq would be that he can also shoot from a distance. Of course though Yao Ming will never weight 350 lbs or whatever Shaq weighs now after losing weight and be able to knock people over and travel with his one step - two step - one step.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Flames:</div><div class="quote_post">oh ok ill give proof i think Yao will get 8pts and 4 rebounds because Chris Mihm has an uncanny way of getting the good centers(even though yaos not that good) in foul trouble somehow and Yao has been playing the entire year in foul trouble.T-Mac always gets a lot of free throws and i just have a feeling he will have a good game.David Wesly is unconsistant and throws up a ton of bricks.Bob Sura has been doing nothing for the rockets all year why should it stop now?The prediction that JVG will miss Jim Jackson was a joke.Also no other person had to back up their predictions .</div> Yes, trade Yao, and then you can see what kind of inside players you can find in the league who earn 4.5M a year. Maybe Mihm? That's a great idea and we can also get Cook as well!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cody 7k:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao Ming is just... a wussy. It's like everytime someone hit into him he'd start crying to the refs or his team. He shys away from the basket when he shoots because he's afraid. If Yao Ming did have the mentality "that he is the biggest and best post player on the court and nobody is going to stop him" then he would be so... dominant. He would be like a Shaq that can actually make free-throws, and the nice thing about this Shaq would be that he can also shoot from a distance. Of course though Yao Ming will never weight 350 lbs or whatever Shaq weighs now after losing weight and be able to knock people over and travel with his one step - two step - one step.</div> Obviously, I agree. Maybe that's why so many people want him to do well...because he's the gentle giant type, and the first Chinese player to show real potential. Something I've been thinking this year is, would the Rockets trade a "Y" for a "P"? In other words, Yao for Pao? With Yao's stock dropping, I see Pao as one of the few trades that really seem even, and logical. I like Pao's game and think that he'd be better if matched with a young superstar, a la McGrady. Now before people explode, I'm not saying the Rockets should trade Yao. However, it's stupid to blindly hold onto a player by default without looking at options...and I don't see why Yao should be any different. Marketing is pretty much the one and only argument I can think of why the Rockets wouldn't look at their options for trading Yao at some point, but better players bring you more wins and better fan support, and increase revenue as well.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hdchy:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, trade Yao, and then you can see what kind of inside players you can find in the league who earn 4.5M a year. Maybe Mihm? That's a great idea and we can also get Cook as well!</div> Yao is still in his rookie contract. He will not be making 4.5M soon. At least double that, maybe triple.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sniper:</div><div class="quote_post">Obviously, I agree. Maybe that's why so many people want him to do well...because he's the gentle giant type, and the first Chinese player to show real potential. Something I've been thinking this year is, would the Rockets trade a "Y" for a "P"? In other words, Yao for Pao? With Yao's stock dropping, I see Pao as one of the few trades that really seem even, and logical. I like Pao's game and think that he'd be better if matched with a young superstar, a la McGrady. Now before people explode, I'm not saying the Rockets should trade Yao. However, it's stupid to blindly hold onto a player by default without looking at options...and I don't see why Yao should be any different. Marketing is pretty much the one and only argument I can think of why the Rockets wouldn't look at their options for trading Yao at some point, but better players bring you more wins and better fan support, and increase revenue as well.</div> Yao for Pau? Good thinking! But you have to do it this year. Next year, Pau's salary will be more than 10M. And think about next year, with Pau's 10M, Mo Taylor's 9M, T-mac's 16M, what kind of other role players we can find? Do you think we are Lakers or Knicks or something?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sniper:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao is still in his rookie contract. He will not be making 4.5M soon. At least double that, maybe triple.</div> First, I don't think Yao will still stay with us when his rookie contract is over. We are not rich and CD surely doesn't want to pay the luxury tax. But with T-mac's contract, we have no salary cap to give Yao a "big" contract. Second, even Yao's salary is doubled or tripled, do you think we should trade him? Think about that, after tripling Yao's salary, his salary is just enough for the trade for Odom. Do you think with the roster we have now, just change Yao for Odom, we can do much better?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hdchy:</div><div class="quote_post">First, I don't think Yao will still stay with us when his rookie contract is over. We are not rich and CD surely doesn't want to pay the luxury tax. But with T-mac's contract, we have no salary cap to give Yao a "big" contract. Second, even Yao's salary is doubled or tripled, do you think we should trade him? Think about that, after tripling Yao's salary, his salary is just enough for the trade for Odom. Do you think with the roster we have now, just change Yao for Odom, we can do much better?</div> Odom for Yao? I'd find Kupchak's house and beat him alive if he did that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hdchy:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao for Pau? Good thinking! But you have to do it this year. Next year, Pau's salary will be more than 10M. And think about next year, with Pau's 10M, Mo Taylor's 9M, T-mac's 16M, what kind of other role players we can find? Do you think we are Lakers or Knicks or something?</div> I realize the PF situation is ridiculous, but there is some relief coming in the near future: This year's expiring contracts: Bowen - 0.8M Barry - 1.5M Mutombo - 4.5M Next year's expiring contracts (interestingly enough, it's all the W's): Ward - 2.0M Wesley - 5.0M Weatherspoon - 6.4M Now that I look at it in detail, it looks tough, but the Rockets contracts seem to expire in a way that would buffer the effect of Gasol's increase in pay each season. There are probably better options, but in theory I like the idea of Gasol and McGrady.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Real Deal:</div><div class="quote_post">Odom for Yao? I'd find Kupchak's house and beat him alive if he did that.</div> Funny thing is, I think Yao would do quite a bit better under Rudy T. Not sure about how Kobe would feel about that scenario, however lol.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sniper:</div><div class="quote_post">I realize the PF situation is ridiculous, but there is some relief coming in the near future: This year's expiring contracts: Bowen - 0.8M Barry - 1.5M Mutombo - 4.5M Next year's expiring contracts (interestingly enough, it's all the W's): Ward - 2.0M Wesley - 5.0M Weatherspoon - 6.4M Now that I look at it in detail, it looks tough, but the Rockets contracts seem to expire in a way that would buffer the effect of Gasol's increase in pay each season. There are probably better options, but in theory I like the idea of Gasol and McGrady.</div> Don't forget, if we trade Yao this year, we need to sign 2 centers! 2 centers for 6.8M? give me a break!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sniper:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not saying that Yao will always be this way, but CURRENTLY he has the mentality of a little b*tch. He seems to expect to get bullied, and when he doesn't, he looks scared...like he's apologetic for actually doing something good, and that he pissed of his defender and is going to get a retaliatory owning on the other end of the court. He will NEVER be consistantly effective, and certainly not dominant, UNLESS he realizes how to play AMERICAN NBA basketball. He'll need to develop the mentality that he is the biggest and best post player on the court and nobody is going to stop him. If his Chinese upbringing won't allow him to play in a way that puts his opponents to shame, then he really needs to leave the league, because a player with that kind of mentality will never win a championship, and therefore will always cause his teammates to fall short of one. It's the sad truth.</div> I agree whole heartedly. The Rockets, if they want to stick with Yao and develop him better, should look into hiring a psychologist or a shrink or something to work on Yao. Introduce him to hip hop, show him who 50 cent, Tupac, Ice Cube and the whole NWA gang is, and basically instill in him the mentality that nobody can mess with him. If only we can transfer some of Artest's aggressiveness into Yao, both of them would be a much better person/player overall.
I'd like to trade yao too, but we cant turn around already. yeah, we took a step back from last year but itll look a lot better in the long run. We have to stick with ourselves and not be like the redskins or something and rebuild every year (yao is the core of the franchise). I really though like the idea of firing gundy, yao might work better in a differant system, i know everyone else on the team would.
I don't think we should trade Yao, especially now. Think about it, if we trade Yao, are we really going to improve? He already is a top 5 center in the league and you can't get better than that. Some of you have been throwing out Yao-for-Gasol ideas, but what will become of our center position? Mutombo to start in the West? What about next year when he retires? And also, we already have an abundance of power forwards, and adding Gasol will screw up the team demography. I feel that the only way we can get equal value for Yao would have to be trading him for a first overall pick. If we do it right now, we'll receive unequal value.
No Yao trades, guys. It would be a huge mistake to give up on him early, and then watch him become a real star. Yao just has too much potential that he hasn't tapped into yet. We should remember that this Rockets team is a couple years away from being contenders as it is. Yao biggest problem is his mental approach to the game, as you've said. He plays tentatively on defense, particularly on the road, and offensively his game hasn't been as expansive as last year. I can't recall Yao hitting a catch and shoot jumper from more than 10 feet out even once this year, and that's something he did with regularity his rookie season. It's frustrating as a Rockets fan because the areas he needs to improve are so obvious to us. Apparently, he works hard in practice, but on what I wonder? I think the blame for Yao's lackluster play goes 50% to him and 50% to the coaching staff, and that's why its definitely premature to consider him a lost cause. The type of plays they run for him demand that he plays like Shaq, and that's simply not the type of player he is. As a result, he's given less and less opportunities to use his jump shooting skills and that area of his game is regressing. Those of us who watched him during his rookie season know he has some passing skills as well, but he struggles to get even 1 assist a game now. Somehow, the system JVG is using is not utilizing all of his skills in the optimum way and that needs to change.
As usual, I agree with durvasa. I do not think it's wise to trade Yao right now. We haven't been fair on him this whole season. Yeah the first season was nice, he almost won ROY, had flashes of brilliance, etc etc. However we forget that this is still only his 3rd season and he's still only 24. Already, we wanted him to reach his fullest potential and be the beast that dominates the league. I believe Durvasa is right in that alot of Yao's inability to improve is due to JVG's coaching. I don't think he's the right man for the job. What other possible explanation could there be if, as Durvasa mentioned, the shortcomings on Yao is so obvious to us, Yao practices/plays hard, then what's the problem? Coaching. Now I'm not about to jump on the "fire JVG" bandwagon here but it's getting really really frustrating and something has got to change. If we don't make the playoffs this season, either JVG or alot of our lesser talented players has got to go. I'm talking about Ward, Lue, Mo, etc. I don't care about the team needing time to play well together, bla bla bla, one year is enough to see that it's not working out well. Yao individually has not improved this year and I think that's hard to believe considering Yao's work ethic and willingness to learn.
Well, Houston had a great rally in the second half, but I guess it still didn't redeem them from their horrible playing in the first half. I'm really disappointed in Van Gundy's coaching more than anything. When Yao was struggling to put up anything in the first half, I really thought he should have played Mutumbo more- I mean, he definitely proved himself in the Suns game with those energetic plays. In addition to that, I thought Houston played a horrible defensive game. They couldn't defend downlow, which resulted in so many easy shots for the Lakers. Plus, neither Barry or Wesley have gotten their shooting touch back, and its definitely shown by their horrible shooting percentages. Anyways, tough loss for the Rockets.
We can trade Yao, but definitely not this year because there is no way we can get a decent player with his salary now. If we want to trade him, we must wait for another 2 years until his roockie contract is over. Then we can sign and trade to fully utilize his value. Even we trade him, we cannot trade him for Pau Gasol. What's the problem with Rockets now? We don't have a decent PG and our role palyers cannot make wide-open perimeter shots and our PF cannot defense or rebound. Then we send Yao to Grizzles? A team with Jason Williams, Bozi Wells, James Posey and Swift? Don't forget, we are in the same conference!
When you have a great shot blocker on your roster, the team should take advantage of that. The Rockets were constantly getting beat on penetration and dishing back out to the perimeter for open jumpers because they didn't have a shot-blocker in the game. Yao was too worried about getting called for a foul to block shots. And Mo and Juwon certainly can't defend the basket. If JVG was smart, he would have recalled that Mutombo is still a great shot blocker and that would have allowed the rest of the team to guard the perimeter. Small lineups work when you're smaller guys are quick and athletic. But Mo Taylor and Juwan Howard aren't quick or athletic enough to justify going small. It's not that complicated - play Mutombo when Yao is on the bench, and that'll make everyone else's job on defense that much easier. For a defensive-minded coach, JVG should be ashamed at the defense he allowed.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">When you have a great shot blocker on your roster, the team should take advantage of that. The Rockets were constantly getting beat on penetration and dishing back out to the perimeter for open jumpers because they didn't have a shot-blocker in the game. Yao was too worried about getting called for a foul to block shots. And Mo and Juwon certainly can't defend the basket. If JVG was smart, he would have recalled that Mutombo is still a great shot blocker and that would have allowed the rest of the team to guard the perimeter. Small lineups work when you're smaller guys are quick and athletic. But Mo Taylor and Juwan Howard aren't quick or athletic enough to justify going small. It's not that complicated - play Mutombo when Yao is on the bench, and that'll make everyone else's job on defense that much easier. For a defensive-minded coach, JVG should be ashamed at the defense he allowed.</div> Well said. Van Gundy, at this point of the season, still hasn't set a rotation that he goes to in every game yet. Some nights, Mutombo will play terrific in 20+ minutes, and he won't even get off the bench in the next game. For a team that allows so much penetration, it is important to have a big guy in the middle to at least alter shots. Howard and Taylor cannot do that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">We can trade Yao, but definitely not this year because there is no way we can get a decent player with his salary now. If we want to trade him, we must wait for another 2 years until his roockie contract is over. Then we can sign and trade to fully utilize his value. Even we trade him, we cannot trade him for Pau Gasol. What's the problem with Rockets now? We don't have a decent PG and our role palyers cannot make wide-open perimeter shots and our PF cannot defense or rebound. Then we send Yao to Grizzles? A team with Jason Williams, Bozi Wells, James Posey and Swift? Don't forget, we are in the same conference!</div> Bob Sura is decent. Sure he's not playmaker but he dishes some assists and shoots the ball efficiently most of the time. I mean, he's job isn't really that much- its mainly to bring the ball up court, knock some perimeter shots, dish some assists. Not that much is really expected from him, although the addition of Wesley and new rookie Barrett definitely helps. The reason why our role players can't make wide open shots is because well, our perimeter shooters have just been newly acquired and haven't quite gotten their shooting touch yet. Remember those first few games Bob Sura played on the Rockets? Horrible. Give them some time, and their shots should develop. And when that happens, our team would be drastically better.
