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SportingNews: A center but not a centerpiece

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by forchette49, Feb 21, 2005.

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forchette49 Member

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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=acenterbutnotacenterpiec&prov=tsn&type=lgns

A center but not a centerpiece
By Stan McNeal - SportingNews

The Rockets are strolling off the court after a morning shootaround when Jon Barry playfully jabs a newspaper at Dikembe Mutombo. "Look at this, Dikembe," Barry blurts out. "It says here you're the third-most overpaid player in the league." Mutombo, a backup center pulling down almost $19 million, continues on his way. Though he's deserving of such a claim -- he's the league's second-highest paid player but plays only 13.7 minutes per game -- the veteran center cracks a smile. He knows Barry merely is giving him grief. Trash talking is a favorite pastime among teammates -- especially when their team is playing well.

No team is playing better than the Rockets these days. They came out of the All-Star break on an eight-game winning streak, the franchise's best in nearly six years. After losing by 28 points at Milwaukee in late December, the Rockets won 19 of 25 games and moved a season-best 11 games over .500. Early on, it seemed Houston would struggle to reach the playoffs, but now it's closing in on the West's best.

There are reasons aplenty for the surge:

# Tracy McGrady, after an adjustment period following last offseason's trade to Houston, has resumed his status as happy superstar. McGrady has raised his scoring average 5.4 points -- to 25.6 -- since November. He is making an effort on defense, too. There even have been times when he has asked to guard the opponent most likely to take a big shot.

# David Wesley has emerged as a defensive stopper. At 6-1, 203, Wesley uses his strength to control opposing point guards. He helped hold Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas to 3-of-14 shooting in a Rockets' 30-point victory last week.

# Wesley and Barry, both early-season acquisitions, have supplied enough outside shooting -- each has made better than 40 percent of his 3-pointers since joining the Rockets -- to open up the floor for McGrady. Barry is one of several veteran reserves who bring energy and a specialty. Scott Padgett shoots 3s, Ryan Bowen hustles, and Mutombo still plays defense. (But Rod Strickland? Don't ask us.)

# Bob Sura, sidelined the first month, has taken over the point on offense and picked up where he left off last season with the Hawks, when he was flirting with triple doubles on a regular basis. Sura is second on the team in assists and is tied for second in rebounding.

# Coach Jeff Van Gundy actually has dialed back his (over) control of the offense. During a recent victory, one scout turned to another and said, "Can you believe this? He's hardly calling any plays." After averaging 86.8 points while going 6-10 in November, the Rockets averaged 104.6 in the eight-game winning streak.

For everyone easily sucked in by the NBA hype machine, you probably figure there has been a huge omission to this list of Rockets riches. You know who we're talking about -- the starting center for the West All-Stars. The foe regarded as Shaquille O'Neal's biggest rival outside of L.A. That good-humored guest star on The Simpsons. Yes, we're talking about Yao Ming, the 7-6, 315-pound center from China.

But -- doh! -- there is a slight problem. Yao's impact on the Rockets' recent run -- on their entire season, in fact -- has been more like his backup Mutombo's than McGrady's. Yao is shooting and scoring well enough, but McGrady has taken over. This isn't what was envisioned when Yao was picked first in the 2002 draft. He was widely considered the next big man who would take over the game, a behemoth who could score, rebound and block shots. Well, it's season No. 3, and the gap between Yao and Shaq remains about as wide as the distance between Shanghai and Miami.

A case can be made that the Rockets' season took off after they shifted their offense toward the perimeter. McGrady began the season trying to fit in and worried too much about getting the ball to Yao. McGrady averaged 16.9 field-goal attempts in November to Yao's 13.0. In January, McGrady averaged 23.3 shots per game; Yao was at 11.8.

Yao's field-goal accuracy has improved -- he ranks among the league leaders at 54.5 percent -- and he has upped his scoring average a point over last season to 18.5, but no other part of his game stands out, much less dominates. His mediocrity is seen in a variety of ways:

# His rebounding -- his 8.5 boards per game rank 21st in the league -- and blocked shots (1.8 per game) are down from last season, and his turnovers and fouls are up. "He doesn't go get the ball well outside of his area," says a Western Conference advance scout, "but not many guys that tall have been able to."

# For a willing passer, Yao doesn't get many assists. He is averaging less than one per game and earlier this season went six games with nary a one. "He has to get better passing out of the double-team," says the scout. "He too often brings the ball down and is stripped."

# There's the frequent sight of an opponent dunking in Yao's grill, a feat performed this season by such nonhousehold names as Nenad Krstic, Chris Mihm and Josh Childress.

# Yao often is in foul trouble, which, combined with how quickly he seems to tire, limits him to an average of only 31.6 minutes.

Even Yao admits he is not living up to most expectations, including his own. "Yes, yes," Yao says. "Other players are improving very fast, and I'm not improving as fast, and that bothers me."

There's certainly no embarrassment in falling behind the rapid ascents of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire, all of whom are younger than Yao and have become serious All-NBA first-team candidates faster than Yao. But it's time to ask: Will he ever reach that level? Can the Rockets win a title if he doesn't improve? Is he going to be more like Shaq or Shawn Bradley? For the moment, comparisons to Shaq, as Van Gundy has said, are not fair to either player. These days, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas serves as a more suitable comparison to Yao. They're the two tallest starting centers in the league, and both are capable second options to their teams' superstar swingmen.

"That's a really good comparison," Pacers center Jeff Foster says. "Both are such big guys that when they get the ball, they can just turn around and shoot over you. Ilgauskas has a few more tricks than Yao does. Yao's still learning."

"Ilgauskas relies purely on his skills, and his skill level is higher than Yao's," Pacers assistant coach Mike Brown says. "He has more range on his jump shot. He's a little quicker. Yao is a little bit thicker and has a little more upside."

So what has happened for Yao to be likened more to a gawky 7-3 jump shooter than the game's top big man? For starters, the expectations were out of hand. Yao had just turned 22 and moved to a strange country when he entered the league. Just as tough was being closely watched by 1.3 billion people back home -- all viewed by the NBA as potential consumers.

The hype and his height are beyond Yao's control. The development of his game, however, is on him. He's still too soft, too slow and even, at times, too nice. "He's probably plateaued from where he was after his rookie season," says an assistant coach in the West. "He's still soft. He never hits anybody hard, and he doesn't make his presence felt enough."

Being slow-footed leads to fouls when Yao is unable to stay in front of players driving the lane. Yao scrunches his forehead and drops open his mouth in a pained grimace when calls go against him, but he doesn't say more than a word or two. He has yet to be called for a technical foul this season.

"There'll be nights I tell him, 'Yao, you've got to get a tech tonight,' " McGrady says. "Do some yelling; do something to get a technical foul so these guys will start giving you a call. But that's who he is -- such a nice guy. One of these days, I'm going to have to get it out of him."

Being so tall is not always so good, either. Van Gundy recently wondered if Yao would be better conditioned and more mobile if he were 6 inches shorter. The Pacers' Foster gives up 73 pounds and 7 inches to Yao, but he says a lack of strength isn't Yao's problem. The shorter player has leverage. "Ask any big guy who is covered by a strong guard," Foster says. "The shorter guy can get his legs lower and push him out."

Yao has gotten much bigger from the waist down since his rookie season -- a scout who saw him pre-NBA says he barely recognizes Yao's beefy calves -- but he still has trouble preventing defenders from pushing him off the block. "If he could hold his position, he'd be such a dominant scorer because nobody can stop him when he catches the ball close to the basket," an Eastern Conference scout says. "I don't know if it's fatigue, but the fact he can't hold his position prevents him from being dominant."

His commitment to the Chinese national team could be holding Yao back as well. The near year-round schedule does not give Yao time to focus on his training. "Practice three, four hours a day, and that's it, no problem," Yao says. "But I don't like all the traveling we have to do in the summer."

"It's a problem playing year-round," Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal says. "I can relate to that, after playing for the USA team. He needs to take a summer off, lift weights and get his body strong."

Play some pickup. Talk some trash. Do what teammates do. Someday, it could help the Rockets get even better.

Stan McNeal is a managing editor for Sporting News. Email him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.

#1 forchette49, Feb 21, 2005

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36.3425% of his writing on Yao has some legitmacy, but the other 63.6575% is pure crap...

The posters will bury this Stan McNeal guy...

OK, let me cast the first stone!

#2 DeAleck, Feb 21, 2005
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why even bother to post this piece of st???

people these days like yao bashing because that increase their paper sale.

the media, not with standing a few true professional, are just attention whores.

#3 forebay, Feb 21, 2005
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blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, same 'ol, same ol'.

Yet another article questioning Yao's progress and potential, listing all kinds of problems everyone knows already. Every one of Yao's faults are correctable with experience, nuff said, move on. Besides, even if he never becomes a "great" center, we have a virtual 20/10 big man to team up with TMac. I'm happy with that.

#4 mogrod, Feb 21, 2005
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Yao has gotten much bigger from the waist down since his rookie season
Click to expand...

I just had to be the first person to quote this.

#5 Harrisment, Feb 21, 2005
forchette49 Member

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Originally posted by forebay
why even bother to post this piece of st???

people these days like yao bashing because that increase their paper sale.

the media, not with standing a few true professional, are just attention whores.
Click to expand...

Understood, but there are some valid points scattered in the article... Negatively weighed, biased, sure, fun for a Rockets fan to read, sparcely, does the "truth" lie somewhere inbetween all the s**t, most likely...

#6 forchette49, Feb 21, 2005
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Originally posted by forchette49
Understood, but there are some valid points scattered in the article... Negatively weighed, biased, sure, fun for a Rockets fan to read, sparcely, does the "truth" lie somewhere inbetween all the s**t, most likely...
Click to expand...

I told you there is 36.3425% legitmacy...

#7 DeAleck, Feb 21, 2005

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piece of ****.

#8 canoner2002, Feb 21, 2005
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Did he just say big Z is more skilled, quicker and has more range?

#9 MFW2310, Feb 21, 2005
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Yao shoots 54.5% Il shoots 46.6%. Il has NEVER shot that well in his entire career. Yao is just 3rd year Il has been here a lot longer. Seems like a truly unfair comparison.

#10 SuperKev, Feb 21, 2005
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That's just what I mean. Z doesn't have more range than Yao. I'm sure if Yao was to force bad shots he can more than hit those 20 footers at 46%. You'd think these reporters are smart enough to figure out that passing up bad shots for a better one is a good idea.

#11 MFW2310, Feb 21, 2005
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These writers dont watch any of the games obviously! If they did, they would notice that ever since last year, Yao is being guarded by 2 people all the time. The zone defense allows this and there is constant 2 man pressure on him when he doesnt have the ball. Granted he is not Shaq, but the defensive focus on Yao compared to Ilgauskas is like comparing, (to quote this d******d) the distance from Miami to Shanghai.

#12 Francis3422, Feb 21, 2005
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i'm sorry. I liked the part where it talked about why the Rockets are winning. But I'm sorry..the rest is S!@#.

Yao has been doing much better. He needs to watch the past 10 games. Yao has been doing well..Pacers game..Wizards game..all these games come to my mind. He's much more energetic and he's making shots. And he's doing better on defense and rebounding. He's getting in less foul trouble..

And Ilgauskas...Yao can shoot jumpers all day too...Ilgauskas has more skill...okay..maybe that's true...but

AND WHAT QUICKER? No Yao does have some strong quick moves. Ilgauskas nah. And range? Yao can shoot..he's been knocking down those shots consistently.

Ilgauskas as good as Yao..BS

#13 Man, Feb 21, 2005

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Ilgauskas is slightly quicker than Yao but I doubt he's got more range. Also, I think Yao's defense is better.

#14 12345, Feb 21, 2005
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If this article had been published at the earlier part of the season, everybody (including most on this BBS) would agree with him. Unfortunately for the author (fortunately for Rox), our season has turned around, Yao has played much better since then, TMac and Yao and the whole gelled, that old story is no longer true. I guess this author is not intelligent enough to be a good sports writer.

#15 Nautic, Feb 21, 2005
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Comparing Ilgauskas to Yao is not as unfair as some of you might think, just like comparing Yao to Shaq is not as unfair as some of you might think.

#16 DeAleck, Feb 21, 2005
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Geesh--

Ilgauskas has been in the league for like 50 years, and he just got his career high of 17.4 pts--- Yao already had a better point average in his 2nd year !

#17 Gatorfan76, Feb 21, 2005
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Ilgauskas is definitely quicker than Yao and has a pretty good range but is he better than Yao? No.

The article is what people have been saying for the past month and a half...this is old stuff

JVG and T-Mac have both said what they wanted to say about all these people bashing Yao...nothing new

The Rockets and Yao have been playing well lately so I'm gonna complain but alot of the media outlets have to jump the bandwagon

#18 KaiSeR SoZe, Feb 21, 2005

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Originally posted by SuperKev
Yao shoots 54.5% Il shoots 46.6%. Il has NEVER shot that well in his entire career. Yao is just 3rd year Il has been here a lot longer. Seems like a truly unfair comparison.
Click to expand...

Come on... You don't agree with this great piece of journalism

Yao has only averaged more points his last two years in the league than any of Big Z's best years. Yao is averaging more rebounds this year than Z and Z has only grabbed 8.8 in his best years, which by the way were a long time ago (and Yao has already surpassed 8.8 last year with his own 9.0). Big Z barely averages more blocks than Yao this year.

Take Z's 8 year career average of 14.8p, 7.7r, 1.2a and 1.9b and it dwarfs Yao's 16.2p, 8.6r, 1.4a and 1.8b.

Doh.... I guess the writer was wrong. Yao is already better than Z and he's only played 3 years.

Oh, and by the way, Yao's range is as good as Z's if not better.

I wish writers would do their research better. Maybe it's because he is only using Indiana to do his resarch. Z has had one dominant game against Indiana this year that seems to have been etched in Jeff Foster's and Jermaine O'Neal's memories.

Maybe this writer should get the opinion of someone other than Indiana before he does the article next time.

#19 Little O, Feb 21, 2005
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Stan McNeal predicted Yao would be a bust since he was drafted.

Draft winners and losers

June 26, 2002 Print it

As a rational human being, I do not like to pass judgment too quickly. There are, however, times when I just can't help it.

When I heard Burger King was selling veggie burgers, it took two seconds to conclude -- bad move. Who's going to go to a grease pit for good health food? When I saw that Diet Coke was being mixed with lemon, it was the same thing -- what are they thinking?

In basketball, I had the same kind of feeling last summer when the Knicks gave Allan Houston a $100 million-plus extension. How can such intelligent men make such bad decisions? Ditto when the Grizzlies traded Mike Bibby for the erratic Jason Williams. My first thought -- are they nuts?

That brings us to Wednesday and the NBA draft. When I realized the Rockets really were going to waste the No. 1 pick on Yao Ming, I shook my head. Don't they want a sure thing with the first pick? Why risk it on someone who comes with so many questions?

How can someone be 7-5 and not be considered a shot blocker? How long will it take him to develop? Will he ever develop? How will he communicate with his teammates, not to mention Rudy Tomjanovich? How cooperative will the Chinese government really be with the Rockets? How are the Rockets going to feel when Jay Williams is averaging 25 points a game in the not-so-distant future?

The selection of Yao, however, wasn't the only move that left me making snap judgments during this draft. Let's go to the scoreboard for the draft's winners and losers.

Winner: Four rotten seasons later, the Bulls finally seem headed in the right direction. They wanted Williams, they needed Williams and they got Williams. Thank you, Houston Rockets, who, even if they didn't need Williams, could have used him to make a deal. What, for example, would have been wrong with the Rockets dealing the top pick to the Clippers for, let's say, one of their many talented forwards and the Clippers' eighth pick?

Loser: Projected to be a lottery pick, junior college sophomore Qyntel Woods slipped all the way to No. 21. And the bad news -- he was taken by the Blazers, where he is almost certain to be buried at the end of their overpaid, overweight bench.

Winner: Here come the Heat. Caron Butler, considered one of the few players ready to contribute as a rookie, slipped to the 10th pick but ended up in a great spot. He's going to a team that could contend for the Eastern Conference title and just happens to have a hole waiting to be filled at Butler's small forward position.

Loser: Being the first pick of the second round is tough enough because it means you're one pick away from a three-year contract guaranteed to all first-round picks. Being the first pick of the second round in this draft was even more difficult. Ask Steve Logan, the 5-10 guard taken by the Warriors. He was listed as the 30th pick -- the first of the second round -- even though he actually was the 29th player drafted. But because the Timberwolves' first-round pick had been taken away by the league, there officially was no 29th pick. So Logan became the first pick of Wednesday's draft who is guaranteed nothing unless he makes the roster.

Winner: The way the league is snatching up foreign players -- five of the first 16 picks hail from outside the U.S. -- the job market for international scouts is looking better all the time. By the end of the second round, 14 foreign players had been taken, twice as many as last year.

Loser: DeSagana Diop last year, Dajuan Wagner on Wednesday. What are the Cavs doing? Diop could end up the biggest bust of last year's draft. Wagner is a 6-0 shooting guard the Cavs took with the sixth pick because they're ready to deal their best player, point guard Andre Miller.

Losers: All those who left school early and went undrafted, including high schoolers Lenny Cooke and DeAngelo Collins. Don't think the non-drafting of high school players is a trend, though. The No. 1 pick next year is almost certain to be a high school player -- LeBron James of Akron, Ohio.

Winner: The rebuilding process at Madison Square Garden received a boost when the Nuggets sent Antonio McDyess and the 25th pick, Frank Williams, to the Knicks for Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the seventh pick, Brazilian Maybyner "Nene" Hilario. If McDyess is recovered from last summer's knee surgery -- and that's still a considerable if -- he will be one of the top five players in the East. If he hasn't fully recovered, he's still going to play more games and be more productive than Camby.

Loser: If Steve Francis looks confused running the Rockets next season, don't blame him. There could be times when he has to call plays in three languages -- one for Yao Ming, another for rookie forward Bostjan Nachbar from Slovenia and, of course, Rudy T-ese for everyone else.

Stan McNeal is a managing editor for The Sporting News. E-mail Stan at smcneal@sportingnews.com.

#20 RIET, Feb 21, 2005

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