No, put in a better spot, Dirk would get to where he is right now faster. Think about it, Kwame Brown didn't start playing any bit of good at all until this year, where they have tons of talent and are possible playoff-bound. If your team sucked, Yao wouldn't have broken out quite so soon. I don't think Yao's ceiling is higher purely due to his athleticism. If Yao could run the floor like Dirk, then just stop and pop at the three line, his celing would be just as high, but the height does help Yao. It's not your Yao's fault, it's genetics. I'm not going to say I'm wrong until I know so. I haven't really changed my views, I'm just interpreting them differently to you guys. I've also given him more credit because I was too harsh on him calling him awful, but I'm just really harsh at judging. My ratings system would give Dirk a D- his first year and Yao a C+, I just think he peaks faster. No big deal, it's just that I'm worse than that loser on American Idol.
i disagree. cuban issued out a few pointed anti-ming remarks earlier in the season...specifically after yao torched the mavs for 30/16. also, the greedy attitude of wanting "everything", of excess equally success. it's like it's a painful thing to give credit to someone else! also, you didn't respond to my point about yao being a lock for 7 years of allstar appearances. wouldn't that make him more than "all right"?
Jealous of the Rockets? No. Would I like Yao on my team? Ya, any GM who doesn't is an idiot because of attendance jolts and possible potential. I'd much rather have 13 points a game than nothing.
i believe you have it twisted. if dirk could post and pass like yao, HIS ceiling would be higher. any shawn respert can run up court and hit the three. not every james donaldson can post and pass like yao, though.
I would suggest that your Email was not from a regular poster of the BBS. It was someone who sends disgusting EMails just to get the kicks of insulting and nothing else. It is posible that you are this person and you are getting your kicks from exposing us to such a digusting letter! I am not saying that it is you, but to put such a disgusting letter on our Forum,also without letting us know the 'sender', seems to say the least a little perverted in its self! I agree that Yao Ming has not played his best Basketball yet!
No, I think the youth in this league, overseas, and in college will limit him to about 4 All-Star appearances. Eventually the curiosity factor will wear off because of all of the foreign players in the league that will be here in a few years, 16 points, 8 rebounds might not cut it, and there are a lot of young, big guys learning to play the block, like Okafor and Darko, so they might be considered centers.
Ben, You really have to get thicker skin. I write for ESPN's fantasy sports section and I write for my own personal sports analysis web site. I have received hate e-mail equal to the garbage spewed at you in the message you posted. It comes with the territory. Hell, I wrote an article about how useless Malik Rose has been this year as a fantasy player and used statistical information to back my opinion. Two days later my inbox was filled with hate mail from San Antonio Spurs fans questioning my intellect, sexuality, and threatening to do ungodly things to me. Literally hundreds of e-mails. They didn't seem to realize that I was talking about Rose from a fantasy basketball sense, not his true worth to the Spurs organization in real life. Its part of the job. You have to be willing to deal with it. Coming onto a message board to make generalizations and complain isn't professional. I'm sorry you had to receive such crap about what you wrote, but learn to ignore it, move on, and don't let it affect your future writing. Never let other people alter the ways you express your opinions in your columns.
Okafor and Milli are nowhere near as polished as Ming. Plus, Ming is 7'6" tall. Ming is the next BIG THING !! When Shaq is gone, it will be Ming with the Bling Bling, and more importantly.....THE RING !! DD
For some reason Ben has yet to explain (try to put a positive spin) on the whole "Yao Ming is awful. Bad." and "if I made a 7’6” clay statue, it would put up better numbers than that." Too bad somebody such as heypartner didn't ask him to explain...then I bet he would...like how "awful" is the new slang for perrenial All-Star...that would be nifty. Spin away. PS - T_J, just because you are a year older than Ben doesn't mean you can call him a rookie.
Your rating system is flawed then. Check his splits, when he has started he has the second best statistical output among NBA centers. It's really absurd to not realize this.
Hey Ben: Kudos for coming onto the board and taking the heat. Nice work. I'd go ahead and take this as a learning experience. If I may offer my unsolicited opinion, here are some potential teaching points: #1) Hate mail, insults, etc. Hate mail sucks, as do people commenting on your testicles. But check it: it's a price you pay for being in the media. I totally disagree with your friend who said journalists do not get hate mail. My man -- they absolutely do. For far less inflammatory stuff than you wrote, too. One time, I wrote that pop vocalist Rod Stewart "has a massively enormous beak and can not sing." Both are facts, right? Well, not according to everyone. I still get email about that because it's on the net somewhere. That and a review of a Yes album I wrote. Point is; let it roll off. You're right -- they don't know you and they don't care to and they never will -- it's not personal. Don't sink to it. Peronsally, I think Yao Ming is great, but I also think he is not elite-complete yet, and I am not convinced the Rockets are going to make the playoffs this year. That view is unpopular. And I kinda like the Utah Jazz. And when I state something unpopular, people are going to get pissed off at me -- so fine. Readers will not change that way -- you will have to decide. Do you want to pander to popular opinion or do you want to write possibly controversial stuff? Your call, but unless you want to write drivel all your life, you better get used to people having reactions. Yes, death threats and cuss outs are unimaginative and rude and disturbing (contact authorities if you are worried that one might materialize...) but pal -- it ABSOLUTELY goes with the territory. As does having your picture mocked. By the way, your picture is totally rad -- I wish my 14-year old pic was up somewhere. I had a mullet. Let me digress for a second -- my man, you are absolutley in an awkward phase right now -- embrace it, harness that power, do not resist it. The awkward phase is your friend. Lay the groundwork for some high school success while you can -- take the ego hits now, brag about the mid-puberty look and get a major sense of humor about it pronto. It's the only way to channel it into something useful later. Self-deprecation is attractive to the ladies. Trying to spin yourself into something other than "in my awkward phase" is not attractive. In fact, let's make this point #1b. # 1b The awkward phase you are in. Run with it. It's cooler than you think if you do not fight it. #2) Inflammatory remarks Look, bro, HP is right -- you called Yao a bad player, and that opinion is going to piss off Rocket fans. It is not currently supported by fact or reason, by the way, but whatever. I mean, he did drop 30/16 on you, but whatever. Point is, that's inflammatory, and don't try to spin "all right = all right" as an out. If you call call Avery Johnson "a miserable midget" on a website -- try it, by the way, it rocks -- Avery Johnson fans will get mad. Point is, recognize your inflammatory remarks when you write them, prepare for the response -- death threats from Rod Stewart fans and all -- and stick by the remarks. Or apologize for them. #3) "Ok, that's it it, you're all...," Dude -- no we're not. And, its a bad habit to get into even if we were all .... Learn from the audience, do not hate/fear/resent/condescend to it. You'd be surprised how smart some of the people here are. #4) Yao Ming Come on, pal -- Yao kicks ass and you'll learn it the easy way or the hard way. Surrender before he takes your village, your school, your whatever, by force. It won't be this year, but he is here to make us all pay. Me. You. everyone. Dude is the real deal. #5) Taking anything personal Don't. It should all be in good fun. Congrats on the good writing gig, thanks for dropping in, congrats on the Mavs doing well, sincerely, The Chucky Brown Fan Club
are you that kid that shows up on The Late Show with David Letterman with sport takes? He's funny. hahaha! Two hours? two hours for me is just warming up.... LOL
If you think Yao will only average 16/8 then you haven't been watching many Rockets games. Oh yeah, he also shoots a better percentage than Dirk, blocks more shots than Dirk, and is a better passer. I'm not trying to make this Yao vs. Dirk, they play different positions. But it sounds like you still aren't giving you his due. 16/8? Give me a break.
<i>If you call call Avery Johnson "a miserable midget" on a website -- try it, by the way, it rocks -- Avery Johnson fans will get mad.</i> CBFC trying to corrupt the young sports journalists of America. and to think I almost didn't come back into this thread.
Well, you can't be 'wrong' when it comes to opinions. But there are quite a few factual errors in your articles. As many others have suggested, you really should do your homework before you write something. I know that even many big time sports writers make factual mistakes, but that's not a habit you should pick up.
By your theory, Jermaine O'Neal is supposed to be an All Star in Portland, Elton Brand is supposed to suck instead of ROY. Not to metion Michael Jordan when he joined Bulls. Dirk wasn't good at first is because he wasn't ready yet, not because of the team. People who wrote clay statue would play better than dirk five years ago must look like clay statue now. Imagine what you gonna look like in 5 years. Yao is not going to run like Dirk. But Dirk isn't growing taller either. Dirk has skills Yao doesn't have, Yao also has skills Dirk doesn't have. That alone makes your "15 points 6rebs when Yao is peaked" statmenet look bad. Now to mentiong Yao is averaging 8 rebounds now. I can understand you. Like a lot other kids, you will not know you are wrong until you become mature enough, just like you won't be a good columnist until you abcome mature enough.
