Yao Ming Mania! ~ View topic - Yao Ming on Juwan Howard & Requirements for Position 4

Quote:

http://nba.sports.tom.com/2007-06-22/0424/84179121.html

Reporter Wang Meng reports

With his departure, Juwan Howard left behind lots of fond memories. Both Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming fully understood what they missed is not just the 10 ppg/6 rpg contribution from Juwan, but also the offensive power in that Position 4 where the Houston Rockets most need. In addition, what they will miss is that convincing and soothing voice in the players’ changing room; whenever the Rockets need someone to stand out with comforting words, Juwan Howard will no longer be there.

Juwan Howard is the Houston Rockets’ captain; before the start of every game, the players would go onto the court, bow, encircle and hold each others by the waist, and turn their heads/eyes to Juwan Howard. And before every game, Juwan Howard would chant loudly to motivate his team mates. He was the one that gelled the Rockets, and had taken a role that a veteran should take.

Also it was only Juwan Howard can achieve this: on each of his birthdays, all his team mates would receive invitations, and without exceptions, every of team mates would show up. As long as Juwan Howard speaks, very few of his team mates will not listen. After the (abrupt and premature) end of this season, it was also Juwan Howard who initiated a team luncheon, and all the Rockets showed up regardless whether they had pre-arranged commitments or not. Yao Ming said: “In the Houston Rockets, Juwan Howard is like our big brother.”

Therefore, after knowing the trade-away of Juwan Howard, Tracy McGrady had this to say: “Juwan is my good friend; he is an outstanding professional player; he did whatever the team needs him to do. He is our leader in the changing room. Without him, we would not have achieved what we’ve done this last season; when Yao Ming was injured, it was Juwan who had stepped up. We shall all miss him.”

Because of Juwan Howard, suddenly there will be a heavy burden for the future Houston Rockets’ power forward; with such a predecessor in Juwan Howard, it will be so easy to pick faults with the new power forward.

Yao Ming said he is not clear what type of player the Rockets need for the future power forward; “I don’t know now that Juwan is gone, how will we fill the void left in the power forward position. Only the General Manager and the Head Coach will be able to decide this issue, regardless whether it will depend on trades or draft picks. Currently I am still not that clear on how our team will play next season, and therefore, I really don’t know what special needs for the power forward position. But regardless, the most basic requirements must be we need someone that has strong body that can snatch rebounds.”

Similarly, Tracy McGrady has no ideas on what are the plans for the Houston Rockets. “No one has yet to talk with me what type of power forwards they plan to place alongside with Yao Ming.”

Having entered NBA for 5 years, Yao Ming seldom nitpicked on his power forwards. In his rookie season, Eddie Griffin played alongside him as the power forward. At that time, Yao Ming had yet to find out what NBA was all about. He remembered Eddie Griffin was very kind to him and treated him well. On one of these road trips in his rookie season, Eddie Griffin sent a girl to knock on Yao Ming’s hotel room door. Yao Ming rejected Eddie Griffin’s “good” intention, and kept the girl outside his room.

Amongst all the power forwards that had played alongside Yao Ming, Eddie Griffin is the youngest. From Kelvin Cato, Maurice Taylor, Clarence Weatherspoon and then Juwan Howard, nearly everyone of them were veterans. Yao Ming, without exceptions, always respected them well. After Maurice Taylor was traded away, Yao Ming secretly took away the name plate (of Maurice Taylor) from his locker, and said: “Regardless, he was my team mates; this just serves as a souvenir to remember him by.” From all these veterans, Yao Ming learnt a lot, and also understood how a good power forward can help him. . . .

A good power forward must first be very aggressive. Only so he can protect Yao Ming in the interior, and saves him from being double-teamed in offense and bumping and banging bodies under the post all the time. This is the conclusion Yao Ming got after a season working with Stromile Swift. (On Stromile Swift) Yao Ming has once said: “I must say you can’t nitpick on this brother’s excellent body (and athletism); when he erupts, he is of immense help; he can virtually fly and smash the basket rim (of the opposing teams). Unfortunately he is just too stuffy, too quiet and sometimes mute. If he can become more active and aggressive, he can definitely become one of the characters of the NBA league. "

A good power forward must be able to snatch rebounds and play defense, particularly the power forward that is going to play alongside Yao Ming. For these 5 years, rebounding has always been the weak spot of Yao Ming. Each time after seeing Deke Mutombo casually snatched 10 rebounds in limited minutes of play, Yao Ming would become worried, and start reviewing play tapes of Mutombo’s games, trying to find out the secrets/tricks of Mutombo’s rebounding excellence.

The Rockets also had suffered this kind of hardship; there was a time when Scott Padgett was playing Spot 4 alongside Yao Ming; Scott Padgett very often would pull out beyond the arc (for his 3-pointers), and Yao Ming was left alone in the interior, surrounded by opponents, and could only glare helplessly as rebounds got snatched away by his opponents; and back onto the defensive end, Scott Padgett would become the weak spot which often required help defense from Yao Ming to fill up the leaks.

So the future power forward of the Houston Rockets must at least conform to the above 2 requirements to be considered qualified. Tracy McGrady spelt this out clearly: “We need someone that is athletic; we need someone that will go all out for defense; we need someone that can rebound; this is the biggest flaw and weakness we exposed during the playoff. We do not urgently need offensive fire-power on Position 4. What we need is a defensive-minded power forward, snatching rebounds like a mad dog.”

Yeah, you did not hear it wrong. Tracy McGrady did say that. What Houston Rockets needs on the Position 4 is a “mad dog”.

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