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December 15, 2005
Operation Yao Ming
Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen posts on the Brook Larmer's impressive new book on the development of Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, a book that could be nice holiday gift for the basketball fan in your family. Tyler remains skeptical that Yao will ultimately develop into a great NBA player, but my sense is that Tyler's prediction is not supported by the empirical evidence and the special circumstances surrounding Yao's under-development relative to other NBA players.
Yao is only 25 and just beginning his fourth season in the NBA, and he has improved markedly in all facets of the game during each of first three seasons in the league. Until this past off-season, Yao's development had actually been plagued by too much play, as he fulfilled commitments to the Chinese national team that was a condition to their agreement to allow him to play in the NBA. Thus, this past off-season was the first time that Yao had been able to spend most of his time in Houston resting and working on strength and conditioning, and that type of off-season regimen is likely to prompt even greater improvement in Yao's game. Heck, even at this stage of Yao's development, can you name five NBA centers who you would prefer over Yao?
However, all long-time Houstonians know the true secret to Yao fulfilling his potential -- tutoring sessions with former NBA great Moses Malone at legendary Fonde Recreation Center near downtown Houston where Malone schooled a young Nigerian named Hakeem Olujawon during summer pick-up games in the early 1980's. Give Malone a couple of summers with Yao at Fonde and Yao would quickly replace Shaq as the dominant center in the NBA.
Posted by Tom at December 15, 2005 07:03 AM
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