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Shaquille
O'Neal: "When you are 60, hang out with 60-year-olds, not 20-year-olds.
That is all I got to say about Jerry Buss."
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HoopsHype.com Articles How
are they doing?
Yao Ming,
China - 21.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.6 bpg, 68.9 FG%, 24.3 mpg When you have a 7-6 center with the skills of Yao Ming on the court, you should give him the ball again and again. It took the Chinese guards one game to understand that. And when they did, Yao delivered. After a subpar performance against Germany, Yao abused the Algerians with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocks. Early foul trouble prevented Yao from making another statement against the U.S. team, but he had enough time to prove he can give a very hard time to centers like Ben Wallace or Antonio Davis in the NBA. He simply can shoot over them with a polished turnaround jumper, apparently his favorite play in the post. In addition, he passes the ball well when double-teamed. That will be good news for Cuttino Mobley, Steve Francis or Glen Rice in Houston. However, Yao does not look to be a heck of a rebounder despite his size. Positioning and aggressiveness can be improved. Jay
Williams,
USA - 4.3 ppg, 1.6 apg, 6.0 mpg Played just 18 minutes in three games -15 of them against Algeria-, so there is not really much to say about Jay. Marko
Jaric,
Yugoslavia - 8.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 45.0 FG% Played highly motivated all through the first three games -- even against an awful Angola. Drove to the basket and looked to score al most at will against the Africans, but was quite unimpressive in the following two contests. Fouled out twice and didn't dominate games as an NBA-caliber point guard is supposed to. Milos Vujanic,
Yugoslavia - 7.6 ppg, 0.3 apg, 33.3 3P%, 17.1 mpg Proved he can hit
the three from the corner, but did slightly more than that in the first
round of the tournament. Mehmet
Okur,
Turkey - 14.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 62.5 FG%, 21.6 mpg Okur had strong performances on the offensive end in the last two games, but could not held his ground defensively against the veteran Puerto Rican center "Piculin" Ortiz. Whether he will be able or not to contribute this year in Detroit remains a question mark. Juan Carlos Navarro,
Spain - 12.0 ppg, 0.6 apg, 1.3 spg, 42.8 3P%, 26.6 mpg If the Washington Wizards are looking for a good shooting guard in Juan Carlos Navarro, they may find a good one. If they are looking for a good point guard, they'd better look somewhere else. Navarro can play the point at duty, but that is obviously not his natural position. And he proved that again in the first three games of the tournament. "La Bomba" struggled at the PG spot and excelled playing off the ball. He hit really big shots from beyond the arc. Played more focused on defense and drove to the basket less frequently than he is used to. Igor Rakocevic,
Yugoslavia - 3.3 ppg, 0.6 apg, 9.0 mpg Played behind Marko Jaric and Milos Vujanic in the Yugoslav guard rotation. Showed flashes of brilliance against Angola. His athleticism and quickness allows him to drive to the basket very often, but does not look to be pretty much confident with his jumper. Luis Scola,
Argentina - 8.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.0 bpg, 55.5 FG%, 16.0 mpg Scola is used to come off the bench and score. He does that in his club in Spain, and he is doing that again in the World Championships. Was expected to play a bigger role. Emanuel
Ginobili,
Argentina - 21.6 ppg, 3.0 apg, 2.3 spg, 60.5 FG%, 22.0 mpg "Manu" has been one of the stars of the tournament so far and the most brilliant player in an Argentinian team that averaged more than 106 points per game. Scored on the break, dunked the ball often, passed it well and hit big shots. One point per minute. He was considered the best talent left in Europe for things like that. Will be a major contributor for the San Antonio Spurs right away. The favorite for the Rookie of the Year award? Jorge Sierra is the editor of HoopsHype.com Tell us what you think about this article. E-mail us at HoopsHype@HoopsHype.com _____________________ |
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