Rockets Center Yao Making Opponents Say Ow!

Looking at Houston Rockets' center, Yao Ming's recent domination, I have come to a simple conclusion recently - it's about time. Having said that, Yao's latest explosions have raised a couple of questions for me about the Rockets' past, present and future state.

First of all, I want to ask, 'What the hell took Rockets head coach, Jeff Van Gundy so long to make Yao the focal point of his offense?' It's not like the Rockets have had a lot of other options the past couple of years. Houston's offense has consistently relied upon the efforts of two players - Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. However, it was McGrady and not Yao, who was the focus of the offense at that time. With Yao's maturation - and McGrady's ongoing back-related health issues, Yao has now become the focal point of the Rockets' offense and it has clearly been to the team's betterment, which, once again, brings me back to my original question.

I wrote in a column two years ago that Van Gundy should make a better effort to run his offense, but that never materialized, as McGrady continued to put up huge numbers while the Rockets fell from western conference contenders to lottery bound hopefuls.

I think Van Gundy made a mistake back then - heck - even last season, by not playing off of Yao's strengths and running his offense from the inside out. I'm only saying what most NBA insiders already knew too. It was widely assumed that Van Gundy would model his offense of that of his old New York Knicks teams that were led by center, Patrick Ewing. Although that never materialized for his Rockets until recently, Van Gundy seems to have almost lucked into a situation where Yao is now ready to lead and McGrady is at a point where he's comfortable playing the sidekick role.

The transition is complete now too. Just listening to McGrady's recent comments about how he feels "old" and his even more recent comments about Yao following a Rocket win over the beleaguered New York Knicks, you easily come to the conclusion that McGrady is now comfortable playing in Yao's immense shadow.

"I don't care who you try to match up against him, I don't care who you say is the most dominant," McGrady said after the win over the Knicks. "No. 11 on my team, hands down, is the best center in the league."

McGrady also made some glowing comments in a huge victory over the defending champion Miami Heat.

"I've always believed Yao was going to be one of best to play the game because of what he can do at 7-5," McGrady said. "I think some tabbed him unfairly because he's not a Shaq, a player who will just mow you down inside. He's a finesse big man, a very unselfish player. His skills were on full display Sunday night."

Again, not only is Yao benefiting from his more aggressive play, but the Rockets as a team seem to play a lot better this way as well. Lest we forget, McGrady playing second fiddle isn't such a bad thing. T-Mac still has plenty of gas left in his tank - at least three years worth by my estimation.

If the Rockets can get into championship contention within the next year or two, it's not unfathomable to think they could hoist the championship trophy inside the next two or three years. Of course, a lot of that will depend on the growth and performance of the Rockets role players, but, right now, they are clearly a better team with Yao playing the role of leading man - and for The Rockets sakes, it had better remain that way.