Yao Ming, the Chinese Trey Anastasio

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons on Yao Ming:

"I blame the Rockets for surrounding him with the wrong players. In three seasons, they haven't had a single point who could throw Yao an entry pass, plus they haven't had a single shooter who could consistently make threes (and prevent teams from collapsing on Yao). This current team features the worst point guards in the league (although Bobby Sura just came back); three undersized rebounders (none of whom would ever be confused with Maurice Lucas); and only one reliable shooter (T-Mac, who thrives with one-on-one stuff). I like T-Mac, but he isn't a sophisticated enough offensive player to play with someone like Yao. None of these guys are. It's a shame. It's like watching one of the guys from Phish playing in Ashlee Simpson's band."

First of all, this is consistent with what I've said about Yao and the Rockets. When they traded Steve Francis for Tracy McGrady over the summer, I couldn't believe it. Why force a guy who could potentially become the NBA's best passing big man to play with a guy who is one the NBA's top two or three one-on-one players? It doesn't make sense. TMac is a definite upgrade over Stevie Franchise (isn't that nickname ironic, now that he's been traded?), I don't disagree with that. But it's the wrong guy in the wrong system.

Sadly, that last sentence now describes Yao, who was drafted to become the face of the franchise. They should trade him to a team with a coach who will use him properly.

But Simmons comes up with a great analogy here. Can you imagine Trey Anastasio in Ashlee Simpson's band? Of course, Simmons can't come up with any of the names of the "guys from Phish," but that's to be expected. He's a good sports writer, my favorite at the moment, but he's not nearly as well-rounded as, say, me.