Yao was 6 inches taller then opposing centers...and he didn't dominate like Wilt did. But like it was said earlier, its impossible to know how he'd fair in todays league.
It is only supposition, but I think he would be just as dominant today, maybe more so. I saw him play many times. There is no one in the modern game to really compare him to. Howard is an athletic freak, but Wilt was an incomparable athletic freak. He was just the best of all time.
One thing to keep in mind about the Wilt vs. Kareem head to head matchups . . . Wilt was past his prime at that point in his career. We are talking about his last 3 or 4 seasons. I know some Olajuwon fans are going to be hurt by this, but Wilt was probably Kareem's toughest opponent. His agility and size made him deadly against Wilt, but on the same token, he probably couldn't match Wilt for strength and athleticism. http://slumz.boxden.com/f16/wilt-chamberlain-vs-kareem-abdul-jabbar-game-game-stats-1401716/
That would be impossible now days just due to pace. I think he would be like shaq. Shaq is bigger and had like a 38 in vertical. David Robinson was also super athletic .
If Yao and Wilt switched time periods, Yao would average something like 60 ppg and 20rpg. Wilt would probably average a 40 and 15 in today's game. It is more about athleticism now than back then was size.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r09WtKVwaMU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Goddawful quality, but a classic. Yes I'm old. [edit: this is from game 1 of the 1981 playoff series.]
Amazing athlete for sure, but can someone explain why he only shot 50-52% during his prime years? And in his rookie year when he averaged 37 points, it was on 46% shooting. For a guy with so much physical dominance who only took shots at the rim, his field goal percentage was pretty low in his prime. He improved it dramatically as his scoring numbers dipped. Was he taking bad shots early in his career or just missing a lot of his finger rolls?
No way. Why? He wouldn't be able to play the necessary minutes in a fast paced league. This is one explanation: Remember when the media and Phil Jackson would question Bryant taking so many shots when he had O'Neal to throw it down to? Remember that Kobe would respond by hardly shooting the next game? Chamberlain responded to the media questioning his ability to do anything but shoot near the rim by shooting a ton of fadeaways. Also, the more you shoot, the less efficient you're going to be because you're going to take more bad shots. Chamberlain shot a ton in his early days before becoming more selective with his shots.
Because the refs used to let the defence hack, grab and wrestle him...it is in a biography I read...I think Bill Russell's.
burlesk- I posted the same Wiillow youtube on the page before (I don't know how to imbed it properly). Great minds think alike!
So many say the competition was terrible during his time....I'm pretty sure he would abuse the league today as well, though it would have been cool to see him play in the 90's with all the great bigs we had then.
Good point, we could even argue that Yao probably wasn't anywhere as strong or as athletic as Chamberlain, while injury prone and limited in speed, he still was a somewhat dominated player in this NBA league. If a healthy Yao Ming can average 20-25 ppg and 8-10 rebs, or Dwight Howard averaging 18-21 ppg and 14-15 rebs. What stops Chamberlain averaging 30 ppg and possibly 15+ rebs? Even being a youngster, I think Yao Ming and Howard pretty good centers, but comparing footage of all three players. They lack something that Wilt had. Howard is basically the same size as Bill Russell with more muscle and athleticism, but not quite as gifted offensively and lacks the same IQ. I've seen some rather average centers and specialty defenses take both Ming and Howard out of the game or neutralize them. I cannot remember any actual player or defense neutralizing Wilt. There's no way a team would go small ball against Wilt, unless they are planning on forfeiting the game. He's athletic, has crazy endurance, and very strongly built player. People will often say that both DeAndre Jordan and Javale McGee are big and super athletic. Though, neither one really has any offensive go-to moves, never seen them try to over power opponents with post moves, and most of all . . . could you see either one averaging 8.6 assists for an entire season.
Why is that? He has all of the physical gifts and beyond to succeed and knew how to ball. What does he do that indicates he couldn't hoop today? WHAT PLAYER HIS SIZE IN THE NBA COULD TAKE HIM? There is not one player who would stop him, or be able to get by him.
Leaguewide shootign was awful back then. I guess it was just fatigue due to the video-game style pacing. Nothing, he'd post numbers like Shaq in his prime (30-13 or so).
That's my whole premise as well, it's not about nostalgia, but actual basketball skills. It's kind of funny people laugh at Chamberlain or other old time centers, yet the best center in the league right now has only averaged over 22 ppg ONCE in his career and has never really had a dominant post game or a serious of offensive moves. Another funny thing to about this so-called great center ... he's only 6,9. Moreover, what skills does he possess outside of defensive ability, dunking, diva antics, and coonery.
Even more so, this great center could barely stop or even snuff an almost crippled Yao Ming. Yet, some posters think its hard to believe that a man who probably had 20x the athleticism of Yao Ming, 2x-5x the strength and throwing other opposing big men around like rag dolls, 250x to the ball down your throat mentality, more dominant post moves, and a more skilled passer would struggle in the same NBA.
Whats funny is players publically talk about working with Hakeem to give them some kind of buzz and street cred. Just learn from him already and stop trying to pretend you're the next Hakeem. AKA Howard trying to increase his stock by publicaly showing off his training. So far haven't seen a lick of improvement in his actual game.
