This depends on a lot of what we're actually talking about. If you just threw in Yao in his prime after his developmental years in today's NBA, he would not be as effective. If he actually grew up maybe 10 years later to be in his prime right now, I can see him being a play-making, long range shooting center. Yao was a very crafty play-making high post player early in his career till JVG turned him into Patrick Ewing. He'd still be a liability on defense against a small ball team though.
Defensive mobility no, defensive presence yes. Shooting touch was his strength, I have no doubt he would be a fine outside shooter had he developed it. His passing ability was quite strong. Ball handling is different, but there are no perfect comps.
Its quite the fallacy to think that "skinny" Yao wouldn't have foot problems.... was still pushing 300 lbs, and still playing year-round. His lower frame/legs were always quite stout. He needed upper body work, which he'd have to do today. Skinny Yao also had trouble defending. Capella was also too skinny when he came in, and had to bulk up enough (upper body wise) to hang in today's NBA. A ****-ton of revisionist history in here.
For people who question Yao’s shooting. Did y’all forget the guy was shooting technicals for us? He was a 85-90% FT shooter. His mid range turnaround was 50+%. He absolutely would’ve learned to extend his range if he was born into today’s nba. He also set great screens so he’d be perfectly fine in today’s offensive systems. Defensive questions are all valid. But let’s not act like every team is the Warriors or the Rockets. Most teams have crappy shooters to hide Yao on and allow him to more stay in the paint. He wouldn’t be Gobert as a defender but he’d still be above average.
He'd murder everyone in the NBA in the post right now, and his shot would be straight up all day since no one could defend him back then either. With that said he'd be a defensive liability on almost every possession within the current meta. Honestly I think he'd be about as effective as he was back then, I just can't see anyone requiring him to come out on the perimeter and defend Steph Curry though. (I know JVG tried that for awhile, haha)
I'd love to see the Hamptons lineup with Draymond trying to cover Yao in the paint. It would look like CP3 climbing all over Dwight's back.
They would front Yao Ming. Yao was worse against small defenders. Draymond would be a horrible matchup for him.
Please lol. Draymond would front Yao and he'd never get the ball. He wasn't fast enough or explosive enough to damage guys that did that to him.
You comparing Capela and Yao is the fallacy. Yao would adapt and would have worked on speed than bulk 10yrs ago. He'd be fine in this current system so long as he worked on his defense and footwork. There are current centers that can play that are as slow. And Yao growing into this current system would fair better than Anderson.
If Yao never went down we possibly would of won some championships. In the process making the nba adapt to us and cancelling out this era of half court jump shooters. IMO
Yao could play in any era and dominate. Prime Yao is vastly underrated, he could play with any of the best centers of the 80's, 90's or 00's. Same could be said of Tmac and Ralph Sampson at their positions. Yes I think he was that good, I think we only got to see samples of what Prime Yao was about. Never forget that Portland playoff game.
You brought up Capella, not me. And Capella was just as skinny as Yao was, and required to get "bigger" to survive the rigors of the NBA (regardless of whether its speed vs. bulk). Current centers that are slow end up being exploited, especially in playoff situations. You can work on "footwork" all you want, but Yao had fundamentally slower-twitch fibers that weren't going to all of a sudden move to cat-like speed. Yao was closer to a Patrick Ewing type, in terms of speed and footwork, vs. an Olajuwon. Olajuwon would thrive in today's NBA... not sure about Ewing. I'm also not saying Yao wouldn't be a beast on the offensive end... but he would have defensive limitations. Not even sure why we're bringing up Anderson. He only has one skill, hit an open 3. Don't ask me why that deserved $20 million dollars.
The elimination of illegal defense effectively ended the post-up game. Yao would have to adapt to a high-post or spot-up shooting role (which he could, but he was very good as a low-post player).
