The guy is averaging 25 ppg while only shooting 15.7 shots per game and playing only 33 minutes a game. If he is really as one dimensional as everyone thinks he is, his offense would not be so efficient (no matter how good his point guard is).
The suns play a much faster tempo than the rockets, and Amare gets most of his points in transition. In the halfcourt game, he is good, but he is not the mismatch that Yao is.
Yao is a better Center, but I'm not so sure who the better player is at this point. It's really close and Yao is my favorite player but looking at it objectively it's still tough to call. Amare plays very hard though and from what I've read he works really hard on his game. I don't think he'll be another Shawn Kemp story. Yao definitely has to play more consistently though. I think he should be a 20/10 guy this year.
Numbers can be totally misleading. Dirk Nowitzki has an Efficiency of 30.29, Kobe Bryan has an Efficiency of 24.00. Would any GM take Dirk over Kobe? Not really. You got to consider total game impact. Amare score more points than Yao simply because he took more shots. The reason he took more shots is simply because defender didn't care much to deny him the ball or double-team him, while Yao is being fronted/double-tripled all the time. From the attention Yao got from defense, Yao is much more a threat than Amare is. And your opponent defense never lies. On the other hand, Amare is much more athletic than Yao, so he is expected to have more steals. Also Yao's rebounding/blocking need much work, just like Amare's offensive game.
Yeah, life can be good when nobody bothers covering you. It also helps when you are playing against trash teams. I won't say Amare is one dimensional, but I will say: 1) He has no low post game 2) He can't make a shot beyond 10 feet 3) He never receive nearly the attention Yao gets when being defended 15.7 shots per game? I like how you neglected how he's getting 10 FTs per game. The last two games when refs FINALLY started giving Yao some calls, look what happened? Fact is, Amare is the far superior athletic player; but other than that, Yao is FAR superior in every way. PS. One of them don't do jack on defence. I'll let you guess which one.
Thank you Lancet. I was just about to post something along those lines. Phreak: Like I said before, so far, I agree Amare is having a better season. Whether or not you like to take the quality of PHX opponents into consideration, and the fact that Amare does not draw double teams, I feel these are important indicators. Once again, Amare had a better season so far. You are really streching it to conclude "But just in terms of pure offense, Amare has a more flexible repertoire". Let's see how he does against Shaq, duncan, Yao, Ben, KG, dampier...None of these guys can stop Yao by themselves, nobody can, except for Yao of course. If having a "more flexible repertoire" make you a better offensive player, then I declare Mo more of an offensive threat than Shaq. I still feel Amare is one dimensional. He takes a variety of shots, but none of them are go to moves, besides his bull_doze_I_am_faster_and_stronger_than_most_in_the_league_move. When PHX really need a basket, they won't design a play for Amare to shoot a midrange shot or have him play back to basket. Amare is no Duncan, he takes all kinds of shots(most on transition when defense is not set), but that does not make him multidimensional. I must admit I have only watched maybe a combined 6 quarters of PHX basketball this year. If Amare somehow completely changed his game, I haven't seen it, but it's possible.
On another note, Kiki is biting his fingernails for signing an athletic but no true game player who previously looked good beside Jason Kidd in a run and gun offense to a gargantuan contract.
vs kings - 33 pts. 12 reb vs griz - 14 pts 11 reb. vs twolves - 25 pts 5 reb vs lakers - 32 pts 7 reb now those numbers aint that bad at all
A better center? probably not, but I don't think it's out of the question to say he's a better player. What makes it even close is Yao's stamina problem.
I think Amare is a great offensive player, make no mistake about that. But I just think that Yao is ready to explode. These past two games are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure everybody on the Rockets are counting on Yao doing that all the time. And when T-Mac comes back, I don't think he'll be taking shots away from Yao because he's already proven to be an unselfish player that wants to get other guys involved and he's seen the kind of havoc that Yao can create when he gets a lot of touches. And I really disagree that Amare has a more "flexible repertoire" than Yao. Like I said, I think Amare is a fantastic offensive player. He's strong, quick, is unstoppable when he has it within 5 feet, can run the floor, and does in fact seem to have improved his jumper. But Yao's just spent two night demonstrating how much game he has. In fact I even mentioned in another thread that Yao is starting to remind me more of Kevin Mchale with his offensive game than any of the more traditional comparisons in Kareem, Walton, or Shaq. Yao's got his baby hook, and jump hook going good right now. His turnaround jumper is still solid. He's shown off some of his up and under moves, and has been able to finish with both hands. He's utilizing the bank a lot as of late, and his scoop shot/finger roll has also been falling. He's been setting up on either block, or in the middle of the lane. He's starting to use his drop step more effectively, and last night when he had Grant on his back, Yao did a nice drop step and "rolled" off Grant in order to get an open look at the basket. Yao's been using his pet spin move on left block for a couple of easy buckets (also one offensive foul, but you can't win them all), and when he's been getting cut off on that move, he's been spinning back the other way and putting up an easy hook shot. That move is just so hard to stop, because he spins so tight, and he has that spin back ability. And there was one move near the end of the game, that I thought was just fantastic. We were down 3 and we either needed a quick bucket, or a 3, or even better a 3 pt play. So yao gets it in the block, takes a dribble into the lane, does the shoulder fake ala Jordan or Hakeem, turns into the lane, does a head fake, and then goes up and under and puts up a left handed shot while getting fouled. The defender just got a piece of the ball, while getting plenty of Yao arm. I was just so impressed that Yao was pulling out all the stops in order to not only get the bucket, but try to draw the foul too. He could have easily just did a turnaround jumper, and live off that, but with the headfake and up and under move, he was really trying to create contact more than anything else.
I noticed it,some of yao's move was just fantastic. And yao may copy that drop step-move from Tayler.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Amare's not even the best power forward in the league much less the best center.
well let him go up against those "premier" centers that you thought of and you will see that he is playing the center position as a second power forward.
Too early to tell. But you have to consider, at 6'8, amare is rebounding and blocking more shots than a 7'6 yao. Plus, he shoots a better clip in the ft line which is used to be a yao strong point. Well, its hard to gauge both of them but one thing is for sure, a rockets-suns game is going to be dynamite.
This basically tells the whole story. The Suns plays a much fast tempo game with Nash produce 10+ assists a game. With his speed and athletism, not many centers in the league can keep up with Amare. But keep in mind, this is the regular season, it's been proved over and over again that the Suns' style will not survive the playoff. Amare is a great athlete, a good average player. Yao is an average athlete, better basketball player. The only thing Amare does better than Yao is rebounding. Yao is just too slow to block out for the defensive rebounding.
Stoudemire isn't really a center, he's a power forward playing center. And his offensive game is really very limited--it's brutal to watch him shoot outside of eight feet or shoot free throws. So in that sense, he's not really like Shawn Kemp, who could do a lot more things offensively. Also he's no Kemp off-the-court, or at least not until he's had seven children by six women.
