I still believe if not for the Deke and Yao injuries, that team would have won it all. But you can't change history. So if we're going to compare this year's team to an uninjured team from that year, then you'd have to include DMo and Pat.
This guy is trying to convince me that Dwight is better than Yao. Yes Dwight is a great player and better then Yao at a couple of obvious things, but anyone with real basketball knowledge knows Yao is better overall.
LOL....oh boy. Dwight is a superior rebounder, defender, and PNR player. Scoring wise he is more comprable than you think.
I agree. We were better than the lakers, there only threat was Kobe, everyone else on that team got shut down. It was Kobe vs the Rockets, but after both our C's went down it was over. Lakers went on to the Finals easy, and played and beat the magic. If Yao stayed healthy we would have beat the Lakers, Nuggets, and the magic, Yao would have dominated Howard like he normally would.
You are talking to me like I am a hater. PNR no he is not, rebounder and defender obviously. Scoring? Dwight bricks baby hooks and cant make free throws. How is he a better scorer? Yao was more of a leader ( barely learned english ), better scorer, and clutch, hits 86% of free throws. Best big man shooting I have seen since Dirk. Who dominated who when they played each other? Any big man agaisnt Yao had bad game.
Also back to playoffs, did you watch Yao dominate Pryzbilla and Aldridge in 09? He dominated Gasol until he got injured. Dwight had an amazing post season last season, he was our best by far. Then again, this squad is much better than any squad Yao had even with Mcgrady.
I don't think you can't compare like this. The 09 team lost Tmac mid-season. Post season was around Yao offensively. So it was a post oriented team. This team is Harden centric. Dwight is used more as rebounder/leaper than a post threat. This team has way more finisher around the rim than the 09 team. I like this team a little better.
Scoring just means putting the ball in the basket, it doesn't really matter how you do it. Yes, Yao could shoot the ball well and Dwight primarily scores from point blank range but that doesn't matter. Look at their actual numbers in the playoffs. Per 36 minutes Yao averaged 20.2 pts on 20.9 FGA (51.9%) while Howard averages 18.8 pts on 16.8 FGA (59.4%). So, yes Yao scored 1.4 more pts per 36 minutes in the playoffs but it took him an additional 4.1 FGA to get those extra 1.4 pts. Yao's offense is definitely more diverse but that doesn't matter. Yao shot the ball much better than Shaq but Shaq was a far superior offensive player. You don't get style points. Fact is that in the playoffs Howards scoring output was comparable to Yao's while he was much more efficient. Likewise, Howard was far superior in rebounding (13.0 to 9.5) and blocked shots (2.6 to 1.5). Dwight also leads in steals (0.7 to 0.3) and assists (1.3 to 1.1). Yao certainly was a better FT shooter but overall Howard has been a much better playoff performer. Dwight's athleticism allowed him to effect the game much more than Yao. Yao had a tremendous shooting touch but he played the game in slow motion.
And Dwight can't get taken out of a game by being fronted. I loved Yao, but there were countless possessions wasted trying to get him the ball that doesn't show up in his stat sheet.
That was a very talented team, this is a very talented team. They aren't really similar personnel wise IMO or coaching wise. Different rules, different styles, just different.
Any real perimeter threat like Harden would have destroyed that defense. Artest, Lowry, AB were all good but didn't have the height, shooting or drive that Harden has. He would feast on two players to one guy
I thought the 08/09 team was going to be an elite defensive team, as in all time elite, but that didn't pan out. 104.0 compared to 103.4 Def Rtg for this years squad. Battier, Artest, Deke, Yao, Hayes, Lowry should have been REALLY good. Adelman can't coach defense. At the time people were blaming AB0 but he is getting minutes with CHI and their defense is great.
The rosters are difficult to compare so you have to decide whether any other team can match-up with the playing and defensive styles. I feel like Yao was unstoppable that year and we had placed an incredibly ideal supporting cast around him. Long range bombers, huge defensive wings that could rebound, PFs with postmoves, midrange and offensive rebounding ability, etc. The defensive pressure we could exert from top to bottom was ridiculous. As much as I love this squad, it feels like a patchwork quilt that simply works because of the glue that is MVP Harden. There are obvious deficiencies in the roster that need to be addressed and our most dominant stretches depend upon the opponent to panic into poor decisions leading to easy transition buckets. Perhaps the biggest difference between the squads is that 08-09 seemed to know who they were and how they fit. With the current guys, they seem to be figuring out more over time ("oh, I guess Dwight will be dominant on both ends today" "Terry is ice cold so he is useless tonight" "Smoove is pretending to be Nash again" "Ariza is hitting from absolutely everywhere!") Here is the asterisk. That 08-09 squad was likely good for one or two seasons at best. They feel a bit like the current Grizzlies do; they have an identity that isn't really going to change because the players are mostly done developing. Our current guys can become something special in the near future. DMo at his peak will be able to carry the offense on his own against nearly any big, TJ is harder to pin down but there is no reason he can't become a dependable support 4 next to Dwight, Capela is such an unknown commodity and can improve by leaps and bounds. We don't even know the full range of Harden's repertoire! TL;DR: One season? Give me 08-09 For the long haul? Give me this year's squad
The defense that was mentioned didn't involve a double team. A single guy fronting Yao gave us real problems (see Carlos Boozer).
