Who cares if they are untouchable or not. Those two guys have done nothing for their teams yet. The total playoff series wins for their career combined: a big 0. And yet one has played in league for four years and the other has played, what, 7 or 8 years? Individually, they are good players, but they are not great winners. I hope next season it will be different.
If by 'those two guys' you mean Lebron and Yao (or even Tmac), then the total playoff series wins = 1 (Cavs over Wizards this past year).
Personally i am getting sick of McGrady. He used to be my favorite player because him and Kobe were the top players in the league. Then he started whining about his back.... and his family problems... and how he is scared to penetrate anymore. He needs to get his act together and start learning some determination from Yao. Yao is amazing he works his ass off so much. McGrady just needs to take it like a man and play through it. DID U SEE HASLEM THIS YEAR!!! he had like a seperated shoulder, broken finger, screwed-up nose, a banged up body, AND HE STILL PLAYED... u need to love the game and appreciate u are getting PAYED TO PLAY BASKETBALL.
Actually i do have a bad back and ankles and i still start for my football team cuz i love the game. Im just worried he wont have the passion for the game he had 2 years back. O yea m_cable big fan of your posts one of the more intelligent guys here.
Good arguments, though I don't think anyone outside of Houston will agree with you. Hell, I'm just glad Yao closed the gap enough this year to make this a debate again. A couple of years ago he was #2 on this list and it seemed downhill from there. Luckily, he made huge progress last year and is right on track to being the game's best big man next year. He's a sure fire HOFer. Lebron will still always be better though. While Yao's size is his greatest quality, it's also his greatest weakness. He'll never be a great defender, will always have some stamina issues, and it will always be a task just to get him the ball. Lebron's greatest advantage is that he already has the ball in his hands.
Not likely. I've read elsewhere in these forums that Flyin' Ryan is pretty close to automatic with his threes in practice. Practice is a whole different animal than live games.
But Yao can shoot in games as well. He's becoming totally automatic from the free throw line, and those 12 ft fadeaways with a hand in his face aren't exactly a piece of cake. I'm not saying he should be taking anything close to 3 pointers, but running some plays to get him open looks from 15-18 would be a big benefit to his game, and prevent teams from being able to key in on denying him the ball.
I Noticed something from this list. I know role players are important, but check out the top 2 players from each team on that list. The teams which add up to the lowest points are the Heat: 1+14 and Suns: 7+8. We are third with 4+13. That is quite special, to have 2 such high quality players. We are in good hands! Now if only we can get 1 or 2 more SOLID role players...
The 3rd team all-NBA is 4th most "untouchable." Wow these idiots are hypocrits. BTW Kobe 9th? Yea sure.
Read the rules he put out for his column and then critique. And it's Simmons' opinion, not the collective NBA writers. For example: You would not trade Yao for Kobe. No one in their right mind would do that. But would you trade Yao for Duncan, Dwyane Wade or LeBron? "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm". Not saying anyone would, but you'd at least entertain the idea.
I don't know about that. Bill Walton would take Yao. Seriously, the "analysts" would take LeBron but if you asked GM's and coaches, I'm not so sure. For example, Hubie Brown constantly praises Yao. True, LeBron gets the ball but at this point LeBron can't get much better in terms of sheer production. Only way LeBron gets better is if he gets better teammates that helps him get farther in the playoffs. He showed this season a one-man show only gets you so far. Yao, on the other hand, still has room for improvement and he has some help. If Yao simply continues his play from last season and sustains it for a full season and wins a playoff series, Yao will be considered by all a top 5 player. Simply having Yao landed us TMac. What has LeBron landed the Cavs? Another example of having a dominant big is better than having a dominant small. Right now, no way you trade Yao for LeBron.
You imply it will be hard for LeBron to get better while Yao has more room to improve. Why is that? You don't know how much LeBron can improve. Nobody's been where he is right now (so young and so good) therefore he is creating a new mold. I don't see how anyone can logically argue Yao has more room for improvment and use that as the reason he is more untradeable. You also can't use the fact Yao has better teammates either and that he "landed" us Tracy. So far, landing Tracy hasn't done anything for us. LeBron won a playoff series; Yao has NOT. Advantage to LeBron, not Yao. His one man show has gotten further than our two player show. So, yes, I would take him over Yao as would the vast majority of fans, GMs and players.
Nice discussion. Yao & Tracy's ultimate success will be ruled by surrounding them with competent talent that can hit shots, pass, dribble and rebound. Same problem that KG, Kobe, AI and other greats have. Depth. BTW why isn't Ryan Bowen on this list? Gundy will never trade him.
Once again people. This is not about whether LeBron is a better player than Yao, or whether he has more "upside" than Yao. It's not about who you'd rather have on your team or who you'd rather build your team around. The question is: which player is more likely to get traded? And with all the uncertainty facing LeBron's contract, endorsement deals etc. and the fact that he has not even commented about his extension offer after more than a week, there's no reason not to say he's more likely to get traded in the near future (via S&T) than Yao is. Essentially, the only way anyone in the NBA could get Yao off our hands would be if they nuked the city of Houston and pried him off our cold, dead hands.
LeBron averaged something like 30-31 ppg last season. I don't see him getting much better than that. Yao is on the cusp of a breakout year. We still don't know what he is capable of. No way I trade Yao right now. Simple as that.
