Ok, saying Chris Bosh is better than Kevin Garnett. You and John Hollinger must live on the same street.
Carmichael dave, I think you're right that pretty much anyone would take DH over Yao, especially if it were in the draft. Despite Yao being 7'6 with great moves, he's nowhere near the 'freak' that DH is. I won't necessarily argue that Yao is better, because I don't think he is, but it's much closer to a toss up than people give it credit for. You say that their head-to-head matchups are not relevant, but they are because you're comparing them to each other. It's not everything, but has to be taken into account. The reality is that Yao has kept DH partially in check during head to head matchups, but DH has had lots of problems stopping Yao. Dwight hasn't really accomplished anything Yao hasn't in the playoffs either. What I do remember is that he was totally exposed on offense and the Magic found they couldn't consistently rely on him on offense...I'm sure he will improve over time. DH has the edge stats wise during the regular season, but I'm eager to see what type of performance each will have during the playoffs. Yao is more prone to rough games, but I believe he also has more potential to completely dominate a game on the offensive end.
I'm about the biggest KG fan there is. But Bosh has passed him up in most ways. Al Jefferson (who KG was traded for) is also better. What KG brings now (in addition to great play) are the locker room intangibles, and the grittiness and swagger needed to win a title. But as far as pure on court play, I'd take Bosh and Jeff, who will be doing this long after KG has hung them up.... (but we should really get off this topic before the online architect makes us return to the source and take the blue pill)
Oh BTW Carmichael Dave, Without breaching any 'golden rules', what's your objective take on the hallabaloo with Ron and Tracy? I'm regarding Ron calling out Tracy's defense to the media the other day, which PTI and the national media have used to compare Ron to the T.O's/Pacman's of the world. My thinking is that Ron's opinions were pretty accurate. Tmac's getting better, but not meeting what anyone considers to be the standard. However, Artest might need to look into a mirror at some of his own shortcomings this season. He's routinely struggled to fit into the offense, and has picked up the same 'ballstopper' label as Tracy. I like Ron and I completely support keeping him and watching him battle in the playoffs, but he violated a 'golden rule' by putting all this out into the public. I'm no professional athlete, but this seems to be one of those team discussions that should have never left the court or the locker room.
I think there are many people in the world that do not have the ability to hold back, or filter what they say. I think Ron wants to win, and Ron is emotional. There are tons of people like him in the world, but they do not have their every word recorded and broadcast and broken down. Bottom line: As uncomfortable as it may seem sometimes, I'll take a Ron-Ron any day over the same old pre-packaged FDA approved answers we usually get in the sports world.
you know what i respect about the kings fans? they seem really loyal to their team. i know that a majority of new fans here don't respect hakeem olajuwon and what he did for the rockets. if fans from other places say chicago or san antonio say stuff about the rockets, that's fine cause that's not their team. when fans from other teams know that the rockets made the 86 finals and your so called fans don't. then that's sad. I respect the Kings nation. Thanks for OT and Kenny!
I've been critical of Ron at times, but overall I'm one of many who realize the Rockets might be currently in the lottery if they didn't have him. Going back to what you brought up when we first picked him up in July, the expectations were huge for this team. It was already a 55 win team (minus Yao for a lot of the season) and the hopes were that Artest would be the missing link to a potentially dominant ball club. Unfortunately it's been a sesaw affair and the rockets are 7 or 8 games behind where we'd all hoped they'd be. When Tracy was injured and in a out of the line up however, Ron was a huge assest. Currently the team's at 31-20 and still very much alive and poised for a strong run. If Morey never pulled the trigger on Artest and the team limped into the season with a gimpy Tmac, I see this being closer to a .500 club. Now that Houston's own little "big three" are back, so are the expectations. A rough couple games with a full squad seem to have people around these parts demanding to the team to get rid of Ron or Tracy, and the media has poored gasoline all over a tiny spark between the two. As a fan I'm still a big supporter of the Ron Artest experiment and whatever happens, I think he'll be a hell of a fun addition come playoff time.
I've noticed some of your observations too. I think was 9 years old when the Rockets beat the Knicks in '94, and don't recall being a huge fan that could really grasp how dominant Hakeem was. However, I still remember what I saw, and I haven't seen anything like it since.
Fair enough, I dont think the stats are telling the story in this case. If GM's had to choose between Yao and Dwight right now on who they would give the ball to down the stretch it would be a landside victory for Yao which to me makes him more valuable then Dwight. Now I do think if you have the draft today that about 95% of the GM's would take Dwight because his potential is very very high. That 5% that would take Yao would be the GM who wants to be the GM for profit only. As regards to Al Jefferson, he is a big power forward and I would have to think twice if I had to have Yao or Jefferson. And the reason that its hard is because I see Jefferson twice a year and hes always putting up 30+ points and 15+ boards on us. Maybe consistency is a problem I dont know but the guy is definently a beast. Carmichael as a whole we are def glad that you post on here and are very intrigued by what you have to say.
