If Yao Ming was born/drafted 10 years later than he was

Still a multiple year All Star

Still a Hall of Famer

Still a Rockets legend

Still a prominent member of Houston community

 

I think he could be even better than Hasheem Thabeet.

 

Careful how you address Rafer.

He was one of Clutch's favorites.

Spoiler

 

Which team would draft Yao?

 

well, you're talking the 2012 draft.

• Anthony Davis still gets picked #1,
• then CHA refuses to pick him #2, because Jordan
• China refuses to allow a Washington DC team to pick him #3,
• so Cleveland gets him at #4,
• and he'd be playing with Lebron now instead of TMac.

 

No surprise @DudeWah was the first OP "like"... lmao. No beef, just speaking from previous post history.

Is the OP's history anti-Yao, too? I'm asking because the obvious answer is, Yao would be EVEN MORE worse off than he was 10 years earlier.. I say 'even more" because his shortcomings were already highly evident during his rookie season. Besides the obvious physical disadvantages, Yao could barely catch a pass better than Asik. His shooting ability was special, and he deserves major props on that. Best Shooting Center all-time is arguable.

 

His skills would've been developed differently . He was already an incredible shooter for a big .

I think he wouldn't have bulked up as much.

To me his potential in this era is like a cross between Rudy Gobert and Aldridge and porzingis. He would've stayed slim to keel his athleticism and wouldn't be expected to bang in the post much . Though he would still posses a great turnaround game like LMA .

He easily could've put up 25 and 9 and been a good defensive center , though small guys would still be a matchup problem.

If he developed his 3 I fail to see how he's not a top 10 player offensively with a chance to be really good on defense too depending on how quick he stayed. Gobert is a monster and he's lean . Yao would've been even taller but maybe not as quick .

Potentially having a lower playing weight would mean less injury prone too .

I think there's no way he's not even more dominant unless he's just too slow on D , which I don't think would be the case

 

I liked it because I remember Yao being the first to execute the FT miss into a 3-pointer properly.

I remember that game vividly.

I also remember Rafer routinely building a house of bricks vividly.

I've always wondered why more FT shooters don't do this.

 

that Adams play lowkey would have been legendary if the thunder came back to win the game. Luckily Nene was there to save us.

 

On a side note, as bad of a pick as Royce White was, I don't see many names up there after him that blow me away. Considering this was considered Morey's big failure, it doesn't seem so horrible in hindsight.

(Miles "Plumplee" sounds like an intriguing prospect, however)

 

The funny thing about Rafer was that he was a better than average 3 point shooter, but was TERRIBLE around the rim. That teardrop.... Pat Beverley shoots the same shot now, but he actually makes it.

 

Adam's play was a lane violation. Committed by him.

Yao stood behind the line without even moving.

****ing rafer faded on that 3. Like, WHY?! Clean freaking shot. Fisher wasn't even close to you bruh!

 

Ask yourself, why did he pick Royce White. Undersized big with interesting playmaking abilities that could pay off BIGLY, right?

Check the 2nd rounder who he missed that fits that description.

Spoiler

Draymond Green

The talent Morey had been trying every draft to find ... he missed

I'm not blaming him, but you know he is blaming himself for missing that guy who he always wanted and had designed all his scouting analytics to find, and he had 3 picks and could have traded down or whatever...but missed on the undersized big with special talent. Playing at a major college program, Green even shot 39% on 3s his Sr year on decent volume, and had high level of assists and rebounds, JR year was similar, too. woof ... he should have popped out on the analytics radar as an outlier.

and fwiw: Jae Crowder and Kris Middleton were also in that 2nd round.

 

he would destroy the league

 

in that first round, only one worth a damn is fournier. but there were a couple of guys as heyp mentioned in the 2nd round that morey missed on

 

Heh, I remember that vividly... Possibly the single greatest basketball play execution I've ever seen, honestly. But no one will remember it because the shot didn't fall.

 

He should be glad he came when he did. If Okur was killing him at the 3 point line I don't think he could play in todays NBA. If AD can't take a team to playoffs I think the age of centers is over.

 

I, for one, am glad we don't have Draymond Green. I don't care how good he is. We don't need no nut-kicking, tantrum-throwing, flat-earth-believing b!tch who thinks he's way better than he is on this team. God that guy is insufferable.

There's probably some people on other teams who feel the same way about Beverley, and I get it to some extent, but Draymond is an order of magnitude worse... but maybe also an order of magnitude better.

 

Yao would probably develop a 3-pt shot of his own in today's NBA.