There will be a HUGE difference between the a owner's & manager's pick and a coach's & fan's pick. If you are a owner or manager of a NBA team, there is no way you are going to pich anybody except Yao. Just think about the Alex. Form the poorest owner in NBA to one of the richest in just 4 years. You would be a idiot to make any other choice. However, the choice from a coach or a fan might vary as enough said above. My top 5: 1. LB 2. Wade 3. Yao 4. Dirk 5. Brand
You guys are crazy if you have Kobe over Lebron and Wade. IMO no question the latter two are the 1st guys choosen if starting a team. One guy is 24 and just carried his team to the NBA championship in the most dominant playoff display by a guard since Jordan. Lebron is 21 and had a great case for the MVP last year, even more upside, and advanced his team in the playoffs. Even if you argue Kobe is the better player right now, which is debtable if you consider on/off court leadership (which is part of building a team, you want a star that inspires others), the 4 years difference between him and Wade and the 7 year difference between Lebron and him make the others a no brainer if starting a franchise. Also, as good as Yao is, him or Dirk is the 1st C/PF you start a team at this point among the elite 4s and 5s career, he is behind Lebron and Wade. SOLID TOP 2 (take your pick) 1a Lebron 1b Wade SOLID NEXT 2 (take your pick) 3 Yao 4 Dirk (yes he is Kobe's age, but ht and shooting prolong one's career and he is the superior leader) ROUNDING OUT TOP 5-10 (no particular order) Kobe Melo Bosh Howard KG TD Now if Tmac bounces back with a productive full year and there is full confidence his future health looks good he would knock someone out of the 2nd 5 (probably TD and KG as they will be 31 next year), but not until then.
I am just curious. Apart from Lebron, why would you take a swingman over a premier big man for the next 5-10 yrs?
Well done (agree with top 4) except I think you have Brand too high. I could accept taking him over Duncan and KG, though that is a tough sell to me (I'd take the other two, I just think they can have more total presence). I'd also have trouble taking Brand over Bosh and Howard because those guys are so much younger. Most people really are not properly weighing that Kobe is a 28 year old swingman (he is highly depedent on his athleticism) and has major leadership questions. Just because he could easily be the most skilled individual basketball player in the planet (though a healthy Tmac might be right there as well) is a far cry from deciding to build a team around him.
You are all crazy! You are doing thrad starters homework on who he should rank for his Fantasy Basketball team. Good job Yao#1, u are THAT good!
I found this on FOXSPORTS... "SimLeague Basketball puts you in command of a professional basketball team of not only current players, but past players as well. Want to load up on scoring? How about a duo of Jordan and Chamberlain? Like to pound the boards? How about Rodman along with Russell and Elgin Baylor up front? You put together your team in your style and then put it to the test! And not only do you play the role of the General Manager, but the head coach as well. You are responsible for setting your strategies - whether to get out and fastbreak or grind it out in the half court. And you'll need to set playing time and even deal with injuries." http://www.whatifsports.com/nba-l/default.asp
yao#1, there is no way any nba gm would pass on lebron james for yao ming. That's like saying you would take yao over jordan. Although i could do hakeem over lebron - that's a no brainer- but lebron is getting the job done at such a young age, and even financially, i think lebron brings almost as much to a club as yao, although maybe not as much - he's the king.
I disagree. There is no question Lebron is a huge talent, but there are so many more very good to great swingmen in the NBA then there are very good to great centers. Also, dont compare Lebron to Jordan just yet. Yes he is a phenomenal talent, but Jordan had a will and ability in the clutch that Lebron has not yet shown, and also had incredible defense which Lebron has not shown. I know the Rox would think long and hard if the Cavs offered Lebron for Yao straight up right now, and personally I dont think they would do it. Yao and Tmac are a much more formidable tandem, then Lebron and Tmac would be.
I know this doesnt translate because its fantasy basketball, and individual stats are really the only thing that counts (ex. Marion is good, but not the 4th best player in the L), but I was part of a nice 30 team fantasy draft, and this is how it went. 01 LeBron James SF 02 Kobe Bryant SG (my pick) 03 Kevin Garnett F 04 Shawn Marion F 05 Dwyane Wade G 06 Dirk Nowitzki PF 07 Elton Brand PF 08 Gilbert Arenas PG 09 Tracy McGrady GF 10 Ray Allen SG 11 Paul Pierce GF 12 Allen Iverson PG 13 Dwight Howard PF 14 Andrei Kirilenko F 15 Chris Paul PG 16 Steve Nash PG 17 Tim Duncan FC 18 Chris Bosh FC 19 Yao Ming C Battier- 23rd pick in round 2 Alston- 26th pick in round 2 Swift- 23rd pick in round 3 Bonzi- 1st pick in round 4 Head- 19th pick in round 4 Gay- 13th pick in round 5 Howard- 19th pick round 6 Snyder- 29th pick round 8 (my pick) Hayes- 2nd pick in round 9 (my pick) Wesley- 5th pick in round 9 (LOL) Deke- 17th pick in round 9 Sura- 20th pick in round 10 (LOL) Novak- 28th pick in round 10 VSpan- 29th pick (2nd to last in the entire draft) (my pick)
Depends on who your coach is, if the coach is D'antoni you'd take Lebron, Nash, Chris Paul. If it's a more traditional coach you'd go big and Yao is in the conversation to be #1
i'm not talking about a trade,straight up for lebron or yao, but i am saying, every gm, owner and coach would take lebron #1 over yao, any day of the week and twice on sunday. For a 21 year old, he's put up incredible numbers, beyond jordanesque- and although we don't know if he'll ever reach that level- the same could be said about yao - but in yao's case, he isn't close to hakeem level... Does anyone feel me on this, or am i just bonkers -
1) Lebron - How can you not pick this guy... turning a Cavs franchise from a joke to playoffs in 1 year and this is with an amount of hype that should crush any NORMAL human being. 2) Wade - This guy lead a team that was in NO WAY the best team in the league (IMO) to the championship on sheer will, that says ALOT. (Jordanesce?) 3) Kobe - 100% Hate this guy, but I mean 81 points and turned a terrible lakers team with nothing on it into a playoff team has to say something. 4) Yao - Can't find this size anywhere and with that touch, great player. (If this list on marketability and who I would pick if I own a franchise for profit margin Yao would be #1 in a second, he gave Les Alexander a ridiculous amount of money from Jersey sales and what not). 5) TMac / KG - I think if both these guys are healthy and with a team (something pretty good), they are as good as anyone, they are those wiley old veterns that are still around/under 30, pretty sweet deal to have that much expirence with that low of an age. 6) Nash - Too good for words, best player under 6'2" maybe of all time, great for bringing in fans along with winning games. Good player all around 7) Melo - I think this may be low for him, but he has yet to prove anything to anyone. He can lead a team to the playoffs but even with good stats doesn't get enough wins (reminds me of Chris Webber and AI, can put up sick numbers but can't win).
No, you are correct. Yao is great, top 5 to build around IMO, Lebron is the man right now with you weigh how good he is with the number of great years left. The only guy that would make me have a difficult choice between him and Lebron for building a team around is Wade. Despite Wade's awesome playoffs--most dominant playoff performance by a guard/swingman since Jordan, I'd probably have to take Lebron for the extra 2 years youth. I know a lot of guys around here hate the Mavs, but Dirk is way underrated around here.
man I agree with you ! Wade has great attitude and clutchness, but his skill set is just not that good.
You take franchise centers 1,period.Guys like Kobe or Wade need the big man to win it all.The only exception to even think about ahead of Yao is Lebron who has plenty of Magic Johnson in him and a touch of Malone and MJ.....Even so,just take the dominant center.
Anyone who would choose Yao over Dwade or LaBron is crazy. I was proven last year that although Yao could put up big numbers by himself but that did not amount to wins. Without Tmac, yao was not able to win last year. That makes the other 2 an easy pick. Dwade single handedly won the NBA finals for the Heat. Yes, he has Shaq on his team but he did not show up for the finals. Wade took over the series and just dominated and got MVP. LaBron is similar. Although he did not reach the finals, he came close to defeating a much more talented detroit pistons team. He also took over this series and carried his team. These guys are both playmakers who can dominate by themselves. Because of the overall speed of the league, if a team was only based on Yao and no other star like Tmac, they would be run on all day. Yao is a great player and the best center in the league, but you guys have to be realistic. Yao alone could never win a championship. Centers are just not as important to the game today as they once were.
Hm... You can't win with one guy no matter how good an individual is. When Yao put up those numbers, Yao had Wesley, Howard, Skip, and other third tier players for the majority fo th etime. While other players had a supporting cast that far outstrips Yao's in every single category. When you have two franchise players, you can't really afford to put too many pieces around them. so if one goes out, the other is pretty much stranded. Perhaps I'm just traditional in the sense, but in my point of view, you should always build around a big man.
If you don't have T-mac, you can afford to put a lot of other valuable role players around Yao, and that would make the team very competitive if discipline basketball is played. That is exactly how the Spurs were built. If you look at all the championship teams bar the Jordan Era, the common denominator is always a strong low post presence. Take Shaq out of last year's Miami (despite his diminished role) and Mourning's role out of that, see if Wade can take the team to a championship. A center is the anchor for both the defense and offense. Despite all of Lebron's offensive talents, I don't really see him as a defensive juggernaut. Also, if you put the Cavs in the west, I doubt they would enjoy the same success. I mean... why would Greg Oden be such a prized asset. To me, the abundance of talented swingmen make them interchangable. A big man is a rarity, and if you don't have a quality one, its near impossible to win big. Same goes for lebron. If Big Z doesn't play well, they will not go very far.
Is it just me or does anybody else feel like Oden is severely overrated? From what I've seen of the guy, he looks like he has potential to be a stalwart defender in the NBA with a limited offensive reportoire. Like a Mutombo with hops but less shot blocking instincts. Just have a difficult time seeing him being a franchise center along the lines of Yao/Shaq. Just don't see enough offensive ability there.
