Shaq: Yao Ming a candidate to succeed him as the NBA's most dominating player

As good as Amare and Dwight are, they will not be as dominating as Yao will be. Those two have great talents, but Yao has the best all-around talent.

 

Yao Ming already passed Shaq and is currently ahead of Howard and Amare.

 

amare is done.

look what happened to allan houston, penny hardaway, and antonio mcdyess. all had the exact same injury.

dwight has the rebounding and defense, but lacks the scoring ability that yao has. yao, however has become a very nice rebounder and defender.

 

As much as I hate to say it, I still have to give the most dominating center title to Shaq. It kills me, but just the fact that Shaq has done this for a long time and has a few rings tells me that he is the most dominant. By saying he is the most dominant, I'm not saying he is the best all-around center. Yao has shown that for a big man, he has some of the best skills we have ever seen. Yao is very, very close to taking the title, but I think Shaq and the Heat proved last year that Shaq is still the most dominant big man in the game. Who knows what I would be writing right now if Yao didn't get hurt last year though. =)

 

don't get me wrong, but shouldn't the title of most dominant center be passed from the best to the second best center of the NBA first?

 

Just drop it, Mr. Dampier. You aren't fooling anyone.

 

Uh...Shaq? Hi. Yao is already better than you. You're past your prime. It's not 2000 anymore.

 

The truly dominating center has this ability to make the opposition surrender without really chanllenging him. We saw that in Shaq. In his hay days, no body really tries to guard Shaq with all out efforts except for one or two people, because they know the efforts would be futile. The best stragtegy to guard Shaq was to hack him, or just let him score two pts if he cathes down low without a 3 pt play.

Yao's not at this level yet. Opposition still believes that Yao can be stopped if they push him hard enough, harass him enough, play him physcially. You still see those no names 3rd string centers like Jackie Butler play with all their efforts to stop Yao at one end and challenges him offensively at the other. I hope one day Yao will be able to put fear in his opponents eyes just by catching the ball or patroling the paint. That day will be the begining of Yao's dominance.

 

May be it's simply because that's best way to defend Shaq since he can't really shoot FTs?

You can't hack Yao because he can make his FTs. So what do you expect the other centers to do? I'd do whatever I can (ie defending him with all my efforts) in order to keep my job.

 

I think the most dominating player is the player that no one wants to piss off. Shaq is still the man but Yao is only a few elbows away.

 

True.

But I just dont feel the oppsition is scared to death when Yao's caught the ball. Right now everybody knows he is scorer, but are not realy fearful of him. A true dominant center puts fear in his opponents. Shaq had that. Dream had that. I think Ducan also has it. These guys could punish you down the strech when it counted not matter what. I just think Yao at this stage is a very very good center, but still maybe a step away from being a great player to be truly dominant.

 

Shaq and Dream in their primes put more fear in their opponents than today's Yao? I definitely agree with that. Everyone knows Yao still has room for improvement and we have not seen the best of the big guy yet.

Is the ability to put fear in your opponents the only criteria to determine dominance? I don't know about that. But you definitely deserve to have your own opinion.

Go Rockets.

 

Shaq and Dream in their primes put more fear in their opponents than today's Yao? I definitely agree with that. Everyone knows Yao still has room for improvement and we have not seen the best of the big guy yet. By the way, does anyone else still remember the 'Yao has peaked' thread in November 2002?

Is the ability to put fear in your opponents the only criteria to determine dominance? I don't know about that. But you definitely deserve to have your own opinion.

Go Rockets.

 

Shaq did <b>just </b> win another championship........and took his team to the Finals in only his second year in the NBA i believe.........4 total championships........one might say the Yao might be better right now, which is fine, but for Yao to have as memorable a career and as dominating as Shaqs, he has a loooong way to go.......

 

I think it depends on which perspective you take.

On one hand, Shaq is still the most dominant because they're just isn't anyone in the league that can withstand his physical presence. He's just stronger than everyone else. Right now his reaction time, reflexes, and quickness declining are the factors leading to his overall decline in productivity.

On the other hand, Yao is more dominant because he'll pretty much always put up better offensive and defensive numbers than the opposing center/big man.

People can still try and limit Yao and give him a hard time. He isn't able yet to just take over a game the way Shaq used to.

 

No. Of course not. But it's one that dominant center must have IMHO. There are good scorers and there are dominant players. In order to have fear from the oppistion, one has to prove himself unstoppable no matter what you try. Yao still has some work to be done in that area.
Honestly, I think our Championship run largely hinges on Yao being that type of player, not just a prolific scorer.

But yeah, go Yao, go rockets.

 

He's been dellusional for like a DECADE now, just smile and nod like we do elderly people at the Home.

 

think of it as dream passing his status on to shaq. when hakeem was at the end of his career we all still held him on that pedestal even though we knew shaq was at his prime/almost there. so it's only fitting that shaq be able to pass this honor on and not have NBA fans think less of shaq. we all know yao will be great. no need to shove it in peoples faces.