Well, it's interesting to see that Dwight Howard is considered the best center overwhelmingly. Anyway, good for him. But ya know what, in Houston, we've watched people diss Hakeem for years while people like Robinson and Ewing were rated above him. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over this. Afterall, the only thing that matters is getting that ring, that will end a lot of debate.
what!?!?!? Yao at 16% and Howard at 58%? whatttt I agree Howard is good, but Yao is better if you watched the last game.....
We Chinese fans believe the fact that in NBA a lot of peaple can't acknowledge the best center comes from China.Yao's effort and contribution always minimized,even ignored,by some medias such as ESPN.People who seldom watch the Rocket's game can only judge players based on the stats and highlighs,so the unfair vote result is not strange. DH is amazing this season,but it's too early to say he is the best,he needs to defeat Yao,he tried twice,failed. And we Chinese fans just care for Yao,care for the Rockets,care for the playoff.ESPN?Who cares? Sorry for the poor Endlish
actually we don't even bother to do anything about this poll. Try to put this poll on a Chinese sports website.
Yesterday in the Lakers and Bucks game on ESPN, Jeff was the commentator, I watched the game, another commentator asked jeff the question "who is the best center in the NBA DH or Yao?", and Jeff said Yao is the best offensive center, while DH is a better rebounding center, DH still needs to work on his skills, such as free throws, Yao is better than him in this category, he still has long way to go. Not the original sentences, but you got the idea.
with howard and amare you can just throw it up to the rim and they will both just go up and catch it. Thats what seperates yao from those 2. with yao it is verry difficult to throw the lob pass or throw it to him when hes beeing fronted.He doesnt have very good hands.He has good skill set but his hands are so small for a big man making it difficult for him to catch the ball. Hes better than both of them as far as skills but when its a tight ball game its gonna be difficult to get him the ball because its hard for him to catch it. i still rank him no 2 behind howard i got bynum at no 3. amare is a power forward not a center. if yao had good hands he would be a top five player and the best scorer in the nba yes even better than kobe. yao has only two weaknesses he has bad hands and the speed of the game gives him problems.
I know when they all hit 30 years old who will be the best. Yao's game isn't totally reliant on their athletic ability like Amare and DH. DH's rebounding numbers are great, but stats don't always tell the whole story. Yao always blocks his man out and gives up the rebound to whoever is in position. There is a reason why the Rox are always a good rebounding team even though they have midgets at guard and PF position. I can see why people will pick DH over Yao, since he always has the highlights and everyone keeps calling him a "beast" for some reason. He is a very good center, but teams will start to double him.
I have watch just about every game with Yao (including Chinese National Team games), and I have read just about every article ever written about the guy. No where ever have I read that Yao has small hands. Everyone knows about Yao's deafness in one ear, about Kwame Brown's tiny hands and about Kevin Willis's T-Rex arms. Again, I have never heard anything about the size of Yao's hands being a problem. That is just not true. In a tight ball game, you can't get the ball in Yao's hands? What about not being able to use Howard in a tight game because the guy is crap at the line.
ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programmng Network Yao doesn't need a pat on the back from those fudge packing - a##-kissers at ESPN or from any of these other hack-wannabe journalists (who have never played bb in their life). The same people who decide who should get MVP, go into the HOF, and who is deserving of each award, like Defensive player of the year or All-NBA or All-Pro. Most of them have no clue about the sports they write about....people complain about the fans voting for the all-star game, when I see some of the players in MLB, NBA, NFL who have selected to certain teams or received certain awards....it is nothing but shallow popularity contest. Popularity Contest is for high school, local community orgs, and Hollywood. Who gives flying f&&k about how popular you are.... Yao is carrying this team, right now and trying to get them into playoffs and maybe deeper towards a possible championship. I don't think we should be concerned with all the highlight reels and whose on the everybody best center poll list. The most popular teams in NBA the last 4 or 5 years have not won championship, no MVP elected player has one an NBA title, since Duncan in 03 and Shaq in 00. Let's not even talk about winning pct or argument. Because, none of the other centers have accomplished more than Yao in that regard. Howard has yet to win a single playoff game, not talking about series one single game, while Amare has yet to lead his team Western Conference title or even past the SA Spurs. Amare plays on superior (an MVP, top-flight SF, 6th Man of the Year, great shooters) and all around better team than Yao, so considering that. That's nothing to be brash about. With less rebounds, assist, less offensive skill, lower ppg (in high scoring system), and wekaer defense, he's still considered a better player.
That's so d@mn true. The only other sports network I can think of in America is FOX......... So, it's either Rupert or Mickey Mouse.
You act like ESPN (which is Entire SPorts Network) is some sort of gov't controlled communist channel. This ain't China man...there's no conspiracy to hold Yao back despite what some might believe. Does Yao suffer from bias because he's really tall? yup. Does he suffer because he doesn't look that graceful at times? yup. Does he suffer a bit because he's a foreigner from China? Yup. But here's the jist. the very notion of people picking "the best" center is thier opinion and it's up to them. Whether it's legitimate or not is not important, it's their opinion. And you have your opinion. But there's no rule by which anyone can say decisively who is the best or who is not.
Not true at all. But there is a limited perspective. Nothing to do with politics. It's not about China or communism. Never said anything along those lines. Conspiracy is taking a bit far, just saying that some teams and players are put on the pedestal more than others, like I mentioned the Spurs earlier. If the same team was in Boston or New York....the team would have monster ratings. It's more about market bias, journalist personal preferences, and etc. Most of their journalists are from that the northeast area of the country, so naturally they would support the bigger teams from that market. Next thing is that Howard and Amare appear on way more highlight reels than Yao and others, so most would assume (even writers) that they are the better centers. Think of Hollywood and theater actors, some people would assume someone like Will Smith, Tom Cruise, or George Clooney are the greatest actors in the world, because they appear on the most magazines, entertainment shows, and appear in all of the blockbuster movies... Although, talent wise, they may not be as good as some of the actors in your local theaters or someone like John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, or Laurence Olivier. Conspiracy against classical trained actors, it's just that people don't see them or know what truely makes a great one. In reference to Yao, he probably would be more appreciated in older era than he is know. OT: ANother thing is I'm not saying that our media is communistic, I'm just refer to it as being very monopolized, especially in mainstream. In actuality, there are things you can't say, people - things - ideas you can't talk about or make reference to in the mainstream media. Things as well as people are filtered.
Relax, it's just a poll. No real basketball mind believed Yao should be an all-star in his first couple of year, but he was voted in anyway. Leading the poll doesn't mean he is a better player, just what the fans think.
