It's his first year starting and he's getting better and better. Lets give him till the end of the year to see how far he comes before we make a final judgement on him. Also don't forget he didn't start playing bball until be was 17. IMO he will be top 5 by the end of the year.
Considering it is his first year as a starting center, I would've held off creating this thread until next year or till the summer
Defensively I think Asik could be the best C in the league. This guy is as good of a rebounder than anybody in this league. He's very good in defensive rotations and contests shots very well without fouling. He's also one of the best post defenders in the league. Offensively obviously he's near the bottom, however this guy has really quick feet for a seven footer and if he could just develop his post game this guy could be a force. Asik has very unique size and speed. I really like his work ethic, dude has tons of potential.
Are you talking about Osik defense or offense?? If you're talking his offense, then anybody can be an upgrade over him. But if you talk about defense, nobody YES NOBODY in the NBA (including Howard) is better than Osik. This is the reason why he is starting because his defense more than make up for his offensive woes.
A healthy Dwight is dominant...way more than Asik on defense..also Tyson Chandler and maybe Tim Duncan..Asik is close but he's not the best post defender
A healthy Yao is better than all of them. Problem was Yao, like Howard, could never stay healthy. I can't imagine long time Rockets fans wanting to go through that again.
Idk about that Yao was good but defense wasn't his specialty...remember Duncan has 4 rings and Chandler has 1..they are both anchors on the defensive end
Asik's offense is not nearly as bad as his reputation on Clutchfans would suggest. He has brick hands and his touch around the basket isn't very good, but he is a pretty underrated passer. He has games where he looks lost on the offensive end, and he also has some pretty impressive nights as well. Anyone who thought Asik was going to be a super skilled post guy just had unrealistic expectations.
I don't think the Rockets care much for post game TBH, by far their best post player stays on the bench unless it's garbage time.
Yao was pretty damn good defensively. It was never about his blocked shot numbers, but rather about how many shots he changed because he was a behemoth in the paint. Yao was an elite player on both ends of the court, anyone thinking otherwise has poor memory.
Exactly, when we had Yao, players didn't even try to drive the lane, they knew Yao was there. That fear factor is something that we have a little bit of again when Asik is in the game. It would be even better if the PF's we played weren't trash.
I'd say their defensive games were comparable, but Howard couldn't hold Yao's jock when it comes to the offensive side of things.
Yao never won defensively player of the year while Howard is 3x dop. Yao's mobility, stamina, and rebounding were big issues but he was good at clogging up the paint just because of his size.
We'll just leave it at this then, if a healthy Yao in his prime were in the league today, who would be the best center in the NBA?
The era of great centers has died a long time ago. Bring back any of the great centers in the past and they would be the best. Yao's resume isn't that impressive, too many injuries and only made it past the first round once.
Team success is irrelevant and Howard has the same injury problems. The correct answer is that of course Yao would be hands down the best center in the NBA if he was healthy and in his prime today.
