Both of them only played playoff once, first round exit. Had similar stats first year. Amare won the rookie of year award, because sun made palyoff, while rox didnt in 2002. Yao is two time allstar starter in the west conference over Shaq, Amare hasnt made it yet. One thing thought, if you can have either Yao or Amare, not both, down the strech to make something happen in a close game, who will you pick? I will pick Yao on the offensive end and defensive end on any day any night. It's really hard to say who's better. A 7'6 guy with skills is sure special, that's all I know.
i hate to be a jerk, but the fact that this topic gets 3 pages of replies pretty much sums up the state of this board right now....
It's too early to tell. Everyone knew Yao was going to need to develop. Amare was more NBA ready than many thought. I think Yao makes the team better, and Amare knows how to make himself better. Here's the other problem. Amare is more consistent than Yao. When Amare is good, he can dominate. When Amare isn't on he is still pretty good. When Yao is on, nobody can really stop him. But the thing about Yao is that when he's off, there is no middle ground. He doesn't passes up average center and drops down to liability. When Yao is on, he can't be beat. When he's off he out and out sucks. All we need from Yao is to bring up his bottom end game. If his valleys weren't so low, that would be a huge improvement. Then we could work on getting more peaks.
Yao gets a lot of pounding in the post and is playing back to the basket. Center position is much much more difficult to master.
Once Yao starts getting some calls, it won't even be a contest. Actually, once the officials stop calling all the crappy calls against him now, he's going to be producing much more.
Better Center: Not yet Better player: Yes. He as been a better player since the halfway point of there rookie year.
This is nothing. The Yao vs Hakeem threads will usually go 6 or 7 pages strong. And T-mac vs Kobe is another topic that is starting to get some play.
It still comes down to who would you draft to build a franchise around. Yao would be the choice 9 times out of 10. Yao has shown a much better ability to make others around him better. I have not seen that in Amare. Yao does not have any major holes in his game. I agree that his primary limitation is his quickness. Amare has major holes in his game. All that said, I would love to have Amare playing next to Yao.
Yao needs to develop a good jumpshot like KG and Tim Duncan if he wants to elevate his game. Only guy in the NBA who can take 100% of his shots within 5 feet of the basket is Shaq. Yao is no Shaq in terms of brute force. Yao needs to practice the jumpshot way more. It's horrid. There wouldn't even be any contest between Yao and Amare if Yao could shoot like Brad Miller. Yao needs to go back to communist basketball camp and shoot a million jumpers. He might have to get lashed for every 5th missed basket.
I think this is a really good point. I have never seen a player so manic depressive (basketball wise) as Yao Ming. And really, I just don't understand why. Is it the refs, his positioning, his confidence, the guards, the fronting, what? I mean all basketball players encounter these problems. Why does it have to affect him so extremely. I just don't get it.
Where did you get the idea that Yao "was the first Rox getting to the paint and hoping to get a pass for an easy one"? It's a well known fact that Yao is terrible at running. It becomes so bad that the Rockets couldn't even use him to rebound when other Rockets shoot the FTs. Do you know why the Rockets have to slow the tempo down to play a half court possesion game, even they have guys like Franics, Mobley, now TMac? Nash is an average half court PG. His strength is in transition game, when he pushes the ball up very hard, penetrates before the defense set up. Yao will be tired like a dog after two trips, can you image him rebounding in that situation?
I don't. Please tell us. Magics' Showtime Lakers ran with an ancient Abdul Jabbar, the Celtics of that era ran with Robert Parrish, McHale and Bird and the Kings ran with Vlade at C and now run with Brad Miller, Webber and Peja...not exactly a track team. The Rockets are not a pedal to the metal fastbreak team but they IMO are a very good transition team.
Tell me how may of the players you mentioned are 7'6"/320lbs. We must watch the different team. I don't think anyone here mistaken the Rockets as a up tempo team from a half court slow tempo team, and I guess the Rockets management know that as well by hiring JVG last year.
If that 7'6" guy in the middle would GO GET THE FRICKEN BALL, we could be a running team. Yao could rebound and throw an outlet pass and be the trailer on the break. BUT...Yao CAN'T REBOUND for squat...he is the Mo Taylor of centers. DD
If JVG let him stay under the basketball rather than help on the perimeter, he probably can average 10+ rbs merely by height. Right now he spends too much time on covering Mo or Ward's ass.
