I know we aren't seriously comparing Shaq in his prime to Yao. Come on now. That is like comparing Kobe in his prime to T-mac. Our guys don't win any of these debates.
4 rings vs. never seen second round. Intangible: People afraid to play him vs. people wanting to dunk on him and send his silly layup and softie dunks into the 17th row.
...getting back to Morey's 2010 comment, I gotta think there are going to be a lot of teams overpaying that year for less quality players so it probably doesn't make sense to join the free agency war. It always happens that way when several teams free up cap space to sign a relatively small pool of marquee player. Someone loses out and has to find a way to spend a lot of money fast and that's how lesser players get big contracts. I hope what Morey means is that there will be some value in picking up discarded players by teams looking to free up cap space before 2010 free agency period begins. Morey seems to be really good at picking up role players that way...but I would be interested in how he has to approach to find us a legit star as he hasn't had to do that just yet(but soon will).
...good thing that's a hypothetical question then because I think you would really be sweating it out in the last few minutes of the game if that were the case.
Charles Barkley went on the Tonight Show a couple of years into Yao's career and told the audience that "Yao kicked Shaq's butt last night." I'm not suggesting that Yao was as dominant as Shaq but head to head they came out about even.
Yeah the homerism here is off the wall. I think they need to search for youtube for clips of Shaq in his prime cuz obviously they have never seen him play.
I think the answer's closer than you think in terms of potential. If Yao demanded the ball and took 20 shots a night I honestly believe he'd be up there around 30 ppg. Since he never has that's all it remains--potential. As it stands now there's no question you've got to go with Shaq. Now if the question is Shaq and Kareem or Shaq and Hakeem in both those cases I'd say Shaq comes up in second.
Like it or not, I'm not the only guy that thinks so. The consensus just about everywhere is that Yao takes way too few shots and that he's underutilized.
Yeah if Yao demanded the ball and took 20 shots a night he probably would be better but he doesn't do that. He's not as aggressive in telling his teammates he wants the ball as Shaq. If Shaq was unhappy about his touched he made it known. Yao doesn't do that, unless he is happy with his lack of touches.
It doesn't matter. Shaq would of fouled out the entire team if there was no bench. Even if they did foul Shaq he would dunk them along with the ball through the rim.
And that's kind of what makes him perfect for Adelman's offense. He's going to convert at a high percentage so he doesn't need a lot of shots to rack up points. More importantly he's a willing passer and a guy who doesn't need to dominate the ball. Perfect recipe for letting the rest of the team shine.
Like it or not hack-a-Shaq worked. His horrible fg% meant that sending him to the line was a decent strategy for neutralizing him.
Yao could EASILY average up around 30 if he got the kind of shots some guys do... He was up at 25 with 17 shots a game.... BTW, For Shaq's size, strength and length, he has always been a mediocre rebounder and defender at best........
The only problem is our Starters don't really run Adelman's offense like it should be ran. Yao unselfishness can be a good thing at times but also be a bad thing. I remember a game where he had 1 shot in the 2nd half. That simply shouldn't happen.
I watched Shaq quite a bit in his prime. I'm not saying he wasn't good but I think his numbers are skewered a bit when you try to compare him to guys like Hakeem and Yao. If you watched him so much, maybe you can name some of the competition he had in his prime....Theo Ratliff, Antonio Davis, Vin Baker, Dale Davis - those were All Star Centers in Shaq's prime. Literally Deke and Zo' were the only guys who were any good at the center spot during Shaq's time.
