Obviously I didn't meant to imply that 1 on 1 Draymond Green would shut Yao down. Basketball is a 5 on 5 game, but Green would be the main person playing center guarding Yao. Of course he would have help, fronting necessitates it. Small ball lineups are exactly what caused Yao the most trouble. Pit him up against a traditional center and Yao would always dominate, but small ball lineups was Yao's kryptonite, and the Warriors just happen to have one of the best small ball lineups in history. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Yao would miraculously dominate today's Warriors, there is everything pointing to the opposite.
yeah but you had luifa to kill them softly with the midrange scoops, aaron fly by or threes, and the bowling ball that was lowry. plus, artest would knock the dandruff out draymond. you guys think the rockets went to the conference champion last season. But 2009, the lakers v rockets was the finals series. f'ing injuries.
Proof that people can't talk neutrally about Yao Ming's game. Those Utah series will always go down as some of the most painful series ever, for many reasons, but one of them being Yao getting nullified by Okur and Boozer. I don't get why this sour post was made in this thread, but still. Let's be real. Yao had fantastic, rare gifts, and major glaring weaknesses. Saying Green would punk Yao is "ad hominem"? LOL. I don't think that word means what you think it means. Let's just do what Clutchfans usually doesn't do well, and remember the good times. (Also, forget Draymond Green. That dude is a flopping, hacking nightmare to play against. Flopping agitators were Yao's greatest weakness.)
Yao would get murdered if he played against the current Warriors. No argument there from me. So would other great big men like Shaq, who would fare slightly better than Yao offensively, but still hurt his own team on defense if Draymond played the 5. The Warriors will go down as the best team in regular season history, so yes Yao would struggle as would a lot of other dominant post players in the past. But, no idea why you brought up Draymond's name in the first place other than to bait other posters. The OP is a clip against the 2008 Warriors...in no way was there any suggestion made that Yao would do the same thing against the 2015 Warriors.
You mean shut down by refereeing and officiating right? I remember games where I would have a ridiculous amount of respect for how he would not lose his **** for the way the refs officiated him.
Hard to believe, but Rockets had a game where only 4 total players scored. When speaking of zone hurting bigs' offense, no one mentions it can help their defense. Shaq doesn't have to chase Draymond (or whoever) around. He could stay near paint, just not in it more than 3 seconds. If the opponent wants to jack 3's without a teammate under the basket, let them. Offensively, Shaq was more athletic, coordinated, and had much better hands than Yao. He wasn't nearly as susceptible to fronting and would destroy Dramond and the Warriors. Was only a few years ago when he retired. He experienced the Flop-Era and zones, yet was still able to post the highest FG%'s of his career in his old age.
I don't see many teams with 5 players above the 3PT. Regardless, 4 vs 5 on the 3PT line is better than giving up layups. All backcuts and most drives would be eliminated with Shaq in the paint.
The poster before me said that Yao routinely destroyed the Warriors. I anticipated somebody saying that if we had that Yao today we would be better than GS. I went ahead and quelled that notion before it could be forwarded.
I miss watching Yao's game. I also miss watching what an offense with ball and player movement looks like.
Yao made the game alot more easier. Too bad the NBA has went away from post play. FYI Draymond would absolutely give Yao problems. Remember the smaller players used to front Yao? It was painful watching those years
This team wasn't as talented as the present team but they were so much more disciplined and played hard every night ! Can't say that about the present team
I must have watched a different play off series. Yao's weakness weren't against players like green or any of the Jazz squad individually, it was because he couldn't receive a lob over the top when they fronted him. He was too wide and slow to reverse, thus his guy fronting him and another guy sagging the paint worked beautifully. The team being unable to capitalize on the weakness the strategy provided was why we lost. We couldn't make them pay, so Yao went essentially 2v1 the whole series, at least when attempting to receive the pass. We desperately needed slashers and athleticism, at a time morey wasn't concerned with speed. I think he realizes the folly of that approach now, but hindsight is 20/20
