Shaq was a great player, but his time has come. He may have the occasional 25/13 game, but in between are a series of games with performances of 12/6, hardly first team material. Shaq's lack of work ethic and dicipline has finally caught up to him, no longer can he flip the switch like he used to. His fat ass needs Dwayne Wade more than ever, just like he needed Kobe, and Penny, you know those other top 3 guards from their time who everybody seems to forget about. Shaq knew what he was doing when demanding the trade, he did two things. 1) Moved himself East where there are no Big Men to make him look old, 2) Teamed himself up with a great guard. Number 2 being the recipe to Shaqs success his whole career. Maybe Shaq fans can be proud of his dominance over Brad Miller and Vlade Divac, it's amazing what a lack of competition and rep can get you in this starting-to-be-a-joke league. This should make Yao hungrier, he is the best center in the league and he will be for the next 10 years, hopefully he and Greg Oden can have some legendary battles. And for god sake Amare is a damn Power Forward, why the hell do you think they traded for Kurt Thomas?
Gives him what advantage exactly??? Like many voters, they casted their votes based on past reputations, which is flawed. So I guess his name is Ben Wallace also gave him more advantage that is why he got voted in the 2nd team -G'day-
As far as his individual performance goes, yeah, Yao should be first team. But the one thing Yao doesn't have in common with a single other player on ANY of the All-NBA teams is that he's the only one on all three teams that didn't make the playoffs.
Orlando didn't win a title. They got their asses handed courtesy of Dream and Co. and Miami will not win a title with Shaq. Not this year, Not next year. Shaq is a shell of his former self and he was once great, but his time has passed him by. No man can play 1 on 1 with father time and win.
Shaq was the better rebounder, defender, passer, winner the only thing Yao is on par with him is his scoring. Seriously its bs that Big Ben was 2nd team thats definately Yao's spot. But ahead of Shaq not this year.
Good call. Even still, it appears to be hard to crack these teams if your team doesn't get to the playoffs.
Since when did Allen Iverson make the playoffs this year? And although team success should be considered, its overblown in the voting. Garnett despite a down year, still had better season individually than Marion or Anthony. Ben Wallace is highly overated this season, and this is like his worse season in the last 6 years. The fact he almost got voted over Shaq whose team had a very decent record is absurd.. Yao 22.3pts, 10.2rbs, .519FG%, .853FT% Wallace 7.3pts, 11.3rbs, .510FG%, .416FT% Yes, you read it right. Yao more than tripled Wallace's offensive output with better efficiency whist only giving away 0.9 rebounds. Some people say stats don't matter, but when the difference is this much, it does matter. -G'day-
^ change the 0.9 rebound to 1.1. Yao had a better season than Shaq, although Shaq getting the 1st team is understandable since you could put an argument for it. Wallace on the otherhand... -G'day-
I wish I had your ability to predict the future.. I suggest u wait a couple weeks then start bashing Shaq... I dont think u will have a chance to that though...let time prove it..
I don't know about this. Shaq's counterparts had a 47.5% fg percentage, Yao's conterparts had a 45.9% shooting percentage. Plus Shaq doesn't come out to help like Yao does. Is Shaq really a better defender? Shaq gets 14.4 rebounds per 48 minutes, let his conterparts get 11 rebounds per 48minutes, Yao gets 14.3 rebounds per 48, let his conterparts get 10.6 rebounds per 48. Is Shaq really a better rebounder?
Yao was averaging 19.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg at the all-star break, and that was on a nasty infected toe that he should have gotten taken care of years ago. Don't talk about Shaq's injuries while ignoring Yao's. Besides, those numbers are on par with Shaq's final numbers. So basically, Yao produced the same as Shaq early on, and then significantly out-produced him down the stretch. That's a better season. Personally, I don't have a problem with giving Shaq one more award before he breaks down completely. But can we stop with the 'shaq is still the best center in the league' garbage? With the way the refs are calling him right now, I bet Shaq wished he had half of Yao's skills.
hmmmmm, what do u think ?? it is a tuff one isn't it ??... u must be kiddin me man... what kinda question is that ?? I mean, Danny Fortson is a better defender than Yao.. who do u want ? Mihm ? Mihm is a better defender than Yao...PLEASE, that's the only thing that nobody can deny.. defense is Yao's biggest weakness, and that's probably why he is not in the 1st team... dont forget the fact that Shaq has Haslem, Walker, Zo, and other big men on his team.. so they all share rebounds.. while Yao is the only man inside, JHO is a joke, and we have no significant rebounder other than our center.. that plays a major role in the rebounding category..
com'on now.. dont start the "infected toe" crap...Shaq twisted his freakin ankle.. I was about to cry when I saw it... he didn't have an "infection" in his right toe (or is it his left ?).. the toe didn't affect Yao MAJORLY before it got stepped on.. the reason he improved after the surgery is because he had some rest and a chance to watch some tapes and analyze basketball.. see, that's what i was talking about.. I think Shaq deserves it because he is almost done.. I have a lot of respect to the guy because he is such a great person and has a great personality... and u brought a very important point about the refs.. I dont know why they are b****ing at him !.. they are calling him for BS fouls .. they even called him for an a$$ offensive foul (the first in NBA history according to Shaq )... I think the refs played an important role in messing up Shaq's season..
I am not going to be presumptous enough to say that Yao plays great defense. I agree that tis an area where he can (and will) make great improvements, but you make it sound like he plays no defense and is a defensive liability when he is on the floor. That is so very far from the truth. I don't have a problem with you saying Shaq was/is a better defender (btw, his defense has gained a 'luster' over the years thanks to his 'rep'), but to rip Yao's defense in comparision is absurd. Yes, he's no all NBA defensive player, but he's no chump in that regard like you make him out to be. Napalm
Dont forget that because of our teams shooting woes that leaves Yao with more offensive rebounding oppertunities yet still cant top Shaq in that department. Shaqs Reb rate (% of missed shots a player rebounds when hes on the floor) is still higher than Yaos but not by much. Yao is definately the 2nd best center in the league soon to be 1st but this year he hasnt had a strong enough season to warrant 1st team.
