Problem with Yao was if they play a midget on him, he will get pwn by them fronting him....but when he play a traditional center, he was good. Yao have too much limitation to make him great.
He was better than the other guy in purple and yellow in the thumbnail. His health was his downfall because he was so big.
24th highest PER in NBA history... That's basically all you need to know. ELITE 2-way player. When healthy, he was capable of befuddling Shaq, Duncan, Garnett. That's how good he was.
Yao had the misfortune of entering the league right when they were changing the rules to make guards/ball-handlers more dominant and take the game away from big men.
Loved him and he played hard every time he was on the floor, something the current team doesn't do. DD
If Yao was about 25% to 100% more healthy, he would've been a top 10 center ever without any questions. The Rockets would've won one or two titles.. . 2007-08 and 2008-09. We were the best West team in 2007-08, our streak didn't end until after T-Mac and Yao were injured. We would've been in 63-68 win range. The Lakers couldn't beat us at full-strength. Also, mention the Mutombo injury in 2009.
His offense was great but many people don't realize his defense was amazing too. He really shut down the paint even
(If you value advanced stats like win shares) Yao has 22nd best Win Shares per Min ever. Stat doesnt sound remarkable, but when you say "Right behind Larry Bird, ahead of Bill Russell & Dr J", it has meaning. Spoiler 17. John Stockton* .2087 18. Shaquille O'Neal* .2081 19. Oscar Robertson* .2069 20. Karl Malone* .2053 21. Larry Bird* .2032 22. Yao Ming* .2001 23. Ed Macauley* .1964 24. Dirk Nowitzki .1956 25. Artis Gilmore* .1931 26. Bill Russell* .1927 27. Julius Erving* .1922 Yao is one of the few where the type of person he is matters. He wasnt a brash basketball brute people wanted, but his personality was very fit for a basketball ambassador. I sincerely miss his presense.
I miss him. He changed the culture of our team. Whenever Yao was on the court we always played hard. That’s why I get irritated with Harden so much. Yao had some natural flaws on defense but always played hard and through them, whereas Harden doesn’t have the same limitations and doesn’t give half the effort that Yao does. I wished we grabbed Adelman as coach from the start instead of JVG. I really believe we would’ve beatened Utah not that seven game series with adelman as head coach.
Foot issues did him in, but when healthy he was one of the all-time greats. He had an amazing shooting touch for a big man.
Yao actually brought new fans to the Rockets unlike bench players with cult followers I appreciate how loyal he was to the Rockets He never complained to the media or Stephen a smith Never made it about himself
I agree, health was his only issue. He was truly elite on offense and defense and as good of a successor to Dream as possible.
