Yao (and shaq) would be so dominant in the post against today's competition that it wouldn't matter that they couldn't switch onto guards. their ppp would be like almost 2. there's no one in the league today that comes close to the strength and force Yao and shaq had. Yao was an MVP in his prime, and would've won one had he and tmac stayed healthy. there's an argument for Yao to be considered the 3rd most important rocket of all time behind dream and harden. surpassing guys like Clyde, Moses, Hayes, etc because of how he made the rockets a global brand for the time he was here. most kids won't remember but he made the rockets the media darlings. we had great coverage by national media for the first and last time ever. compare that to the harden years where every outlet hated us. Yao's impact huge on and off the court.
it's almost criminal they wouldn't let him shoot 3s. i wonder what his practice splits were. he was ELITE at the long mid-range. also if Shaq never existed I wonder what Yao's training regime would have been. in his early highlights he is already big enough for the modern game. yao to me remains would of the greatest what if's in NBA history and not enough people talk about it. he was only drafted a year or two before Lebron who is still playing. we could have had yao for 5-10 more years.
Yao was better than Shaq actually. Take away Shaq's dunks, and he'd be useless. The problem is by the time Yao started to out play Shaq, he became injury prone
Just got caught up in between eras/styles of play. Would have dominated in the 90’s low-post era when illegal defense still a thing. Would dominate in today’s perimeter game with undersized players everywhere, better overall spacing, and he wouldn’t have had to bulk up as much as he ended up doing. Just played in the era where zones started to neutralize the low-post big man game, but teams still tried to go to it vs. the high post.
The beauty about Yao is he not only was a great player but a great ambassador. He still continues to do it when he could have walked away. I hope our fans get how special he is to our organization instead of propping up losers like KPJ. Yao is the exact type of player we should support
Yao Ming was born in the wrong era and also went to the worst coach for him. JVG assigned him to Tom Thibs who obv is famous for working his players to the bone and not giving a F about their career longevity. Thibs took one look at him and tried to make him the next Shaq, 100% post moves and nothing else. Yao tried his best but his body couldnt take the pounding, the dude's 7'6 gravity and his own mass makes his body brittle. Thibs doesnt give s **** though, made him tske hard contsct from opponent scrubs every night till body gave out. If Yao went to Donnie Nelson instead I'd bet Yao would have revolutionized the center position the same way Dirk revolutionized Pfs. As he is Yao will be remembered as a good player, but ultimately just a foot note in history whose monetary and financial impact to the NBA as the gateway to China is a lot higher than his actual player legacy. If Yao Ming was born in today's NBA he'd make Wembenyama look like a 2nd round pick. Rookie Yao was 7'6 AND leading fast breaks. He also had insane shot mechanics, for a 7'6 with big ass hands he was shooting a godly 81% from ft line, much higher than a lot of guards nowadays. With ft shooting nos that high and a height of 7'6, he'd easily be able to transition to 3 pt shooting. I'm guessing he'd play a lot like Porzingis on steroids and also wouldnt need to put on 40 pounds of muscle which is what he had to do back in the day. This would enable him to keep his quickness and also lessen the stress on his legs and ankles.
Anyone underrating Yao on here either started watching hoops in the 2010’s or never actually watched full Rockets games. Yao’s impact on the halfcourt offense and defense was unmatched during his era of bigs (not counting Shaq, as he had already peaked by 03). Passing, moves/countermoves with his back behind the basket and faced up, pick and roll threat, etc. 25 and 10 during his most impressive season in 07 where he only played 48 games and the Rockets were still a 52 win team. If he plays that full season, he and TMac probably win 60-65 games, get a more favorable matchup than Utah in the playoffs, and the rest is up in the air for the What-If podcasts.
He was the consensus predicted MVP that year. Even KG said so at the time and he's not the type of guy who'd exaggerate or say something just to be popular. Yao's stats were misleading, especially in 2007, because defenses would twist themselves into a pretzel to try to stop him.
Bolded might be the saddest realization in Rockets' franchise history. He had to put on muscle because he was in an era that still focused heavily on being dominant in the post, which means you HAD to put on muscle. Now, you have the top 2 centers in the league (Embiid, Jokic) not really playing back-to-the-basket. Would have been fun to see prime Yao go up against those guys, instead of Dwight, Shaq, Ben Wallace, etc. I think a good comparison for young rookie Yao, is Chet Holmgren. Dude isn't going to be expected to put on a ton of muscle, as today's NBA requires you to be sprier, needing to switch onto guards and wings, as opposed to banging around inside against a top tier 5. It'll be interesting to see how his career develops, because it could have been Yao. Meanwhile, a good current comp to prime Yao is probably Embiid, right now. Big dude who can take both efficient jumpers and back you down in the post, all while playing great defense as well as your body and size allow you to.
No, he wasn't. 6% of his field goal attempts were 16 feet to 3-point range, and career 36.6% from that range in the regular season. He was elite close to the basket and in the post. Great short jumper and hook shot. Excellent footwork. Delivering him the ball close to the basket without the ball getting turned over was the challenge, especially with smaller defenders. I don't see how that changes in the modern game. Yao would have been most effective in the early to mid 90s.
I agree with a lot of your post, but not with what I bolded. We were the “media’s darling” to the Nth degree when the Twin Towers burst upon the scene. We were proclaimed the next NBA dynasty during 1985-86 by the major sports magazines and many newspapers. Houston was loved. It ended with Sampson’s injury and key members of our deep young team getting tossed for cocaine. Maybe that had something to do with how hated we have seemed to be by the sports media for so many years, or at least playing a part in it. Once bitten, twice shy.
