Rocket career potentials: Ralph Sampson vs Yao Ming

This is a tough one for me but I think I might have to go with Ralph. If the question was who has the bigger heart it would be Yao all day. But if we've talking about basketball skills Ralph has little more of an edge.

I was watching some old videos of Ralph on youtube, and thats when it hit me if that dude could have stay healthy I think he could have been better than Dream. He was that good. Can you really say that about Yao?

 

Controversial, but, in the old NBA of Ralph's days, Yao would've had to LITERALLY fight for his respect. I don't know how he would've responded, truthfully.

 

Yao Ming was not dominant

His best year he was only 2nd team all NBA

He was not dominant

 

pfft.

no such thing.

 

i have never seen sampson play during my lifetime. but from the highlights during his early years, the guy led the early breed of "versatile big men" who can literally do everything.

yao was "stoppable." sampson would have had a greater career had both been healthy.

 

Yao Ming was clearly the best center in the league behind Shaq and typically out played Howard.

Yao would have been just as good or better in the 80's as he was in 00's.
- Most of the centers tended to be more traditional back to the basket centers.

- Yao has always played very well against the more traditional centers.
- He has always had more trouble with Centers that play on the perimeter and score their points away from the basket.

- Teams in the 80's were much more dedicated to scoring in the paint than the 3pt oriented league of today which would have played into Yao's strength on defense.

- I'm not sure if Yao's rebounding numbers would be better or worse in the 80's. More rebounds came off of the rim closer to the basket because of shots in the paint vs. today where Yao is not very good at getting the many long rebounds from missed perimeter shots. One would tend to think that would benefit Yao but there were many more dominant interior rebounding big men in the 80's.

- I think players like Dream and Robinson would have given Yao fits in the post denying him the entry pass because they had such quick hands and were so quick. However, I think overall Yao would have fewer problems with entry passes in the 80's because of the differences in defensive rules. It was a pure man to man defense. No one could double team a player with out the ball and no defender could just roam around the court without guarding an offensive player. Yao would have been dominant....very dominant in Rudy T's iso offense. This is actually a topic worth discussing on its own.

Overall I think Yao would have been more dominant in the 80's and much more difficult to defend. Of course he would have had direct competition with the greatest centers of all time. Ewing was not a good defender, he was a great defender but I think Yao would have dominated him because Yao played his best against physical centers on both offensive and defensive end.

 

Sorry, Ralph was much better than Yao. They're both greats, but Sampson was elite (when healthy).

 

Of course he didn't complain. Ralph probably saw that as step 1 in his plan to be the world's first 7'4" PG. :grin:

 

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Ralph was very athletic -- check him in the dunk contest.

 

This is a good poll.

Ralph is the most physically gifted big man of his size to ever play in the NBA. Period. For those of you who never saw him play, believe me, there has never been anybody with the physical skillset of Ralph Sampson.

Having said that...

Yao is/was a better shooter. He probably also has/had a slighter higher overall basketball IQ.

As for potential? Ralph Sampson. No doubt about it.

 

Was there a "potential dunk" in there from Ralph that we missed because of his injuries that would happen later? :grin:

 

I didnt say he would be better I said he could have been. Ralph had all the skills it take to be one of the greatest. If he would have had a better mindset and no injuries I think he had a great chance at reaching greatness.