How good was Yao when he actually played on the court?

This whole fronting thing is being treated like Yao's big downfall as a player. People are thinking in absolutes. "Yao was easily shut down by fronting." "You can't front Dwight because he'll just throw down a SportsCenter highlight reel alley oop."

Google "fronting" along with the name of any star NBA big man. Yao. Duncan. Shaq. And yes, Dwight. You'll find articles, blogs, and forum posts all complaining about why their favorite NBA big man can get so frustrated by fronting.

The grass is always greener on the other side (an extreme case being the near legendary status that people have given Okur's 11 ppg, 0.354 FG% performance in the first round of the 2007 playoffs ). Fronting is more trouble for some big men than others, but it's generally a pain in the ass. There's no magic trick to completely negate fronting every time. But it's also not a magic big man stopper either.

It's not like Yao didn't have ways to beat the fronting. There were plays designed to free him up in the low post, such as whenever the Rockets reversed the ball and he made a baseline cross to the other side. Again, the proof is in the numbers. If Yao was "easily" shut down by fronting, then every NBA coach out there is an idiot who should've been fired for allowing him to average 20 ppg on 0.6 TS%.

 

Fronting only works against bad guard play, it's like they're allowing you to seal off your man for your guards to take it to the hole.

 

Heck, even Seattle had some success against Hakeem with the double team and zone defense. Just because some teams could front Yao successfully doesn't mean it would always work with all teams.

The stats pretty much paint the story. Dude was pretty good.

 

When he played injury-free? A lock for the Hall of Fame and a top ten all-time center contender. Unfortunately, his career was too short to merit either consideration.

 

Yep, exactly. Although he'll probably still make the HOF because it's ridiculously easy for international players to get in.

 

People act like it wasn't hard to get Yao the ball on regular post-ups. Like it wasn't a topic here for years. Guards have been hammered on here for not being able to get Yao the ball over and over. It's not just fronting.

 

This wasn't until Hakeem could no longer go to the middle and jump-hook due to knee issues, which started in '96. He dominated Seattle before that. No one seems to remember. Also, it was never an issue of Hakeem not being able to even get the ball. It was what happened after he got it.

 

not true true. the rockets had problems against seattle in 92 and 93 also.

 

He is better than Walton, so that puts him at 9th. If Walton could get in, I am pretty sure Yao could.

 

Seattle were a great team though. Payton was incredible and Kemp (when not overweight) could jump out of the building on any given day or night. They also played solid team D. I think they could take on both Heat or Mavs IMHO.

 

the Rockets lost home court advantage because of a blown class to the Spurs in the last game of the 92-93 season. the Rockets lost in the 2nd round in 7 because Seattle had the home court thanks to the blown call.

the blown call was a david robinson tip in about 5 minutes after the buzzer.

Oh TheFreak said HAKEEM dominated Seattle and that was true. look at the stats. The Rockets didn't dominate Seattle but Dream shook them.
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This era under the new rule, anybody can be fronted. Even under the old rule, Dennis Rodman used quite many fronting when his center is in trouble and had a lot success with that. He defended Shaq better than any center who tried to play behind Shaq. After the rule was changed, many fronting was applied to Shaq. It's true Shaq was a lot harder to front, it would be a sure dunk if he caught the ball. But with fronting, Shaq's touch was limited, and it was one of the biggest reason Shaq's stats took a dive after the rule change.

Again that Yao/Daugherty comparison is straight BS. Just because Daugherty was a good center in an era with great centers, it doesn't mean he'd be a great center in this era. He wasn't dominant enough in low post, and he wasn't that much a defender,even though his offensive stats look good in a much fast paced team with much better teammates.

 

You have no clue.

Guess you already forgot how Howard was fronted by Gasol with Odom helping around and the result was a worse series for Howard than any series Yao ever had.

Again, good fronting requires another big guy roaming around with ability to protect the basket. Lakers happened to have one in Odom, Portland happened to have one in Aldridge.