Isn't in the discussion? That's a bit much. I agree that Yao wasn't as good, but he's just a bit below. It's interesting to me that the people bringing stats into the conversation are showing that Ewing had a slight advantage across the board, and then saying that he was a much better player. If I have to group centers that I've watched, maybe Yao gets in the bottom of a group with Ewing and Robinson, maybe he's at the top of a group with Mutombo and Mourning, but honestly he was right between those guys, at his peak.
After eight memorable NBA seasons, Yao Ming is expected to hang up his hightops for good at a news conference early Wednesday in Shanghai, China, where his long basketball journey first began. Last week, we tackled whether Yao and other international stars were Hall of Famers. But if injures hadn't sapped the second half of Yao's career, would we be having a different debate on the center's NBA legacy? Also, what role will the Chinese icon play in basketball now? Our five-man crew tackles the big questions about the big man: 1. If not for injuries, Yao Ming would have been ... Joe Gerrity, Hornets 24/7: Choose one -- A sure fire Hall of Famer, a transcendent talent that advanced international basketball like none before him, a bridge between cultures, a unifier of nations, the greatest human in history. Let's be real -- nobody knows what would have come of Yao Ming had his body held up, but we can all agree it would have been judged in degrees of legendary. Beckley Mason, Hoop Speak: The best center of his generation. Yao vs. Howard would be a great contrast in styles with the hyper-skilled-though-lead-of-foot Yao against the explosive-but-stone-handed Howard. Both are flawed players, but there's a real chance a healthy Yao could have dominated his position over the past five years. Rashad Mobley, Truth About It: A great player who needed more help. Maybe Kevin Martin or Luis Scola could have emerged as threats with Yao on the court and maybe a healthy Tracy McGrady or a motivated Steve Francis would have done the same. But even in Yao's healthy moments, you never felt like Houston had enough weapons to complement him. Rob Peterson, The Two Man Game: A top-10 center in NBA history. His numbers for his first three seasons were pedestrian (16.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg), but in the next three abbreviated seasons, he averaged 23 and 10. Yao's tireless work ethic helped him develop into a force. It's a shame he couldn't stay healthy, we could have been treated to greatness. Noam Schiller, Hardwood Paroxysm: An NBA MVP. Yao was the best center in the league for a solid three-year stretch between Shaq and Dwight, and didn't really relinquish the spot as much as his feet took him out of the competition. A look at his 2006-07 season (26.6 ppg, 10 rpg, 26.5 player efficiency rating) shows MVP potential. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-110719/yao-ming-retirement-questions
Bingo. This! He's right in between Ewing/Robinson and Mourning/Mutombo. He's fighting for the 10 spot.
Per 36 min that season: 26.7ppg 10.2reb 3.7blk Yao's best 36 min season (2006-2007): 26.6ppg 10reb 2.1blk Yao just couldn't stay healthy.
Who's a better rebounder in a real life NBA game? Who would you count on on getting that big rebound? Patrick or Yao?
Oakley got ejected for fighting with Maxwell. They put Robert Horry cause OT got called for a phantom foul on the screen. It's just Yao vs Ewing.
Yao also didn't have the stamina to play that many minutes and stay productive. Per 36 minutes stats are crap unless you are are talking about a rookie with potential. When you are talking about playing in their prime, the number of productive minutes is very important. Would you rather Dream playing 35 minutes or 42 minutes when you are fighting for a championship?
Shaq on NBATV: If it weren't for the injuries, you probably would've talked about Yao being a top 5 center of all time.
your big Reeves is pretty much rocket's big Yao have you watched the guy play? i watched him play and i watched yao play and they are similar play. Yao has more hype and gets dunked on more often and blocked by nate robinson.. those are the only differences i think. your big Reeves played a prime shaq and gave him 24 25 points on consecutive games.. (yao had a couple 30 point games but Shaq was nowhere near his prime) I mean, oiffensively when he's not hurt, he's just as good as Yao. there's no question about that. and they're both lazy on D.. probably due to their simaliar physical limitations and don't give me that stats crap if Yao played second fiddle to Shareef on the grizzlies and dosn't get as many touchess as he did under JVG, he wouldn't average 20 points
Shaq loves Yao because Yao sucks up to him all the time and he has a shoe deal in China what else did you expect Shaq to say? Yao sucks? lol Yao sucked up to Shaq so much that he even sent him a Christmas card
I constantly worried when Yao was on the court. And not about injuries. More along the lines of is he gonna catch the entry pass? Is he gonna bring the ball down too low and get stripped again? Is he gonna lay it in and risk missing it instead of dunking it? If it was a late game situation those fears multiplied x10. With Dream I was surprised when he didn't produce. With Yao I was on constant pins and needles. I really didn't expect him to produce consistently. Basketball never looked as though it became instinctive to him. It all looked forced and robotic. He tried hard though and I commend him for that. No Top Ten for me.
This is what a top 10 center looks like on the floor: <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cuSMjUTGQTg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I don't think Yao is in the discussion with Ewing or Robinson. I don't think he played anywhere near that level. If you want to talk about Mutombo and Mourning, that's the discussion I'd put him in. Ewing and Robinson are on the 50 greatest list. These guys sustained careers of exceptional play. They put up multiple seasons that were better than any one season Yao ever put up. Robinson finished first team all NBA 4 different seasons...in a league that included Olajuwon and Ewing. He was 2nd team all NBA 2 other seasons. He won an MVP award and finished 2nd in MVP voting two other seasons...he finished 3rd in MVP voting an additional two other seasons. He was defensive player of the year one season and was first team NBA defense 4 seasons. In no way does Yao belong in a conversation about all time greats with David Robinson. I wish that weren't the case. Ewing was first or second team all NBA 6 separate seasons. He finished as high as 4th in MVP voting 3 different seasons. He was the man on a team that sustained deep playoff runs year after year. Honestly, I don't think anyone outside of a Rockets messageboard would dare suggest Yao belongs in a conversation with these guys. Again, I wish that weren't true...but it is.
Yeah he didn't have the stamina, that's why he was able to play competitive ball year-round and had a number of 50+ min games. Derp. Read the title of the thread, you might come to a proper conclusion about why he played fewer minutes.
That's the key word, "sustained" - that's why "could have been top all time" conversations are kind of pointless. Nearly EVERY NBA player has moments/nights/stretches of greatness: *Sleepy Floyd wrecking people in the playoffs for Golden State... *Vernon Maxwell going from the NBA's premiere bricktosser on most nights to an unstoppable, 50-point scoring machine.... *LaBradford Smith pantsing Michael Jordan so badly that his Airness is forced to fabricate a story featuring a verbal insult in order to motivate himself the next night to get revenge.... *Rodrick Rhodes swiping the ball from Jordan and going the lenght of the court.. If these guys are able to sustain the streches of play above for 10 years, they are all HOF'rs/alltime greats. They weren't, so they're not, that's why I think this is kind of a nothing/obvous hypothetical.
Because we are discussing if Yao could have stayed healthy. Yao averaged over 37 min the following season, so he had the stamina, just not the health. The poster said come see him when Yao comes close to the numbers Ewing did in his best season, and Yao was very close on a 36 min basis, but Yao played 34 mpg, while Ewing played 38.
