Out of curiosity: Yao or Howard, now that we have Howard

Yao carry the team down the stretch? Explain him getting clobbered by the foot shorter Boozer in the playoffs.

I'm going with Dwight, he ACTUALLY took his team to the finals.

 

With Yao playing in the ****ty East, he might have been able to as well.

 

Again people ignore that the Magic team that made the finals was mad talented & pretend that Boozer wasn't a 21/11 guy and Okur wasn't a 18/7 guy who nearly hit 40% from 3.

 

I'd take Howard every single day and twice on Sundays. Do you guys remember a healthy Yao in that Utah series getting destroyed by Boozer. Do you guys remember a healthy Yao not being able to grab a rebound to seal the series against Utah and letting Okur hit that 3 in game 7?

Howard would have grabbed that freaking board and the game would have been over and we would have won the series.

 

Yao use to dominate Howard......enough said really

imagine if you could combine Yao's shooting skills with Howard's defensive skills

 

I like how when DH has a bad game, it isn't the rest of the team's fault. I like that he can catch an entry pass (even though he's not that good at scoring in the post), or a lob. I like that he's always on the court. I like that the owner doesn't force the coach to play DH a certain number of minutes. And lastly, DOFs > YOFs.

 

right now edge goes to yao. killer back to the basket game. you can't deny you had to double team yao on the low block. and what was he, 85% FT?

 

Plenty of folks are forgetting how Yao struggled in the playoffs against the Jazz and how the fronting defense rendered him ineffective at other times. It was a struggle for him to hold his position and at times to get him the ball. He had physical limitations. Also, Yao over analyzed things and let mistakes get to him which in turn had an impact on his performance.

Yao's weaknesses are Dwight's strengths and vice versa. Both were/are flawed centers. I would pick Dwight between the two because you could make Yao ineffective using a gimmick play. And yes, I understand that Dwight is limited himself.

 

Yeah, worked out really well against the Jazz.

 

It was working well against the Blazers and Lakers before he *shakes head* got injured again.

 

It's one of those things I've repeated so many times that it's almost nostalgic to repeat it again.

Utah regular season Offensive efficiency that year: 110.1 (3rd in the NBA)
Utah offense against the Rockets that series: 103.9 (would rank 25th by regular season standard)

People remember Boozer's raw numbers. But forget that overall the Rockets shut down the Jazz offense. That series was lost because the Rockets average 87ppg against a team that gave up 97ppg(horrible defense) in the regular season. Rafer Alston was the Rockets 3rd leading scorer that series. People need to think about that for a second before blaming Yao's defense for the loss.

 

That stuff was frustrating to watch: Yao seemingly ready to grab a rebound, only to have the ball poked away but someone a foot shooter. Dwight does not have that problem, thankfully.

 

There was 3 60 win teams in the East that year not including Orlando.

 

Yao was also dominanted by the likes of Al Harrington...I don't believe enough has really been said

 

Healthy Howard by far.

Better defender and rebounder

Yao wouldn't be much use since we shoot 3's and make layups.

 

Nope.

Blazers did not front him in game 1 and paid the price. Following that game they changed their defense and he was not the same.

He wasnt that great in the Lakers series either. We all know he struggled against the Jazz. He also had his share of problems in the Dallas series.

Fronting defense gave Yao nightmares. I dont understand why Yao fans deny it when it was clear as daylight and even Yao HIMSELF admitted that he had problems with fronting?!

I am not blaming Yao. It is not like he did not try. He simply had physical limitations that he could not overcome. He was a big guy that had balance issues and slow reaction time which really hurt him when trying to beat a fronting defense.

 

Doubt it. The teams beating us in the West weren't all that. Y'all make it seem like we were losing to the teams winning titles each year.

 

Dwight Yaoward?

We can build him. Yao's overwhelming size and post game with Howards athleticism. I guess just give me Shaq then lol.

 

I knew you and your jaded one sided arguments would show up at some point ... I'm glad I have vomit bag on hand.

 

Yao slowed Rockets down even when healthy I like Dwight better even though Yao was better free throw shooter you gotta remember back in Yao TMAC days it was TMAC that carried the team not Yao we'll never really know for sure how good we'd be with healthy Yao cause he never was healthy but like I said i thought the few times he was on the court he slowed us down