How much can Yao improve in the next 5 weeks? The NBA season is only 6 weeks old right now! The most impressive thing to me right now about Yao is his intelligence and ability to adapt. So let's say Yao is outplayed by Shaq the first time; I'm almost sure he'll get the better of Shaq the next time. Yao's like Batman! Give Batman enough time and he can beat Superman! Honestly, i think Yao is only limited by his own mind right now. He needs to raise his expectations right now because he has all the tools. It's only a matter of time of realizing his potential. Shaq has NOTHING on Yao. Sure Shaq's stronger, but a weakness is a weakness only if it can be exploited. Yao is too smart to be exploited, at least the second time around. Shaq may seem so great and unearthly, but I think he is somewhat overrated. Shaq's numbers have improved very little if at all since his rookie season and have gradually worsened the last few years. Sure, numbers don't say the whole story (they certainly don't with Yao), but they don't lie either. He may have gotten a little smarter, become more confident/arrogant, developed some more moves, grown some more heart, GOTTEN MORE RESPECT FROM THE REFS, but he's also gotten older, heavier, slower, less athletic. In other words, it's all downhill from here. Now Shaq gets to feel how the other great centers have felt. Is it only coincidental that Shaq's true dominance only occured after all the other great centers were either gone or on their decline? Hakeem, DRob, Ewing, Sabonis and even Mourning are all shells of their former selves. In their primes, they would not be dominated by the Diesel. There are so many great shooting guards right now. Can you imagine if Jordan was the only one during the 90s? He would be the unanimous 10 time MVP. He would so throughly dominate the opposition at his position. I have seen Shaq frustrated by inferior centers like Divac, Brad Miller(!), etc. No freaking way is Yao inferior. Do you think the current Shaq is that much better than the current MVP Duncan? Is the current (overweight, bad toe, leading the Lakers 6 and 5 since his return) Shaq that much better than the 1994-1995 Shaq? The one that was throughly outplayed by Dream? Mark my words, Shaq will NOT be able to force his will on the Dynasty. One last thing, when was the last time a player tried to elbow another player 5 inches taller in the nose? Must have looked pretty darn funny Or at least flagrant.
