Sure he looks tired and regressed a bit this year. But we can still expect 18/8 from him and he can still neutralize any big in this league. Last night's dream shake is great. Keep up, yao!
Don't judge a guy by one or two game, Yao definitely is a good player, teammate, ... Everybody may perform badly now and then
I'm never going to bash aguy after a good performance, but I have a problem with the op assessment about yao being back. When Shaq was 28 and dream was 35, it was like Larry Holmes vs Ali. He felt sorry dominating a guy he looked up to as a kid. The roles are reversed and you couldn't tell who is supposed to be the best center in the leaue and who is the old guy hanging on. I don't know if that's more of a compliment to shaq or what, but if you have the best center in basketball, its not neutralizing the other guys center, its dominating that spot. When shaq and dream were 6 yrs in the league, they were dominating the other guys Now it was closer when they played against zo,deke in shaqs case and robinson and ewing in hakeems case, but if they were playing a 35 yr old has been, its was over early.
Yao may not average 24 a game this season, but if he can get an efficient 18 points a game and crash the offensive glass while keeping his turnovers low, Ill be happy.
I will say this, Yao helped himself last night by passing the ball... If he keeps that up and the guys are hitting there shots, this will help him tremendously. Yao made some really nice passes last night and with him doing that the defense can't just sit back and collapse on him everytime he gets the ball. Remember these guys won a lot of games without Yao last year and now he's trying to fit in with them and you can tell by the way he's being forcing shots instead of letting the game come to him. I hope he continues to improve on what he did last night. T_Man
The league has changed alot since those dream shaq days. A "dominant" big man doesnt guarantee anything. It's a 5 man game now. As much as I want to see Yao score 28 a night, I think we'll be a better team if the scoring is distributed more evenly.
Dominance never changes. Shaq would be dominant now, in the 80s,70s or 60s. Hakeem the same. Great players transcend era's. Its no more a 5 man game than in the 90s. Lebron is dropping 40 a game and paul is doing his best kj/isiah/mark price impersonation. Zones, talent or whatever, great players are always great.
yao i don't think has ever dominated shaq in their meetings. and yao is yao. i think after 7 years in the L, we have to stop with the expectations. if yao was to ever put up hakeem's or shaq-like #s, he would already by now. i think he's declining a little just like tracy. yao's peak was the 06-07 season (he was truly dominant to end that yr putting up 27 and 12 in the last 25 games or so).
nobody is arguing that. The point is, come back after those guys win championships. Because as far as I can tell, everybody got beat out by a team with players capable of dominating, but no longer doing it on a nightly basis - the Celtics. The league changed when the Pistons "surprisingly" beat the Lakers in the Finals a few years back. The talent level had/has improved so much, it is clearly no longer about dominating players. Coincidentally, you no longer see league MVP's being champions in the same year. Heck, Dirk lost in the first round, and KG and Nash didn't make the Finals in their 3 combined MVP seasons. As you well know, that was definitely not the case in decades past, when MVPs consistently either won the championship or at least made the Finals. It's not all about stats, domination, etc. in today's NBA. Shaq did play well. But then, the Rockets have been seriously exposed as a defensive rebounding team this year - a majority of Shaq's "stats" last night came from offensive rebounds. Yao rotates to help on a drive and you can pretty much flip a coin as to whether we get the offensive rebound or not. What's more, Shaq's pumped energy level last night probably hurt his team more then help. They were definitely out of rhythm a bit. And finally, consider, that this myth that Shaq is washed up is somewhat random. He still has talent. He is still 7'1, 330 pounds. He can't do it as much, or as often or as consistently or as dominating a manner, but he can still do it. He just poured in 29 and 11 the other day. Yao's not "dominating" like he actually has for consistent stretches of the last few seasons. He'll never be as dominant as that top layer of dominant players - he just doesn't have it in him. The problem was and will be, though, the 12 point 7 rebound games where he is 5-12 with 2 free throw attempts. Where he gets into foul trouble, is consistently a step slower. 18/8 is fine...IF he gets it by being dominant when he has to be and consistently solid the rest of the time as the team racks up wins.
I can buy that.Even when we had dominant post player through the jordan era and even the magic/bird era, wings and guards still were big difference makers. I think earlier in his career , duncan could be considered dominant and they won titles. I do agree about shaq being a nobody was always a little false to me. I also agree about Yao never being "that dude". Its not from a lack of talent, its just nature personality like davis robinson. That's why I argued to my face got blacker that you can't build just around him like you could shaq,dream,or moses. I think he's a good piece to have, but that ship never sailed with me. He is who I think he is which is Brad Daughtery. Very good and consistent and can win a ring with him if healthy. Will never be hof or might not even be 1st team all nba, but a good player to have. I think the important thing involving his future production is finding ways to keep him staedy ad not go into a sharp decline. I think he's maxed out on his talent. To me maxed out is when your skill level and atheletic ability are even. To keep the decline from being rapid, he needs to get his core stronger which will allow him to be a factor in games for more minutes. The same can be said for tracy,shane,and luis.
It depends on which Yao is showing up. IF you see an energetic Yao, then you're expecting a good game. IF you see Yao that labor up and down the court...it's going to be a long night.
Yao has dominated Shaq before...Shaq and the champs had no answer for Yao (and Shaq was still too classless to give any props...) http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Yao_outduels_Shaq_as_Rockets_c-195200-34.html
that was a really nice move but it was not a dream shake, it was more like a dream malt.....it was kinda in slow motion but it was nice
18/8 would be KG like in these days. Yesterday Amare tried to attack the basket, but get blocked/intimidated by yao several times. Scola/Hayes just tried to defend his jump shot, and he can never overcome yao around the rim from day one.
i'd be very disappointed if yao's stats line this year is a mere 18/8. in my mind he should at least get 20/10, especially given the minutes he plays.
Yeah Yao'll average 20 - 10 this season easy. Mark my word. This is not a declaration of a Yao fan, it's just objective observation: Yao has had some severely subpar games so far this season, yet his numbers are 16.6 (2.4 below his career average) and 9.9. It's only reasonable to assume that he'll get back on track as the season goes on.
