if you got a chance to play with Yao, you will be scared by his height. That's why HOU's defence is in the top line.
Sorry but Harrington is a SF not a center, you put a small forward that can make 3's on any center no name Dream and that center will struggle including Mutombo, Tim Duncan, D. Howard. People name KG and Amare but fail to mention they are not Centers. You put Billups to defend SG like Kobe or T-Mac and he will be eat alive. You put Bowen to defend a good PF and he will fail, you put KG against any big with muscle and he will struggles. Only bigs like Dream have the ability to defended other player who are not centers. And only a few players have the ability to be great defending multiple positions. Battier is a great perimeter defender but a bad post defender and he is one of the best defender in the NBA. Jabbar, Russell, Shaq never have to face the PHX Suns type of offense or Golden Sate with Hayes as their PF. Yao happen to be in a wrong era for centers. Center are usually not good defending anything but the paint or high Pick & Roll/Pop, and you don't want them to run around chasing small players and leaving the interior open. A player like Shaq is probably one of the worst P&R defender yet he made 3 second team in defense.
el, i meant if you put an agile big like harrington, yao is in trouble..i should have used the term agile big instead of center. you're right.
What is it that makes him an above average defender? He's got slow foot speed so he gets beat down the floor. He's slow laterally so he can't guard the pick and roll or any drive outside the paint. He's the slowest jumper in history, this is why he gets dunked on so often and loses every opening tip. He doesn't close out the paint very well to stop penetration. He picks up really dumb fouls on defense though he's improved on that since he joined the league. So, what does he do well aside from standing in the paint and forcing players to shoot over him? He's a very average shot blocker for his size and star status. Shawn Bradley is a much better shot blocker than Yao Ming. A 50 year old Dikembe is probably a better shot blocker than Yao.
What makes him an above average defensive player? He can neutralize the taller players with post up game. In their head to head matchups, Yao has been able to neutralize the offensive post game of dwight howard, shaquille O'neal, zadrunas ilgauskas , even Pau Gasol, and others post players. When he is healthy and in his prime Yao has the capability to shut down any center in the league if utilized properly by the coach in the team's defensive system. Particularly dwight howard, if you followed the history or head to head matchup between Yao and Howard you know that Yao is an above average defender because he neutralizes the post threat or minimizes it.
Ask Eddy Curry if he doesn't think Yao is an above average defensive center. If you look at their head to head matchup Yao has smoked curry on numerous occasions. There are some centers who are not traditional centers and Yao has difficulty matching up with , the solution is to let the quicker players guard them on the outside while Yao guards the interior. You have to incorporate some semi-zone to cover for his weakness. maximize our stregth and minimize our weakness. We are not living in an era of mandated man to man defense so some mix of man to man and zone would do wonders.
You see, I have enumerated the things Yao doesn't do well and you've just dribbled off about how he neutralizes and can shut people down. That's remarkable.
Eddy Curry sucks. If we have to use a zone to cover for Yao's defensive weaknesses then how is he an above average defender?
Seriously....when did you start watching basketball? Yao wasn't a liability guarding Josh Howard of Boozer in the playoffs? He's never a liability? Yao can guard traditional back to the basket centers like duncan and Shaq. He can't guard the pick and roll well. Nor can he guard quick bigs. These are facts.
The addition of Artest will not help Yao guard Boozer any better, because Boozer will always play in the paint. Sloan will isolate Boozer in the post. You may be sick of hearing it, but its the truth. If Boozer scores 40+ on Yao it will hardly be because they are contested. Boozer either drives around Yao with the ability to score or draw a foul, or he simply rises straight up or fades away with his jumper. His high arch on his shot is extremely hard to block straight up. Yao did not punish Okur on the offensive end. Rather Okur handled him with single coverage.
It doesn't matter if they aren't Centers. Guys like KG can guard Cs and PFs. Same with Tim Duncan. Battier guards SGs, SFs, sometimes PGs even. It is what it is. Yao is great at guarding the random big with little to no range, and he's great at keeping guards from getting an easy layup. That makes him an above average defender at best, but not a great like Dream was.
