Did you not read what I said? Injuries held back Yao. He wasn't in the league long enough though to say he would have been a greatest big of all time
If they both had lengthy careers, Yao would have had the better career. It's not just the head to head thing. Yao was almost as impactful on the defensive side and a significantly better offensive player. A better passer, though Dwight is the better rebounder. Yao would have been just as good into his mid to late 30's, Dwight is still acclimating to the loss of athleticism. Dwight didn't play in the West, and the East was weaksauce back then. The Rockets with Yao had INSANE records against the East in the years that Dwight dominated, literally only losing a handful of games to the East each year. And Dwight is my favorite Rocket right now, so I don't take these things lightly.
You take 25 and 9 over 23 and 14 with almost 3 blocks and a dpoy? To each his own dude. Dwight never shot over 14 times a game and still averaged that.
There is no saying that because Yao never played long enough to prove he could have a good career. Dwight had dpoys and all nab teams. How do you say yao would be better? What do you base that off of? The east had lebrons cavs, prime celtics. Stop saying it wasn't good. It wasn't amazing but there was competition.
Agreed, DH had a slight nod on the defensive end and Yao had a slight nod on the offensive end. It's a tough call. And your point on East vs West back then is legit. Because of DH's reliance on his athleticism, that as we all can see is eroding by the year. Yao's game was based off of post moves and skill, which tends to age well over time.
Are you factoring in injuries? He is eroding due to injuries. He'd be as fit as lebron is at 30 if he didn't get hurt and tbh still is pretty fit considering what has happened. Those years he had to spend recovering took time away from basketball skill development. Think, 2 full years of injury rehab and no just basketball skill focus.
Yao was no.1 in 2008-2009 before he had an injury, just do a search before you post a something. See the beacherreport.com. James was no.2 during that time. Hello. "http://bleacherreport.com/articles/70404-2008-2009-top-5-nba-mvp-candidates#"
if we could only clone yao ming, without the loyalty to his motherland, the nba needs a glorious big man. then again, loyalty was part of the charm. big yao lives in all of us. never forget.
That's as a pre-season candidate...that article was written before the 08/09 season, speculating as to who would win MVP....that's not actual MVP voting. You can check here for that: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mingya01.html He finished 12th, the highest he ever got in MVP voting, in 2008/9. He finished 14th in 2003/4. He never finished any other other season with MVP votes. Dwight has finished 2nd; twice as 4th; once as 5th; and once as 7th in MVP voting in his career. Which you can check out here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/howardw01.html
Yes, he was not in the top in the final votes, but he was a top 3 in ESPN before getting a broken leg or whatever. There was no chance for him to get a top voting because he keeps getting injured, whole world knows that, but he was the top five player during that time.
Maybe Dwight might possibly have a chance to be argubly a Top 10 center if he played 20 years with few injuries. Yao had bad hands and wasn't coordinated enough to catch passes as difficult as lobs.
Because I watch the games. Did you watch Yao in games or have you only watched highlights? Yao would be almost as good right now as he would have been in his prime. He had a Tim Duncan-like offensive game. I'm also certain he would be hitting 3's at a high clip right now, and he was money from mid range and in the post already. This stuff doesn't go away. He could score on any defender - big, small, fast, slow. We know Howard couldn't guard Yao, but there's a bigger platitude than that. Duncan - when he would switch on to Yao - could not guard Yao. Neither could Garnett. Towards the end of his career there was only one way to LIMIT Yao: Have one man guard him and another front him at the same time. A double team before he touches the ball. Meanwhile Dwight had 5 incredible seasons. He did not have better regular seasons than Yao all 5 of those seasons. He's not been the same since those 5 years and I'm saying Yao would still be putting up the same numbers till now. He didn't slow down. Howard did nothing in the prime celtics years btw, and that Cavs team was so weak that Lebron bolted town. He was playing in an OVERALL weak Eastern conference with an especially weak big man pool. He went to the conference finals in 09 - that's Howard's crowning achievement. That is a big deal, although he lost to the Lakers 4-1 and I'd argue that we could have easily done as well or worse against the Lakers. That's how weak the East was. Give me 2009 Dwight over any of Yao's season, but as an overall player and with a theoretically healthy career I'd go with Yao. Even if we look at their simple stats, they are neck and neck today. Imagine if Yao had kept playing for a few years. He was not going to slow down. Yao had to leave because of injury, Howard is simply becoming less and less athletic. Yes, Howard's athleticism suffered from injury, but he was still going to become less athletic regardless and he was not going to cope well with that regardless. Dwight has to be a defensive monster and efficient scorer to eclipse his handicap in free throws. Yao had no handicap. Yao gives you a better 15 season career IMO. And I'm still saying Dwight's best years are better than Yao's best years.
Yao was not "almost as impactful". He wasn't close. Dwight is one of the best defensive players this game has ever seen. I swear some of you dudes on here are so ignorant or just stupid. I can't honestly see how in anyway you put yao and dwight almost in the same category for defense.
Personally I take dwight if both are healthy. Yao never was a really elite player. He was great but to me never elite as in top 5 player. Like I said earlier. To each his own. I prefer the defensive specialist that dwight was and his punishing offensive game. While yao had a more graceful offensive game. I just don't like the dudes in here acting as if dwight now was the dwight e has been forever. And in all honesty. If harden wasn't here, Dwight would be putting up 20+ and 13+. Dwight has never averaged over 13 shots a game. He was and is easily capable of being a good scorer in the league still.
Boom, like this post a lot, probably down to Dwight being favorite current Rocket. Yao generally crushed head-to-head against Dwight and was a smarter and better team player.
What's funny is a lot of people thought so when he was in Orlando, but people now seem to not think so. Ahhh how times change. Because a few seasons not as good affect the past. Woah. Good times.
