Shaq may use the power game alot, but he is way more agile than you think. many times durring the laker games shaq would use his agility to spin off yao like he wasnt even there. if older shaq could spin of yao that easily, than prime hakeem could do it in his sleep
Yeah but the amount of times he Travels is amazing. And they dont even call it. Yes you can argue that all centers have done it in the NBA. But none have compared to the amount of times i see shaq travel and not get called for it.
I remember one announcer once joked about the Shaq's methodology of getting to the basket: First, find your pivot foot. Second, find your other foot. Third, change your pivot foot. Fourth, lower your shoulder. Fifth, Slam. LOL. Actually, Shaq's moves are better than people give him credit. He is VERY agile for a guy as bulky as he is.
Dream was only about 6'10. Yao is 7'6. Yao is taller, heavier, and has a stronger base. IE, Yao can shoot over and gain position against a lighter Dream. Yao's PRO: 1. Taller. 2. Heavier 3. Better range 4. Stronger lower base, can gain position. The ONLY center who gives Yao trouble is Shaq. Against anyone else, Yao can overpower and gain position. That's a fact. Yao's CON: 1. Slower 2. Weaker defensively 3. Not aggressive DREAM's PRO: 1. Faster (think Kevin Garnett, both about 6'10, light, quick) 2. Defensively superior 3. Fearless, aggressive. Will run through Yao if he can, or attempt to. DREAM's CON: 1. Shorter 2. MUCH Lighter. Yao's 320+. Dream was like 220. So in conclusion, I think the DREAM is ALOT like Minnesota's Kevin Garnett. I don't think the DREAM would easily defeat Yao. You guys make it sound like Yao is a kid. He's not. He was good enough to match, outscore against Shaq, who is an excellent defender in his own right. Those who think DREAM would whip Yao is kidding themselves. I think it would be a close contest. Yao has stated that in practice, he dominates a 7'0 Ewing. Granted, he's 40 years old, BUT if Yao can DOMINATE Ewing, how can you say Hakeem would easily dominate Yao? I don't think so.
Bingo. Hakeem's game is never known for the dribble and drive part. Hakeem has a quick first step, but not lightning quick. Kevin Garnett is a good comparison with Hakeem in terms of driving to the basket. Garnett is very explosive, handles the ball well on drives, and is longer and lighter than Hakeem was. Yao was put on Garnett this season for stretches, and Garnett was clearly bothered by Yao when he drove to the hoop. Not only because of Yao height and reach, but also due to Yao's wide stance due to his long legs.
patrick ewing can't move anymore and has been retired for 2 years and played like he was retired for about 2 years before that. using 40 year old, stuck to the ground ewing as a comparison to one of the, if not the, most agile centers ever is ludicrous. watch yao guard any center with a jump shot. he just backs off and gives it to them b/c if he got any closer they would drive by them. and those guys aren't hakeem olajuwon. did you see elton brand block yao's shot and keep him away from the basket tonight? now multiply that by about 10 for hakeem. gee, panda, chenzhen, yaowsa all siding more to the yao side of the argument. hmmmm.
Are you talking about guys like Predrag Drobnjak? From the game I saw tonight, Yao did leave him open a few times this game, but mainly was due to rotation on help defense. Sorry, but you are on crack if you think Drobnjak can drive past Yao every time when Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett can't do that. Yao has never played against a great player like Dream, on the other hand, Dream has never played against a taller, heavier, more agile, much more offensively skilled Mark Eaton with a little less defense, and that guy is Yao. Every great player has his unfavorable mismatchups, how you guys know for 100% sure that Yao isn't an unfavorable mismatchup against Dream is a little beyond me. If Yao can battle Shaq to a standstill, who is to say he is gonna just fall over and die against Dream? What warrants such lopsided oppinions? Dream is a great player. I've written posts defending his legend, but there's no need to elevate Dream by stepping on Yao's head. They are all Rockets. Did you see Mark Eaton, Shawn Bradley and Greg Ostertag blocking Hakeem's shots? Geez I got a guy named Francis-for-president backer coming against Yao, what a surprise!
It just amazes me that people assume Dream could drive past bigger defenders when his most well-known weapons are dream shakes and fade away baseline jumpers. If Dream could drive past every bigger defender at will he wouldn't need to spin and shake, pump and fake left and right then launch a fadeaway jumper don't you think? Even Rik Smits didn't fall over and die against Hakeem when they played each other and now all this about Yao's gonna get whipped around like a kid. Who is to say Yao is worse than Rik Smits?
Pat Ewing is 40 years old. So is Mark Jackson, and Oakley, yet Jeff Van Gundy brought them in to play. Just because Pat Ewing is 40 doesn't mean he can't play basketball anymore. He's not some guy in a wheelchair, or hobbling around with a walking stick. He's going One on One vs Yao HARD in practice, and granted, Ewing is not close to being what he once was. But is he 70%? yes. 80%? maybe. And guess what, Yao has stated he's dominating Ewing in these 1 vs 1. So, the question is, Is Yao's performance against an aged Pat Ewing useful? Absolutely. We've seen Yao match Shaq this year. Based on this alone, why are so many here so confident that Hakeem would dominate against Yao as though he's a 4 foot 10 year old? It's absurd to elevate Hakeem to have god-like powers. Give me a break. If Yao can score 30+ against Shaq, trust me, Yao will not be embarrassed by Hakeem. Beaten? Probably, but you guys make it like it'll be 100-0. More like 39-50. In today's game, Hakeeem is really more of a forward than a true center. Even in his playing days, Hakeem was really more a forward than a true center. That's why comparisons with Kevin Garnett are justified. Can Kevin dominate Yao One on One as you guys are stating? No. Maybe Kevin will win, but most likely, not. Yao can push Kevin around in the paint. And Yao is not as slow as you guys think. Now, I believe Hakeem is better than Kevin Garnett, so its likely that Yao will be defeated by Hakeem. But by how much? Will it be a blow-out? NO. Again, if Yao matched up well with Shaq this season, this is evidence that Yao will not be blown out by Hakeem.
And this is important, Head to Head, Shaq averaged 22.1PPG vs Hakeems' 18.4PPG. And in the playoffs, Shaq averaged 28.8PPG, Olajuwon 23.0PPG. There you go. You guys who think Olajuwon was a super-god are wrong. Do you really think Hakeem would CRUSH Yao Ming as some of you guys are saying? I don't think so.
I'm pretty sure, contrary to what the Houston homers think, Dream didn't dominate Shaq 1 one 1 in the 1995 playoffs, Shaq outplayed Dream but team Rockets outplayed team Magic.
Although in my memory they both score 20+, and Shaq was higher. Or was he higher in rebounds. Maybe I remembered wrong.
"what color is the sky in your world, cliff?" - frasier crane so hakeem's numbers were better, we swept the magic, and shaq says hakeem "dusted his butt" but shaq outplayed dream and we're homers? ummmm, ok. if hakeem played yao one on one and won 15-0 you'd probably tell us hakeem got lucky and they should redo it. interestingly, i typed in "hakeem shaq head to head" in google and the first thing i came across was some forum for Iron Magazine (or something like that) and the guy starting the thread, who as far as i could tell wasn't a houston homer said this about hakeem (while ranking him 4th all time for centers but saying he didn't really think wilt or kareem was better): "his ability to step up in the clutch and utterly dominate even the greatest players in unparalleled by almost any player in NBA history" but i guess yao is gonna be the one he can't beat. also, our very own gr8-1 was in that thread vigorously defending hakeem against some dude proclaiming shaq as the obvious #1 center ever. wtf are the odds i find someone from here on the first link of a google search. also, lets pretend yao isn't slow and people don't just shoot jumpers over him and that if yao got close enough to stop the jumper hakeem wouldn't go by or foul yao out by the time it was 2-0, even if yao did frustrate him in this mythical matchup, he wouldn't have teammates to get the rebound. he'd have to chase them down after lunging at hakeem to block him. now who do you think would change directions faster and go get the ball? and how fast do you think yao would get worn out?
Think of it this way. If dream is playing close to him prime in Toronto and they came to Houston to play.(not a playoff game or MVP related) Dream has to dribble out from the three point line and Yao is allowed to get the ball in the post and Yao is in his good form against shaq. Then you gotta believe Yao can do alright for us. So would D-Rob.
ok i do not know where to start. lets sum up the things you have stated: 1Yao is better then Garnett 2 a 40 year old patrick ewing is 70% of his prime days 1Garnett wil dominate Yao in one on one. Yao isn''t that much stronger the garnett. Garnett is more athletic and much faster.You do know Garnett is the best player in the nba? (he should be MVP) 2 Hakeem dominated Ewing in his prime A player who is 40 years ld isn't even near the player he was when he was young. if Yao didn't dominate ewing in practice then i would be woried. i do not think that you should be glad that he is better then a 40 year old center who was dominated By Hakeem in his prime. and using this a argument that Yao wil beat Hakeem is really strange. you do know they played against each other when Hakeem was old and not a good player anymore. he played about 4 verry bad year. ofcourse Shaq has better numbers. I do not know how anybody who saw hakeem play can think he wil not dominate yao. i love Yao i think he can be great. But at this point of his career he isn't even close to Hakeem. I really wonder if you ever saw Hakeem play in his prime?
A little less defense. LMAO Do you have any idea who mark eaton was. imo he is the most prolific shot blocker in the history of the league. his career blocks per game is the higest in NBA history.(3.50) he once blocked over 5.5 shots per game in a season.(5.56 to be exact) in comparison the most shots per game yao has ever blocked is a measily 1.90. to equate Yaos below average shot blocking ablility with that of posibly the greatest shot blocker ever is OBSERD. If anyone is elevating there players abilitys far beyond reality. it is you guys with yao.
Mark Eaton played in an era without zone defense which helped his shot blocking, and I didn't equate Yao's shot blocking ability with that of Mark Eaton, I was mentioning the overall defense. To think that shot blocking is the equivalence of defense shows a lack of understanding of defense.
See, these are the kind of arguments that really bother me, which is not really an argument at all. I'm sure most people in here feel the same but are too damn stubborn to open their minds up to any other possibilities. I was about to give up trying to convince you guys because it's just impossible trying to make the homers budge in here. Instead of trying to break it down <b>on the way they play if they ever play <i>1 on 1</i></b> (whether if Hakeem vs DRob or Hakeem vs. Yao), people here get mesmerized by Hakeem's moves and not look at the big picture of <i>the way the play and how they can incorporate that in their 1 on 1 game</i>. Again, 1 on 1 <> 5 on 5. I want to see the Sam Fishers of this world counter my points instead of drooling at Hakeem's moves for a change. BRING IT!
YOu act like hakeem has never played a lick of 1 on 1 before. I'll tell you this. Yao would be slumped over breathing his lungs out before the 1 on 1 is half over. Yao just doesn't have the speed to keep up with hakeem. It'll be closely contested if Yao can get the ball and make hakeem play some defense but I'd give hakeem 7 out of 10 games and that's being fair because after game 5 I know Yao will be ready to pass out with his poor endurance.
