Head to head, i think the Mav's will still beat us because of their up tempo game and outside shooting. But overall, i expect th Rockets to have the better record. So i guess it would go like this SA Houston Dallas and SA Dallas Houston
TD is better now? I don't think there will be a time where Yao is better than TD (if he is not past his prime). TD is on the way to be the greatest PF of all time. He has actually walked a lot of this way allready. Yao maybe becomes the best center of the NBA one day when Shaq retires, but I don't think Yao will ever be recognized as one of the 5 best Centers of all time. Yao is good, but he is and will be no TD. Dirk is only a jump shooter and plays no defense. Well, I might have missed it, but when did Yao become an aggressive low post banger and a premier defender? Ask this question non-rockets-fans and I don't think you'll get too many answers in favour of Yao. Dirk was the (a lot) better player until now. Yao may catch him, but until now he has not.
Spurs-Houston- Mavs Im not only concerned about our division, im concerned also about the other teams. Just about every team in the Western Conference that was out of the playoffs last season has upgraded. We upgraded somewhat in getting TMAC, but we are still lacking a strong point guard. Hopefully our chemistry will be strong enough to win more games this season.
Why don't you go ahead and ask that question to non-rockets fans who would they rather have, Dirk or Yao? I bet the answer will not be what you're looking for! I know it's a hard pill to swallow for a German fan, but it is the cold fact.
Dirk sure gives you a lot of fire power and he is a decent rebounder. But he doesn't have much low post game and he is really a lousy defender. Yao is good at both ends of the court. And low post player is harder to come by these days and hence more precious. I'd say no one right now defends Shaq better than Yao. I used to think Duncan does a decent job too until I saw Shaq threw him off like a fly in the playoffs. Ask Dirk to hold off Shaq? Mmmm.....
LOL. I knew when I posted that, that sooner or later the national pride thing will come up. But trust me, I'm no american, I don't have to like, cheer for or defend everything because it's from my own country. It has nothing to to with me being german. I'm a Rocketsfan since 1994, when nobody knew Dirk. Since Yao arrived I'm a big supporter of Yao. He is my favourite player on this team. I wish him well. But still I have to be realistic. I could make a poll on "my own" bbs, one of germany's biggest for sports overall. And votes would certainly go about 80-90% to Dirk. But then again there are about 80% german people there. And I don't think your picture of Dirk is quite correct. He is by far no pure Jumpshooter and he has a low post game. He's just a european player where big forwards can shoot the ball. But he isn't standing at the perimeter all of the time. @ wireonfire: I don't think it makes sense at all to compare Dirk and Yao by the same criterias. They play different positions so you can't expect Dirk to stop Shaq. Yao matches up great with Shaq. But he isn't a premier defender. There are many other forwards and centers with less talent that give Yao more trouble. If you say you would like to see Dirk stopping Shaq, than you have to see Yao stopping Garnett. Neither will happen. So forget this argument, it's useless. I don't think any further argument about this topic is needed. We wait for the season to start and then we'll see. I expect Dirk to be an mvp-candidate with about 25 PPG and leading the Mavs to a 3rd, 4th or 5th seed. I hope Yao will get to the next level as well and his stamina will be fine. But I think if he scores 20 points a night, collects 9 boards and blocks 2 shots we can be happy. BTW: Just to make that clear. I would love Yao to be one of the greatest centers of all time and I would love a Yao who is superior in every aspect of the game to Dirk. But I don't think expecting that from him would do him a favour. But still he is one of the best players of the NBA and the 2nd best center for sure.
No one thinks himself biased. And yet we all know there are plenty biased ppl. At least Dallas was tempted to trade Dirk for Shaq. I don't think Rox was a bit tempted. A Dallas morning news bball writer said it is a pipe dream to trade Dirk for Yao when a Mav fan suggested that.
@ wireonfire: Yeah, absolutely right! But don't you think this comes because there are only few good centers. It's obvious that you have a big advantage if you have a superstar center when at least 25 other teams don't have one. On the other side Dirk is a great player, Top-10 of the whole league. But there are at least 10-15 other Power Forwards that are better, even or not much worse than him. That's why no one would trade Yao for Dirk directly. I also would NOT do that. It's the rule of the market. But that does not imply that Yao is a better player. You have to look at it that way.
Spurs without a good center: Mavs without Nash distributing the ball; Rockets without a proven point but with TMac and Howard added to the rosters. I think Rocks and Spurs racing to the top. 1. Rockets (still got the edge) 2. Spurs 3. Mavs That's what i'm talking about!
You are contradicting yourself. You said Dirk is a top-10 player in the whole league, then you admitted that there are at least 10-15 other power forwards that are better or at the level of Dirk. Are you saying that Shaq, Kobe, TMAC and those other non power forwards are worse than Dirk. Dirk is a one-dimensional player with no defense. He maybe playing some post in the international games. But in the NBA playing for Mavs, Dirk almost always park at the perimeter waiting for Nash to penetrate and feed him. His post and perimeter defense are lousy. At this time, I think even Paul Gasol is better than Dirk because Gasol at least have some post moves.
No, what I basically said was that there are so many great forwards out there, that Dirk can be replaced by many other players without giving up that much. There aren't that many good centers so that Yao can't be replaced as easily as a power forward. Dirk ist propably only worse than Duncan and KG if you just look at the power forward spot. There are other players who can be considered almost at the same level (O'Neal, Brand, Webber,...). And there are other who are not that much weaker (Gasol, Martin, ...). If you look at the center spot. Yao is the second best center behind only Shaq. There might be few other centers who can be considered good centers (Ilgauskas, Brad Miller, ...) but the difference is quite huge. That's what I was talking about. Dirk being a Top-5 Forward and Yao being the second best center doesn't imply that Yao is better. But anyways... If you're saying that Dirk is worse than Gasol and that he is a one dimensional Shooter without any other abilities and without any defense then any further discussion is obviously senseless. So I suggest we stop right here an wait for the upcoming season to show the truth. And btw his name is Pau not Paul... Just a few final words. The way it looks here the Rockets have to be the top contenders for the next season, almost surely going to the finals. Come on that's crazy. The Spurs are the generally accepted favourites and though everybody here sees the Rockets better than the Spurs...
Yao is more untouchable than Dirk. There is no question about it. But I would take Dirk over Pau Gasol everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.
For one I am tired of being the third fiddle here in Texas. So, it it time to step up and take over numero uno: 1. ROCKETS - Got to love the Rockets...Rockets only Fan... 2. Spurs - I don't know why but I just don't like them. 3. Mavericks - Never cared for the Mavs.
@ SJC: Sportforen.com. Of course not as big as this bbs, but it's something. Probably the biggest german sports bbs not owned by a company.
Well said. I never said Yao is better than Dirk as a player. But Yao is more valuable than Dirk to the game even he still needs a lot of refinement. How many post players who are constantly double-teamed? Shaq, Yao, maybe Duncan. That tells you how important he is to the game. I like Dirk a lot. But his D is not great at all. He doesn't play with the toughness needed to be a center/PF on D. And even worse, he lacks defense awareness, often seems lost in defense transition. In the NBA, you can't become a true great without good D. FYI, Yao first started as a defensive player in China. His offense caught up later.
I think this season will end like this: 1. Spurs (NBA champs) 2. Rockets (2nd round playoffs) 3. Mavs (1st round playoffs)
