I was working on a speech project about Hakeem and I came to a sudden realization that a better comparison for Yao and T-Mac is Hakeem and Drexler. Hakeem is the finesse player Yao is, unlike the power player Shaq is. Clyde was unbelievably athletic just like T-Mac.
It was the most recent of the Center-Guard duos I'm guessing Shaq and Kobe, Hakeem and Drexler (you don't hear much about this one) Jabbar and Magic etc. etc. etc.
Here's some more food for thought: Hakeem had his signature "Dream Shake" Yao has the "Shanghai Shake" Also, the Hakeem-Drexler combo was one of the most memorable for Houston fans, so it is suitable to compare Yao-TMac to another Houston combo.
Great observation and comparism FB86. The next Kobe-Shaq is Wade-Shaq. The next Magic-Jabbar is Lebron-Ilgauskas
Yao and Shaq are GIANTS, unlike Hakeem. Yao, Shaq, TMac and Kobe are all still playing in the league, and playing well.
I don't like the Shaq/Kobe or Hakeem/Clyde comparisons. Those duos were only great because they had the most dominant players in the league (Shaq and Hakeem). I don't think Yao or Mcgrady will ever be considered the best player in the league or nearly as dominant as those 2 in their prime. I think the Miller/Smits comparison is more accurate. Or maybe a Dominique Wilkins/Kevin Willis. Yao and Mcgrady are going to need a much more talented supporting cast than the ones Hakeem/Clyde and Shaq/Kobe had. At least a 3rd star and some decent depth.
If Yao-TMac is another Miller/Smits or Wilkins/Willis, its a sad day for Houston fans because neither of them ever won a championship together.
WHAT????? Man, what are you smoking on? Yao and T-Mac is nothing like Smits-Miller. Again, what are you smoking on? How can you compare T-Mac to Miller? T-Mac athleticism is beyond what Miller have in his prime. And still T-Mac is barely approaching his prime. Again, what are you smoking on? How can you compare Yao to Smits? Yao is a youngster that plays a better game than Smits and Yao is still below 25 years old. Not near his prime yet. Again, what are you smoking on? Someone help the brother
If you are gonna toss out things like that you gotta atleast say WHY YOU THINK THAT!!! other wise people dont take what you say for real... Oh yeah- see the first line of my sig...
Yao is already greater than Smits. Tmac is already greater than Miller. No sane person will compare Kobe or Lebron to Reggie Miller. Miller ceilling and his game in general cannot be compared to those 3 guys. It just does not add up When all is said and done, Yao will be dominant in the Jabbar/Hakeem mode (22.7-11.5) within 3 years (when he will still be about 27 years old). Also Tmac is already as good as Kobe or Drexler. And he could clearly overtake Kobe sooner rather than later.
The problem is that no two guard-center pairs are quite alike. Yao is much more like Hakeem than like Shaq, but Hakeem was by far the best player in the league in the championship years. I'm sure you recall the TV announcers' expressions of shock and awe for Hakeem during the 95 playoffs. He utterly dominated both ends. Yao doesn't get anything near that. I agree with those who say that it's the team as a whole that's making it happen.... more like Sacto than LA. And it's a credit to Yao and Tmac that they buy into the team concept instead of wanting to pad their own stats. I'm sure I'm not as knowledgeable as some of you gurus. I'm happy to have you enlighten me. But it seems that my Smits-Miller ref at least fostered some interesting debate. BTW -- Smits-Miller is nothing to sneeze at. I agree that Yao-Tmac is stronger than them, but some of you guys are already likening Y/T to the gods of NBA history.
You can't compare Yao/T-Mac with other players. There just aren't enough top-level center/swingman combinations in NBA history to make a good match. I personally think that if T-Mac and Yao can reach their peak, the closest combination that comes to mind is Magic/Kareem. Yao and Kareem are both tall, finesse centers. While Magic and T-Mac are all-around players who can do it all. Obviously, Yao isn't at the level of Jabbar in his Lakers days, and T-Mac is hardly Magic. But the level of NBA play has deterioated since those days, so it probably doesn't take that caliber of play for this duo to win some championships.
I actually see similarities between T-Mac and Yao to Bird and Mchale. Although you nomally wouldn't compare T-mac and Bird, they both have the ability to score in bunches, and their knowledge and feel for the game is impressive. They are both underrated passers, and their perimeter games are very similar once you get past the surface. They both have a lethal step back jumper, it's just that Bird would be smooth and fluid, whereas T-Mac is quick and explosive. And while T-mac will light 'em up with the pull-up, Bird preferred the stop and pop. Same moves with different flavors. They have stuff that don't match up (athleticsm, rebounding etc.) but nobody is going around accusing them of being twins. They are just a lot more similar than you might suspect at first. On the Yao front, IF he reaches his potential then he will either have an offensive game like Kareem or Mchale. Like Kareem if he works on his turn-around jumper until it's a brutally unstoppable goto move. And like Mchale if he polishes every move that he has in his trunk. Does anybody remember the first game against the Lakers this year. It was one of the games that T-Mac missed and the Lakers were giving Yao single coverage. Consequentially Yao was giving an absolute clinic on the low post. He was setting up on the right block, on the left block, he was shooting hooks, fadeaways, finger-rolls, scoop shots, with his left hand, with his right hand. He pulled out drop-steps, up and under moves, his trademark spin move, and a counter reverse on his spin move. He went glass on a couple of occasions and even had this mini-sweeping hook shot. It was absolutely beautiful to watch. I haven't seen a more skillful display in the lowpost in a long while. When they force-feed Yao against a single coverage, non-fronting defense this is what will happen. The next step for him is to be able to do this kind of stuff against any defense that the opponent throws at him. Everybody wants to compare Yao with the HOF centers of the past, and how they tended to dominate right out of the gate (Like Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, or Shaq). But maybe Yao can develop like a Mchale. It took KM a few years in the league until he developed his lowpost game and became a starter. And this is a HOFamer who had one of the most skilled and unstoppable lowpost games ever. Incidentally if we can sign Swift this offseason, then we could have the second coming of the the Boston Celtics of the 80's frontline. Swift=Parish Yao=Mchale T-mac=Bird And they would all be under 26. GET IT DONE CD!
I'm much more interested in the number of championships than in comparisons about style of play. That's the comparison that matters.
