Yao is the only center in the NBA averaging over 20 points per game

Unlike you who always run your mouth without using your brain, I have done a search for your posts before I pointed that out. You have been quiet since Jan 31 and during the period when we won 4 in a row and Yao was playing well. Then you started running your mouth again after we lost the game last night and Yao did not play well. Coincidence? I think not.

 

You're talking to a guy whose first 15 posts were devoted soley to Yao.

 

Then again, it's only disappointing if you had those lofty expectations to begin with. How many #1 picks since Duncan have truly "turned their franchises around." Not even Lebron can really make that claim, failing to make the playoffs two years in a row. Cavs management had to get him help before they became they became the good team they are now.

I distinctly remember EVERY sports journalist saying he'd be the biggest bust of all time. I distinctly remember the Rockets organization saying that he'd be a 3-year project and would be averaging roughly 13/8 NOW. After showing everyone that he wouldn't be the bust or project, everyone jumped onto the "next great center" bandwagon. Where the hell is the middle ground? Frankly, he's actually exceeded my expectations. I'm not disappointed at all.

 

YAO is 20, 10 player now and will be 22, 10. If he can read the court better and be that AXIS of ROX offense, he will be our Tim Duncan.

Also, his defense is heavily underrated. He is good 1-to-1 defender and an excellent team defender

 

Certainly China's CBA is hoping Yao and Rockets to tank this year. They have made schedule which starts in June to play 20 games leading to the worlds. So look for Yao to play 30 games for China this summer.




http://sports.sina.com.cn/cba/2006-02-10/ba2033952.shtml

 

and it comes into the light. All this arguing and we come to the same conclusion Yao is good not great. DeAleck does not hate Yao , he is just stating the obvious and loves the rockets very much.

 

your wrong , check my previous posts.

Look for me wearing a throwback Yao jersey on sat. night cheering my ass off. Then on sunday call me a Yao hater.

 

Awwwww Damn DA we something good going , until you mentioned JVG. I respect your opinion about him , but why is he so stubborn??? His offense has the creativity of a flat tire.

 

My problem is not with what he said about Yao in his posts today. Actually I agree with him that some other posters have gone too far to say Yao is at the same level as Tim Duncan already or even better. I agree Yao is very good now, but not yet great. I did have problems with some of the past posts of this dude. Do a search for his past posts then make your own judgement. And I am not the only one here to hold this opinion. This ubigred is kinda wellknown for his personal crusade against a certain player on this Rockets team which he claimed he loves (cough).

Anyway, I am out of this one. You guys have fun.

 

I'm not trying to slight Yao, but the fact that no other true big man is averaging 20 points a game simply shows how far the center position has fallen from its height of prominance in the old days, and its resurrgance throughout the 80's and 90's (with a mild deference to Jordan, Bird, and Magic).

In fact, I know we all like to bash Ewing for turning Yao into what he is now... but Ewing was averaging 22 and 9 in his 4th year, and elevated that to 28 and 11 in his 5th year.

The bottom line is that the center position is no longer what it once was... and if you have a big man who could be dominant night-in and night-out, you could have a dynasty on your hands.

Somewhere, Hakeem, David Robinson, and Kareem are rolling over in their preverbial graves...

 

Or could it be because of league rule changes that favor jump shooters over low post players? We do have a lot of good talent at the center position ... Yao, Shaq, Amare, Howard, Okafor, Camby ... it seems they're all suffering the effects of these new rules that favor backcourt-based offenses. The most productive person in that group is Amare, and I don't think even he is better than Yao, but he tends to be more productive mostly because of Steve Nash.

Nah, if the center position has declined, it's because the league caused it to become that way. Back in the day Shaq could bully his way around the paint and rack up points. These days if you're a center someone slaps your face and you get called for an offensive foul. Yao comes out of games looking like a heavyweight boxer after a 12 round beating, with swellings and bloody scratches all over his face. And then once he gets off getting mauled and lynched on the court, he gets mauled and lynched by fairweather fans and clueless sports analysts who ceaselessly assail him for not being the second incarnation of Wilt Chamberlain.

How else do you explain a jump shooter racking up 81 points in a game? Not that it's an accomplishment to be scoffed at, but when you can't even breathe on a guy for fear of sending him to the foul line, it sure doesn't hurt the chances. Look at the Sixers game. Juwan Howard would actually jump out of Allen Iverson's way and still get called for a foul. I could go on.

 

Yeah, it is because of the zone defense, you could not front Yao if no one could guard him from the backside as well.

The new rules SUCK, if Yao played in the non-zone era he would be a 24ppg scorer already.

DD

 

I think it's a combination of both the rule changes and the decline in big men. Fact of the matter is, big men rely a great deal more on fundamentals than a backcourt player. Shaq is a bit of an aberration in that he's extremely athletic for a 340 lb. man. He was able to drop step with blinding speed and push his way through traffic before you could even blink.

Big men in today's NBA lack what had defined the big man in the past: a fundamentally sound, low-post, back-to-the-basket game. When you think back to the types of games that Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, and other centers of the previous generation had...they were all quite comfortable with their backs against the basket.

Sure, they had highlight reel dunks every now and then, but they relied mostly on fakes and maneuvering around the basket to get an open shot. Nowadays, most big men are more obsessed with bulling their way to the basket and getting on Sportscenter instead of utilizing post moves to get an open shot.

Naturally, the rule changes haven't helped either. Not only do big men no longer utilize the subtle moves of the fundamental post game, but it's harder for the few who do such as Duncan, Yao, Gasol, and perhaps Brand/Garnett to be as effective.

 

No one will want to be you if you are so easy to be replaced. Please study more and write this low class comment any more.