Yao's last 5 games 33 pts, 11.4 rbs, 2.6 asts, 3.6 blks If only Rox had a consistent 2nd scoring option...
Yao could end up with the scoring title THIS YEAR. If Tmac is out for any extended period, Yao could end up averaging 30 ppg. AI and Melo's numbers are probably going to come down. I hope it doesn't happen, but it could.
The Easy way to settle the question abot Yao and Hakeem is this way:- Yao will be the best Rocket's Offensive player and Hakeem is the best Rocket's Defensive player. Different players, different NBA Rules and different strengths.
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Yeah, I thought the same thing. Yao is terrific, but he needs to reproduce big numbers every year for 10 years and take his team to the playoffs consistently to be mentioned in the same breath with one of the 5 best centers to ever play the game. He is playing phenomenal this year. He just needs to keep that up.
The problem is that TMac eats into about 1/3 of the Rockets salary cap. The Rockets is not a deep team. And imagine what SA, Dallas and Suns will do if they take away TD, Dirk, Nash/Bell. These teams will struggle. At this stage, I will say that pairing Yao with another legitimate all-star (not superstars): Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter, Ray Allen, we will tear up the league. Give Yao a legitimate second scoring option and he will carry us to wins against good teams. Any NBA teams that have Luther Head or Alston as a secondary scoring option is doomed. Period!
I think its also important to note that Dream's scoring was in an area of illegal defenses and the inability (except Seattle and George Karl!!) to play the zone. That limited the amount of double or triple teams that were played on Olajuwon. Yao has to face much more complex defenses and schemes with multiple defenders. I honestly believe Yao is matching Olajuwon's offensive ability and his passing is on par as well. I think he will only get better offensively and more dominant on the passing side as well. I do, however, believe that he's not a true shotblocker and will never come close to matching Olajuwon's shotblocking, stealing, rebounding or athletic defensive coverage. Olajuwon covered the whole team better than Garnett does today because of his cat-like quickness. This also means though that Olajuwon was undersized 6'10 and used mainly his athletic ability, therefore declined quickly after his physical athleticism began to erode. Yao, on the other hand, uses cunning, a great touch, and his size for most of his buckets. I think because he plays on the ground and does not use his athleticism as much he may have a long career. I think a reason that Stockton and Malone never were really injured often is because they played safe, smart and stayed on the ground like Yao. Hopefully this will enable Yao to dominate for a long time as well.
Well, first of all, Rookie, that post of mine was mostly meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Second, in case you didn't get it, Luckyazn "down-graded" Yao's rebounding average from 9.9 to 9.8 after the last night game, which is up to date. Third, if he as a Yao fanatic cares so much about Yao's numbers, is it too much to ask for an accurate account of all three little stats?
exactly. yao is playing great and all but when you watch that highlight reel between yao and dream you will see that a ton of dream's highlights come IN THE PLAYOFFS. dream led the rockets to finals in his 2nd year. if yao is ever going to be considered near dream's level he would have to lead a team like ours at least into the playoffs. he has not come close to that yet. i really hope we can learn to win with yao very quickly because i don't want his talents wasted like a KG. that being said we still have about a 6 year window with yao in his prime... so we have time but we don't have time to waste.
I agree with what you're trying to say, but Paul Pierce is a superstar in my book. I'd trade for him even if McGrady were healthy. His %'s blow Tracy's out of the water the last few years, he gets to the line literally twice as much (4.7 to 9.4), he's clutch, and he's as much an iron man as anybody not named Kevin Garnett.
People always bring up this argument that defenses are better now because of zones. Except that its widely acknowledged that the talent level is down in the league and also hand checking is gone along with refs seem to call fouls much quicker on inside play than they used. If you watch some of the old Rox games with the Twin Towers you will see guys like Rambis practically mugging Dream and Sampson. That kind of defense played these days will quickly lead to a defender fouling out. So while Yao is facing Zones Dream faced much better big men who played a lot tougher D. There aren't many players like Ewing, Robinson, Eaton, Laimbeer or even Kurt Rambis currently.
No, from 1993 to 1996 he averaged over 26 points per game. 4 years. Also, in the 1994 playoffs he averaged 28.9 points. That was over 23 games. In the 1995 playoffs, he average 33.0 points per game on 53% shooting over 22 games, facing some of the best in the history of the game- Malone and Stockton, Barkley and KJ, David Robinson, and Shaq. His career playoff average was 25.9 ppg, and that included some down years at the end.
