Ok let's pretend Yao's team and Dream's team are going head to head with both guys in their prime. Not necessarily Rocket teams just random teams, how many pts, blocks, and assists would they both rack up? and could Dream (the greatest blocker of all time) stuff Yao in the paint? And is Dream quick enough to fake out Yao?
Hakeem would dominate. Is there even a question. Yao would get his points, since he truly is a great offensive threat, given his size, but Hakeem would still dominate.
Yao would get stuffed repeatedly ,... sorry to say. Dream would dominate him, but Yao would probably respectable.
Right now, Dream wins. Give Yao one or two more years...then ask me again, I might think differently. Yao is still growing and learning. That's the amazing thing.
Dream would get into foul trouble and get into a crazy fight with Yao. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TMonqfh69J4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TMonqfh69J4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
This is silly. While I love Yao, Dream would spank his little bottom. While Yao's stats look comparable, he doesn't have the same kind of talent to play against either. Hakeem was THE MAN. I think a lot of youngsters and/or YOF's need to watch some footage of Dream and see what an amazing talent he really was.
Dream's got the quickest hands of any center to any play. I'd expect alot of steals and poking the ball out of Yao's hands before Yao could get a shot off. But in the right position, Yao could still easily get his points. But there's no question as to who would outplay who, Hakeem is much too quick for Yao, he would face him up all day.
Sorry guys ! Firstly we must consider which set of Rules we are playing under. Let's us say that they are playing under to-days rules and Yao get a fair shake from the rEfs for a change. Secondly let us say that they are both playing in their 5th season. If so Then Hakeem would dominate defensively and Yao would dominate on scoring and the whole contest would be a WASH!
No matter what stats Yao is getting, he shouldn't really be compared with Dream until he gets at least one ring. On the other hand, compare Yao with Ewing is starting to become fair.
I highly doubt that Hakeem would stop or dominate Yao but he would outplay him no doubt. They would problably score around the same number of points but Hakeem would get a few more boards, a few more blocks, 2 more steals, etc. It is fair to say that Yao and Hakeem are in the same ballpark offensively but Yao is nowhere close to Hakeem as a defender. Hakeem can have a major impact on the game on a bad shooting night. Yao, while he is still effective in other facets of the game, cannot not do that consistently. He probably will never equal Hakeem as a defensive player/rebounder but he can eclipse him in pure scoring ability.
As much as I'd love to say Yao is better, but I don't even think Yao would have got his points against Hakeem. Yaos' advantage are his power, and then height, but Dream's athleticism will minimize those advantages. If Yao tries to get deep post position, Dream would use his quickness to front him, make it a nightmare for anyone to feed the post (watch how Shawn Marion fronted Yao early this year). With Dream's jumping ability, over-the-top pass is not an option. If Yao get the ball away from the post, then there is no way he can put the ball on the floor, so the only option will be to shoot the jump, and Dream probably will block/bother more than half of those, considering Yao has been blocked by half of the NBA players.
