[Chron Blog] Yao's not great, but he doesn't have to be

I don't understand why folks get so worked up about this discussion. Let Yao win a couple (or more) rings, an MVP and maybe 5, 10 years down the road, they can argue if he's the sixth most dominant or 11th. It's just too early.

 

This writer is an idiot.

What's the point of writing this article right now?

Next..."T-mac's not great...but he doesn't have to be."

i don't see a point other than just a jerk off giving his two cents because he has a blog.

 

Yao says stop getting your panties in a twist

 

shut up, dude. The haters is just an idiot. I dont see any point in the thread, each NBA player can replace Yao in the title. Pls lock the meaningless thread and give those haters a ****ing wall to shoot

 

Yao's greatest enemy is his stamina but this is not his fault as he works his a$$ hard to improve it. It is because of his size that cause his exhaust fast imagine you have to carry 300+ lbs especially those gigantic legs playing 30+ minutes basketball.

Due to his stamina problem yao can only play 30 minutes efficient basketbal. Once he exhausted, his jumper is off, defense is slow etc. If yao can play 38minutes effective basketball, i believe his numbers will 30points 11rebs 2blks per game and those are MVP number for today's league!

Conclusion, yao's stamina is the one thatis holding his back!

 

Stats from Age 23-26:
Ewing: 21.2 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.9 APG, 2.8 BPG, 1.3 SPG, .531 FG%, .728 FT% (34.3 MPG)
Yao: 20.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.9 BPG, 0.4 SPG, .528 FG%, .824 FT% (32.6 MPG)

The beginning of Yao's career is pretty similar to Ewing's. Ewing was the better defender, but Yao might be the better offensive player. I don't think Yao will EVER come close to touching a Top 5 spot on an All-Time Center list, but I do think he's got a good shot at Top 15 and an outside shot at Top 10. But like people have already said, it's way to early to be discussing this.

 

Not to derail this 'excellent' thread , one thing I don't understand ... why is Yao always compared to the best in history but not Tmac? Like Yao in the center position, Tmac is also regarded as one of the best swingmans in our era. But I have yet to read one article with a heading like "Tmac is a top ten swingman in NBA history' or 'Tmac is not a top ten swingman in NBA history'. Please don't tell me it's because Tmac has never won a playoff series because Yao hasn't 'achieved' that either. Can anyone here enlighten me?

 

when yao wins the title this year then nobody would be able to criticise himor t-mac,until then let them be

 

There are three reasons IMO:

1. The center position is one of the most talked about positions historically because it is a "big man's game." No matter how many shooters and swing players you have, the guys most talked about historically are the big guys.

2. It is easier to compare two post players than two guys on the wing. Great wing players run the gamut from shooters to dunkers to all around guys. Trying to compare a great shooter like Joe Dumars to a great athlete like Dominique Wilkins or an all-around player like Scottie Pippen is just tough. But, you can pretty easily compare and contrast the post play of two big guys.

3. There are MANY more guys in the swing man size to debate. In this era alone you've got TMac, Kobe, Carmello, Lebron, Ray Allen and so on. They each have different games and they all have big time skills. There have always been tons of guards and small forwards with different skill sets. It's just tough to start making lists when there are dozens to consider.

 

Yao's a great player in today's NBA. But without a ring or two, I doubt he'll crack top 10 all time greatest centers list by statistics alone. He has a slow start at the beginning of his career stats wise, and at his current rate he won't surpass Patrick Ewing's stats when all is said and done. as for him being blocked by short guys, you gotta admit guys like Dream, Shaq don't get blocked one-on-one that often. it can't be the sole reason why Yao won't be an all time great, but it will certainly affect his legacy.

 

Hehe... my take on this interesting little debate rustled up by devils advocate Mr. Jerome Solomon, is this.

Of all the centers in the league today (excluding Shaq... and Tim Duncan, if you consider him a center)... who would you place your chips on to crack that top 10 list? All my chips (and my mortgage and life savings, house, car, wife.... ) are on Yao with the only caveat being that he suffers no career altering injury in the next 5 years.

Even John Hollinger has marked Yao to be the next great one. I think Jerome Solomon enjoys playing the devil's advocate, the yang to the yin, the guy who says no when everyone else is saying yes.

 

Later on his blog Solomon stated "never said Yao wasn't tough or great." He could obviously not even remember his own point or the title of the article. It is really hard to figure out where he is coming from.

 

Overlooked is the fact that none of the TOP 10 Greatest Centers were allowed to be double teamed before they even received the ball like Yao is thanks to today's rules.

The game has changed so much in a way that neutralizes post players. We will probably never see another Shaq or Hakeem because of that. I'm sad that a sportswriter doesn't know that.

 

Guys, I've read this guy before, he is as good as John Lopez, which is'nt very good.

 

Actually, if you use the current series as a barometer of dominant and using your definition of "bending" or "distorting" the game then Yao is currently doing that NOW. Of all coaches in the league, Sloan hardly uses double teams, and Yao is FORCING Sloan to do this. Personally to me, for ANY player to even qualify to be considered to be in any top player list, that player has to win a FINALS MVP. I want to see a player rise up when it counts most and obviously that player probably was a big reason that particular team made the Finals in the first place. Regular season MVPs to me take a back seat to FINALS MVPs. So until Yao gets one of these FINALS MVP, then any talk about him or any player is irrelevant.

 

+1 billion

 

People focus too much on the actual rule change and not on how it truly impacts the game.

You cant play a true zone defense in today's NBA as your base defense. Outside shooting in today's NBA is too good. There is not 1 team in today's NBA that actually plays a zone defense over 50% of the time. Most play it about 10-15% of possessions to change things up.

Additionally, what was called illegal D in the Hakeem era is now simply called Defensive 3 seconds in this era.

If it had changed the game that much, Tim Duncan wouldnt still be the premier big man in today's NBA several yrs into the rules changes. He's about as prototypical a post player in the Hakeem mode as you can get. The rules changes havent impacted his game one iota. They didnt impact Shaq either (he started to decline due to age and is still very effective).

The reason today's post game stars are so hard to find is that you have guys like Rasheed, Dirk, Jermaine, etc who are too in love with long jumpers than battling on the block.

Sure every now and then you do see Yao facing the D where he's fronted by the main defender and a guy's providing weakside help before the ball is thrown in. However, this is not played against Yao a very high % of the time (except when we play the Suns). Yao has been singled by the Jazz both games 1 and 2 and only shot 40% against Mehmet Okur. That's simply not the way a top 10 C of all time plays. I havent seen the Jazz double Yao once before the ball is thrown to him. Hell, they may have doubled him less than 5 times after the ball was thrown to him the entire series on the 50-60 touches he's gotten so far.

Teams played Hakeem like this too at times. See the Knicks in the 94 Finals. They'd have done the same thing to Yao back then because Yao has problems with people knocking the ball out of his hands from the weakside when they come to help. With how slow Yao is, this would still have been a problem back in the day.

The only thing that would help Yao if he were to play in the 80's/90's like Hakeem IMO is that post entry passing was worlds better back then. Hakeem really took off when he had 2 great post feeders in Drexler and Horry feeding him and Yao just doesnt have that here on this team. Head and Battier are pretty poor post entry passers IMO. Rafer's ok, but nothing special.

Feeding the post has really become a lost art in today's NBA. But by in large, I think Yao benefits more from the weaker talent at Center than he suffers from the new rules, which havent changed the game much at all. They did have the potential of changing the game in theory, but it hasn't happened in practice.

 

If Yao wins a couple of chamipnships in his career and has 5+ more seasons like the one he just had without injuries, he will be ranked as a top ten center of all time. If he fails to win a championship in his career, he will not. Tim Duncan has not had a better career than Yao Ming statistically, but Duancan is generally considered one of the best big men of all time because of the three championships that he won. The greats seperate themselves by their post season plays. That time is now!

 

Yao has had his doubters every since he was drafted into NBA, he has proved each and every one of them wrong.

Just add one more to the list.

 

I don't think Yao is a dominant big man yet, I think he is very close to being dominant though. Yao can get to the free throw line 15-20 times a game. His jumper can be deadly when its on, but he needs to take it to the basket a lot more.

Yao could become an all-time great, nobody has a crystal ball but to emphatically state that Yao will never be on the top 10 list of great centers in the NBA is pretty stupid.

I hope Yao reads this article, only because Yao seems to play better when angry.