I'd rather the Rockets go out and win real championships than to be proclaimed champions on paper. Yao won't get the Respect he is due, because everyone in the media links him to Rik Smits, George Murisan, Shawn Bradley, etc. Guys who were tall, easily injured, non athletic, and without ancestry from africa. Sure he is averaging 25 pts and 10 rebounds a game, but the first thing you hear is that he is slow and ins't a franchise player; or hasn't won a playoff series. The media outlets have their favorite guys. Yao wasnt' one of them. And I don't think that Oden is another one of them. Durant appears to be their guy. If your read, he is the one they are calling the New Upgraded version of Michael Jordan. Apparently already better than McGrady. Durant might have the persona and game needed to have his face on everything you buy for the next decade or 2. GET USED TO HIS FACE AND HIS GAME, is the handwritting on the wall I'm seeing. I can see it now!!!!! Portland missed out on the 2 best players to EVER PLAY THE GAME in their quest for the next Bill Walton: Jordan and Durant
he might block few Yao's shot. but Yao still going own him. just like Yao blocked Shaq's shot at his first season, and got owned by shaq
All I could find quickly was a recap of their first 12 meetings (including playoffs): PTS: Shaq - 22, YM - 16 REB: Shaq - 9.8, YM - 8.3 BLKS: Shaq - 2.5, YM - 1.9 ASTS: Shaq - 2.8, YM - 1.9
cmon guys, greg oden is ALREADY better defensively than EVERY big men outside of possibly tim duncan or KG right now. when he learns the nuances of the game, i'll say he's even better. u do know he was mistreated in the college game right? offensively, yao is MILES ahead of oden and thats understandable. one guy is a rookie the other is a veteran. but dont compare howard to oden. i can say greg oden is better than dwight howard by midseason of next yr. howard still has no true offensive game. if he played on a decent team he wouldnt avg more than 15 pts. oden is for real guys. in 3-4 yrs, he'll be a top 3 big man, b/c defensively he could be all-nba next yr and offensively he'll get better
well do u see any other big man being hyped since junior high school? the last guy that was hyped that much was lebron james and look how he turned out. he ain't kwame brown now. he can actually catch a ball
Oden will be at best a rich man's Ben Wallace with some offense or a watered down Amare Stoudemire wth defense. I watched some of his games at Ohio State, and even though i know he is young, he is rather fundamentally unsound on the offense end; all he can do is dunk, hook, dunk, and dunk some more. And its not like hes that dominating physically like shaq was or dwight howard is... Hes just really good at defense and that wat i think he'll end up as... a really good defensive specialist. i think his stats 7 years from now will be: 15pts, 13rbs, 2ast, 2 stl, 3blk pergame. good and probably worthy of the first pick, but not worth all the hype
that's fine to assess. but did u watch patrick ewing in college? he had ZERO offensive game. NO ONE thought he would ever avg more than 20 pts if he reached that much in the pro game. everyone thought he would be a beast defensively like mutombo, but he developed a lethal offensive game. so i would hold back that judgement if i were you. it's very easy to dunk in college so i dont know why the hell not oden wouldn't do that? and they played him even worse than shaq w/ zone and double/triple teams. and he played w/ an injured wrist for half of it. for one game where he played enough mins, he toyed w/ the best frontline in college (though that aint saying much). but he showed hsi post moves in that game. again, there is a reason he's hyped. he wont dominate right away, but cmon guys, there's a reason he's hyped as young as in 7th/8th grade.
So do you agree that he is the best big man prospect to come along in ten years? In other words Duncan in 1997 to Oden in 2007?
again, hype-wise yes. but u cant say anything until they play a few yrs in the NBA. but i truly believe oden can be an all-nba caliber player. dude is SO raw offensively and yet his defense is so developed. ive never seen that w/ recent big men. howard/amare, they play ZERO defense. guys that do like okafor can never be good offensively. oden has both. but we'll see. he won't be a top 5-6 big men for the next 2-3 yrs though. duncan/kg/dirk/yao still have that. but we'll see.
Oden is already HEAPS better defensively than Yao. there's no way Yao will ever touch Oden defensively. Yao is a better offensive player than Oden but thats because he has a soft touch and can shoot. Oden already has a nice hook shot going and he'll get better offensively because he wants to learn and he's so mobile and althetic. Also i wouldnt call Yao a DOMINANT center. he hasnt won a playoff series or proven he can carry the team on his back. He faded away in the playoffs just as i expected, and he made Boozer look like a superstar. I still think if Mutumbo had played more we'd have beaten Utah. Oden has the potential to be one of the greatest Centers of all time and he's got a much higher ceiling than Yao. i'd compare Yao to a guy like Eddy Curry.
