i do agree with you that yao is not a bad defender, but he isn't a great defender though. he tries hard so that makes him an above average defender. i mean, players are still more fearful of going into the lane v. deke than yao. players would still wanna dunk on yao but don't even think about going against deke. and i don't know why people bring up yao's defense. sure he was exposed v. boozer but now we've found a solution (go small with scola/landry/hayes/dorsey). we have the players to cover yao's weaknesses.
Your attitude is like "thank you for agreeing" and "screw you for disagreeing". That isn't the best way to debate an issue.
I think JVG didn't utilize correctly, In fact JVG utilized everyone wrong on the team including T-Mac and Rafer, I think Yao can play against Boozer, but he needs to start watching more tape of him or something like that, A great defender usually means Above Average.
yes great means above average, but above average does not mean great. if that's the case, a player like rafer is an above average overall player, is he great like tracy?
Before I go study, I would like to write down my thoughts about this thread. Yao Ming is an underrated defender (at times). This thread I believe is pointless. Who cares if Yao Ming is a good defender, bad defender...We all here are fans and support him because he is one of the top centers in the NBA as of now and his stats show that. In my opinion, I don't care if he blocks, shoots, gets dunked on by Kobe Bryant or King James. I just want him to stop playing for CHINA and freaking get some rest and stop getting injured in the season!#@#@!#!@#! Pass the 1st round please.... But to be a good sport about this thread, Yao Ming is great and he does do a good job given the fact he is 7'6. His timing sucks and you know that. Dikembe is the best with his timing and I will still never forget how he blocked Shaq and Amare during one of the games with him being like 100 years old. Point is, YAO MING just sit on the bench the whole season and play only in the playoffs...You might get a freak accident like your fungus nails..... Anyhoos, Rockets Fan for Life.
Yea... I suppose I might agree he's above average. Dude has the work ethic, and the guys around him to teach him defense. The only thing stopping him is that he just flat out isn't fast enough. There is nothing you can do about that. He going to hold down the middle, but 1 on 1 if the guy he guards is quicker he'll have to give him the jumpshot or they will have to go zone.
I am sick of this Yao cannot guard boozer stuff. Let Yao guard Boozer, if he scores 40+ points by shooting contested shots over Yao, you just have to live with it. We should not focus on how to stop that, we should focus on how to make Yao punish them on the offense end. With the addition of Artest, Yao dose not have to worry too much about protecting the paint area. He can afford to stay closer to Boozer.
I know what you mean... You can't mind some of these posters, since most of them are rookies and some of them are just out paranoid. Boozer just had a really good series and playoffs. In fact, his numbers actually got better against Golden State and the Spurs. Besides, the point, though. Also, I will even say does make since to trade Shane Battier if Kobe or even someone like Joe Johnson goes off on him for 40 or 50 points or averages over 32 ppg in a series, I would hope not, since it is going by the same logic above. This team is fine. Nothing needs to be done to anyone.
I inferred it based on what people were saying. They were saying he's a great defender, he shut down Howard, shut down West. He can shut down Howard because Howard doesn't have a jumpshot.
Uh... he doesn't? Does he even guard Duncan? I figured Yao guarded Oberto. I don't hate Yao. Stop saying that. I'm just being real... saying he's as good a defender as Battier/Artest/Camby is blind homerism. It just is.
Yao is who he is. With the height & foot-speed he has, there is no way he can guard anyone 12ft out from the basket. This doesn't mean he is bad defender, but just limited due to the nature of his height/weight. Watch how Yao was abused by Gasol is painful, and Gasol has an average foot speed in the league among big men. Mark Eaton led the league in block shot, players understand that you would get blocked if challenge him inside, but no body every put him in the category of good or great defender. Yao is not even close to Eaton as a defender, and is just a one dimensional defender.
Yea... I agree with this. It is what it is. Yao isn't fast enough to keep up with quicker guys so he's always going to be limited defensively because of that. No one is going to get around him in the post tho unless he draws Yao out of the paint. And Yao has gotten really good about keeping his hands up and not leaving his feet.
I would say Yao is a good team defender. Just like what have been said in the previous poster, the rockets become a better team since Yao joined the team, he is big, his presence in the paint alone makes a different, I heard Bill on the TV always said Yao changed many shots even although he could not block them. As for Boozer's thing, does anyone think Shaq can do better job on him? Do not ask a slow center to guard a quick PF one on one, it is not going to work anyway.
He defends him in the 4th quarter, try watching more games, instead of just playoff series K thanks Hater.
Dude, we have yet to play the Spurs in a playoff series WITH Yao. Yes Yao probably does, because the alternative is Scola (Hayes wouldn't be in the game in the 4th). And because generally in the 4th Tim is going to go to his post game rather than settle for a shot. This season I bet Artest would probably draw Tim Duncan in the 4th more often. And in any case, its just one quarter. Battier defends their best player all game, Artest all game, Camby all game, etc. Shutdown defenders don't just defend for a quarter. There really is no reason for that. I say something real, and you just dish out insults instead of coming up with facts. The only fact that pertains to this argument that you have said was that more people disagree with me, which isn't true. In fact, look at the past couple of posts and more people are saying what I'm saying. He's not a crappy defender, but he's not an elite like Camby or KG.
