PLEASE!!!!! Don't give me that CURRENT RULES CRAP!!!! The rules have not Howard, Duncan, Bynum or even an Old @$$ Shaq.. Rules have always changed in the NBA... They changed because of Wilt.... They changed because of Kareem.. They even changed because of Barkley.. As a player you have to adapt and over come.... Excuses are like butt-holes, everybody has one.
you honestly think that yao would not have been more productive in the mid 90s? you couldnt even front the post back then! seriously guy do the math...
The only thing you couldn't do was the zone.... O... I'm sorry, play zone and get caught; because the Sonics played the zone on a nightly basis. Hakeem, would still be able to dominate in todays time... If not more.... As a matter of fact with today's game I wouldn't be shocked to see Moses Malone get 20/20 every night.
were players allowed to front the post? If you read my previous post you would realize that I am not comparing Hakeem to anyone....
Yes.... Why couldn't you front the post? Read what I said about the Sonics... You could do a many things, it's all about getting caught... The only difference between then and now.. The zone is legal
Yao gets fronted in the post plenty. Im sure that if he had been playing in the 90s it would not happen as often. As of right now that stands as his biggest problem. regardless if the sonics did it (which I dont think is the same as what yao faces this day in age) He would be able to get to the line a lot more easily and deal with less ticky tack fouls.
I will take a line from my good friend Tinman... If you put Olajuwan with this current Rockets team and you give him the same amount of minutes, touches and etc.... He would be the most DOMINANT Center in the NBA.... If you think Howard is putting up some crazy numbers..... ESPN would have it's own special segment called the Hakeem Olajuwon show.... Also, the refs didn't call a lot of ticky tack fouls back then... They let the players play. You didn't get free layups back then, they would put your @$$ to the ground... QUICKLY!!! And no disrespect to Yao, but I really don't think he could have handled the centers of Hakeem's era. I see Yao struggling against guys in this era and the centers in this era could not hold the jock of the centers in Olajuwon's era...
just yao drawing all the attention he does already makes him more valuable than gasol. yao is the most double teamed player in the league and he changes games just on that fact, besides his other assets. gasol isn't nearly as scrutinized by the opposing team's defense as yao is. also, yao is the clear superior post player.
You are right on one side. On the other side, Yao gets more double teamed due to the high rewarding for the opponents, like high TOs, Rafer as our PG, etc. I agree with the auther. Yao should not be a REGULAR clutch Go-to guy. He should be a rebounding person at clutch, instead. Sadly, we still need a right T-mac.
Yao's aggressiveness, because of his size has limitations, and he changea more shots than Gasol. They are similar but Yao is more important to his team I think than Gasol. I hope yao makes this team play with more cohesiveness, but at the same time, Yao can't be the only one either our stars have to make it happen around yao or the other guys have to step up and hit shots and play D. A REAL STARTING LINE UP WOULD HELP TO MAKE THIS A TRUE COMPARISON.... at this point the question is too big for an answer.
Yao's got one thing that makes him better than Gasol, and that's size. Gasol is more skilled, and his hands are WAY better. His touches come more within the flow of a 5-man, team-oriented offense. Yao's 7'6, he's got some bulk, and he can score adeptly around the basket, so that forces the other team to pay more attention to him without the ball. Yao is generally the number 1 option on our team, so he and the Rockets work harder to get him the ball more frequently and as close to the rim as possible. Gasol doesn't really transform his team's offense when he's in the game. He just makes it much better because he's such a good all-around offensive player. Yao transforms the Rockets offense and the way the other team plays defense when he's in the game. But then, how much is that to the Rockets advantage? Sometimes the Rockets are better off playing a more open, PnR-style offense as opposed to trying to play off Yao all the time.
