How is a soon to be 37 yr old shaq avg 17 and 9 right now? I doubt Duncan foes down and the spurs win 66% of the games. That's the only reason why we even have question of who has the biggest impact on this team. If this team played 65% ball without tracy and 40 % without yao, tracy would probably be gone by now.
u do know shaq complained about the refs constantly too right in his prime? they foul him more than they foul yao but shaq is so much stronger that it does nothing to him. yao is much weaker in his upper body that it will affect how he gets his positioning. shaq KNOWS he's going to get fouled. so he uses his own strength and hurts them right back. you remember that celtics game? yao gave out a few elbows of his own and didn't get called b/c he was AGGRESSIVE. if he starts out a game aggressive, the calls will come his way.
EXACTLY. if the past few years this has happened, and the drama tracy has caused this year, tracy would be traded ALREADY. but the fact is we still win 60% of our games WITH an ailing tracy this year tells morey if he was somewhat healthier, we can win more games.
No doubt Tracy dislikes Adelman and the offense through center. It's not a big deal to Yao if Tmac said it, Yao is one best team player on court or off court, very gentle to any other teammates as always, but it does matter for Les and Morey.
First off, Mac's innocent until proven guilty, given the source of the rumor, and without quotations and such. Second, McGrady is probably the best on the team at feeding the ball to Yao and/or reposting Yao, and he did so consistently this entire season whenever they played together. Last, if McGrady really said those comments, it'd be more like, he was backstabbing himself.
What the hell are you talking about? As choujie pointed out, when Mark Eaton was playing the NBA, the rules were different. There was no hand-checking rule, which if allowed in today's NBA, would allow even sh1tty defenders like Rafer Alston to somewhat slow down the opposing team's penetrating guard, allowing a slow footed centre a far better chance to recover for weak side help. Guess what, that helps on PnR defense that Yao allegedly sucks at too. Know what else wasn't around when Mark Eaton played? Defensive 3 second rules. He could camp in the paint all day. And boy, I can't believe that somebody would attribute Camby's lack of offense to being the 3rd option.
it's the opposite. because you suck on offense, you're the 3rd or 4th or 5th on offense; not the other way around. otherwise, chuck hayes can demand for more shots: "hey coach, i need more shots to up my offensive production." lol.
They had illegal defense rules for post players when Eaton played: http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_history.html
Although how many super tall players, over 7'-2" have been dominant? The only one I can think of was Ralph Sampson at 7'-4" and he only had about two good years before injuries took a toll. This is an old argument that Yao at 7'-6" should be some sort of monster since height and size = good. Afterawhile you get diminishing returns which is why the Eatons, Bols and Gheorge Murasans of the league have never dominated. At that size its hard to expect them to have the type of lateral quickness needed for a good post player or even the upper body strength since there is so much stress already placed on their legs. Even for Shaq his success is largely due to being a very rare combination of height and power and relative quickness. If it was just a matter of height and bulk you would see freaks from pro-wrestling playing in the NBA. For Yao he is already a freak in that for his size he is quick and has a nice shooting touch but I think its too much to expect that he should also be as strong as much shorter Dwight Howard or Shaq.
defensive 3 seconds violation was not in rule book while Eaton played. That allowed slow centers to camp in ristrict area on defense, which is good for stoppin layups and getting blocks on strong side.
You keep proving your lack of basketball knowledge here. Since when block more shots equals to better defense? block is only one part of defense, not the whole thing. Per minute wise, Bol might blocked the most shots ever, but to say he's a better defender than Hakeem is just laughable. Bol and Eaton are block specialist and rules at that time were in favor of them as defenders. Your logic is take the best thing a specialist can do then compare them with Yao and claim Yao should be able to do that, otherwise he's a bad defender. This thinking is very logically flawed. And for Camby, only a fool would make a career 46% percent center without much post game as their first option, not the other way around. Your logic here is flawed as well. Yao doesn't have nearly the explosiveness Shaq and Howard have, just like Howard doesn't have nearly the skills Yao has. Yao won't be able to break other people's arm, Howard won't make those critical turn around jumpers when the game is on the line. So please don't just expect Yao be able to do what Howard is currently doing, since there are things Yao can do but Howard won't be able to do either. Get real.
You weren't allowed to camp in the lane without guarding anyone. That's an illegal defense. Illegal defense included defensive 3 seconds, amongst other restrictions. According to the NBA's official ruling: [rquoter] 1981-82 • Zone defense rules clarified with new rules for Illegal Defensive Alignments. a. Weak side defenders may come in the pro lane (16’), but not in the college lane (12’) for more than three seconds. b. Defender on post player is allowed in defensive three-second area (A post player is any player adjacent to paint area). c. Player without ball may not be double-teamed from weak side. d. Offensive player above foul line and inside circle must be played by defender inside dotted line. e. If offensive player is above the top of the circle, defender must come to a position above foul line. f. Defender on cutter must follow the cutter, switch, or double-team the ball. [/rquoter]
I think there is some confusion here. My impression is before 2001-2002, you can stay in the lane WITHOUT guarding anyone, even though weak side defenders can't stay for 3 seconds. So in theory, you still can camp in the lane. After 2001-2002, you must guard somebody closely to stay there for more than 3 seconds. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If you watched basketball before 2001, you would know that teams were forced into playing true one-on-one defense. Camping the lane is illegal defense. I think the 3-second thing is so teams can play zone defense.
But I think Shaq didn't go out to guard pick'n roll, stayed in the paint for the most part if his man came out. It's not allowed now.
Yeah right.... Sir you keep trying to make your cake and eat it too.... First off, almost 90% of all NBA players have an offensive game, an order to be good on defense you have to work on it... Second off, blocking shots is about timing... The only advantage that Bol and Eaton had over other players were that they were both 7 ft plus and if i'm mistaken Yao is 7 ft plus. Eaton could barely jump and i'm pretty sure Yao has a better vertical than him... Hell I've seen Eaton miss a many dunk shots... Not just one... Third, not even going to tell you about THE ILLEGAL DEFENSE.. Others have already tried to explain it to you.. But I can see you are not understanding that concept. Fourth, Camby understands his role and I give him credit for that on the team that he's on... Logic is not flawed.. Fifth, now here's the biggest thing of them all... Trying to have your cake and eat it too!!! 1) First you want to say that Yao is more talented than Bol and Eaton (I agree with you on this)... But then you come back and want to say that they are defensive specialist and that's why they play better defense than Yao... So again block shots is about effort and timing.. So are you saying that Yao is Clumsy without any timing or has less talent than Bol or Eaton or what ever... Help me out... 2) Now you want to say that Yao doesn't have the explosiveness to that Shaq and Howard have.. ok I will give you that.. But there's one problem... HE'S 7'6... HE CAN STAND ON HIS TOES AND DUNK THE BALLL... So basically all he has to do is put some authority into it..... I've seen Yao get pissed and go to the basket with authority... But unfortunately that's not his nature... Now like I said before I GET IT!!! Yao is your HERO!!!! Cool!!! But in terms of a big center, he's soft!!! Yao is a good center... Not a GREAT center... Can he change... Maybe... We will find out in the next couple of weeks... Also, before you start trying to critize someone on their basketball knowledge make sure you have some your self..
All conversations have just ended with you on that statement... And Yes Shaq has come out on the p/r.. Go look at some old videos when he was with the Lakers....
Actually, Phil kept Shaq in the paint most of the time. His going out on the P&R was the exception, not the rule.
