To get an idea of how Yao Ming stacks up against other college basketball players I went ahead and looked up his stats in the game he played in last year against USA's college team. The USA team featured Juan Dixon, Dan Dickau, Ely, and Lonny Baxter to name a few so it was like a college all-star team. Yao Ming 12 pts 9 rbs 5 blks 5/7 fgs 2/2 fts 1 TO 2 Asts 25 min Not bad for 25 minutes of work. This is how Wang did. Wang Zhi Zhi 16 pts 11 rbs 1 blk 6/15 fg 1/4 3's 2 TO 2 Asts 31 mins Not much to make out of it besides Wang jacked up more shots than Yao did.
Really good against college players. Maybe he should go to college! #1 pick? You can get those numbers out of Cato sometimes and he's already under contract.
Here's another perspective ... What would Cato have been able to do against that college team? My guess is that Cato would have killed that team. Remember Yao is going to the NBA not college. Just to keep it clear, my post wasn't directed at MrBastard I'm just agreeing with what he said.
The only concern I have about those numbers is that on the US team there were only 2 notable big men that are potential draft picks. Marvin Ely, who's 6-10 and Lonny Baxter who's 6-8. Baxter's not even projected as a first rounder and Ely is at best is early mid first round. With an advantage of 8 or so inches, he should have put up bigger numbers in my opinion, considering neither Ely or Baxter are very close to being NBA centers in the league.
Consider this: Would you draft a HSer #1 overall? Was the competition Yao faced in China at least as good or better than high-level American HS BBall or even Divison I or II NCAA BBall? '...out of Cato sometimes...' is as asinine a statement as I've read on this BBS. How ridiculous!
Could it be because he was being unselfish? Could it be because he was not being fed the ball too much? Could it be because of the plays run? It could be for a number of reasons - not because he is not the best! C'mon - he did well enough!
