I could say the exact same thing about Yao, though. I don't know what Yao has accomplished to be considered an automatic top-10 player.
Man you guys kill me with the dominant center thing.... Yao is a GOOD Center.... Dominant = 1 a: commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others... Yao.... Is... Not.... That....
KG has not been better this year than Yao, even before he got hurt. It's not just his lowered stats, it was his overall impact on the team. To say Yao is not a 2 way player is not realistic at all. Please explain to me how he isn't, I'd really love to see this reasoning. This farce that Yao is BAD on defense has gotten way out of hand. Because he gets burned on mismatches? EVERYONE in the NBA has people they cannot guard. If KG guarded Yao, Yao would torch him worse than Boozer torches Yao. Sadly for us, (and I love Scola), Scola guarding Boozer would be just awful, and having Yao at the 3pt line guarding Okur means we'd get even less rebounds than the Yao/Boozer matchup right now. Now if we had someone like KG does, like Perkins, to guard Boozer, it wouldn't be so bad if Yao guarded Okur since Perkins can handle Boozer. Honestly, I don't think there's more than a handful of people on this forum that talk about Yao like he is a god. All people, Rockets fans, Yao onlys, McGrady onlys, know his weaknesses. Don't forget KG was never ever clutch in the Wolves, 10x worse than however people perceive Yao in the 4th. Now that he's got a good team around him, all perceptions change. Did he get better? No, in fact he probably got worse as a result of age. Did Pau get better? Doubtful, he just got a better surrounding cast with a better offensive system. I'm not one of these people that say Yao would leave Houston, but the people around Yao and McGrady right now are not good enough to win the championship. Look around the West, all of the teams have a better group of players than the Rockets do. The only teams that can be argued are Dallas (and they probably have a better team), and Spurs (but they still have their big 3 and have a better system than the Rockets do). Everyone else has better players. The fact that the Rockets are as good as they have been, with McGrady out, is a testament to Yao, Scola, and Artest, mainly Yao. That's the reason why some people, and not only Yao only fans, get annoyed at the thought that Yao cannot be built around when the team is missing $21 million dollars of a player, a player that when healthy is top 10 in the NBA, and having worse role players than other teams in the West. This goes the same for McGrady as well, when Yao was out. Hence, Yao and McGrady can be successful, it's just that players around them still need to be improved. IMO, only Battier, Scola, and Landry should be keepers for sure.
Well he can be overrated but I don't think he is. He is overrated on this board yes. Commentators and coaches praise him for his hard work and all. Yao's resume speaks for itself. I agree with you though. He is no way a top-10 player if your including PF, Sf, Sg, and PG. For Yao to achieve being a top 10 player he has to work on his defense. He should stay away from the Chinese team this year and try to work on his defense.
But without Yao, Rockets still had Deke. And McGrady could roam and be more free than before. Without McGrady, more of the leader of the team than Yao, the team was more clueless. Also, without McGrady, people like Kirk Snyder would enter the lineup. Deke is a future HOF, Kirk is Kirk. Again, I'm not saying Yao is the best, but he's not as awful as some make him seem around here. Like when Yao was out, and McGrady was leading the team above .500, he was the man right? Same goes for Yao now, because role players are doing their roles as the supporting cast, but Yao/McGrady is the one carrying the team.
How can you say Yao is a 2 way player lol? Yao doesn't play defense. Yao is a terrible on defense. He needs to continue to grow in playing defense. I don't if you know this but how many 7 footers do you see trying to take charges from guys who are 6 feet and so on. If Yao was so good on defense then he wouldn't be pulled late in games when it matters. I know the NBA is bias but if Yao was a good defender then he would get nominated in defensive team player of the year once out of his 7 year career. As for your thoughts on KG. All I can say is LOL. KG was never clutch with the Timberwolves?? Are you kidding me. Do you only watch the Rockets or do you watch the NBA? What KG and Perkins do with rebounding is what Yao and Scola do for the Rockets. Some may say Im crazy but I don't think Yao is a great rebounder. He happens to get lucky and have the ball come to him. I've never seen him run and chase down a rebound. Not even that I've seen guys strip the ball and take it from him when he goes up to get a rebound. As for what I have in bold. I kind of agree with you. The thing is this team is very capable of winning it all. Its just that we have bad luck of staying healthy. Guys are always getting hurt at the wrong time. If you think that we aren't made for winning it all then I think your blind. This team compared to the one we have had in years is by far the deepest team Yao and McGrady have ever played on. I don't think you can get great players to play with Yao and McGrady or better yet great role players to make this team better because of McGrady and Yao's contract. They would both have to re-construct their contracts so that Morey could bring in good quality players just like Tim Duncan did for the Spurs.
Uh, so because he takes charges, which if called as a charge, leads to a turnover and the Rockets ball, that makes him a bad defender? Would you rather him block the ball out of bounds so that the other team gets another possession? Yeah, that's real smart. Yao gets pulled on defense at the end of games because Chuck Hayes is a better defender. Hayes is actually one of the best defenders in the entire league. So yeah, it makes sense to pull Yao out. And finally, because Yao wasn't chosen as the top Center in defense in the NBA, that makes him a bad defender? Because, you know, there's only one team. Meaning in a year, you think there are 5 players that are good on defense. That's a good argument. And yeah, I watch the NBA. I probably know more than you know, just based on your reply to me. KG was never clutch on the Wolves. Go look it up. He failed many, many times. He would never shoot, or shoot fadeaways, or pass it up to his guards he was so terrified. He was the same as Chris Webber. Hands were shaking like he got shocked, because that's what he was, he was shook. And Yao never gets after rebounds not to him. Why? BECAUSE HE'S 7'6 AND SLOW AS MOLASSES. Of course he's never going to chase anything down. And Yao gets stripped because he has bad hands. And yet, he is still one of the better rebounders in the league when compared to other full-time players. Also the idea that you think KG and Perkins do the same on rebounds as Yao and Scola do is laughable. KG and Perkins are so much better than the Rocket's duo it is not even comparable.
Also, I forgot to add this. Can I ask you who plays defense then on this team that plays often, then who does other than Artest and Battier? How else do you explain the Rockets being one of the better defensive teams? If you're going to say Scola, Brooks, Wafer, please don't bother responding.
Hello I am not new to the board I just do more reading than writing. I am pretty old fan let just say I was watching the Rockets when they had Jamin James Bailey, Terry Teagle, Allen Leavell, and the Jones Brothers so I do not want you all to think I am just blow stuff out of my ear when I give my opinion on this. To be honest I think Yao is a very good player and is probably one of the top 5 centers in the NBA, but I think this argument hime staying in Houston is mute when you look at the results not just stats. The results in this case is winning any playoff series since he has played for Houston. The results are that the Rockets have yet to gotten out of the first round of the playoffs since 1997. I think that he is not used well by the coach but some of that is the way the NBA is played now where athleticism is a part of the game, and Yao is just not that athletic, skilled yes but not athletic. I wish I had some great solution to this problem but the only thing I can see is that if the Rockets really want to "win a championship" they need to a) really get a superstar go to player b) make Yao the second option on this team. Okay hit me!
Yes I would rather him block the shot then take a charge. We all know how fragile Yao is. He can get hurt at any given time (knock on wood.) Why take the chance of having someone drive full speed into him and have the chance of an injury to happen. You say Chuck Hayes is a good defensive player and Yao gets pulled for him, If Yao was a good defender he wouldn't be getting pulled for Hayes. You say Yao is a good defender guys just don't know but yet a good defender is getting pulled for another one. That makes no sense. Its funny how you say Yao has bad hands when everyone knows that Yao has great hands. I've never seen someone with bad hands catch bullet passes from McGrady or anyone else who throws him the ball with heat. As for KG hahaha yeah he was never clutch your soooo right about that. He never shot the balll. He never took fade a way shots or passed it to his guards. Yeah he failed and was shook . KG was never clutch yet he was in the same boat as McGrady is in now as for not advancing pass the 1st round until he finally got help. KG was always clutch its just the other guys around him weren't until he made it to the conference finals.
Yao has cement hands which causes him to fumble the ball around often. Tmac makes precision passes to Yao but they aren't bullet passes. They are usually high lobs. KG was never known to be a clutch offensive player.
Since when has taking a charge ever caused an injury? I agree here. Yao has bad hands. Have you seen those rebounds he missed? Have you seen when a player (like Von and Brooks) drive in and dumps it to Yao, but Yao misses the ball completely? You do bring a good point; I wonder why Yao can catch a bullet pass but not a rebound or a soft dump pass...
I was looking at it in Yao's case. Yao is 7'6. Guys running out of control full speed into someone that tall who is either around his knees or so on can result in something serious. For example look at last year's Bulls game. Who knew Yao was playing on a broken fibula. He played great that game and come to find out he was out for the season the next day. Freakish injuries happen. a 7'6 guy standing there takin charges is not good. Even Mutombo said it himself that he would hold his breath when Yao takes charges when he shouldn't be. A man that tall should be blocking shots. God forbid someone dribbles out of control and hits Yao in his knee or something.
So many people want to trade Yao, Nobody want to trade AB for a real PG? You guys make me laugh loudly
People need to kill the notion u can't win without yao. He's a good player, but you can replace good.
Why do we come back to debate this again? The Rockets can win games with, or without Yao, that's been proved last season, just like they can win with, or without TMac, as proved this year. The Rockets is a better team with both TMac & Yao when both are healthy, and if they trade away one of them, they should get some quality players back, and the team may do better. The Rockets has over achieved this season, and you still complain that your boy didn't get enough touches/minutes? This is the Rockets forum, it's all about Rockets, not Yao, or TMac.
any top-10 or top-20 list is always highly debatable. from your list, i can easily take out dhoward, kg and roy, even cp3.
that applies to anybody, not just yao. take kobe out of the lakers and replace him with say paul pierce, the lakers will still be the top team in the west. take wade out of miami and put kobe in, the heat is still gonna make the playoffs in the east. but in reality, you need to have a plan or target. say yao opts out and doesn't resign, whom do you have in mind to replace him with?
It is debatable, which was sort of my point. I don't see how you could easily argue there are 10 players better than Chris Paul, though.
