What a bizarre comment. Please point out the person who I "faulted" that maintained it wasn't a clear cut issue. The orginal article went like this: "Dwight Howard is better than Yao Ming? You can't be serious... I've read countless arguments that crown Howard as the king of all centers. There's definitely a case for Howard. Problem is, his case is nowhere near as convincing as Yao's. This is why I think Yao is better:" He's not saying that Yao should get more credit in the discussion. He's saying, point blank, that those who think Howard is better "can't be serious," and that the case for Yao is far, far more convincing. You can reread my response. In no way did I fault him for claiming its not clear cut. Quite the opposite, actually. After that, someone mentioned head to head matchups. I explained why I think that's overrated for this topic. That's not the same as me faulting someone for wanting to give Yao more credit. This isn't about Yao. I'm not interesting in propping Yao up, or tearing him down. It's about the basketball arguments people put forward that I disagree with. yokel0123:"well, I hate to be the one to pick out the race card. but I do believe that has to do with the nationality. Dwight is American, and Yao is Chinese, pure and simple. I bet if you poll the Chinese about who is the best center in NBA, you will surely get a high percentage favoring Yao." yokel0123:"what I'm saying is Dwight got more hype from the media because he is native. Just like Yao get a lot of hype from the chinese media. It has nothing to do with the racism, just being biased." That's the poster I was responding to. He apparently considered Dwight's recognition a race issue, "pure and simple", which led to him getting more hype from the media. Let's be clear: I'm talking about why the media favors Dwight Howard. Not why Dwight Howard should be favored. The reasons Dwight is favored is because he fits the long established profile better than Yao. He leads the league in rebounds and blocks and he's a 20 ppg scorer. He's the clear cut best player on a team bound for 60 wins, and generally considered among the top 5 contenders in the league. That information, by itself, is enough to explain why he'd be considered the best center in the league. Yao's accomplishments may be just as good, or better. But, historically, the stuff Dwight has done are much stronger indicators of who's popularly considered "the best center". The only players, historically, that have led the league in rebounds and blocks are Olajuwon, Walton, Kareem, and perhaps Wilt and Russell back in the 60s. And add to that Howard has become a consistent 20/10 guy, and that's all the media needs to anoint him.
Yao was All-NBA 2nd team that season, and Dwight was All-NBA 3rd team that year. The reason Yao wasn't voted 1st Team is pretty straight forward. He missed nearly half the season, while the 1st Teamer, Amare Stoudamire, played 82 games for a 61 win team. How many times has a center, or any player, been voted 1st Team All-NBA when playing less than 50 games? And BTW, I do remember major media referring to Yao as the best true center in the game that season. There was this debate about whether it was Yao or still Shaq, and I think most sided with Yao. Then Yao got injured, and with that the attention towards him dropped.
Agreeļ¼No one can defend Yao without fronting. See Yao's natural enemies, Duncan, is not a definite C, also CB,okur~~
yao is the best center in the league, he just needs to assert more of his game. be more aggressive, but i've been saying this for years and he hasn''t done it yet. the playoffs will be a good way to see how much yao has progressed, how much he shoots? and plays. yao is better than DH, Shaq, Duncan, any of them when he's on his game. unstoppable inside, great free throw shooter and now blocking shots and grabbing boards.
Take note of the person I was responding to. He asked which player you'd rather have the last shot. I merely said that a more important question is which player you'd rather have on the floor in a last possession. I'm not saying its the most important question. Just more important than who you'd rather have take a last shot. And I do think that when you score is relevant, though obviously not the only consideration. All else being equal, you'd want players who are more likely to make positive plays in critical possessions.
Dwright is better than many other guys than yao, some of them always make yao play bad just like how yao makes Dwright suck. it's just a problem of matchup IMHO.
Yao beat DH and MAgic with how he fight until the end! Never stop fight until the end! Howard could not but Yao fight until the en and win
Dwight Howard go to move is the dropstep to his right lower his shoulder and either baby hook or dunk. Against Yao he is strong enough to take the body contact and tall enough with his arms straight up to alter his shot. IMO Dwight Howard will be better thank Yao Ming but at this moment Yao is the more refined player. BUT........ i think everyone is forgetting who is coaching Dwight..... Patrick Ewing.... No doubt a great player in his days but a horrible coach. I think Yao made the most strides in his game when he stopped working with Chewing and started working with Sikma.
Is that just this year? Show me how many jersey's were sold in Yao's first 4 years vs. Dwights first 4 years. Yao said it best on the Jimmy Kimmel show, "they all have my jersey already"
And it was last season, when Yao missed the stretch run with his injury. You can understand the guys at the top of that list (Garnett on a new, championship team, Iverson being generally very popular and switching teams, and down the list). Gilbert Arenas is a bit of a curiosity, though.
Yao owns Dwight, so Yao must be better than Dwight. Al Jefferson owns Yao, so Al Jefferson must be better than Yao.
