Have you clowns noticed that the front has not been working lately. Everytime the other team fronts Yao reguarly, Scola drops 20 and Artests gets wide open threes. Please don't give me this crap about how the front stops Yao. It stops him from getting points but any effective fronting defence requires AT LEAST 2 defenders committed to it. You have to cover behind the man you're fronting or its too easy to just catch and score. Do the math fellas, that means the other guys are playing 3v4.
that's the way it should be. for any measure, there is a counter. we as a team are getting better at it, and we still should be able to do a lot better than what we have done against fronting. like you said, it's not just a simple fronting. it's one man fronting with another guy behind yao's back loosely and half committed. if we attack it correctly, it will enable us to have enormous advantage.
Adelman apparently didn't notice it after the Portland game. He said our execution against the front was awful, and he can't figure out we keep making the same mistakes as far as player positioning.
You hit the nail right on its head with a perfect example of Deron and Paul. Dwight is better, I don't care if he doesn't have the offensive moves that Yao has, basketball is not only about that. His offensive AND defensive numbers are better. Head to head Yao doesn't do that great with the aging Shaq either, does that mean Shaq is still better than Yao now? NO. Yao is better. Same goes for Dwight. Overall Rockets have a much better team than Orlando but Dwight is still carrying his team to phenomenol regular season records and even got them past the first round last year. Having said that, I personally wouldn't trade Yao for Dwight for everything he brings to the table. I also know everyone here is happy and Yao is doing just as good for the Rockets.
That is an interesting analogy. I'd like to know how many of those who prefer Yao over Dwight Howard also prefer Deron Williams over Chris Paul, and the converse.
Not Yao's fault. When the team sees the front, the first thing that comes to mind should be whose guy is helping on the front and how do we attack it. Any above average point guard would easily find a hole in that defence. I don't think anyone remembers that the front was never an issue when we had a healthy Tmac. Our problem is that the players panic because they keep trying to force it to Yao instead of looking for the next option. Then the balls ends up in Artests hands and we force some crap shot. Better decision making at the PG spot would definitely solve this problem.
I agree, but I just meant that if the team isn't executing properly against the fronting defense, then that means the front is probably not working. As long as it reduces your team efficiency, it's a good strategy. I don't think we've reached the point yet where we consistently make teams pay for doing it.
Just a question-- How long exactly did Mark Jackson play with Yao? I know he was here for a bit as a veteran, but how many games? full season, etc?
If the Magic and the Rockets meet in the finals, the advantage at the 5 position will favor the Rockets. Kind of like the Hakeem vs DRobinson debate a few years ago. Robinson had the better regular season and won the MVP but Hakeem was the better center and it was proven in the Rockets vs Spurs series.
Difference being Rockets beat the Magic regularly Rockets also beat the Wolves regularly. And Yao has also had some good games vs Jefferson. He scored 30 the last time they faced each other and Yao hit the game winner the time before that at Al. Howard, however, is always ineffective against Yao. Al might have some good indivual games against Yao but that doesn't lead to wins.
It's kinda difficult to go back and forth with you cause you a tendency to exaggerate others' position. I entered this thread when you said "Yao has gotten plenty of hype from the American media as well. I'm pretty sure more Americans have heard of Yao Ming than Dwight Howard." in replying to "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 point, which, of course, was shown wrong - DH does fit prototypical marketing edge. So, the biased comment isn't without merit. Notice, I wasn't talking about the original article, nor did I enter the thread to claim YM supercity. I am also obviously absent in your "where does YM rank among.." thread. I generally think wasting energy on those topics re kind of silly. I don't care. Either you are happy with a player on your team or you don't. On marketability, it's there. There were players who showed statistical supremacy but hadn't got anyone constantly talked about "best" whatever. Duncan has been the best PF, but nobody talked about it much, nobody would gush in the middle of the sportscenter scoreboard "this is your best PF right there", except when they have to pay lip service. Most of the time, it's kind of afterthought - unlike the gush toward DH. That's the kind of impact I talk about. p.s. to someone who asked, Mark Jackson played a season with the rockets, if I remember correctly.
Yao dominates Superman whenever they meet up. That should be taken into consideration for 1st team honors
Well, I have two questions: 1. If Rockets meet Magics in this year NBA final, who do you prefer in Rockets uniform? Yao, or the other? 2. Does Yao get the same call as Howard does in this season? If it is a no, it is unwise to compare their stats directly. What I am 100% sure is Howard is Yao's b**** so far when they compete with each other head to head.
I would agree with that if it werent for the fact that Howard has a huge decrease in production when he faces Yao, and has a decrease in production in general when he faces teams with dudes he just can't bully around and dunk over. The flaws that we note in his game (i.e. no post moves) come into play when he faces these type of teams. For comparisons sake, Paul's numbers don't take a huge decrease when he matches up against D.Will. In some games he get's off against him as well. Howard's production goes to crap when he faces Yao. Here is a good piece on it: http://www.thirdquartercollapse.com/2009/4/7/826294/the-important-question-regarding
There is a difference between being a great basketball player and being a great athlete. Dwight Howard is a great athlete, especially for his size. Yao Ming, who is not a great athlete, is still very agile for his size AND he is a great basketball player, because he can shoot, post up, pass and play 1-on-1 post defense. Dwight Howard is great at what he does, which is rebound (although his #'s are somewhat inflated here, because there are no other rebounders on the team, where as Yao has great rebounders around him at many positions) block shots, and run the floor. Yao is still a good rebounder and a decent shotblocker, but along with that, he has great footwork, can post up, pass out of a double team, can hit a 20 ft jump shot, is an 86 % free throw shooter and is a very effective post defender. Dwight Howard plays somewhat like David Robinson, but with less offensive skill. Their bodies were both built strong like superhereos, they could run in a straight line faster than some guards, they could both jump out of the gym, and they could both rebound with the best of them. However, neither one of them really had a great post up game. Even David Robinson relied on his jumper, putbacks/dunks/alley hoops around the basket and foul shots for most of his points, but he atleast had a little bit of a raw post up game. He didn't look nearly as good as Dream, Shaq, Barkley, Malone or Ewing in the post, but he was still better than most big men down there. You may say, "Well, he won a scoring title, 2 DPOY awards, and an MVP without a post up game." and you would be right about that, but David Robinson was exposed many times in the playoffs because of his lack of a post up game. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon all dominated Robinson before he got Tim Duncan. I would say that was the main reason why Robinson was always criticized as a leader of a team, because he could be contained pretty easily in a 5 or 7 game series. Dream showed us that, by outplaying him on both sides of the court. In the playoffs, it has already happened to Howard twice to the Pistons. He looked like a beast vs. the Raptors who used soft big men against him like Rasho, Bargnani, and Bosh. But when the played Detroit, Maxiell, McDyess, and Rasheed all had their way with Dwight. They just simply boxed him out, werent intimidated by his size and dared him to try to beat them in a half court game, and he failed miserably. Dwight's offensive game is similar, except that, he has a very minimal post game, which he can really only use on much smaller opponents, and he does not have a jumper he can rely on. If you watched him yesterday, he looked confused on offense. When he faces a bigger player, such as Yao, he will struggle offensively, because he relies so much on his athleticism, size, and strength. If he was still only 18-20 years old, it this would not be an issue, but he is in his 5th year already, and he hasn't made big enough strides offensively, which is why many people worry about Dwight. If he hasn't developed a post game by now, when will he? Now defensively, there is a difference between being a good shot blocker and being a great defender. Most great defensive centers are also great shot blockers (Olajuwon, Mutombo, Mourning, Ben Wallace, Mark Eaton, O'Neal, Robinson, Ewing, Parish, Russell, Wilt). Here are some good shotblockers who were probably average defenders at best: Marcus Camby, Keon Clark, Chris Anderson(Birdman), Ronny Turiaf, Josh Smith, Theo Ratliff...etc. Do you see what I mean?? Those guys I just listed could jump very high, and block 2-3 shots per game as a help defender, but they were horrible man-to-man defenders, especially in the post. Guys like KG, Duncan, and Yao aren't great shotblockers, but they are all good 1-on-1 post defenders. Of course, Yao has some catching up to do if he wants to be at KG and Duncan's level, but Dwight has much more to catch up in that area. He is a great shotblocker like Camby, but he isn't a great 1-on-1 defender. As far as rebounding goes, Howard is a great rebounder, no doubt about that. But, I would still say that his #'s are inflated, because there is simply nobody else on that team is even a decent rebounder and they also play at a much faster pace than the Rockets and shoot many more perimeter shots, which equals more missed shots to be rebounded. Also, Dwight doesn't get the ball in the post nearly as much as Yao, so he can focus on boxing out and going after the ball. Yao has to get position, hope and pray that his guards will get him the ball, and then has to score or pass out of a double or triple team once he gets the ball. Its hard to average 12-15 rebounds when you play like that. But I would still give the edge to Howard, simply because he can jump much higher than Yao and is still tough to box out. If you want to entertainment, dunks, phenomenal stats, and potential, then Dwight Howard is the guy you will want on your team. If you want a player who can draw a double team, give you good, efficient #'s night in and night out, who also uses skills instead of pure athleticism, and can be effective late in the game and in the playoffs, and who is a better 1-on-1 defender, then Yao is the guy you will want on your team. I would say Yao is the better basketball player, while Dwight is a great athlete...
As of right now, Yao is better, but Dwight's ceiling is much higher(especially if he could shot better FT's). But if Yao took more shots per game.....
So you make a comment like this in your previous post: "So... you think it's a toss up, and you want to fault fans who come to defend Yao, who says it's not a clear cut issue and Yao should get more credit?" An overt distortion of what's been going on in this thread, whether on purpose or not I can't tell. But, no, I'm the one who exaggerates other's positions. Funny. What you showed to be wrong was something very specific -- Yao's jersey didn't sell as well as Dwight's last season. Don't try to make it any bigger than that. You did not provide any merit to the comment made by yokel0123 -- the media is biased towards Dwight because he's American while Yao is not. You certainly did not show that Yao's jersey sales would be higher if he was an American. For all you know, Dwight's jersey is more popular because people just think he's a better player. Or because they like how he dunks. Maybe it's because he led his team to the playoffs last year, while Yao got injured midseason. There could be any number of reasons for it. I see. So, instead, you choose to waste your energy (and mine) arguing over a topic that is even more silly -- why our players who haven't accomplishment squat in the playoffs don't get enough recognition. Why did you enter this thread anyways? That's what I'm curious about. Here we come to it. The key point you're talking about. The sports media doesn't "gush" enough over Yao. It's not about real respect -- which actually means something to a player like Yao, and what Duncan gets as much as anyone -- but how often a player gets a "boo yah!" on SportsCenter. Talk about silly topics to preoccupy yourself with.
