Some guys just have the "feel" for blocking shots and Mark Eaton was one of those guys I guess. I also believe that Yao has significanly improved his shot blocking ability. The more he goes for blocks, the more freedom the ref's have given him to go for blocks. I agree with Deke. He should never stand there with his hands up looking for a charge. If a smaller guy is going to come in on him, he needs to challenge the shot. If a foul is called, a foul is called, but eventually those foul calls get less and less.
Because he was a F.O.N (Freak of Nature) and he had a lot of pride... Refuse to let anyone beat him on the boards..
Sabonis already had a well developed game in the 70's. We never got to see him during his peak years.
I feel that Eaton's blocks has something to do with the current rules at that time. The 3 sec defensive rule and the imaginary line under the basket are new rules to the NBA. Eaton could have camped out under the basket all the time and just waited. Players can't jump into his chest as they would have been called for charging even if he was underneath the basket. In addition, he probably had a longer wingspan
Don't forget they undercount Yao Ming's blocks per game stat in most games too, as several posters have already noticed in the past. His blocks per game stat should actually be higher, so you can't go on stats alone as sometimes they are falsified also. And also, if they undercount his blocks per game stat, who knows how many other stats they undercounted also, especially when others have also noticed that he does not always get the extra rebound stat as he should when he gets an offensive tip-in as when other players do it and it is mostly counted.
I've never seen Mark Eaton play, but judging from these two videos, he's got very long arms, and appears to be able to reach the rim by barely leaving his toes. His standing reach may be more than Yao's. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NAEoMsHHfa4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NAEoMsHHfa4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vhdMHcI2dRo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vhdMHcI2dRo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Guys, I am not just talking about blocks. I am pretty happy with Yao's shot blocking ability. What I mean is defending the quicker guys, guys like Al Jefferson and Boozer. Hakeem is quicker and more skilled than any of those guys, and Eton defended Dream pretty well. I am not saying that Eton could stop Dream, but he sure made it difficult. I think Eton used his size to his advantage by taking different angles to the basket and forcing players to take more difficult shots. Something I wish Yao would do more often.
Mark Eaton was one of the reasons Hakeem developed an outside game - Eaton was as strong as an elephant inside - you weren't going to move him easily or go around him. Hakeem eventually did to him what an Okur or Boozer does to Yao - took him outside and blow by him or if he backed off, pop a jumper. The other thing about Mark was, he was slow as a rock, but he had a knack for getting blocks. I don't know if it was his hand-eye coordination or what, but Yao's arms look like they react 1-2 seconds too slow to get blocks in comparison to an Eaton. If you look at Manute Bol, he seemed to have better reaction time on blocks, too. Eaton and Yao were pretty much the same size : Eaton 7'4" 290, Yao 7'5-6" 310 or so. Eaton was solid muscle top to bottom and tough as hell.
When we talked about Yao's rebounding, please don't forget that he always block out (or try to do that) opponent's bigman and in many occasions let players like Brooks, Battier and Scola take his rebounds. IMO, He and Hayes are the only Rockets willing to do that.
