duncan only got 4 points and 2 rebounds today. dwight 11 points and 6 fouls yesterday. it's tough for these giants to clear room under basket. do you still believe rocket should builds around yao?
yao is different.....the man took 6 shots ? the other took 15 and made 3? yea thats a big ass diferent
It is a guard's paradise now. Exhibit A: 2006 Dwayne Wade. Exhibit B: Manu Ginobili's NBA career. Guards get sneezed on and get a foul... center's get hit with a sledge hammer and it's just 'hard basketball'.
Its still easier to get a good wing than a good center so you keep Yao unless it gets you Lebron, Wade, or Kobe.
Canters cant dominate games anymore because there aren't any truly dominant post players left. Yao is completely neutralized by fronting defense. Dwight has no reliable post game. Duncan is getting old and even in his prime he wasn't an explosive scorer. Yao and Dwight are best centers in the game by default because the rest of the field is absolute garbage. Both have major holes in their game.
The post 2003 rule changes made life easier for guards and harder for bigs. Changes in hand check rules mean that a fast, strong, guard can blow by off the perimiter at will, and the restricted area means that the foul will normally be on whatever big man they crash into. Replacing illegal defense with defensive three seconds enabled fronting (by allowing weak-side help) and preemptive double teams, which slow bigs down. The old maxim is that "big men don't sell shoes", and there's something to that--almost inevitably, flashy guards will get more shine than workmanlike bigs. That being said...you can't win without bigs, and Yao is one of the most effective in the L. He's also the type of guy who would do a Duncan and take less than the max to give the team cap room. There is ZERO reason to get rid of him, at least for now.
stupid zone rules!! That's why I don't watch college basketball. Big men are going the way of the dodo bird. Thanks a lot STERN!!
So did you mean Dwight was much better than Yao in game 2??? Both got 11 points, Dwight 10 rebounds while Yao got 8. I really don't see big difference.
uhh, duncan has struggled with knee injuries for months. he even admitted it. he only played well in game 1. knee problems are no joke, esp. for an aging duncan. the mavs have focused more of their D on parker. according to terry, "he's the head of the snake and they gotta take him away"
It's a big wrong thread in bascketball .Strong body is always important in NBA.Looking aroung league ,Jazz and Lakers are difficult to defeat.Date back to all the champion team ,they all have a good strong center .
Everyone overlook Centers can donimate the game withough scoring. If teams are doubling and triple taming a man withought the ball someone is open. This doesent really hapen with guards because they move around the floor more its all stradegy
I think it might hurt having a dominate center these days because no one else has one, teams play small ball with quick players and the centers can't match up. How many times has Yao hurt the Rox in games like Utah, or when teams play smaller quicker guys on him. Hakeem always did better against the other great centers and it seems Yao does better when he gets to play a real center - see Howard from Orlando.
What in blue hell are you talking about? Yao matched up fairly well against Utah. During the 7 game series in 2007 he averaged 26 pts and 8 rebs. That's a pretty good percentage.
It's easy to take centers out of the game offensively now due to the rule changes BUT that doesn't mean offensive centers aren't valuable. They draw double teams and open up shots and lanes for the rest of their teammates. Good teams capitalize on that. You can't double somebody without leaving somebody else open.
Greatness overcome any rules. In 05 shaq shouldve won the mvp. If dream or shaq was 28 and playing today against prybillas and okurs, it would be a no contest. Hell, throw in david robinson and he would kill oden, pryzbilla, and aldridge. It doesn't matter, if you're dominant, you're dominant.
Pretty much yeah. Actually there are a few nice centers out there. Rasheed Wallace was once a pretty decent big man but age appears to have caught up with. Al Jefferson comes to mind, although he has injury issues, which while everyone claims Yao is injury prone, a lot of centers in the league have similar issues. Although there a number of centers out there these days that are really just power forwards.
