Actually Shaq went to the Finals with the overrated Penny Hardaway, Nick "Brick" Anderson, Horace Grant et al.
People forget that one of the main reasons Kobe and Shaq had issues was because Kobe thought Shaq was lazy. Shaq would come to training camp overweight (even by his standards) and missed games for very minor injuries. Every season Yao misses games it's because something is broken.
And while i'm thinking about it, this thread is the equivalent of posting Michael Jordan's career games played and then posting Michael Redd's career games played and then using it as some kind of basis of an argument as to what we can expect from Michael Redd's career in the future. One stat has no correlation to the other. Some of you guys make me crazy, in one argument you plead for Yao not to be compared to Shaq because the comparison is actually quite embarrassing to Yao, and then in the next breathe when it servers your agenda, you toss Shaq's name around as if we're supposed to believe it actually has any meaning. I don't care if Yao played more games than Shaq every season, any sane person would still want Shaq on their team over Yao. It is a pretty popular term here in America, the term beer goggles, which means the young lady you took home last night after drinking a 12 pack seemed attractive smart and funny but in reality, the 300lb wildabeast sleeping next to is nothing too awful special. I'd like to formally introduce the term Yao Goggles to the BBS and I'd like to order two pairs so that I may actually witness this greatness I've heard so much about.
I am not sure whether you read the original post at all. It's not comparing anyone's performance, but injury pattern and history. Lots of people seem to write Yao off BASED ON HIS YEAR 4-7 INJURY HISTORY. The OP simply asked a question, if people had written Shaq off based on SIMILAR YEAR 4-7 INJURY HISTORY, what would have happened to the Lakers organization. No, it wasn't a comparison between players' performance. It's simply a perspective to consider. Not saying Yao will dominate like Shaq in year 8-10, but Yao could play relatively healthy like Shaq in year 8-10, despite injury history in year 4-7.
I read the post and I stand by my statement which is, with Shaq people saw something they could not afford to write off, that is my argument here.
Statistics tell nothing, for this is the "I love this" game, this is the"where amazing happens" game.
Nice find but its funny how you come up with all these numbers but never really pointed out the real reason. shaq isn't a finesse player like yao. they have 2 different styles of play.
You are again switching back to the topic of "who's better", which wasn't the intention of this thread. You are basically saying people CHOSE to write Yao off because he's no Shaq, by using his injury as an excuse. Then the question comes down to, who CAN NOT AFFORD to be written off. LeBron, Kobe. Who else? Big men are rare and more injury prone. Everything comes with risk and a price. It's always a subjective call, but some people are trying to make it sound like an objective call.
But I just don't see the similarity between the two players' injury history from years 4 through 7. They might have missed a similar number of games, but O'Neal still did not miss a single playoff game during that span. And IMO, that is a huge difference. If Yao played 50-60 games during the regular season, but he was there to play his best during the Rocket's entire playoff run, there would be much fewer questions about his durability.
Ok, we are on the same page then; it is a gamble with every player. You look at what a player gives you and and then you look at the risk associated with that player. I just hope winning is the goal and money is not a deciding factor in any personnel decisions regarding the team. Lastly, there was a time when I considered Tracy McGrady the type of talent you have to gamble on, hence my excitement when we traded for him and we know how that is looking at the moment. Point being, you never know, you just look at the facts and base your decisions off of that.
'cause I am a racist with no sense of sarcasm. It amazes me when Yao is apparently top 10 players in the league and people still don't think he is a so called "superstar". I cannot come up with any reasons other than Yao's race.
Well obviously about Yao. His injuries are similar to fatigue. His feet are breaking down. It had nothing to do with his body being fragile. When you are 7'6 310 pounds and you play the entire regular season and the Olympics, you are bound to break again. He had a stress fracture last season, this is a different. Something with hairline. All said and done, We do need to reduce his minutes and we need a legit back up center. I suggest we play him 30 MPG until the all-star break and then steadily increase as we reach the post-season next season. And here are Shaq's injuries. One of them was actually something serious and was nothing to be lazy about, and that was hyper-extended knee and a sprained MCL. 1995-96 Appeared in 54 games (52 starts) for the Orlando Magic and averaged 26.6 points (.573 FG%, .487 FT%), 11.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.13 blocks and 36.0 minutes…missed a total of 26 games due to injury and two games (Apr. 3-6) due to the passing of his maternal grandmother…missed the team’s first 22 games of the season (Nov. 3-Dec. 13) with a fractured right thumb suffered in a preseason game against Miami on Oct. 24…missed four games (Jan. 6-13) due to a bruised left quadriceps 1996-97 missed a total of 31 games due to injury…sat out the Jan. 3 game against Sacramento with a sprained right ankle…missed a pair of games from Feb. 4-5 with a right knee sprained MCL…suffered a hyperextended left knee at Minnesota on Feb. 12 which caused him to miss the next 28 games (Feb. 13-Apr. 9) 1997-98 Appeared in 60 games (57 starts) for the Lakers and averaged 28.3 points (.584 FG%, .527 FT%), 11.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.40 blocks and 36.3 minutes…missed 21 games due to injury and one due to an NBA suspension (Nov. 4 at Sacramento)…sat out L.A.’s Oct. 31 season-opening contest against Utah due to a abdominal strain and missed 20 games from Nov. 23-Dec. 30 with the same injury 1998-99 Started all 49 games in which he appeared for the Lakers and averaged 26.3 points (.576 FG%, .540 FT%), 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.67 blocks and 34.8 minutes…missed one game due to injury (Feb. 11 against Minnesota due to a strained right groin)
shaq never misses the playoffs. i think that is all that matters. i don't care if yao doesn't play a lick in the reg. season b/c we can make the playoffs without him easily (if tracy or another player through trades can play). we're deep enough. but i want him for the playoffs. if we can figure out a system to rest yao more, let's go. this is going to be a chronic injury. play him 20-25 minutes, no practice, no back-to-backs, and maybe even rest him every other week or something. and in the playoffs, play him just 30 mins a game. it sucks that we have to do this, but we have to. we need yao in the playoffs.
Yes, Shaq is sophisticated and Yao is naive. Whenever the coach called Yao, Yao never frowns. But You cann't blame Yao because he gives his all every minute on the court.
It's not that Shaq never gave it all and even despite that he would STILL produce. He was just that dominant. You act like he put up bad stats or something, just because he didn't want to be out there doesn't mean he couldn't dominate the game like he did every night.
Anyone know a decent site that lists playoff games played? P.S. I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for Shaq... Only because I'll never forgot the Rockets sweeping him in the finals.
Very interesting. Certainly Yao cant copy the trace of shaq's career. But I hope that's a good indication of Yao's future and the Rockets'. Damn, if we had Yao and the '07-model' Tracy, we do stand a Big Fat chance^^
