This season yes, but their FTM/game for the last year was a wash; and they are both at 5.1 FTM/game for their careers. Howard also logs an extra 3 minutes per game, so Yao's FT per min for their careers is higher. Going forward, esp. if Yao starts taking more jumpers (this seems to be the plan), Howard is likely to overtake him in this area. But for their careers so far, it's been even. bigez, regarding Howard not being as polished because he didn't get to train as much when young, how much more do you see Howard improving offensively? I agree he has much more potential then Yao (can't teach Yao be get quicker and jump higher etc.), but some guys just don't have the shooting touch no matter how hard they train. Everything I've read about Howard, he seems to be a really hardworking player, but his FT% hasn't improved in 5 years. Players like Shaq/Chuck Hayes etc. just can't shoot at that range, and I'm sure it's not because they don't train enough. Obviously I expect Howard to improve, he's still so young, but I wonder just how much better he can get. Will he ever reach the ability of say, an in his prime Shaq in terms of overall impact?
Dwight is a real force but the development of his post game has been quite slow - 5 years in the league and he's not much of a threat if he's not within 5 feet. Guys like Yao and Amare grew so much in their first few years. If Dwight did or can do that he'd be unstoppable. On the game4 play where he got fouled and missed 2 fts to seal it, if Dwight did not bring the ball down and gather but just kept the ball high and went straight up for a quick dunk - he wouldnt have to go to the ft line. Gasol or Duncan would have easily done that.
late in the game, I would rather take Howard out, much less speaking comparing him to Yao. He cost Magic the season by choking again and again and again like a dozen times on the FT line. Pathetic!
Yao is SOFT and will always be SOFT. He's been this way for 7+ years. Watching D. Howard play won't make Yao a tougher, quicker player. Watching D. Howard also won't increase Yao's vertical.
A new NBA article put Howard at the 4th of NBA finals MVP, behind Pau and Hedu. Howard's 47% FT is really low for a center. http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/rob_peterson/06/13/finals.race.to.the.mvp/index.html
Dwight Howard is a great basketball player....However... Yao MUST be double-teamed and triple-teamed. The reason for this is simple: there is no single human being alive on this planet, much less playing the game of basketball, that can stop him one on one! That's not a bad quality to have in one of your starting five. Soft, docile, weak, passive, not-a-leader, blah, blah, whatever...and yet, NO ONE alive can stop him without help. I'll take my chances with Yao! Just get me a sg/sf who can score off the dribble!
Sure, Yao needs to watch Howard playing. Geez, any professional basketball players should be watching NBA finals, to read the games and improve their own. Whether watching others' failure or success, they can all contribute to your growth. Watching them play, doesn't mean you are inferior to anyone. I just don't get the whole notion. For some reason, it becomes a Yao or Howard thread. There is no Yao or Howard for Rockets. If you even just pretend to be a Rockets fan, you need to deal with the fact that Yao is on the team, and Howard isn't. We can always argue who is better, but before you throw out Y-O-F labels when you can't win an argument, try to grow up first. Before you get a divorce, you don't try to insult other family members while trying to argue everyday, whether the neighbor's wife is better than yours. For those arguing that Howard is playing and Yao is out, Howard has played 4 finals games this year so far, Shaq+TD+KG+Yao+AJ+Oden has played 0 final game this year. If you want to argue that Howard is better than those 6 players combined, or Bynum is better than those 6 combined, go ahead. Otherwise, quit such logic fallacy. For those resorting to future prediction to justify current comparison, you haven't proven that you can predict the future, same as the ones were high J. Williams, or the ones wrote Yao off in his rookie season, or the ones riding Amare, or the ones hyping Bynum, or the ones crowning Oden, the list goes on and on. Neither do we know about the time left for them, as we didn't know that TMac would be playing like this now, at the time he was in his 5th season. In conclusion, you can't predict the future. If you want to compare, compare it now. Sure, there are lots of things Yao can learn from Howard like throwing elbows and don't worry about fouling out, or from Gasol how to expand his offensive game, or any good facets of the game from any other quality big men. So do lots of big men can learn from Yao. It's not a shame to be a homer, but it's quite depressing to be low self-esteem all the time, and it's almost a crime to dog your own players all the time.
Um, Gasol, Carlos Booser, Tim Duncan, etc etc. Can guard Yao with no problem. Yao can't even guard Booser. LOL
none of those players can successfully guard yao 1-on-1. your other comment isn't even worth acknowledging... might as well of said yao cant even guard chris paul.
LOL YAO SHUTS DOWN DWIGHT EVERY SINGLE TIME. GUESS YAO IS 1000X BETTER THAN DWIGHT. /end idiocy If you're going to say something, at least make sense before spouting off.
um those are pfs. and tim duncan cannot guard yao. and gasol, come on, he just fouls yao alot and gets away with it. he cant guard him straight on the post up. on the post yao cannot be held. fronted thats another topic. and boozer doesnt even hold yao when they play the jazz.
Yao really needs to learn how to brick a FT from D Ho. I recall Yao tried to miss a 2nd FT vs Pistons in 2007 with .2 sec left in the game and he still made it. Geeze....
Tim Duncan is probably the guy in the league who guards Yao best. There is no shame admitting that. Duncan cannot shut down Yao. To only person who can shut down Yao is himself. Gasol and Boozer? Give me a break. Why should Yao guard Boozer? That is like saying TD cannot even guard a very good wing player.
He claimed that Okur of Utah contained Yao one on one. 1) What does that have anything to do with no one else helping out. It's a reason why its called beating somoene one-on-one. 2) You are claiming that Yao of today is significantly better than the one who played against Utah 3 years ago? How so? Yao has trouble beating Utah's one of one defense to this day. Sloan does not like to double and Yao has yet to force Sloan into doubling.
