Yao, because he's mentally tough, a hard worker, and his teammates and coaches both respect and admire him. He might be Chinese, but he's the NBA version of a samurai, loyal, selfless, and a warrior's heart.
I would have to say Yao because without Tmac, we still have battier and ariza. Without Yao, we have...Anderson, Hayes and Dorsey.
My thoughts exactly. If I had to pick one, it would be Yao. We probably have more chance to win a ring with Yao then Tracy. Looking at it this way, All the elite teams like : Boston/Lakers/Spurs/Magic/Cavs have phenomenal perimeter defender, you can argue with the Magic but they still have an good overall D because of Howard and Pietrus isn't half bad. Imagine Bron, Kobe/Ron , Jefferson , Celtic D, Pietrus + Howard guarding Tracy. That won't be much of a mismatch would it? But if you have Gasol/Byum, Duncan/Mcdyess, Howard, Shaq guarding Yao we'll probably have a better chance scoring on them. Apart from the Celtics which is a very bad match up for Yao.
hmmmmmmm.... in 02 id prefer Amare ( oh wait this is a tmac or yao thread) t-mac But hey this is basktball a team sport you need, pray, and hope for the best and healthiest of players, we have two superstars and hopefully a year from now both are healthy ( i heard tracys already healthy or at last like 99%)
I pride myself on being a civil and mostly courteous member of this board, so I'll simply suggest you read a few books and learn about other cultures before you spout such nonsense. I was referring to the fact that Samurai are from feudal Japan, and thereby off limits to people outside that caste system. Perhaps you should consider this well known bit of wisdom.
Pietrus . healthy mcgrady woulddestroy everyone on that lis except kobe and lebron. mcgrady 39 points 12 assists ad 9 boards on ron in 07 and 40 6 boards 5 assists on ron in 08.
Well there are two sides to this. The pros and cons. Pick either one and you give up the other. Its a tough decision. You don't find many talented guys like Tmac that can just take over games like that. But you also don't find a 7'5 center with a soft touch. Yao- He is automatic down low and can score with ease when he have his man in place. You can rely on him at the free throw line and his shooting touch is sweet. He works hard and is a good team player. But he is mostly effective in the first 3 quarters. If the opposing team have a smart coach and a good team, they will easily find a way to stop Yao. That is by fronting him and after that, Yao is just another guy on the court. When Yao is shut down, our offense will usually collapse. Yao usually have a hard time boxing out players and fighting for a rebound. He gets his boards when the ball is dropping directly towards him. He is very injured prone. Any good team that faces Yao in a 7 series playoff match will usually find ways to stop him and completely shut him out. Tmac- Once this guy is on fire, there are very few players that can slow him down. He can take over games and he is a guy that you can trust handling the ball at the crucial point of the game. He can score, drive and is a great passer. Other teams have difficulty trying to guard him. When healthy, he can go against the best of them like Lebron, Kobe or Wade. He is definitely one of the most talented player in the league today. But like Yao, he is very fragile and are prone to injuries. He often take bad shots and doesn't keep the ball moving. He demands the ball in his hand most of the time and sometimes that can be a bad thing. He is a lazy player and don't play hard on the defensive end. Overall, between the two players, I just have to go with Tmac even though he had a terrible year with the Rockets, he is still the guy we can lean on at the crucial moments during a game. I know a lot of people are against Tmac because of the bad season he had with us and how he gave up on the team. I agree with that. I felt like he should give us 100% but if you think about it, how can he if he is nowhere near 100%. Tmac plays on his confidence and if he is not confident with himself, he will not play well. But once this guy is confident with himself and he is healthy enough, he can lead this team. Yao, he is a really good center. He brings a lot to this team but he also brings a lot of weaknesses as well. I would pick Yao but against a good team in a best out of 7 game series, Yao just can't do it. The Rockets were successful last season in the playoff wasn't because of Yao. Sure Yao did great in the first game against Portland and in the first game against LA. But if you noticed it, like I said earlier, any good team will figure out Yao's game very quickly. After like 1 or 2 games against Yao back to back. They will go back, look at tapes, study him, and just basically know his whole entire blueprint. They will know which part of the block he prefers, what is he going to do, which way he would turn, and so on. Yao is a good player but good teams will make him into a liability.
Umm...so who's going to play defense in the paint if you put a healthy T-Mac back on this team? An all-star SG is easy to replace. An all-star center, not so much. We'll be fun to watch this year, but not a championship contender. We could have been one with Yao, even if it was painful to watch (see the Spurs).
Jazz in 06-07 and Jazz in 07-08>>>>>> blazes in 09. the 07 rockets would have takenout the blazers. even the 08 rockets would have won...
I am not gonna agree with it. I wouldn't say the Blazers were much worse than Jazz from those 2 seasons. The only thing that was different and which is always important is expierence. Jazz have been there before and Blazers were a young team, they did not know what to expect. For me, it was more like '06-'07 Rockets and '07-'08 Rockets <<< '08-'09 Rockets
That doesnt mean much. We are an extremely favorable matchup for them and they lucked out and got the GSW in the second round because Dallas choked. The Rockets teams that lost to the Jazz would of beat Portland and last years team would of most likely fallen to the Jazz. This game is all about matchups. The Jazz are not contenders, in fact they would be perrenial first round outs, they just happen to luck into favorable matchups every year.
