Amare is injury-prone as well. But I agree. I would rather have Amare in this line-up. Yao would probably collapse because he wouldn't be able to keep up with this team offensively and defensively, and then we'd have to SLOW DOWN OUR GAME to complement him. That's what we did last-year with Tracy and he just completely destroyed our offensive chemistry.
The Suns still made it to the conference finals the year Amare was out. It's definitely Nash's team. And for everyone saying they would take Amare because Yao is always injured, Yao has actually played more career games than Amare at this point.
Would you take Yao/Landry/Budinger? Or Amare? We may not see a penny of Les' earnings, but we do see 2nd round picks bought for $3 mil apiece.
How is this a Vujacic diss? "He didn't want to be on a poster...he's from hollywood, he should be use to being on posters?" Uh, okay...good one?
I always said that Amare was the best role player in the league. It is true, he runs his game through Nash. Even when he was out, he ran his game through his teams up-tempo system. Would I take him, heck yes I would.
K I'm going to come to Yao's aid, but only because I think it's a legit argument. If you're going to play those two head to head, there's no doubt in my mind that Yao (before injury, not sure about now) would get the better of Amare. This is simply because Yao can back Amare down and score, or else demand the double team. The only weapon Amare has against yao is the outside jumper, and that can fail him easily- No way can Amare do anything to Yao one-on-one, just as he can't do much against Shaq or Perkins or anyone with significant body weight. Plus Yao is so much longer than him so that quick first step may not work on Yao. With that said, Yao is more injury prone and almost always gets hurt- That's the key here. If -and that's a big if- both of them are healthy, and Yao has not declined significantly, then i'd take yao for a championship team, because, as we all know, the game slows down in the playoffs, and you need a BIG presence down low- I'm not talking about hustle help D, but rather length and size, which yao has. Plus he's a phenomenal passer, which would create opportunities for shoots or cutters alike. Fronting would still be an issue, but with an able guard it should be solved. Finally, I don't think Yao is going anywhere. In fact, I think SOMEONE is coming here. With this current roster, yao, and maybe another good player, this is a very scary Rockets team. For all the doubters, we CAN win it all with Yao, and can't without him. This isn't his team, but he's a huge, huge part of it. If he hadn't gone down last summer, we probably would have beat the Lakers and won it all. Just something ppl should know.
Difference is Amare's health has been improving, while Yao's has been getting worse. Amare microfracture, worked hard to get back but came back too soon which forced him to miss even more time. Since he has come back he has been relatively healthy outside of a freak eye injury. Contrary, Yao had injury-free seasons younger in his career, but as he has gotten older his health has went downhill. At this point, Amare is more durable than Yao.
Is that Eddie Johnson doing the color for the Suns? He sounds like he has a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
Like someone else have posted, I would take a healthy yao over amare. Yao's offensive game was a lot more polished than his when they were drafted. Also yao is a much better post defender. Although amare is a great weak side shot blocker, but that is not really saying much for his defence. But then again yao have not stayed healthy the past few seasons. Knowing that now i would probably take amare on a pure basketball perspective. You can't really blame the rox for taking yao back then who was not injured, maketing potential and I would argue and yao is the better player (both then and now). Injuries are the only thing that really puts amare in front of yao now.
Well.... Yao is a far better defender, better shot blocker, rebounder and far better with his back to the basket. Also lets not forget that Amare gets his points on a team that takes many more shots than the Rockets. Basically all Amare has on Yao is health, and it is debatable as to whether Amare has really been more healthy for his career. Yao > Amare
I don't care about career, I care about who's healthy right now and will be healthier for the future, and that is Amare.
Amare is a better mid-range/outside shooter. Can dunk one everyone. Yao gets neutralized when fronted. Sure Yao is a better defender, but he is no way better than Amare on offense even healthy. And if Amare had a chance to play 1 on 1 with Yao, he would beat him IMO. He would get around him so easily and dunk it.
