Does Yao in place of Chuck make us better defensively?

good call--i had ignored the "star" aspect. And I def. believe that's an advantage.

I still think it's closer to "same" than people are saying. But maybe a slight advantage to the Yao-led D..

 

are you on crack or is there humor here I'm missing?

 

OK I'll honestly discuss it then...

Yao brings us a tall shot blocker who is one of the primary reasons Battier is affective. With no one tall, people will drive to the lane from the perimeter more often (think of how ineffective he's been this year against Melo, Kobe, Lebron, etc).

Without someone tall, the perimeter is less safe because the entire team adjusts its play to a Yaoless team (or just someone with height even, aka Deke).

Having a 7' 6'' who will intimidate driving helps tremendously. It also helps us gather defensive rebounds. Chuck's height puts him in a position where the rest of the team has to make up for the lack of threat to oncoming offense that likes to get down and dirty in the paint. Yes he strips the ball on occasion but this isn't enough to stop a team from dominating our short roster all over the court. Chuck is good... for his height.

Like someone said, you can't teach height.

 

I'll take the Phil Jackson approach on their skills though...

I think Chuck is way more skilled on D. Doesn't matter though.

 

Better. I love Chuck and I hope he plays here until he loses his edge, but Yao makes our defense better. He takes up a huge amount of space in the post. His sheer presence alone is a game changer. He alters far more shots than he blocks, his block numbers being lower than most of us would have expected when he was drafted. While Chuck can do some things Yao can't do, being very, very quick with that low center of gravity, Yao (in my opinion, anyway) is simply a much better option. If he's healthy. He's also an excellent defensive rebounder. And yeah, he's got that intimidation thing going, as noted above.

 

Chuck is a great individual defender, but yao makes the defense totally different and much better.

Here's my 2 cents:
1)Yao is a superior offensive player, so he wears you out and puts you into foul trouble. This will make the opponent tired and frustrated and passive on offense with their fouls. It may sound weird, but good offense itself translates a lot into good defense.

2)Yao may occasionally look stupid defending good outside shooting big man. But when game gets intense(4th qtr and playoffs), teammates usually do a better job of rotation defense and let yao take care more of the inside defense. So yao's weakness shows more in 1st/3rd quarter or some regular season games and can be fixed. (Just think of Shaq as a inside defender who has trouble defending pnr.)

3)NBA games are usually won/lost in the last few minutes, and more often than not decided by the ability to attack or defend the paint. When healthy, yao has to be one of the best bigs on both ends of the floor.

 

Yao is a game changer offensively and defensively.

 

Yao's presence in the lane area makes our interior defense better. Chuck makes our outside (pick and roll) defense better.

Overall good defense is predicated on protecting the rim rather than the outside jumper.. hence the conclusion that Yao has a greater effect on overall team defense than Chuck.

 

Hayes is a great defensive player, and, IMO, has the best defensive techniques in the league. But as a center, he is too small to protect the paint well. Yao, on the other hand, is the best paint protecter. His presence is a great help to the team defense even without good numbers of rebound and blocks.

 

You make a point Durvasa, but I would probably have to disagree with you and go with the quicker and longer athlete in Dalembert strictly on the defensive side of the ball.

 

i couldnt have said it better myself. This is the one thing i pointed out this summer about yao. Posters tried to link houston top defense to shane while i said it was yao. Much like shaq in his prime to a degree, u cant measure his ability to take up space and change shots with his sheer size. He's not as quick on the recover as shaq was,but when he plays with his hands up, he makes a impact. Yao struggles in space which is expected for a guy of his size,but guys dont even see hayes. Hayes can run down rebounds and yao is frame rebounder. Yao and deke missing with their size has greatly effected the rockets defense this year.The rockets also struggle with yao on defense when teams pull him from the rim. Scola and landry dont play with their hands up nor can the contest shots at the rim, That why if the rockets were to make the iggy and dalembert trade, i would like to see dalambert play next to yao. Thats way when teams pull yao away,dalembert could be there to protect the paint. When landry and scola played together, it was a layup drill.

 

It really doesn't matter. The only person that can help us improve defensively or offensively is in Chicago.

13 in 35! 13 in 35! 13 in 35! (sarcasm)

:grin:

FYI, I think Yao makes us better because his presence keeps people from driving into the basket. Chuck is a great one on one defender, but people have no problem taking it to the hole when he is under the basket

 

You know a poll is bad when the results are so lopsided as they are here. Now, durvasa I know the idea you had in mind wasn't that bad after you explained it... but it's the way you phrased the question that really sunk the poll.

The question should've been more along the lines of "who is a better defender, Yao or Hayes, ceteris paribus"

 

I was pretty surprised that the poll is so lopsided. I think overall, Yao and Hayes have about the same impact on our defense, even though I can't back it up with numbers.

They are two different types of defenders, and it really depends on the opposition. Hayes could guard 99% of the players in the league, something you can't even say about past DPOYs. He makes up the lack of blocks with steals, ball strips, and taking charges, and you can't exactly push him around much (if at all).

Sure, we could've used Yao last night against the Nugs, where height and shot-blocking are irreplaceable against teams with inside presence and athleticism. But, give us Utah on the other end of the floor, and they'll just pick and roll us to death with Yao in the lineup. Hayes could stay with quicker guards on the perimeter; Yao can't. Even when we had Yao healthy in the past, I've always felt that we had a better shot at beating Utah if we took Yao off the floor, and this is accounting the offense he brings on the other end. But we all know, Adelman (or any other coach in their right mind) isn't going to do anything as drastic as pulling your All Star player out of the game to win a single game due to the matchup.

*flame suit on*

 

Funny thing is that if you ask the same question a year ago the answer will favor Chuck. They both have their strength and weakness defensively.

 

As a one on one defender, you can make the argument that Chuck Hayes is better at guarding some players(Boozer, Okur, etc). However, when it comes to team/overall defence, Yao Ming is FAR better. If anyone remembers, guards pretty much did NOT dribble penetrate when Yao was playing.

 

Wow... and that comes from Hayesfan. You gotta respect that conclusion.

 

If you still remember our playoff with Portland last season, Brandon Roy always had trouble shooting over Yao, same thing happens to Dwight.