Does Yao in place of Chuck make us better defensively?

YES !!!!!!!!

As stated by the

portion of my post.

I then continued the thought to say he also helps on offense.

DD

 

are you having a laugh?

proof is in the pudding. where are we defensively this year, compared to last year. the primary switch is yao for chuck.

 

well judging by the layups we have been giving up, i say better, WAY better. yes, chuck can defend his man better, but yao makes the opponent think twice about attacking the basket. now teams have pretty much figured the rockets out and attack the basket on pretty much every possession.

 

let me quote stephen A Smith

"is this a trick question?"

of course it makes us better. Even though chuck is decent at post defence, he cant block shots. Yao ming can defend the post just as well if not better and he intimitates in the lane..

 

Are you serious?

 

Hayes is the better pick n roll defender and is better at individual defending against the mobile and active guys (ex. Carlos Boozer, Pau Gasol, etc.) However, Yao's size trumps all of it as you said but Yao is also better at defending the legitimate centers and by those people I mean guys like Dwight Howard, Shaq, Kendrick Perkins, etc.

 

Surely this is not a joke.

Morey has stated time and again that Yao's departure would be most noticeable on the defensive end. Every stat in the book from boxscores to advanced metrics show a huge dropoff between last year's defense and this year's.

You can argue that Chuck is the more "skilled" defensive player. Or that he's "smarter" on defense. But in the end, Yao is by far the superior defender.

 

Yao's offense can help wear down the opponent and then it helps on his D. Having to make the opponent work on both ends. Though there's no way of knowing that effect. Or how much it can take out the player himself.

Yao's size as in weight and body mass can be under-appreciated. Having to bang against a huge strong guy that outweighs you by 50 pounds all game long, dont know if some people realize how much that can really wear you down. Running into a brick wall 30 times is going to wear you down faster than running into a mattress 30 times..

 

That's very true and one very underrated aspect for star offensive players. People don't realize that there are times when Offense can create defense. A lot of people say Defense creates offense, that's true too, but it works both ways if you think about it deeply. It also depends on which player guards you. For example, a lot of teams have a perimeter defensive specialist which could let guys like Kobe, LeBron, Melo, etc. take breaks on the defensive end because they have somebody else do the work. With big men, It's different. They basically have no choice but to defend each other since most of them are even in size and nobody else is as big as them.

 

I still hear people who trash Yao but the guy is one of the top 2 centers in the league. I think Kobe said it best "Yao came in with a lot a lot of pressure on him." And I certainly think he has lived up to expectations as a player, though you can argue with the injuries. But I don't think we realize sometimes just how much easier he makes it for teammates.

 

I haven't read the whole thread. So someone might have said the same thing.

After thinking through the question, I believe that it is not a fair way to compare the two guys.

Of course Yao would make the team better than Chuck defensively playing CENTER. Chuck is playing out of position. He is a 4 not a 5.

A fairer way to compare would be something like this:
1. Yao plays with a poor defensive PF (e.g. Novak).
2. Chuck plays with a poor defensive C (e.g. Andersen).

Everything else the same. Which combination do you think would make us a better defensive team?

 

I'd rather have 40+ year old Mutombo play center over chuck. You can't teach height.

 

That's not fair either. Andersen's defense is not worse than Scola and Landry, Novak has no defense. Should be Hayes/Andersen vs. Yao/Scola or Yao/Landry.

 

For anyone that thinks Chuck makes the defense better, witness the layup drill going on this year....

Yao blocks a few shots, but intimidates so many more....

DD

 

This is not a fair question.

The question should be...

Does Yao-Chuck make us better defensively than Chuck-Andersen?

 

size wins.

 

It's like to argue who's the better OFFENSE player?

Dwight Howard or Landry?

Skill wise, it's Landry,
but size, strength, and star power make Dwight Howard a bigger impact player.

 

Yao has already proven he can anchor a top defense with scrubby defensive PFs.

04-05 Rockets team: Defensive rating 4th in NBA

Power Forwards: Juwan Howard(defines mediocrity), Mo Taylor(TMac-esque defense), Padgett/Witherspoon(spotty minutes, both suck)

05-06 Rockets team: Defensive rating 6th in NBA

Power Forwards: Juwan Howard, Stromile Swift(No brains), Hayes(a few minutes), Baxter(...)

Do you honestly think Hayes and a crappy defensive center, say Okur or Brad Miller, can put up the same results?