I really dont make statements like this, but there is no debate ... Yao has always been better than Dwight. Dwight was much younger and still developing. Dwight of today was not the Dwight of Yao's time. Believe me when I say I am not a Rocket's homer, I am and have always been a NBA fan who is also a Rockets fan.
Arguably....Reason is because Dwight is a dominating defensive beast but he is nowhere near Shaq when it comes to offense.
That depends on if you count health. A healthy Yao was dominant more dominant than Howard. Unfortunatly Yao was almost never healthy, and not durable. So I would take Howard over Yao.
I mean if both are healthy. I like Yao but Dwight offensive game has gotten better the last 2 years and when I say better I mean a whole lot better. Now Dwight might still struggle against Yao because some guys are just tough matchups for other guys. But Dwight has never played with a number 2 guy like Tracy McGrady in his career which would have made things a lot more easier for Dwight, and Tracy was Yao number 1 guy.
If I was drafting to a nameless team, I'd pick Dwight, but if the team is loaded with good players, I'd pick Yao. For stats, Howard wins, but for intangibles Yao wins by miles. DHo has ego so big that it is bigger than TX and Yao has a heart that is bigger than Alaska. Not only Yao has stats to backup, but he would gladly trade stats for a ring, I doubt the same for Howard, who has the mentality the world revolves him like Lebron. With Howard, you will not win close games, teams will be hacking Dwight like he is a pinata. You will not win games shooting 41% FT like Howard is doing this year which is worse than Shaq, remember Shaq won with Kobe and Wade. To win championships, I take Yao in his prime over Superman who has krytonite when he shoots FTs.
The difference I see is that Yao can create for himself consistently. Dump the ball off to him in the post and good things will happen. A good deal of Dwight's scoring comes from putbacks and lob passes, which admittedly would have been great to pair with a 6'8 passer who also commands double teams. Dwight has made offensive strides, but I still don't think he's at the level Yao was. Think back to that stretch when Yao was regularly putting up 30 and 10. He was straight DOMINANT offensively before the injury, and even so afterward. That Utah series had him exploited defensively, yeah, but he still got his on offense. That being said, I would still take Dwight over Yao. Dwight is leagues ahead of Yao defensively, and with his mobility and athleticism you could actually run a fast break. Perhaps in a different era, with more true big men, I would go with Yao. But that wouldn't exactly change his fragility...
Yao wasn't bad on boards, he controlled the paint and scored around 27-29 points per game for a long stretches. Dwight will never see those kind of numbers
The only thing that Dwight really can use as his advantage in this debate in terms of his game is defensive impact but I if you are old enough to remember that Rockets were a top-3 to top-5 defensive team in this league with Great Wall (Yeah, young fellas, we were a dominant defensive team just a few years back), you are able to realize that there is nothing to be talking about, cause difference in defensive impact between Howard and Yao is not nearly that big as a difference between their offensive impact Yao was named the best big in the league on offense by many specialists (Dirk, Finals MVP, was behind him in that debate) and Howard... Shhhhhhh. But Dwight has durability and Yao retired because he hasn't it. That's why he was considered as a best center in the game all around the globe and that's why T-Mac used that "as good level". Dwight was considered as the best C in the game, Yao was the best C in the game /thread
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=6jRXhj1PpFU that video defines yao for me right there. Injured, but has the heart of a champion. Honestly i was really proud of yao, i remember watching that game and being like woah thats no paul pierce injury.
I'd take a healthy Yao over Dwight every day of the week. My guess is that most GM's would too. People seriously underestimate Yao's defensive presence in the paint.
People need only refer to our awesome defensive teams to appreciate how important Yao (and his super back-up, Deke) were to the team. Rafer, David Wesley, Jon Barry, Mike James, Bob Sura, Aaron Brooks..they were not stopping anybody. All they had to do was funnel their men to Yao. Boom, top rated D.
Watching these scrubs pretending to be Rockets players really bring into perspective how good Mac and Ming were. Sigh...
How did no one else notice this? Were you alive in the mid-90's??? Geez, Yao was never close to Hakeem, and that's no slam on Yao. I would say Yao wasn't nearly as good as David Robinson, and we know what Dream did to him. The league just had no good big men during Yao's time. Remember when the league had Hakeem, Shaq, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, and Alonzon Mourning all at the same time?!?!? Just don't understand why that changed so drastically.
Always remember <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K7tPZ-KljR0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I always thought it was funny to see the other teams big man go against a bigger man in Yao. Howard was no exception. Think about it. Most big men's game is built almost exclusively around their size advantage, or at least that they are similar in size to their opponent. Most 7 footers have never been so badly undersized, by so skilled a big man. And, I should add, outclassed.
