Out of curiosity: Yao or Howard, now that we have Howard

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Watching those old Yao videos, his postgame was so much better than I remembered. He was DEFINITELY the best center once Shaq started declining. However, I'd take Howard because he can play longer minutes, and he affects the game so much defensively. Howard's ability to block/change shots, rebound and overrall defense is ridiculously good. He basically has no weakness defensively


I forgot who he was guarding on the perimeter a few nights ago, completely shut him down though

 

Yao's limitations dictated that your team had to play a certain way to camouflage his weaknesses - Dwight is far more versatile and a way better frit for this version of the Rockets.

Dwight, and it's not even close.

 

Smaller defenders often gave Yao fits - remember Eduardo Najera? Yao did much better up against traditional centers like Dwight.

 

Yao was more skilled on offense, and he was an underrated defender. He used to run out of stamina. Fronting was the big issue with him. One on one, there was no stopping Yao.
Durability, defense, athleticism, and the ability to handle fronting all goes in Howard's favor.
It would a hard decision for me, I would give Yao the edge if we had CP3 or Tony Parker along with Harden.

 

Yao would win win head to head matchups. Howard is better against the rest of the league.

 

The Suns dealt with the same dilemma with Nash, especially with regards to PnR coverage, and I'd still take him over Gary Payton.

With what Yao brought to the table offensively and as a rim-protecting deterrent, I think it was worth playing a slow-it-down, half-court centric style to accommodate his foot-speed and stamina issues. And it has to be noted how Dwight's FT shooting limits how he can be utilized in late-game situations.

I'd actually be interested to see what this team would look like if they had Yao to use the way the Showtime Lakers used Kareem late in his career (i.e., looking to score in transition as often as possible, then waiting on Yao to lumber up the court if the opposing defense got set). I suspect Dwight's still the better fit with this team's style of play, but it would interesting to see.

 

The same can be said with hack a dwight.

 

Laugh at this even being a pole? A Healthy Yao? 1000/1000

 

I liked Yao. Great player. Yao is like Michael Jordan. The longer he is retired, the better people think he was. It was a work in progress the entire time getting him to be the dominant center he should be, and when he started walking the walk, he started getting hurt. Loved having the guy on our team, loved that he was a good character guy, and the potential was outstanding, but ....

A team with DH is better suited to play the kind of ball that is interesting to watch, and definitely better suited for this young team.

I say DH, but it's close, only if you ignore Yao's physical struggles.

 

This being said, this is a much closer debate if we're talking about '09 Dwight. '09 Dwight was the third best player in the league.

 

I voted for Howard but now I'm having doubts. :grin:

What if the question was.
Who would you rather have on this team now healthy Yao or Dwight?

 

Isn't that the point of a hypothetical question??

You just turned a healthy Yao into IF on your own. Fail.

 

I voted for Yao, but I'm just now remembering how he couldn't get up and down the court even when healthy. However, we would become much stronger in half court sets because of his range and passing ability. As of right now, Howard's contribution to half court offense is post ups, PnR, and alley oops. He draws a lot of attention which is great, but we can't park him at the elbow to draw the opposing center out.

 

What is this, parsing of words?

If you can't separate "healthy" from Yao, then what you have? An unhealthy Yao?

Just kidding. I love Yao Ming and to me he was a true superstar, but in terms of impacting a team's chances of winning, I would take Howard. The latter can impact a game by being awesome on defense alone.

 

I would rather have a healthy Yao than a healthy Howard. Any day

 

That's why these polls on Yao are so strange to me. It's like asking if you'd rather have Harden or another shooting guard who sprouted wings and could fly.

Injuries defined Yao, unfortunately.