so Yao = Rik Smits? or maybe less? Alton Lister? Tim Duncan is sort of a cross over guy in the sense that he sort played against guys from both eras at or near their peaks. Yao doesn't get ripped apart from him and I don't think Duncan is inferior in anyway to Zo, Deke, Ewing, Robinson. Shaq and Hakeem? Yes - but not the others. Would Yao be the second best center in the 90s? Definitely no. I think he would be in the Ewing, Zo category below Hakeem and Shaq. But his scoring numbers would probably be a bit better and he would have more dominant games against journeymen types. The type of 3 point shooting center (Mehmut Okur for example) wasn't as prevalent back then.
Flat out NO... Yao would be in the Rony Seikaly category... Alonzo Mourning was a BEAST before he got sick and as much as I hate Ewing, he too would have given Yao fits... Like leebigez stated
So a consensus top 20 player today is equal to Rony Seikaly? Well Seikaly does have a super hot wife.
I think during game 5 vs Boston when Ralph got ejected and the Summit crowded shouted "we want Ralph! we want Ralph!", it inspired the team to win. that was an awesome moment in Rockets history. I miss the "Beat LA!" and "Beat Boston" chants.
seriously checkout "Elsa benitez" on google image or something. Rony was also some real estate developer. Dude is serious post-NBA success story.
I was substitute teaching in SBISD today, and I played Game 6 of the 1994 NBA Finals for the students in my last period. They had independent study, and it's block scheduling, so they got pretty much the full game. Here's the three things I impressed upon them: 1.) Look how into the game the crowd is. They're not playing a new song every time up the floor. They're letting the screaming Summit crowd motivate the team. And EVERYONE cheered, lower bowl. 2.) Look at the quality of basketball that's being played. This is the best defensive team in history (Knicks), and look what these players are doing. Look how they're moving on a level beyond virtually any team today. 3.) Notice the lack of flopping. And notice the refs not calling stupid fouls just because someone fell down. Get up and keep playing, wuss. So if your kid came home and mentioned I played a Rockets game at school... yeah, that was me.
Our role guys played hard, we just need to learn how to finish. Brooks or Wafer should have shot the ball. I don't blame Yao. here's a lesson from the old school: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8cjF1i0h78&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8cjF1i0h78&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>