Well we still got a few days until training camp starts, so I figured one more thread isn't going to hurt any. This thread is inspired by the fact that comparisons between Yao and Hakeem are constantly made on this board (most recently in the favorite rockets thread, where a couple of posters were shocked that anyone would deign to put Yao as their favorite center over hakeem). I'm not sure why because: 1. They are both Rockets and I don't see the point in pitting them against each other in terms of popularity or basketballwise. 2. They are very different players with a different set of strengths and weaknesses. 3. They played in different eras where the league was much different from each other. (Hakeem having to deal with a stronger set of centers, while Yao has to deal with zone defenses) 4. And whereas Hakeem has already proven himself in his career, Yao still has a long road ahead of him so it would be unfair to pit him against a HOFer. And now to the point of the whole thread, as long as we're tossing out some "what-ifs". What if, instead of a 25 year old T-Mac to pair with a 24 year old Yao, we had a 25 year old Hakeem with a 24 year old Yao. How many championships would a young Hakeem and a young Yao acheive? I'd say they'd bring home at least 7. I'm pretty sure Hakeem can play the PF position since there isn't much that Duncan can do that Dream couldn't match. Dream and Yao would split time in the post sort of like how Dream and Barkley did. But Yao is such a good passer that I think Hakeem and Yao would work out much better together. I can just see Yao with a sweet interior pass to a cutting Hakeem for the flush. And the possibility of Yao operating from the high post while Dream flashes into the low block are just devastating. And unless the opposition is willing to let Hakeem run roughshod down low, Yao figures to get all the open 10 footers that he could stomach. But that doesn't even take into account how they would perform defensively. They would have been incredible together. If someone wants to drive the lane, they have to deal with one guy that superquick and can come out of nowhere to block your shot, and another guy that just freaking massive and will change a ton of shots just with his size. Hakeem will offset Yao's shortcomings when it comes to rebounding, and Yao can give Dream a little more freedom in terms of taking chances on steals or blocks, because Yao can be the last line of defense. I know it's a silly topic, but is it anymore silly than arguing in circles about Yao vs. Hakeem or Rudy vs. JVG or Kobe vs. T-Mac? At least there's one point that pretty much everyone can agree on: Hakeem and Yao would have been pretty damn awesome.
nah... I'd say they win no more than 6 championships. at the end of the 6th championship, the whole league goes on strike until one of them retires... we are too greedy man... we are too greedy.
-- and who is to say Yao and TMac can't bring back 5 more championships to make Yao & Dream a combined 7 anyways?
I think they could easily have the best opponent FG% in the league, but I think Yao's offensive potential would be stunted with a Hakeem to play with. If a young Hakeem was on our team last year instead of Cato, we probably would have traded Yao, Cuttino, and MoT for JHoward and TMac. (and a couple of first rounders )
Didn't the Rockets have a similar situation with Sampson + Olajuwon? I know that recent history hasn't been too kind to Sampson, but from everything I can tell he was a hell of a player until his knees went out. Anyone care to explain why it seems so popular for sports writers and other sports opinion people to take pot shots at Ralph?