Any sane general manager would pick a franchise center over a franchise power forward. In NBA history, take a look at how many teams have won championships with a center as their main star, and how many have won with a power forward.
Thank you...again. For some reason, the Suns fans can't do the math either as they're still referring to him as a teenager. One comment particularly was funny about comparing Tyson Chandler coming out of highschool as opposed to Amare. Tyson came out last year and it's taking him a year to start to produce in the NBA, yet Amare came out and started to produce right away...strange how they didn't mention that there is a month's difference in their ages. Tyson 9/6 53%fg and 11 less minutes played per game. I wonder how good Tyson would be if he played with 2 allstars that were good passers and you couldn't double off of...hmmm. That being said, I still think Amare is better than Tyson.
Heh, Ming gets ROY honors, hands down. It's cool that there's two really good rookies this year though.. the big man category was wearing very thin..
Gater, You're absoluetly right. The intangibles, the passing, the demeanour, are all reasons why I'd pick Yao over Amare. When I talk about desire with Amare Stoudamire, I'm talking about the fire that his highschool teammates talk about. Hish highschool coach, his family. His NBA teammates, Jerry Colangelo, hundreds of reporters. The guys has a will to succeed that would rip through the center of the earth. Here's what I'm saying: Karl Malone will be considered the best PF to ever play the game when (I should say IF) he retires. Hakeem Olajuwon is not usually mentioned among the top 5 C's of all time. On average, he's probably mentioned 6th, although we think/know otherwise. BUT, Hakeem Olajuwon won 2 rings for us, and Karl Malone has nothing to show for his amazing career. Would you pick the best PF to ever play the game, or a top 6 C of all time? Obviously, looking at it like this, you'd go for the PF. But, if you could draft all over again and could choose between the 2, would you pick Hakeem Olajuwon or Karl Malone? It's a classic examlpe. Because Yao's demeanour and finesse style compare to Olajuwon, while Amare Stoudamire is the same player karl Malone coming out of high schools, but with better hops. What was Karl Malone? NOTHING. Couldn't shoot FT's, jumpers, nothing. Hard work made him what he is today. That's exactly how I portray Amare and Yao's careers.
So Malone was a harder worker than Hakeem? Hakeem had NO kind of shot when he started playing basketball...yet he became one of the greatest offensive threats the game has known. But Malone has worked harder on his game?
Yao is a combo is Kareem, Hakeem and Sabonis. the finesse move of Hakeem, good shooting and physical of Kareem and passing of Sabonis. Probably the better analogy is to Kareem with good passing skills. Kareem is also not quick and not very aggressive. Yao is actually very different from Hakeem.
Amare may have the edge over Yao in the ROY race because he brings so much excitement to the game. People love to watch dunks and this kid can really dunk. Also, he looks more dominant on the court because he dunks on people and doesn't get dunked on. However, since their numbers are so close, I think that the ROY will go to the player whose team makes the playoffs. At the end, the NBA may fool us again by giving out another co-ROY awards.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/statistics?statsId=213 Look at Malone's career numbers, if Amare works hard during the off-season, he should be a 20-10 player next season. Amare even has better FT percentage than Malone in his first season. In Malone's later years, his mid-range jumper and FTs are money, can Amare achieve that high percentages in his FG and FT? Also please take the zone defense into consideration, nobody can shoot a high percentage as used to be. One player on the Phoenix team that has to accept a lesser role is Marion. Marion has to take less number of shots in order to give Amare 7 or 8 more shots to average 18 shots/game. Can Marion do that?
Sane - Given that Amare is twenty years younger than Karl, he's got an ample amont of time if he has the desire you say. But I'll go along with the Dream/Yao sentiments and comparison...bring on the rings in 3 to 5 years!
Shaq likes Amare because he dunks with power. Remember Shaq was the same one dimential player for most of his NBA Career. You dont think the Lakers would give any help to the team that will break their Dynasty, in a couple of seasons,do you? Amare may find that his character traits might be his undoing like Kemp, there has recently been an indication that Amare is not the most dedicated.In the future, I dont see him surpassing Malone or Barkley, they were complete players in every statistic.
Work harder is good, but work smarter is better. One thing about Yao is that he is a smart player and a smarter person off the court. While Amare and Butler patted each other on the back, Yao told reporters he could care less who won the ROY award. To me, that's maturity. That's EQ. Amare a top 20 players? Not a chance.
sun 12, I think amare will be an all-star... Top 10 type player. I love how hard he plays the game and he will get better in all faucets of the game. In fact, I think if the Rockets hadn't lucked out with the first pick, amare would have been a Rocket. But, if you think about it, Yao is already the second best center in the West, and has just as much up-side as amare. I'm glad we've got Yao. Wouldn't be interesting if the league picked Butler as ROY. I don't think a player getting their team into the playoffs means that much for ROY award. Did Francis and Brand get there teams into the playoffs? My point is this...this is a very talented rookie class. May the best player or players win. By the way, I could care less what Kobe and Shaq think.
Yao sells tickets and Amare doesn't. Do you see TNT featuring Amare-KG II? When Suns came to LA, it was just another game. When Rox visited here last time, all the stars fought to get their face time at Staples. Excitement? Yao wins it in a slamdunk.
1 shaq 2 kobe 3 td 4 kg 5 francis 6 dirk 7 nash 8 finley 9 payton 10 wallace 11 j oneal 12 pierce 13 walker 14 kidd 15 t mac 16 iverson 17 hambilton 18 artest 19 baron davis 20 carter 21 malone 22 jaminson 23 brand 24. a miller 25marion 26 marbury 27 wallace 28 webber 29 bibby 30 peja 31 allen 32 lewis 33. YAO!!! Obiously no way is he top 20 ( please note not in any order) Top 20 is extremely hard to Crack. I think he will eventually reach that level but no way next year. Maybe stoud dosent shoot well. But again thats all they said shaq could only dunk early on. As long as he devlopes a post game he will defintely be a star. They will both be great players. Its pretty stupid to say Yao has peaked or Stoud has peaked in their first year. It really is a toss up on who will be better they have been equally impressive
This isn't a sarcastic comment and I'm not trying to be funny, but what is it that amazes people with Amare's game? With Yao, it's his IQ of the game, ability to hit the close jump-shot, passing, and overall skill at being 7' 5".....something not seen before. As of right now, he's a Kenyon Martin that doesn't play defense and lacks the occasional jump-shot Martin has the ability to hit.
