The team was constructed around Yao... so you do have do consider him the "star". The Nuggets lost a star but gained youth and talent in return, unlike when Yao went out, Rockets gained nothing.
I was thinking this the other day too. You bring in Yao and the Rockets are easily the 3rd or 4th best team in the Western Conference. The Mavericks without Dirk are about as mediocre as the Rockets, the Spurs are pretty talented even without Duncan, Ginobli or Parker. The Nuggets don't really count, they traded their "star" player. The Blazers to me are the best team without their "superstar". Plus they're not only missing a healthy Roy, but Oden as well and yet they're right their in the playoffs.
Err... ok - but the equivalent to losing those guys while also losing Yao is like any other team losing their top 3 stars... gotta compare apples to apples for the sake of discussion.
Damn did not think of Blazers. Aldridge pulled a Tmac with the Blazers (follow me on this one). Just like when the Magic got Tmac + Grant Hill, Tmac was ready to play 2nd fiddle, but Hill goes down and Tmac starts to become a star. Like that Magic team Grant Hill never became the same and I have a lot of doubt that Roy will be. But just imagine if Roy became what he was just last year, with this year's Aldridge, they would be the championship favorites imo.
Denver has no "star" player per se, but if you take away Nene they lose a whole lot of size, defense, blocking and rebounding. I think he's their linchpin and if you take him away it does more damage to their team than taking away Lowry (Dragic steps in) or Martin (Lee). We already lost our Nene!
