Kobe without shaq=no first round passes. yao is either allways injured in the playoffs or is struggling. even with kobe, we would not pass the first round if yao is playing like a fifty year old slow man like has in the playoffs.
I said on defense Yao gives big centers with his height and bulk, which is all he has going for him. On offense, Yao brings many other skills to the table.
Yao will eat his lunch now, next year, but what about the following year after that??? I really think bynum will surpass Yao in 3-5 years.
The first point was brought up in response to your observation that Shaq got most of the touches; I believe it doesn't say for or against Kobe because those Finals stats aren't really an accurate indication to Kobe. I think it's safe to say that T-Mac and Kobe are two very different players and the thought that they should be compared is ridiculous. I would agree that Pippen and T-Mac make better sidekicks, but that's the whole issue here: Kobe is not a sidekick. The original statement that started all this is that there's a debate about whether or not Kobe is a better top-tier superstar than T-Mac. Somehow you threw a bunch of misleading fancy stats that threw it into a tangent and Pippen got involved. Kobe is a top-tier star; you can build a franchise with him. He has had more success in his career that T-Mac. There's a slight case that Shaq might have handed him ( instead of merely helped him ) get three rings, but you can't deny where he's taken his teams alone, the expectations he's met, and an MVP which really should have been two. That, my friend, is a fact. What has T-Mac done? I know we're all Rockets fans here, but I'm tired of fans defending the guy by trying to downplay other players' stats in a funny attempt to legitimize T-Mac's accomplishments. I'll tell you what, if we go into the first-round, with a full-roster healthy, Ron Artest, against some rag-ass team like Utah AND LOSE...that permanently states that T-Mac sucks.
