[Chron Blog] Yao's not great, but he doesn't have to be

not dominant? he's playing against the best in the world every night, and often people can't stop him, if that isn't dominant then I don't know what is. Plus all those NBA greats he listed didn't play against the pace and athleticism nowdays like Yao has to (minus Shaq, but he has it pretty easy with his strength anyways..)

 

seems pretty obvious that the only two games this dude has watched yao play are the last two playoff games. if he watched him at all during the season, and especially if he has followed his progress over the years, he would not be making these statements.

clearly yao is not in the top 10 yet, i agree with that, but i think that there is more than enough evidence to show a pretty clear trend that yao WILL be among the top 10.

 

That's so stupid. Everyone has their shots blocked occasionally. Did Okur break a playoff record with blocks or something?

 

remember once in a game vs the Lakers, Yao blocked Shaq?

 

the reason i think is defensively. yao has nothing close to the impact of the great centers in the league defensively (not even counting chamblerain, jabbar, or russell). shaq, hakeem, ewing, drob => ridiculous defensively. they were "intimidators"

as u saw in game 2, boozer did NOT fear yao. he took it at yao anytime he had a chance to.

so this offseason, yao has to improve his lateral quickness to do better on the pick and roll and his man defense v. the smaller guys like boozer.

most of it is genetic - size makes it harder for him to do that.

but that's the only main difference b/t yao and the greats.

again, another thing yao should do to show the world more is that he can lead a team w/o tracy on the floor. he hasn't shown that.

but yao's the best center today. but this is his first season as a superstar. if he can improve on this season and have 6-7 more seasons better than this, he'll be up there. if not, he won't.

he sitll has 6-7 more seasons to prove it though. so long ways to predict.

 

This guy's blog is simply not worth being mentioning here.

 

You say statistics be damned and immediately spew out some statistics.

 

Being dominate means no one can stop you. No one in the NBA right now can stop Yao.

Maybe JVG wrote this article to motivate Yao even more

 

He really should consider move to Salt Lake City. He will be worshiped as a prophet there. What a troll.

 

What does being in the top 10 centers have to do with being dominant, other than those centers being examples of dominant centers. He clearly never validates his point of Yao not being dominant.

As for the 5 year comparison w/ other centers, Yao was way behind the curve when he entered the NBA. He never played college ball, and some US high school teams would have beaten the Chinese national team from back then.

Most of those centers came into the league much better on the defensive side of the ball and only later developed a offensive game other than offensive rebound - slam dunk. Yao on the other hand was much better on the offensive side, and lacked big time on defensive skills.

Point being is that Yao's development path is different than any other center's. Until he peaks, we won't know how good he really is.

 

Bring us a championship,then no one will doubt about Yao's dominance.

 

exactly. yao can end up being one of the greats and not crack that list. doens't mean he's not great.

i mean we're talking about jabbar, russell, chamberlain, hakeem, shaq, ewing, drob right there, the very best 2-way players of all time.

i mean, even reggie miller will make the HOF and he's a great player, but he's not one of the best SGs we've seen.

 

This coming from your very own Houston Chronicle site? No wonder no players and coaches were winning any awards with promotions like that from your own city newspaper.

 

He is averaging 27.5 points in the post season.Overlooked is his great passing ability,He sets up our flanks with perfect firing position.

what else do these U.S writers want Yao to do?????Yao is the new face of the game,internationally;and I wish the so called sports journalists would start showing some appreciation.

 

The defensive side definitely hurts Yao + Stamina.

 

Yes I remember quite clearly. Yao blocked Shaq 3 times in a game as a Rookie. So, Shaq is not dominant?

 

No kidding. It's one thing to expect crap like this from espn, but to come from the chronicle? So many things said that makes no sense it's not even funny. Does he even watch basketball games?