1 Russell 2 Wilt 3 Jabbar 4 Shaq 5 Walton 6 Hakeem 7 Moses Malone 8 Robinson 9 Ewing 10 Willis Reed No shame in being in the top 20, but that is my top 10.
Walton is a distant 10th for his "NBA" career. College, is obviously a different story. A lot of you watched and remember 80's/90's basketball. Hakeem was really regarded as the 3rd best center behind Admiral/Ewing until he broke through for the title. THAT'S NOT A KNOCK ON DREAM! It's a testament to how great Ewing and Robinson were. All 3 were absolute MONSTERS on the block. All 3 incredible shot blockers. You can't compare Ewing's career stats that include 5 seasons after he turned 35 (though he averaged 21/10/3 at 35). And seasons recovering from a GROTESQUE wrist break, which would have ended the career of any even GOOD big man. Yao's injuries didn't do anything to his statistical averages. He just stopped playing and the stats froze. And, as some of you quickly and properly pointed out, he played next to OAK. Patrick is "only" 24th all time in rebounding....because he played next to the 20th all time rebounder. Dream put on two of the most astonishing performances in playoff history against Pat and David....that doesn't mean they're scrubs, people. At the end of Yao's career, the league was finally catching on to fronting Yao to completely take him out of the game. Without a STAR player to keep him from getting double teamed, his stats weren't going to suddenly explode. Ewing and Robinson didn't count on double teams on Starks or Elliot to give them enough time to make post moves without having the ball poked away. Love Yao. He was one of the last (maybe THE last) of a dying breed of post player.....but he (even INJURY FREE) was destined to be in the "VERY GOOD" all time centers list with Alanzo Mourning. Not transcendent all time great.
What a useless stat. Look at the the WS/48 for Dream's MVP season. 1. David Robinson*-SAS 0.296 2. Shaquille O'Neal-ORL 0.252 3. Shawn Kemp-SEA 0.216 4. John Stockton*-UTA 0.214 5. Reggie Miller-IND 0.212 6. Patrick Ewing*-NYK 0.211 7. Hakeem Olajuwon*-HOU 0.210 8. Mark Price-CLE 0.201 9. Scottie Pippen*-CHI 0.194 10. Karl Malone*-UTA 0.193 Tell me, Reggie Miller and Kemp being ahead of Dream. Give me a break.
Right...he wasn't even the best on his own team, he's merely the franchise leader in Rebounds, blocks, and steals and led them in rebounding for 8 seasons. what will you next user ID be after this one runs its course?
?? I don't think I said otherwise. Are you sure you read the right post? I think I pretty much agree with your stance. I know you are eager to disagree with everything Yao right now, but dial it back a bit bud.
Yeah he could have been. A more interesting question is... will there be an offensive center as good as Yao Ming in the next 10-20 years? With how the game is officiated, defensive rules, the diminishing importance of the center position etc centers are not the same as they were in Hakeem's time, Ewing's time, Moses' time etc. There's no question that Yao is the best center to come out in the past 10 years. Actually the past 15 years since Shaq. Any top 10, top 5 list is speculative. Different eras, different rules, different population pool to draw from. These days most players are on PEDs. Considering how small changes such as the hand check rule can dramatically affect a player's performance it's functionally impossible to truly compare however: 1) will we ever see another center with the skillset of Yao Ming? 2) will we see a center as good as Yao in the next 10-20 years? was Yao a top 10 center? speculative. it's a discussion have at it. what is clear is that Yao was a special talent because of his combination size and skills. in many ways more "special" than a top 10 center like Ewing or even Hakeem who were more conventional players. you put Yao in the "physical freak" category as Wilt, Magic, Lebron, David Robinson and a select few other NBA all timers.
Sorry, but I don't agree with this at all. If anyone was a "physical freak," it was Hakeem, and half your "physical freak" list played different positions. Yao is a "freakish" 7'5"-7'6", but that doesn't make him a Wilt, an Hakeem, or a Robinson, in my opinion.
Yao is the best, he could of been really good. Everyone said his over doing in the olympics would cost him.
one thing for sure we won't ever see a 7-5 300+ softie that plays smaller than a muggsy bogues <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/svsHlH-IvbY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ultimately, we can argue back and forth about this issue forever, but Yao sadly falls into the category of Ralph Sampson. All World talent (regardless of where he might fall on a top ten list, or a top twenty list), who's career was devastated by injuries and cut short. We'll never know what he truly could have been, just as we can never know just how great a career Sampson could have had, had their bodies not betrayed them. Both were never allowed to reach their potential, only give us glimpses of it, stretches of remarkable play that teased us with what might have been.
What are you trying to prove? Are you so dumb not to know that Nate has dunked on many big men before? <object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZDIJiu3DmII?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZDIJiu3DmII?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZpHo0ZoTC8c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZpHo0ZoTC8c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> Or you have never watched a NBA game before? Trolls like you smell.
If Michael Jordan had played second fiddle to Pippen on the Bulls and didn't get as many touches as he did under Phil Jackson, he wouldn't average 30 points either. So what's your point? The question is no one in his right state of mind would let Jordan play second fiddle to Pippen. I know you are probably too dumb to get my point.
