Because Yao at full potential is a more dominant force than even championship Hakeem was, again this is IMO. Get back to me in about 5 or 6 years I guess.
Unless Yao wins an MVP and brings a title to Houston, not once, not twice, but three times, then he shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence with the great centers like Hakeem, Russel, Chamberlain, or Jabbar. So far, I haven't seen flashes of greatness from Yao. Sure he had a stellar season last year statisically, but let's be honest, it was the regular season. Players make their marks in the playoffs. People were christening Nowitzki to Bird, but he grew a vagina in the Finals and settled for 3s; now Dirk is known as a typical soft Euro. Yao had an opportunity to shine and silence his critics two seaons ago in the Dallas series, but he choked when the games mattered most. He was MIA in games 3 and 4; and he even had a few critical turnovers late in game 4, which cost Houston the game; and he missed four critical free throws in game 5; he put up 30 in game 7, but the game was already a blow out. I can't imagine Yao pulling off a Dwayne Wade, who in Game 3 of the 2006 Finals put an entire team on his back and led his team to victory by himself. OK, the Washington Wizards shouldn't be in the playoffs; the Eastern Conference sucks for the most part! But at least Lebron was the leader on his team. He was THE MAN! And nobody questioned that. I haven't seen that from Yao. Will I ever see Yao become the man in a BIG GAME? And did anybody see Dirk Nowitzki taking over games in the Finals when his team needed him? I like Yao, but I think he falls in that soft category along with Nowitzki, Webber, and Malone, until he proves me otherwise. My motto is Once you're soft you'll always be soft! Great players like Jordan, Magic, Bird, and Wade have something special inside of them that allow them to rise to the occasion. I mean, I don't know what it's like to be 7'6, but there's no excuse as an NBA athlete to get winded five minutes into a game. Having good stamina, for the most part, is just being strong mentally. In this watered-down era of centers, Yao will have his chance to shine. Yes, he's one of the few untouchables in the league. Look at the contracts of Pryzbilla and Nene. Yao should be the best center next season. I'm glad he's a Rocket. He can definitely help the team to a championship, but Hakeem?! If we had Hakeem and T-mac on the team, we'd being singing championships for many many years. I'd be happy if Yao just becomes the next David Robinson.
After hearing the exact extent of yao's foot injury, in my opinion the guy is a warrior for playing all these years with it. just look at his numbers past surgery and see how much it really was hindering his game. calling yao soft is a joke.
Tracy took a team of pat garrity, pat burke, jaque vaughn and shawn kemp to the playoffs by himselfs. that season tracy was phenominal. most people still believe that tracy of that season would be ranked as the best swingman of today's league. we still have morons( on this board) who question t-macs heart.
uhhh read our other posts before butting in.. we were trying to compare if we had james instead of yao in last year's roster whem tmac was injured..
how did Tmac get into this conversation? whats the point of your question? our conversation was if Yao was going to be traded for Lebron.. and if I was going to trade Tmac for Lebron, I will compare the current Tmac to the current Lebron.. not the 2003 Tmac to the 2006 Lebron.. which IMO Lebron wins hands down..
There is no question LeBron is better than Yao in terms of production, in terms of accomplishments, in terms of age, etc etc. We all know Yao didn't carry the team last year in the playoffs (when he was still playing with that toe injury, mind you). We all know Yao didn't carry the team to a winning record after toe surgery (with probably the crappiest teammates immiginable, mind you). The question is POTENTIAL. I dominant big man is better than a dominant little. With the way Yao played after recovering from toe surgery, it is CLEARLY evident Yao still has room for growth. Bigs ALWAYS take longer to develop than littles ...but they have longer careers. LeBron could be the best at his position in his era ...but so could Yao. Given that, I'll keep Yao.
Not in today's NBA. The rules are different now. It's much harder to make a good entry pass and zone defenses make it even harder to set up. Also, it is so much easier for a perimiter player to operate than it used to be. We're in a guard's league today and you have to make personel decisions that relfect that. Phoenix's offense couldn't survive 10-15 years ago but in today's guard oriented NBA it thrives. It's these types of changes that makes James probably the most valuable up and coming player in the league.
This "new NBA" argument is BS. Ask Pat Riley. Ask Phil Jackson. Ask Popovich. A dominating player is a dominating player. When my dominating player is 5 feet from the basket ...that trumps your dominating player that is 25 feet from the basket. Yao warps what happens on the court more than James (caveat: when they are both at their peak). That said, the nice thing about James is that the ball is always in his hands but that doesn't necessarily translate into scoring.
You grade their "potential" on two difference scales. Apples and oranges. But nice try. We already know Yao isn't a bust. It is simply a question of potentially being a really really solid post player versus a top 5 player. It isn't a wide range. Conversely, Gay's potential could be from Eddie Griffin to LeBron ...a wide range.
i guess that explains everything... i mean i don't see how you can believe that yao is the defensive force hakeem was or that he could even develop into something close to that. yao's defense/shotblocking is almost a liability because he is not quick enough and his arms are not long enough, so he fouls too much. he is a nice big body to have in the lane but other than that he does not create steals or block a lot of shots for a big man. that being said he does position himself well on defense, but he just simply lacks the atheleticism to be dominant on defense. yao is an amazingly efficient scorer but he has to have the ball fed to him with his back to the basket to score. that is the limitation of someone like yao v. a lebron, dwade, tmac. further, yao does not seal off as well as hakeem could because of his lack of mobility, but his massive body offsets some of that problem. plus he cannot put the ball on the floor like hakeem could. we will never see yao be able to face up his man. but his amazing touch around the basket and his height, which causes the opponent foul, lets him make up for that. also, yao is not the rebounder that hakeem was. if you say he is then i don't know what to say. you are just denying reality. we are heading into yao's 5th season so all of yao's adjustment time is done. here is hakeem's 5th season... 82 games 36.9 MPG 50.8% FG% 69.6% FT% 24.8 PPG 13.5 RPG 1.8 APG 2.6 SPG 3.44 BPG all-NBA first team all-defensive first team and a quote from his nba.com bio....sounds kind of eerie with t-mac being hurt now...but if yao develops into this then i will love you and say you are god and know more than me.
I dont know how anyone who has watched Hakeem play can say that yao will be better than him. Yao is the best center in the league but there is not one thing yao does better than hakeem (besides free throws). I think we have seen yao how he is going to play for the rest of his career. He will get better by being more efficient, better stamina, and expereince, but his skill set will remain the same. His body will remain generaly the same. If he continues this trend then he will be top 6 or 7, but will never crack the top 5.
Amen. When a guard led team without a post presence wins the title then I will believe in the "new NBA" argument.
Not that you had to be a homer and give Tmac more love than he deserves. You can bash him while being a Rox fan, just as i'm not giving Kobe love and i'm in L.A. territory. It was just solely about how Kobe's always been a step ahead and stats were brought into the argument so I had to check those same stats. It's ticky tack but it took a tone that Kobe's always been ahead his whole career and every year Kobe answers the call and Tmac's a little Bi---but the nods to Kobe ARGUABLY can't be given to him like that.... You will get some agreement in taking Kobe TODAY, in the now. You just got to. Take the guy thatll stay on the court and productive the next 4 years or a guy that looks like he wont make it to 30. And I too wonder where Tmac's head's been besides the injury. I'm like you, PLAY BALL now, sulk later.
we are heading into yao's 5th season so all of yao's adjustment time is done. here is hakeem's 5th season... 82 games 36.9 MPG 50.8% FG% 69.6% FT% 24.8 PPG 13.5 RPG 1.8 APG 2.6 SPG 3.44 BPG all-NBA first team all-defensive first team and a quote from his nba.com bio....sounds kind of eerie with t-mac being hurt now...but if yao develops into this then i will love you and say you are god and know more than me.[/QUOTE] Right on. And Hakeem put up those numbers in an era when they were REAL CENTERS. I mean, who's out there to challenge Yao today? Zydrunas? An overweight, rundown Shaq? Barring a serious injury, Yao has no excuse not to dominate next season, because there's a guy named Greg Oden, who is a bigger, smarter, more defensive-minded Amare Stoudamire type, ready to dominate the league.
Did you forget about the Bulls team of the 90s? Who did the Bulls have as their center? Rodman, who was 6-8 on his best day? Cartwright? Wennington? Longley?
