I never said Bron doesn't have more value. Just don't base it on him getting out of the first round by beating the Wizards, when we lost to the Lakers and Mavs (obviously better teams). And as someone mentioned, if Yao plays like he did after his toe surgery then I'm not taking anyone oustide of Duncan over him. It's easier to build around big men. The league is changing but if you have a solid big man to draw attention you will still compete. The last two champs had great big men. The champs before them had a great frontcourt.
yao is darn good. but it will always come up a feeble effort trying to compare him to lebron the dude is putting up stats no one has ever done at that age.
With the way the Pistons were playing in that Cavaliers-Pistons series. healthy Tmac + Yao would win that series
To be clear, I'm not arguing who is better. I'm arguing would you trade Yao, if you are the Rockets GM, for LeBron right now if given the chance? That's the argument. I understand why folks like LeBron ...but I wouldn't make that trade. I wouldn't even need to think about it.
I honestly think the Rockets would laugh if Cleveland proposed LeBron for Yao straight up, I also think Cleveland would move Big Z and drop leBron in a heartbeat if the Rockets offered Yao. It seems a lot of members here are confusing media hype and ESPN "analyzation" with actual player value.
I would take Lebron in a second. He has a complete game, and is a complete miss-match at any point on the court. He can play the 1-4 and does not have any weaknesses. If the Cavs traded Lebron for Yao I would be amazed, because right now there is not a more complete player in the game-- and Lebron is not even close to his peak yet.
think its the other way around.. Cavs will laugh at an offer of Yao for Lebron.. but Rox will think real hard at on offer of Lebron for Yao What has Yao proven in the playoffs? Can Yao win without Tmac? can't even win in the regular season consistently without tmac.. Lebron has proven he can take over, dominate, and win in the playoffs with that supporting cast he had.. just imagine what tmac and lebron can do together..
if we offered yao and tmac for lebron the cavs still wouldn't do it. lebron is hype? 31/7/6 is hype? numbers just as big or bigger in the playoffs is hype? doing it all at 21 is hype? he might have been the best player in the league last year and he was 21. yao was decidedly not the best player. even post ASG he wasn't. there is no guarantee yao will ever have the mobility/ability to take over playoff games and throw up 40/8/8 type games like lebron can. and did i mentioned lebron is 21. someone metioned lebron scored 7-8 more points per game like it was no big deal. it was more like 9-10. that's an enormous jump. even compared to yao's stretch of around 27 ppg, it's a huge jump. then there's all the assists. don't tell me lebron isn't better offensively. if you don't think the defense is just as concerned with lebron you are wrong. just because doubles are harder on the perimeter doesn't mean they aren't helping just as much. and business wise, lebron isn't second to anybody. did you see how much the cavs sold for after getting lebron? it was a lot more than they were worth a few years before. lebron is the star of the league and will be for another decade. i really like yao, and if he plays like he did after the all-star break, then damn will he be good and we will have several shots at winning it all. but lebron's already done it for several years, has done it even better for several years, and is not even at his peak and he's a cash cow and league star. lebron is far and away the #1 untradeable guy. and simmons underrates kobe's untradeability. he is the lakers. they did everything to keep him, are building around him, and he gives them star power. even in two mediocre seasons the lakers were still relevant, and still got plenty of airtime and espn time because of kobe. and judging by watching the games, the fans love him as much as any player in the league is liked by his fans, even with all his warts. the lakers damn sure wouldn't trade him for dwight howard, if for no other reason than star power.
i completely agree with everything you said except... im thinking that the lakers would probably trade dwight howard and kobe. dwight howard will get even better. and i dont think kobe has but about 2-3 years left before he starts a steady decline. that dude has played a lot of games. i think you will even see this next season that kobe will start to get injured more and more often.
This is why fans can never be GM's unless they are Morey. Yao has potential to be top 4 big of all time. LeBron has potential to be bigger Robertson with way worse defense. Lebron is #2 media wise and cash wise in US, Yao is #1. when you throw in worldwide it isn't even close. LeBron will never warp the game on both ends like Yao does (just like Kobe could never do it like Shaq did) The bottom line is the ONLY player in history that you would trade a top 5 all time big for is Jordan. PERIOD. As of now BOTH Yao and LeBron are strictly in the potential phase of what they can do, and Yao generates much more mula. The Spus probably would hesistate to trade Duncan for Yao, simply because he is Duncan and he is Mr Spur, but that would probably last only a couple days then they would do it. But if it was Kobe, D Wade, even Lebron there is absolutely no decision for those teams GM's you trade them without even thinking for Yao. If you don't grasp this, you don't understand what 7-6 300 plus mobile, with serious skills is worth. It's definitely rarer, worth more, and can warp the game much more than a bigger Big O with less D.
They wouldn't do it because it is a deal too good to be true. Lebron, Yao, Wade, TD are not gonna be traded, because they have become the images of their clubs. Just like Statue of Liberty is not for sale no matter what.
why use Morey as a standard? what has he achieved? top big 4 centers of all time? so who gets potentially pushed out of the list? shaq, dream, so where can lebron potentially be in the list? next to MJ? james don't play D? james is a team player.. but not kobe.. right.. because lebrons history hasn't been written yet.. and how can you say 5 is top 5 all time big if he hasn't even gone past the first round yet? lebron has gone way past potential.. see second round against pistons.. no disrespect to yao he's mobile.. is he more mobile than dirk?
I think Lebron is the most untradeable right now, but your rational and analogy of Lebron's game is like a 10 year old's that watches too much sportscenter. Lebron did what he did because his role players are MUCH better than Rockets role players. Comparing Larry Hughes, Z, Snow, R. Murphy, etc. to the likes of Wesly, Howard, Bowen, Alston is straight up r****ded. Half the Rocket's role players shouldn't even be in the league, let alone rotational players. Also, Lebron plays in a weak Eastern Conference. The Wizards wouldn't even be a playoff team in the West. They are essentially the Warriors of 2-3 years ago. And, face it, Lebron gets calls like the ones Wade got in the Final's regularly. Lebron and Wade are two of the best players right now, but they also are two of the most over-rated player's in NBA history ( much moreso Wade now, than Lebron). Don't even mention Lebron's name in the same breath as Jordan's. Jordan played in the days of hand-checks, elbows, and bad boy defenses. Today's NBA for the guards is pratically WNBA for men.
the comparison was between Lebron and Yao straight up.. so you will have to include tmac to your comparison of the other players.. Yao's teammates (tmac included) is better than Lebrons.. just imagine if we replaced Yao with Lebron.. whos got the reading comprehension of a 10 year old and r****ded now?
I can. Two players that need to dominate the ball in order to be effective, playing with a bunch guys that should be in the NBDL. Prediction: First round playoff exit. (if that)
wow man you have to be the most gung ho yao fan ever. just answer me this....was dream better than yao? I'm really not sure from how you talk.
