I have yet to see such a comparison on this forum. What do people think? Who would you rather have? Frankly, I haven't seen much of Gasol but his stats look good and better than Yao. Anyway, these are the stats for reference: Gasol: YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 01-02 MEM 82 79 36.7 .518 .200 .709 2.90 6.00 8.90 2.7 .50 2.06 2.73 2.40 17.6 02-03 MEM 35 35 34.7 .505 .167 .755 2.30 5.90 8.20 2.8 .46 1.77 2.89 2.50 17.1 Yao: YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 02-03 HOU 35 25 26.4 .542 .000 .774 2.60 5.40 8.00 1.4 .29 1.86 2.11 2.90 13.0
Yep. They didn't throw Yao to the wolves like they did Gasol. Yao is working within an offense of 2 20-pt scorers. And he's playing a position that zones are designed to trap. Gasol acts more like a swingman than a PF. His height gives him instant blocks, but his inside D is still up in the air. Initial rookie year impressions are usually deceiving.
i like gasol. but i think Yao will be better. He has skills you do not expect on a 7"5 player. he is great. Gasol is also great. Gasol will be an All-star in a couple of years. But Yao could be an MVP
Also, Yao's stats are deflated because of the first 10 games which were basically his training camp, and because of the recent game he left because of the injury.
Gasol doesn't have nearly the defensive presence that Yao has. The Rockets were a bad defensive team last year, drop in Yao they're one of the Top 3 to 5 defensive teams in the league. Memphis is still one of the worst defensive teams in the league, with or without Gasol.
