My apologies if this has been discussed before. First time posting here. I'd like to see a civilized chat on how we should compare players, which seem to be a hot topic. Personally, I think that the most meaningful stat to measure offensive skills is field goal percentage, just like batting average in baseball. Not only does it measure a player's ability to score, it also shows his bball IQ (i.e., shot selection). For a GOOD NBA player, given 30+ shots, I am sure he can score a lot of points per game, but does it tell the whole story? Hell no. It often encourages players to be selfish. Don't give me wrong. I think that points per game is still a useful gauge. I just think that field goal percentage is the one that we fans should emphasize more (and hopeful the media types will catch on too). Given what I said, I have been hugely impressed by what Yao Ming is doing, as a ROOKIE! Of course, anyone who has taken an elementary statistics course would know that stats are meanful only if the number of trials is sufficiently large. So, I am holding back my judgement on Yao until he has made at least 200 shots. If his percentage holds at the end of the season, would anyone dispute that he is a great player?
