Yao isn't a good defensive player at all. Just because his size sometimes clogs up the lane doesn't mean he's a good interior defender. He's far from it. People attack the rim when he's in the game too. In fact, many players go directly at Yao trying to dunk on him or get him in foul trouble. Players don't avoid the paint when Yao's in the game. I don't know what Rockets team you are watching.
I just laughed. Apparently Yao is a good defensive player despite not blocking shots, getting steals, or even being an average man-up defensive player. Makes total sense.
Scola's wins share is not very different from Yao's during the season as well. My point was it only takes into account the defense played during wins, so i dont think it should be used when talking about a player's individual defensive abilities, regardless of who the player is. I'm not even sure why we're discussing it though, i believe Yao's solid defensively now and has been steadily improving since he came into the league. I still don't see how you don't agree his defense wasn't as good years ago, but it's irrelevant to my point anyway. I just dont' think he's going to be a consistent leader on D over a season. He'll do his part as far as playing D is concerned, but leadership extends further than individual play. And i'm just refering to defensive leadership, i dont think shane should be the overall leader, but even that title seemed to fall more on shane than Yao.
Never said Yao isn't immune to criticism. When you only focus on Yao's shortcomings, which can be magnified or blown out of proportion, you are missing the bigger picture. Yao's individual defensive stats may matter zilch to you personally, but they are the key ingredients in the team's defensive success.
practice? practice? we talkin 'bout practice? not a game...not a game... How is this relevant in regards to in-game production? If anything, the fact that Wafer plays at such a frenetic pace makes him more likely to dip in production if he plays more minutes. Clearly, he was the better value this season but I think we can all agree he was a steal while Davis was hampered by injuries.
OOOOOH Man. I found one person on here that actually agrees with me. I've been saying this all along. Yao is not a good defensive player. Just because he had one good decent season guys automatically think he is a good defensive player. No No. If i was a contributing member you would have had a green bar from me.
I guess just because he can make a player change their shot people assume that he is a good defensive player. Yao has a long way to go but I must admit every season he has improved. Over the summer I hope he practices blocking shots more than trying to take a charge.
Leadership is a loaded word and is difficult to quantify. Yao's defensive impact is measurable and has been consistent throughout.
I don't think I'm missing the bigger picture at all. I'm just saying Yao isn't a good defensive player. He has a tremendous impact on our team's success, but that doesn't change the facts.
You can observe it, does that not count? Shane's defensive impact is just as measureable and consistent as Yao's, if not more, but even if they are equal there, you can see and hear about shane's leadership a lot more than Yao's.
I am not interested in your love affair with Battier. I am here to dispute the notion that Yao is a below average defender. I have stats that fully support my argument and you guys don't.
well if you have stats to prove your argument why don't you just show them instead of saying it over and over again.
WOW, did you zip up your pants too fast today? You're the one who replied to my post in which i wrote about yao AND shane's leadership on D, if you don't want to hear about shane then don't reply, better yet, don't post IN A SHANE BATTIER THREAD. Stats are nice, but what about reading comprehension, got that? I clearly said i believe Yao has improved every year defensively and is now a solid defender, don't lump me in with other posters who say he's below average now.
Anyone who read my posts know I have some issues with yao,but I give him his due when its deserved. The common factor since the rockets have been good on defense is yao. Now when yao has been out and deke has played, the defense will not suffer.If u look at opp fg% ,opp ppg, and def rebs, the rox have been really good once he got here. Not rv6's man crush on shane. Yao has problems in space, we know this, but no one can deny how he shrinks the court. He could shrink it more if he kept his arms up like mark eaton. For all his prowess, kobe still got his regular season numbers vs the kobe stopper. Same ppg,same fg%. In his last 2 finals, kobe has played terrible against allen,pierce,posey,prince,and rip. Not only that, those guys still score and make the superstar play defense. Pietrus outscored the cavs bench. LeBron went of but he's at home. Its not about keeping kobe or lebron from going off as it is winning the series.
Amazing...i guess i got a crush on JVG, chuck, shane, deke and every rockets' players i've defended through the years. I never claimed shane was the common factor all those years, shane wasn't even here for some of those. I simply said he helped take over the def leadership, along with deke and chuck, after JVG left and now he's the only one out of them that's still on the floor every game. I didn't know ruben patterson was in the playoffs this year...must be because no one here claimed shane was the kobe stopper and shane doesn't refer to himself as one. Kobe, one of the greatest who's played and probably the best right now, got the SAME numbers in the PLAYOFFS, as he did during the REGULAR season, and that's not a good thing? I guess superstars aren't suppose to raise their games in the playoffs, huh Yes it's about winning the series, maybe if Yao and Tmac weren't sitting at home we could have done it.....actually we definitely would have, probably even won a ring, but hey, forget that, let's just keep trying to find more help every time our stars go down by trading the guys who actually stay on the court, yeah that makes sense....i'd love to see how Pietrus could lead this team to a ring without Yao and Tmac, oh yeah, he can't, just like any role player cant. And if Pietrus was here instead of shane, guess what you'd be talking about? How Pietrus needs to go because he's not a consistent 20pp scorer and we need that with tmac and Yao going down. I guess taking care of the real problems just make too much sense...
Let this thread die a natural death, PLEASE! Shane is not our problem, There is only one ball and everyone can't shoot every time down the court. Shane is happy and content to play a role that most players decline, defense. He defends the other teams best wing offensive player game-in, game-out and there aren't many better at their job so let it go. We have bigger problems to solve.
I've already detailed it in my posts within the last 3-4 pages. It's pretty dissapointing that you're disagreeing with my opinion when you have yet to even read what i said.
Hey in addition to summarizing the stats that are key to the debate, I also provided the linked source where you can check for yourself. You are not telling me your ability to locate the relevant data is beyond hope?
