Yao's output may go down, but his skill level wouldn't decrease, so I don't see why that would make him that much closer to Bynum. Yao's talents far exceeds Bynum's. If you give Bynum a 7.5, then Yao has to be a 10.
it's not about skill level. this isn't 1 on 1. its the fact that Bynum compliments the lakers offense much better than yao compliments the rockets offense. sure yao could probably score on bynum about 50% of the time, but bynum could also score on yao just as easily, especially if his jumper is falling like it is in preseason.
Firstly, I don't think it's accurate to say Yao's talents far exceed Bynum's. Bynum has a polished post game. But, anyways, for this thread output is far more relevant than talent. The point here is to compare the strengths of their respective teams.
I'm a Laker fan and I agree... The Rockets should be the favorites in the West, and the Celtics should be the overall favorites.
Man I don't know what you are smoking, but man you need to hook me up . How can you say that Bynum is just as good as Yao. Bynum hasn't proven anything yet. Yao has already proven what he can do, and is regarded as the best center in the NBA by many. Bynum is still not even a top 5. AND lamar odom is nowhere near as good as ron artest.
Yao actually plays good defense against post up big men like a Bynum. Lets see how Bynum actually performs against Yao before we make statements like "Bynum could score on Yao just as easily". Right now it's obvious wishful thinking. Bynum only got to play against Yao one time last year and did not do much, while Yao did a lot. And even last year when Bynum started playing well, he put up 20 and 10 five times, four of them against bad defensive teams. I can't agree with this. Yao's offensive game is way more polished than Bynum. Lets look at his hotspots: Can we really say Bynum has a polished game when almost 95% of his FGs made came from point blank range? He's not going to be able to make all those shots with Big Yao guarding him, and he doesn't have a jump shot of any sort to keep Yao off guard. I personally think Yao would still dominate him in a head to head matchup, and this favors the Rockets. I'm also interested to see how Bynum's numbers are affected with Gasol now on the Lakers.
Legler has been on the Rockets bandwagon for several years. He's been saying how he likes us to win this or that. Injuries are probably the only reason that guy is ever wrong.
Satire? Hardly... It's reality If you look closely at the numbers they don't lie. Lamar put up more rebounds and more assists on a team when he was the 3rd option the majority of the season. Ron Artest put up a lot of points but he was Option 1/1A with Kevin Martin. Some of you guys are underestimating Lamar and overvaluing Artest. Lamar may be inconsistent in terms of his game but Artest is just as inconsistent in terms of his mental mind state. I am crossing my fingers and hope things will work out but you never know. That's all I'm saying. There has been much false hope recently. I am just as excited as the next guy in the acquisition of Artest but don't get your panties in a bunch like you did when we got Stromile Swift and Derek Anderson. Of course Artest is infinitely more skilled and proven more than those scrubs but still... history has not been too kind in off season acquisitions. I said we are a Derek Fisher away from being a SURE THING. I never said we needed him to win. Winning it all is still within reach but having a player of Fisher's capabilities makes us a sure thing.
yao vs bynum? yao can guard bynum all day...bynum guarding yao? yao will score in the 30-40's every night....bynum is good but not in the same level as yao. even your lakers forum says bynum isn't better than yao. yao commands a double team everytime once he's in the paint. lakers have inconsistent defense. who on the lakers is going to stop tmac or artest at the same time? if kobe guards tmac, artest will have a field day. if kobe guards artest, tmac will thrash anyone. kobe had many problems with battier, how about with artest too? lakers bench is weak. if rockets are healthy (if), teams like the lakers can't match up.
"I said we are a Derek Fisher away from being a SURE THING..' wtf? 2007-2008 alston: asst 5.3, steals 1.1, rebounds 3.5, pts 13.1 fisher: asst 2.9, steals 1.1, rebounds 2.1, pts 11.7 fisher has gone down lately. alston almost owns him in every category. swift and derek anderson compared to artest? wtf? there's no comparison...not even close in terms of excitement.
Basketball is more than just stats. Derek Fisher brings hustle, clutch shots in the most timely moments and seems to always get the loose ball that matters the most. You can say luck is on his side at least on the basketball court. He also brings championship experience and knows what it takes to close out games and win. Tell me WTF has Rafer ever won besides some streetball crossover contest? I'm not hating on Rafer and I think he is decent but Fisher is a level above him. I don't even think you were here when we acquired Stromile Swift. People actually believed Tmac when he that he was going to make Stromile an ALL-STAR lmao. We thought we had our "answer" to the power forward position for many years to come. People believed we had our answer to Dirk and that Stromile was going to "PWN" him
i never believed it in terms of swift. whoever thought of that is drinking coolaid. fisher has a better career than rafer but he aint what he used to be and hasnt done anything (championship) without shaq and kobe together either. matter of fact, rafer played better defense than fisher last year. fisher isn't a level above rafer last year overall. you could see how fisher has gone down this past year. i hope fisher guards tmac again. tmac is going to torch him in the playoffs.
We'll see what they do this season. Bynum is very good at getting post up position around the basket, and he exhibits very good footwork and touch. He's more evolved in that regard than Dwight Howard. But, again, skill isn't the key issue here. What matters is how productive each player is in their respective systems. That's how you contribute to winning, which is ultimately the criteria by which we judge teams (and is the topic of this thread).
OK, I'm not a big Alston fan, but there is NO question that he is a better overall PG than anyone on the Lakers, Fisher included. Fisher may be a better shooter, but Alston is a better passer, playmaker, and defender.
Rafer is also pretty clutch. I remember his shooting% in 4th q was much higher than his average in VGD times. He's fearless to take big shot.
Exactly people say fisher is head and shoulders above rafer on defense. bullcrap. rafer has to be one of the best defensive PG's interms of staying infront of his man and stopping dribble penetration. he also has very good hands and is a very good playmaker.whilst fisher is a more physical defender, rafer is a better overrall defender. rafer is so underrated here its not funny.
Well, AS, which is it? You can't have it both ways. If you look at just stats, Odom is great and Fisher is mediocre. I'm not a big stats guy myself. Odom puts up great numbers from time to time, but he's just too mentally fragile to be a major part of a championship team. Phil Jackson is offering him the perfect scenario: Be the 6th man and come in to disrupt things. Odom, of course, thinks he's a star and was absolutely offended by PJ's suggestion. On the other hand, Fisher's lack of decent stats doesn't mean he's no good, but at this point in his career it's really hard to see him as significantly better than Alston.
I can not beleive that we don't agree that the Rockets have the better bench BY FAR!! Our starting line-ups are almost a wash with a slight edge to the Lakers IMO. But that's only because the Lakers have no key player like Artest or Battier on the bench (whoever is not starting). Assuming it's Artest, and I think it will be, we will have Artest, Landry, Hayes, Brooks, Barry and Head coming off the bench. Not to mention possibly Deke and Francis. Radmanovich would see NO minutes on the Rockets. Sasha Vujacic would see NO minutes on our bench. Conversely, Battier would push them both out of the rotation if he was on the Lakers. THAT's how good our bench is. Fact of the matter, we have someone to defend everything they'll do. The most annoying thing for the Lakers is that they don't have anyone who can succesfully defend Yao or anyone who can succesfully defend T-Mac. Their best option is Kobe, who they can't afford to wear out, or... wait for it... Derek Fisher, who will be tasked with handling a T-Mac who doesn't HAVE to take all the shots anymore. Can't imagine we'd lose honestly. Their starting 5 is slightly better but we whoop them when it comes to defense and depth, which are absolutely KEY in a playoff series.
