whats a couple of inches among friends? Seriously, thanks for the backup..I wasnt sure if I imagined it or not. Would *you* call a 7'4" wingspan "short arms"? I think the short arms thing is a myth that has refused to die because ppl are quick to repeat what they have heard without checking the facts.
I've watch Yao's game and wanted to see how he used his "short arms" in games. And I have to tell you that his use of his height (duh) and his soft hands (large too) has allowed him to grab rebounds over quicker and higher jumpers. Kevin McHale could grab rebounds (just like Paul Gasol) because of his long arms, quick jumping and wide shoulders! So, Yao has two things going for him that compensates for his "short armness." But, yes. Yao does have short arms in relation to the rest of his body. But I thought that as long as the other factors of his body can compensate, he would be fine. In the next few years he should improve his vertical and explosivness. Plus he will have more strenght to body people in the paint. This will also help him over-come his "short arms." These are the same reasons that I've always liked Kevin Wilis's game. He was such a quick jumper and has good hands for catching the ball that his "t-rex arms" weren't a problem.
By the way, there are a few players that are around 6'10" that have wing spans that are longer than Yao's. I can't remember who it was...Christensen? Or maybe Nene Hilario.
Rockets2K and David, Dont forget Otis Thorpe. He made Willis' and Yao's arms look long. Coincidentally, OT had a high FG% like Willis and Yao. Is there a relation to arm length and FG%?
How about checking guys that are over 7' ? Maybe check Bradley, Muresan, Sampson., etc... Im still thinkin that having a wingspan close to your true body height would not qualify you for the short arm label. but what do I know?..I've never bothered with what someone's wingspan was before. It has just become a stat to wonder about when so many ppl were using his span( or lack thereof) to support why they felt YM would be a bust. EDIT: codell, that would be something interesting to check into..I for one would be interested to see if there seems to be a relation.
Ottis could grab a basketball like is was a grapefruit! The sad part, is that Ottis DID NOT have soft hands still. I liked his rebouding, but hated his over-all game. I liked Carl Herrera and Chucky Brown.
OT shot free throws like Shaq does (kind of palmed it and pushed the ball at the basket instead of shooting it with rotation). Amigo was one of my fav role players. Although, you always new that as soon as he touched the ball, there was a good chance of hearing the whistle blow for a traveling violation.
Any time that Ottis got the ball in the post, unless it was a dunk, I never expected it to go in. Scrreeeeehhh! He was like a train wreck waiting to happen. I remember once he shot the ball off the glass (was supposed to be a jump hook) it was such a bad shot that it bounced off of Horry's forehead! Oh the shame!
I didn't expect this thread to turn into a Hakeem vs Ming thread. Hakeem has played 18 NBA seasons (1238 games) and Ming only played 19 NBA games. It is all too early to compare these two players about how they will do in their NBA career. Hakeem is quick and athletic, while Ming has a height advantage. The zone defense does work to Ming's advantage, because it makes the center position more important. Both players are fairly complete fundamentally in basketball. Back to my orignal point of the post. I was trying to get a statistics that measures player's overall effectiveness in a game. There is one official NBA stat that is very close : Efficiency. Efficiency Formula: ((PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK) - ((FGA - FGM) + (FTA - FTM) + TO)) / G It makes a lot of sense. All your points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks got added to the efficiency, while all your missed shots, missed free-throws, and turn overs get substracted from the efficiency. In the efficiency in last 48 minutes, Ming is ranked #6 (32.38), behind KG, T-Mac, Grant Hill, Dirk, and Kidd. He did not even has his breakout games. The second rookie on the list is Carlos Boozer at #28 (25.56), far behind Ming. Wagner is only 17.18 (#14 in rookie 48-minute efficiency list). However, there is a lots of things missing in Efficiency. 1. It does not count in altered plays, nor being double-teamed. It's very hard to measure these things. 2. The stats in efficiency is not weighted properly. For example, a steal is almost twice as valueable than a block. Because after a block, it is still 50/50 on who will get the next position, but after a steal, position is guarnteed. However, in the efficiency formula, a steal has the same weight as a block.
Great post Zboy! You summed up Hakeem's shotblocking ability perfectly. He turned it into an art. It is a joke hearing people call Shaq or Garnett shot-blockers. Smacking a ball into the stands is a waste. They need to get the old tapes of Hakeem. I remember he blocked 3 Seattle shots in a row on one play- and the last was a Shawn Kemp dunk attempt! And yes, Barkley and Malone trying to score on Hakeem was laughable, and they are the 2 greatest power forwards of all time! They got so many shots rejected it's not even funny. It's all in the timing. I sure hope Yao Ming learns how to be a true shot-blocker, because it is beautiful to watch. I don't know if the short arms are a problem, as someone pointed out, he only has short arms in relation to his body height.
Wow. A block to the stands = A block to own teamates + a TO They are totally different. I am not sure 7-4 wing span is small or not. BTW, wing span alone is not really a good measurement for blocking. A better measurement is how tall one's hand can reach (don't know how to call this). That is shoulder height + arm length. Right now I don't think Ming is a good blocker. He need to learn the timing of his jump. However, his defense dominance in the paint is undeniable. The shots that did went above his finger's reach were most altered to almost a toss.
Man, don't make youself look like a fool. Yao will never be as good as the Dream in terms of defense, not even close. The guy was unbelieve at his prime. Yao probably will end up be a better offensive player than Dream because of his size and shooting touch; but defensively, not a chance.
It was my mistake to compare Ming to Hakeem, without actually watching/remembering how Hakeem played in detail. But isn't it also too early to count Ming out as well? Geez, he is only into his 19 NBA games and he is already considered the 2nd best center in the league right now (at least Sir Charles think so, after initially having bashed Ming). I have watched all the Rockets games from Nov 27 at Golden State Warriors. In all but one (Kings), Ming defense dominance in the paint was clearly a factor, more than his scoring. We held Seattle to 72 (avg 95.4), San Antonio to 75 (avg 91.8), New Orleans to 84 (avg 95.7), Philedephia to 72 (avg 95.3). All these four are good teams (above .500). Judging by these factors, I wouldn't think Ming defense would always be "not even close" to Dreams.
i think the most dominating act would be: screwing the other team's cheerleaders in front of them triple points if its a player's wife
Well Ruyun you are right in that Ming completely changes the game. Having a quality big man in the paint is a huge asset on defense. That is why Shawn Bradley got drafted #2 even though everyone knew there was a high risk he would be worthless. Olowokandi went #1 and he is barely average. As lot of the NBA's offense these days is garbage. Miami scored like 20 points in a half recently. Denver scored 3 points in a quarter. The talent is spread too thin and now the NBA is talking about another expansion team. Pretty soon I will be signed as a free agent. As far as Ming's potential on defense, I think it is very high. I think he will have a similar impact as Hakeem. Once he figures out the timing to go along with his mobility, then other teams can forget about interior scoring and go back to the drawing board.
I haven't read others' responses to you (I'm sure there will be), but Ming at this point isn't even 50% the defensive dominator Hakeem was. He could end up being just as good or better, but nowhere near Hakeem's talent on either the offensive or defensive end right now.
