If I was Phoenix, I'd resign Joe Johnson and then offer Q to Cleveland for a S&T Illgauskas. Move Amare back to the 4 and Marion back to the 3, and Joe Johnson to the 2. I think they'd be a lot tougher and better defensively, more difficult for teams like San Antonio and Houston to play against.
As a GM now, you would take Amare over Yao.....nothing against Yao but Amare with that quickness is a monster. DD
The sad thing is, they'll have to decide whether or not they should keep Johnson and let Marion go and vice versa. Amare still needs to be maxed out and they can't afford a starting 5 that makes about 45 million altogether. And sad thing is, I think they'll trade Marion or let Johnson walk and keep Q.
Amare and Yao had very similar shooting percentages this year--they were ranked #2 and # 3 respectively behind Shaq... The only difference was Amare had way more field goal attempts than Yao--( Amare had 32 fga tonight...what's the most fga Yao has ever gotten ?) Yao gets the ball (on a good day) around 10-14 times, while Amare gets the ball at least 19 times a game without a double team. Yao is ALWAYS double teamed. But Yao does have to work on his stamina this summer, and he needs to get more upper body strength.
If you are talking about this season, yes. But, if you are talking about over a career, I would not be willing to do that yet. One good season playing with the league leading playmaker and MVP does not impress me enough to make the determination that Amare is a superior player and would give me a better opportunity to win multiple championships in the future than Yao would. Sorry, I still think Yao would give both Houston and Phoenix a better opportunity to win a championship. I think if Houston offered Yao to Phoenix straight up for Amare that Phoenix would consider the deal. I think that if Phoenix offered Amare to Houston straight up for Yao that Houston would turn down the deal without even considering it. Amare's volatile nature and his background add to his on court aggressiveness but they also spell risk off the court in the form of legal trouble, Shawn Kemp syndrome, etc. I am not convinced yet that Amare will have a long, productive career in the league because of his immaturity.
Its pretty simple guys, Amare is a pimp, but he NEVER gets double teams, while Yao sees them even before he touches the ball.....but like i said, Amare is still a pimp and had one the best performances against the Spurs I've ever seen
Yeah, what a bummer! I feel soooooooooooo bad for them. After watching Marion chucking and ducking this series, I can't see what they will really get for him. To me Marion and Q showed their colors under pressure this series. I seem to think that Phoenix is going to resign JJ and run a real high payroll. What's the big deal with $45 mill to your starters? Look at what teams like Portland have done with payroll in the past. Maybe we can work a 3 way trade with Phoenix with Memphis sending Bonzi and their #1 to Phoenix and us sending our #1 to Phoenix and expirings to Memphis in exchange for a resigned JJ and a resigned Swift. You think?????
I honestly forgot Q Richardson was playin. Did he do anything? I really dont remember him in the game. Anyway Amare is good, but I dont think the choice is that obvious that every GM would pick Amare over Yao. You look at Yao and hes right there. Once he turns the corner he going to be amazing. Nash has greatly improved Amare's game and the fact that he is so aggresive gives him alot of calls in his favor.
Amare was scoring like crazy,but don't forget he was shooting like crazy too!. If you look at the shooting % ,Yeo is placed first right now with 65.5% while Amare was 6th with 5.44.Even thougt Amare played a few more games than Yao,Amare was 4th in field goal attempted with 252 shots while Yao was 49th with 84 (out of 50 players) as posted by nba.Now ,if only Yao's team- mates look for him more and we have Steve Nash i wonder........Amare was 9th in block shots with 1.86 per game while Yao was 2nd with 2.71.Amare was 6th in rebound with 10.3 while was 15 with 7.7.
I know this belongs on the NBA forum, but here it is: Next year: Marion: $12.6MM Nash: $ 9.6MM Q Dog: $ 6.3MM Eisley: $ 6.9MM JJackson: $ 2.7MM Total: $38.1MM Amare: $15.00MM (or whatever the max is) Johnson: $12.0MM (my guess) New Total: $65.1MM (estimated) For the 2008-09 season, the contract escalators will pay Marion, Nash & Q $36.7MM plus whatever they pay Amare and (maybe) Joe Johnson. My point is Joe Johnson will not be a Sun next year. The Bucks, Cavs, Hawks or maybe even the Clippers will flash the dollars and Phoenix will not be able to match. Maybe they can get someone to take Q off their hands but that is unlikely.
Apparently, if you compare them head-to-head, Amare has had a better inside defense than Duncan did. Duncan is not much of a one on one defender either, but he is still considered the best big man in the biz. Look, regardless, I have said it before and will say it again after watching Amare perform this entire playoffs, and especially this entire series against the best big man in the game in Tim Duncan: Amare will be (and already might be) the best big man in the game, period! The guy is freakin' 21 or 22 years of age! Does he still have areas to improve? Duh! Of course he does, he is not even past 22 and he NEVER played college ball. His natural physical ability, and his absolute hunger that he displays every second he is on the court, is just out of this world! You think Lebron is a freak? I think Amare is even more fo a freak of nature! The guy is simply amazing, breathtaking to say the least, and I haven't said that about ANYONE since I saw McGrady get that 62 point performance with the Magic. Amare is likely already the best offensive player in the league, and possibly (if he puts in the effort/focus every game as he has done in the playoffs so far) the league's best rebounder. Moreover, he has shown that he can be a big stopper on defense if he wants to, meaning that the skills on defense are already there, he just needs to truly commit to it and he will be a monster defender. I don't what to say, except that EVERY team has missed out on this kid Amare, and to compare him to Yao or any other player from that draft class is simply unfair, because he is in a class of his own so far, at least we hope so as we continue to wait and enjoy watching Yao's development as a player. BTW, the thing I like most about Amare has to do with his mental toughness and his attitude. I know someone here has already said that he dislikes Amare's attitude, but again I MUST repeat what I have repeatedly said in the past: in order to be a great player, you almost must have that swagger and confident attitude that says "No one can stop me but me" and really believe that you are better than anyone else around you. Ask all the greats and they will tell you that basketball is mostly a mental game. In that respect, that is the ONLY thing that has always worried me about Yao: not his skillz (they are unmatched by any big man in the league IMHO), not his height/size or conditioning, not even his CNT commitment, but rather his MENTAL state and appraoch to the game. I think we have seen enough of Yao playing the past three seasons to know for a fact that his effectiveness/dominance from one game to the next depends almost entirely on his mental approach to that particular game. Yao's main weakness has been always his fragile mind, that he lets his failures and frustrations get to him too easily, etc. I hope that this problem fades away as he gets more comfortable in the league and gains some much-needed playoffs experience under his belt. I must confess that I did see him make some progress on that front in the Dallas series, and I hope he maintains that well into the future and on more consistent basis than he has in the past. I ho we don't experience that slow start he always has every season and see him come out of the gate strong and aggressive and assertive on the court. But again, let's be fair: the development of Yao's and Amare's game couldn't be more different, for one player is now light years ahead of the other as a player. If Yao was impressed with how Amare developed his game this season from the last one, I can only imagine what he thought about Amare's ability to take his game to the next level in a matter of days from the regular season to the playoffs
Yeah, how many times has someone said "when Yao turns the corner". That's the difference between Yao and Amare. You can see in the playoffs TANGIBLE evidence that Amare IS turning the corner. You can see that he's becoming a player who is relying less and less on Nash to get him shots. In 2-3 years time when Shaq is gone and Duncan is over the hill, who do you think is going to be the pre-eminent power player in this league? Amare.
Amare is better by a mile right now. The gap will become bigger and bigger if Amare could manage to improve his post defense, back to the basket offense and mid range jumper, and Yao continues to play those meaningless Asian Games and National Games. Yao has a better chance to get the Championship? Why? Because he is older, slower, softer, poorer-conditioned? Or because he has more teammates old enough to collect social security?
Yes, Amare will be the pre-eminent power player, and Yao will be the pre-eminent all around post player.
The funny thing is I feel exactly the same way, but someone brought this up in another thread and people got defensive about it. No one is comparing Amare to Hakeem as far as accomplishments are concerned. But I think that as far as a young Hakeem and young Amare, I just don't think that there is another player that is closer to Hakeem's skillz than Amare. I think Amare STILL has more upside to his game, especially on the defensive end. But offensively, there is not another big man in the league today that even comes close. He does remind me a lot of a young, athletic Hakeem olajuwon, only Hakeem was a better defender and Amare is even more powerful/athletic than Hakeem was. This guy is just scary, too bad he is not in the Eastern Conf
Amare has gotten much better. He knocks down jumpers. He can dunk like crazy. But Yao stops him everytime. Amare can block shots..but his team overall is not good defensively. And what about rebounding? THey give up a ton of offensive rebounds.. He's really good though. Yao has height and he has stopped Amare many times this season...
I wasn't sure how to say it, but tigermission put it better than I would have. Just to add a little bit... The guy averaged 37 points and 10 rebounds against the best player in the world, shooting 57% from the field! I think he proved that he's more than capable of becoming the MVP of the Suns as soon as next season. It's ok to think that he's better than Yao right now, we shouldn't be ashamed of that as Rocket fans, from how Yao talks about Amare I think he knows he's in a little competition with him since they were drafted together and he lost the ROY award to him. Watching this series is probably, actually it BETTER BE motivating him to come into next season as a much more consistent player. PS: Someone PLEASE stop the Suns from resigning Joe Johnson and adding a starting center to their roster.
You must not have been watching basketball in 96 when Kemp was in his prime because Kemp was even scarier than Amare. Players lose their athletism like MJ and Dream did, but it is the skill that they develop that create their legacy. Amare is a freak but until he plays both sides of the court, and develops a move other than driblling to his right, he will no better than kemp. Dream dominated a Kareem/Worthy/Magic double and triple team in his second year in the league. Amare doesn't even get double teamed. Most of his points happen in the open court before the defense even gets set. Amare ain't even in barkley's hemisphere yet.
I think it's more like they cancel eachother out...which is still a good thing. When you can match up against a guy that drops 30/14 on you, that's all you can ask for. Personally, I think that it'd be 50/50 right now if all the GMs around the league had to redraft that year. Half would pick Amare and half would pick Yao. Once Yao don't have that commitment to the CNT and gets some rest, he'll be okay.
