Yeah, it could happen as early as summer 2009. By that time, Yao is 28 or 29 year old. Perfect time to work on his own game. Must be nice.
Amare the best offensive player in the league? Are you serious? I will give you the best finisher in the league, which really helps when you have one of the best PG's dropping the rock to you. Amare has no post up game. Yao does. His jumper is average. Yao's is not. He sucks at all aspects of D (man to man and help D). Yao, while not great, puts forth a better effort and is a better man to man defender. He does not create open shots for his teammates. Yao does, and is double-teamed on the regular. If I have a great running PG on my team, then I may pick Amare. If I need a player to BUILD MY TEAM AROUND (i.e. make life easier for others), then I pick Yao every day of the week. With that being said, I give Amare props for balling in this series. He is a great finisher and has great fire. He is on a team perfect for his skill sets. But he is primarily a scorer, and the majority of his points come from someone else setting him up, and he is rarely doubled due to the Suns other weapons. He has no defensive presence inside....
The offense was also set up around Barkley, who could creats shots for others. Amare is not that kind of superstar player.
Amare is a stud, make no mistake about it. But I got faith that Yao's going to be something special too. I think it's possible that the Yao/Amare draft will somewhat mirror the Hakeem/Jordan draft. The Rox pass up somebody that turned out to be the best player of the generation for a guy only in the top 5-10. Fifteen years from now maybe Amare will be known as the greatest PF of all time, but if Yao and T-mac develop a special kind of chemistry and win a couple titles, I'm sure all of us would take that.
hahaha sure. I still believe that Yao can dominate down low. He showed aggressiveness in the last couple of games against Dallas in the playoffs. Not the "I'm going to posterize you" kind of aggressiveness, but he's getting comfortable wanting/calling for the ball. And when you credit Nash for Amare's emergence, you have to credit the others as well. If they didn't hit their shots when the ball gets kicked out to them, Amare would be double teamed every time down court.
We are talking about Stoudamire vs. Yao as INDIVIDUAL platers, not whether or not his teammates can rebound. Amare has had more than 15 rebounds at least 5 times in the playoffs so far, ans topped 30 more than anyone else did in the playoffs. Statistically speaking on an individual level, he was easily the best player in the playoffs. There is only one player I would still take over Amare in this league, and no it is not Lebron or Wade (although I love Wade's game), but rather Tim Duncan, the Big Fundamental. I just think that it is funny though that some posters here still feel that Nash somehow made Amare the way he is. Sure, Nash is a big plus to have, but to think that Amare can't do what he does without Nash, or that his development has nothing to do with himself but rather with an outside factor, is disingenuous at best. It is like saying that Hakeem or Shaq would have never been great if they didn't have the ball passed to them, which is a dumb argument since it is ALWAYS true that big men need someone to pass them the ball. Yet if you watched tonight's game, you would have seen than in a stretch where Nash wasn't playing, Amare was absolutely DOMINATING the Spurs and brought the Suns back into it. Most of the time, he got the ball at about 18 ft out, and then he used his lethal combo of speed & strength to overpower his way inside against Duncan/Horry and either dunking on them, or sometimes even taking that 15 ft shot, which he by the way makes pretty consistently. So yes I know that we all here are Rockets homers, but it is OK to praise other players every now and then, it won't kill ya
Sorry, but I don't see Amare ever surpassing Duncan's level on both ends of the court. Yea, Amare can really finish, but lets not forget that Timmy averaged around 27 and 13 this series on two bum ankles. He is only in his 8th season, and he has the kinda game that won't fade away once he loses his athleticism. Not to mention his team is better and should be for a while....
Hakeem and Shaq were both players that you could throw the ball to, get out their way, and count on a bucket (or an open shot due to them being double teamed). Amare's game is not like that. He is usually on the receiving end of a Nash dime. Basically, he doesn't create open shots for his teammates. he is a great finisher.
But maybe since he's a great finisher, he don't need to create open shots. If the dude gets the ball, and dunks over everyone or gets fouled and shoots FTs at an 83% clip (like he didn't against the spurs), he's a one man wrecking crew. But then again, maybe teams need to just double team him and see what he does......
Faulty comparison! Sure, Kemp was a force in his prime, but NOWHERE near what Amare has done at such a young age. The most Kempt EVER averaged was a still a fraction less than 20ppg (he never officially got to the big 20). But, if you insist on comparing Amare to Kemp, fine, then let's say this: Amare is twice the offensive force Kemp ever was. How abou that? Again, you are confusing "style" with "skills" and "upside potential". Amare is already better than Kemp ever was and he is only in his third season right out of High School. Anyways, I don't think Amare is striving to be compared to anyone else, he will definitely be the first Amare when it is all set and done.
How old is Amare? He has gotten so much better than when he first game to the league. He is one hell of a stud. I wasn't much of a fan of his the past couple of years, but I watched a story on him about his hardships growing up. And then started watching him this season and have seen how much he has raised his game, the love for the game. Amare is amazing. I don't want to compare him to Dream. But man. Man I wish Yao could raise his game over a summer like Amare has. DAMNIT.
Yeah yeah tigermission, the best offensive player in the leauge plays in HOUSTON! No, not Yao. However, he is probably behind only KG and Dirk in terms of the best offensive PFs in the league. Yao has no face up game. Amare's jumper is not average, I think Yao lost his jumper this past season, or he just didn't shoot it. Defensively Amare isn't as bad as it seems, but he has a lot of work to do as do the rest of his teammates outside of Marion. Phoenix's half court game relied on Nash and Amare to give everyone else open shots, doesn't really matter if it didn't happen in the traditional Hakeem/Shaq/Yao mode. 23 year old, I though Bill Walton was crazy for calling him the future of post play but he might be right.
He don't need to create open shots due to his great PG. Give him Bob Sura and his whole life changes. Go check his numbers this yr when Nash did not play.
No, its just that you sound like a bandwaggoner who riding someones jock because of a good series or game. Kobe ain't the next Michael Jordan. Grant Hill isn't the next Michael Jordan, Nash ain't Stockton even though he had a great season. Dirk ain't Larry Bird Lebron ain't Magic Johnson (yet!!!) and AMARE AIN'T NO FREAKING DREAM "I've embarrased Ewing, Robinson, Kareem, Karl Malone, Barkley and Shaq in the playoffs" OLAJUWON
Yao is better at creating his own shot. Amare's jumper is average (will have to agree to disagree). His D is pathetic though, I don't care what you say. The Suns game relies on Nash getting others open looks (he had the #1 and #2 rations for setting folks up...to Amare and Nash). You give Amare too much credit.
I bet it is 70-30 Joe Johnson is a Suns. Unless a team throws a max contract (which might be overpaying), the Suns will match. Joe Johnson next to Amare is the building block for the team. I agree with this. 1) Phx just changed owners and had a great season, they are not going to lose their 2nd best young player and most versitle player for nothing. 2) Worst case scenario (they are losing so much money the owners makes them change directions) there are lots of teams that would offer expiring contracts/comp for Marion (a 27 year old all-star who many teams would love to have despite him having troubling findind his balls once the playoffs come around) or the solid all-around 25 year old Q, and they keep JJ. Amare, Joe Johnson and Nash--those are the core Suns. There entire salary picture is not bad because they have have few bad long term contracts--it gives them lots of flexibility. The closests thing to a "key player" they might lose IMO is Hunter if someone else comes in an offers too much. Just keeping their team intact (resign JoeJ and SH) is all the have to do. They don't really lack all that much depth either, Jim J, Hunter, and another year on the 22 year old Barbosa gives them a solid 8. If I were them I'd keep the team intact and hire a defensive focused assistant, and if they are not on the way to another 60+ win season with improvements in team defense before the trade deadline I'd move Marion or Q for a defensive big.
