umm until Yao wins 3 rings, has 9 all-nba first team selections and 6 all-nba first defensive team selections, and becomes the undisputed best center to ever play the game, then i dont see how he'll be better than Duncan
Is TMac better than Jordan now? Sure he is. Is TMac better than Jordan in his prime? No way! We are talking about current playing ability not life time achievement here. We are talking 2007 NBA playoffs!
Horry's got 6 rings, does that make him a better player than Karl Malone? i agree that yao isn't better than Duncan though.
Player's own abilities don't always reflect in their championship rings We can name a 100 players who have more rings than Duncan and let's see how many of them are actually better
Duncan is no where near the undisputed best center to ever play the game. I don't see how they are incomparable. Yao does have a better offensive game than Duncan, but he loses to him in terms of the defensive compartment. Have you ever watched Duncan trying to guard Yao? Circumstances creates winners. Duncan happened to come to a team with an aging Robinson to guide him, two players in the name of parker and Ginobli to help him, a defensive stalwart named Bruce Bowen, and a great coach + system built around him. If Yao had all those available, instead of just T-mac, who at this moment is just starting to play like the old t-mac that we are use to, then I wouldn't brush off the comparisons. Hakeem on the other hand, is arguably one of the best centers ever. If both of them played in that age, there would be no way for Duncan to even lay hands on being the best "big man" in the league, because Hakeem basically trumps him in almost every category.
Ops I guess I take that 100 players thing back that was a bit too much lol But like many people said, even though Duncan is a tremendous player, he also had the pure awesomeness that is the Spurs organization backing him up and supplying him with a fresh stream of talents
If Duncan were to switch to playing a center postion and not power forward, Yao would be a better center than Duncan. If Yao were to switch to playing a power forward position and not center, Duncan would be a better power forward than Yao. It's apples and oranges.
You guys that have gotten in to the Duncan discussion need to seriously re-read Durvasa's post. Those of you that responded directly to his post either need glasses or serious reading comprehension skills. Yao's defense mobility is an issue particularly in JVG's scheme (sory Durvasa) and it will be an important decision to see how both of them adjust if Utah starts bombing away. Where Yao's concerned, he's been coached to "get there even if you know you can't, just try and try harder". Outside shooting will determine the outcome of this series even if Yao averages 30 pts. a game.
Really? Then tell me who choked in the last minute of game 7 with Mavs last year? FYI it was Diop who was guarding Duncan, BTW, who is Diop?
i could bring up many cases of yao choking and believe me it'd be much more than duncan's. yao is not as good as duncan, but he can be comparable.
Okur isn't a poor mans Nowinski. The differnce is Dirk can put teh ball on floor and still suceed. Can't say the same for Okur. Just play him agressive, make him put the ball on the floor and aon't give him an spot-up jumpers, and i guarantee you see a decline in his production. He really doesn't ahve any handles
A team with 2 super stars vs A team without any star,,,,which remember me something 2 years ago. Wining or not really depends on our benches.
Duncan is effectively the Spurs center this season. 82games.com reports that he's played more than twice his minutes at center this season, in fact. List off all the things you want with your prototypical center, and Duncan excels at all of them.
Duncan IMO is a center, he plays most of his regular season minutes at PF (usually, but maybe Durvsa found something different this year) but most of his postseason minutes (when games really matter) at center. This has been a very strong pattern since his Hall of Fame center teammate retired--and expect Duncan this year in the playoffs to also be the center most often. You could make a case TD is the best big man to play most of his regular season minutes at PF (though you could get an argument from Malone, Petit, Barkley). That said does anyone doubt Hakeem would be a better PF if he wanted to than Duncan? Anything Duncan can do as PF or C Hakeem could pretty much do, and then so--so if you call TD "the greatest player to primarily be a power forward" or some label like that, consider the context. Now this regular season I think Yao = Duncan. We can only hope we can say this about them in the playoffs--Duncan is one of the elite playoff performers in the league. Further, Duncan defintely will be the Spurs best cover against Yao, and Yao would be a top cover against him. So if we play, and they are not matched up with each other, it isn't because they are bad match-ups, but because the other team doesn't want cheap fouls or have their superstars work any harder than they have to on defense. Same reason you don't see a staple of Tmac-Kobe guarding each other.
i think yao is just as good as duncan offensively. though don't look at duncan's misleading stats. spurs don't go to him as much b/c they have other options but he can still dominate. look at his ridiculous fg%. WAY WAY higher than yao although he plays outside even more. he can score if he wanted to but he doesn't have to. defensively though is where yao is not close to the level of duncan. not even close. duncan is as good as a post defender as u can get. he's also one of the best help defenders in the L. and he's smart. though duncan is not the focal point offensively anymore (but will in the playoffs) for the spurs, his D is what makes the spurs so great. bowen is great, but there's a reason guys don't penetrate as much. and if u watch bowen, he channels his guy to duncan b/c duncan is great at help D. if yao can D up like duncan, we could easily go to the finals. but i think yao's height and lack of lateral mobility hurt him and that's not his fault.
Not saying Yao is as good of a player as Duncan, but your overrating Duncan's post defense. Most times I've seen of Duncan, whenever he's had to defend a true low block center, i.e. Shaq or Yao, his offense suffers tremendously. Duncan's weakside help defense is better than Yao's, and is a better shot blocker due to his superior mobility, but Yao changes more than his fair share of shots just by being in the area of the offensive player (although his timing has been off so he doesn't actually block the shot; Seems Yao usually takes a lot of games to get his shot blocking rhythm going). But Yao's size alone is his post defense, and although Duncan has better fundamentals in this area, Size is one of the most important thing in guarding a pivot player. How many times have you seen someone not named Shaq successfully back down Yao? My money is that Duncan gets successfully backed down more often than either Shaq or Yao. But on a side note, Yao is rhythm player offensively, defensively, and rebounding as well. He was just starting to turn it up defensively before his injury this year, and has been struggling to get it back. It can difficult to judge how far Yao has really come in these past two injury-plagued years. Yao, more than any other superstar I can think of, requires a lot of games under his belt, in order to get into his groove (besides FT's).
Last time we were missing Luther. I'd like to see how their team would cope with this line-up: Yao Battier T-Mac Head Alston Simply because all those guys can defend the Jazz starters and all of them can put up points. It would have been awesome to have Wells in place of Luther there, but unfortunately that's out of the question now. Battier does a decent job on Okur, but can't guard Boozer. Still, Yao did a great job on boozer last game. Keep in mind that Boozer is an easy 25/12 every night, but was useless that day. I think Luther makes a whole lot of difference. He's our best 3-pt shooter and one 3-pter WAS the difference in that game.
By your definition Jordan would be better than Duncan right now...hmmm... and did you watch the two square off in San Antonio when Yao was with out Tmac but on top of his game...flat out dominated TD in the first half and rested. Duncan is good and is a better rebounder and is a proven player...I just enjoy the fact that I can debate this and not laugh at my self....oh...Duncan doesn't take the tech shots....whatever ft's are worth anyways.... -V
