If you said is true that Davic was better than Yao in so many aspects, then Rox should seriously consider to trade Yao then. The truth is: Divac was not more athletic or faster than Yao. He was not a better shooter than Yao was either, you will draw the same conclusion if you see how Yao swished those 17, 18 footers in his rookie year. Divac was more basketball savvy however. He used his intelligence to make up his speed and quickness. I am not even sure that he is a better passer given Yao has never played in the same system. Brad Miller's assists number soured after he played in Adlman's system and he was an average passer before he joined.
LOL, you just don't comprehend how truly slow Yao is. You must not have watched much of Vlade Divac and have him confused with Gheorge Muresan. If yao is as quick as Divac then why does he get his pocket picked by Mehmet Okur repeatedly? Cause Memo is greezed lightning? Not even close.
Divac is considerd by many to be one of the greatest passing big's of alltime. he was a great passer from the time he enterd the league. most europian big men like Sabonis and Valade are naturally gifted big men when it comes to skills. and yes, he was faster then yao.
The only Divac that wasn't faster and more athletic than Yao was the fat, puffy, overweight slob who played his last season with the Lakers. It was painful to watch him but I understand a paycheck was at stake. I don't mean to pile on because two others have already replied but your memory of Divac must be a bit selective.
I think a lot of you have it wrong. I play basketball all the time, and I'll absolutely agree that playing in the low post (where I do the most of my damage) is a lot more exhausting than sticking out high and waiting for kickouts or operating from the triple threat. The banging, holding position, boxing out, it's physically draining. Maybe an uptempo offense will help in this regard, but it also ignores another basic fact. More shots by us means more shots by the opponent--it's not the offense that I'm particularly worried about (I think Yao on the secondary break can be an effective maneuver and we saw his rookie year that he's a particularly good outlet passer) but the defense. Yao simply won't get back. He'll run down the court just in time to see the ball hit the rim, he won't get the rebound, and immediately the opposition will be downcourt fastbreaking themselves. And without an interior presence to shot block, we're screwed. To all those comparing Yao to Vlade, it's just not true. How many times was Yao the LAST player down this year, on both ends of the floor? Those are the equivalent of his breaks, jogging down the court after an exhausting postup. They didn't affect us too bad this year with the slow tempo, but with a high tempo offense it'll kill us. Besides, even disregarding Yao, we don't have the horses. A high tempo offense (I'm thinking the Suns here) requires terrific midrange shooters that can shoot on the break (Josh Howard does this incredibly well) and FINISHERS. We don't have either. The day Head makes more than 50% of his layups is the first, likewise for Rafer. Vspan is more liable to throw a no look between the legs wraparound to Les out in the fourth row, and JLIII will probably try to dunk it over Dampier and get his ass knocked down. Tmac is the only legitimate player that MIGHT function in an uptempo, and the Tmac we know now is only going to shoot tons up pullup BRICKS. As long as our roster stays the same, we'll be staying in the half court. That doesn't mean we can't score, and it doesn't mean that we can't have a fluid motion based offense--look at the Spurs, they have a technically beautiful offensive attack.
Snyder would be great as a finisher but not a midrange pullup shooter ala Howard or Parker. He'd fit. Bonzi can't even get his fat ass up and down the floor. You saw him this year; the only time he was marginally effective was in a postup situation where he could use his gigantic rear end. Besides, chances are he's gone and good riddance.
Nothing myth about yao. He's overrated. Every NBA player can get 25 if given enough shots. He'll be another big Z under the new coach. Mark my words.
Good Post! The Rockets have been way to one demensional in the past under JVG. Yao has the court vision and he used to display his passing skills early in his career. Slow paced or fast, Yao will get tired which in my opinion has led to him losing his balance and over extending himself which is why he gets injured. Adelman must recognize that Yao will need a good back up that will fit into his sytem. Yao's stamina looked great before he broke his leg. He never quite recovered his previous form before we lost to Utah. Banging in the post and chasing players down on the pick and roll used Yao up faster than playing Adelman's system will. It's not like Divac was the fastest marithon runner the NBA ever saw, but he was successful in Adelman's system.
here's what yao looked like pre-injury... http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZsceCIzh6po about 2:20 mark..sprinting for a layup...
I think the biggest myth about Yao is that he could ever compare to Shaq. Truth be told, Yao is soo not Shaq. I think people (outside of Houston fans) forget that Dream beat Shaq with finesse and not with power. Yao has been trained to be a dominant force (i.e. Patrick "I suck real hard" Ewing). I think training with Akeem will give him a more diverse arsenal and show him he can play his style of bball. I don't really think Yao was ever completely comfortable playing the way he does. If he can step up his conditioning, he will be the best center in the league, hands down.
hey...was that rick adelman coaching that Rockets team?? they move the ball great and get up and down the floor! wait...what?? oh.
he WAS the best center in the league...by far...before the injury dominating in the low post. he doesn't need to be shaq to dominate down there. his best basketball in the NBA came in this awful system we so needed to scrap, apparently. instead of adding players to it...instead of adding real shooters and a 3rd scoring option...we scrapped it. great.
Let's hope the new coach can do it in the playoffs and not just against some crappy eastern conference teams. DD
True, very true. At the same time though, it could be said that he was asked to be more forceful to compensate for the lack of scorers, move toward a higher percentage shot. I'm not saying Yao isn't a great player, I'm saying that Yao's talents are not being utilized correctly.
not utilized correctly? no one had ever gotten more out of him. here's my promise to you: what you saw of yao before the injury is as good as yao gets. maybe he gets better within that context. but he doesn't get better than that by being 18 feet out. this isn't international ball.
Exactly what I was thinking. Why do people so worried about Yao when talking about uptempo game? (BTW, I am not an advocate of uptempo game. But I am open to it.) How many centers participate in fast breaks? Amare? He's not technically a center. But even the Suns run plenty of half-court plays. You have to. You always have more half-court possessions than fast breaks, even with a run and gun team like Phoenix. It is simply not necessarily true that Yao would become ineffective in a fast pace game.
i like a inside out team with good perimeter shooters with a solid point guard that got leadership and can penetrate create own shot or for teammate like billups, parker, kidd...etc than a pure uptempo run run run offense with yao or without yao
i'm with you...but particularly with yao, i like that style. we've seen it work. we've seen it win championships.
adelmans system is more like rudy's old system than the new up-tempo. FYI He won't change the way he does things just because the league is going that way.
