The Great Wall vs. The Dream

you just gotta love the way rocketeer blacks out our image of Matt Maloney in his take on the original photo.

 

you guys are throwing dominate around too much. yao would be able to hold his own against dream but in a seven game series he would have no chance.

...but as I am writing this I am thinking about the possible stat lines and I am realizing this. there is nearly a zero percent chance that yao can out score, out rebound, out assist, out block, or out steal hakeem in a 7 game series. yao might come close in scoring and might be close in blocks and assists, but he would not beat dream in ANY of those categories.

so I guess that is domination, but I guess there are levels of domination. yao would not get embarrassed out there like some people think due to his offensive development. but I don't think it would be fun watching yao get abused by dream on offense.

man the more I write and think about this the more I feel dream would smash yao. yes yao has improved a ton but if he was forced to guard dream he would be destroyed. there is no way he would stay out of foul trouble. yao's team would be forced to put a PF on dream in order for yao to stay in the game. dream had so many moves it wasn't fair.

that being said yao has grown an insane amount in the last 12 months. I can't wait to see how dominant he will be in another 12 months. hopefully, by then he will have a team around him to help out.

 

LOL at Maloney sitting there going like "is this true? am I dreaming? did Dream just block Jordan's shot?"

 

Nothin but love for Yao... but Hakeem would abuse him. Yao would have a reasonable showing 22 pts/7 boards/1 block, but Hakeem would 'shake n bake' Yao like he was Betty Crocker.... 34 pts/14 boards/4 blocks. NO big man has ever had moves like Hakeem, Yao would be perplexed.

 

since Yao is such useless ,why not trade him?
I just know why Yao is underestimated by so many american.
He is undermated and despised first by Houston fans.

 

You forgot field goal percentage and FT percentage.

 

I remeber Dream had problems scoring against big center like Mark Eton. Yao might have a little advantage.

 

oh ****...there are just too many of them. where's my flyswatter...

 

To a lot Houston local fans, Hakeem is the best player ever lived, that's how they feel about it. I can understand that.

But what I can't understand is Yao plays his heart out for Rockets, extremely royal to Rockets, worked so hard to reach dominant level, but he's still considered by many local fans as trash compare to Dream as if he never played for Rockets.

When I saw polls like Jimmy Jackson voted as the Rockets MVP over Francis and Yao, all those trade Yao threads while Yao was still adjusting and inconsistent, I felt very dissapointed about those self-claimed "the most knowledgeble fans in the world" and HOFs. While they felt refs didn't treat Yao fairly on the court, they never thought they were doing the same thing off the court.

 

that's because he has been playing for the rockets for only 4 years. u are kinda missing the point here. Hakeem is a legend, Hakeem is the best player in the history of the NBA IMO and in the opinion of many other open-minded fans who dont listen to what the media gives them. Yao will be treated like Hakeem when he gets 2 championships BY HIMSELF. not to take anything away from Yao, but we went 1-4 and possible 1-5 after tomorrow's game without Mcgrady. Hakeem won the 93-94 championship by HIMSELF. he had a decent supporting cast, which is not superior to the one Yao has right now without Tmac. Hakeem won the second championship in a row with the help of a "on the way down" superstar by the name of Clyde Drexler. if u think (and I personally think) that Yao is treated unfairly by the officials, watch a couple of Hakeem's games and u will have a whole new definition of "fair treatment".

the point I am trying to make is, Hakeem is a legend, Yao is a young, developing star who is a great player right now and might reach the level of the likes of Hakeem one day. but to demand that Yao get the same treatment Hakeem does from Rox fans is doesn't make sense. it's like asking Celtics fans to regard Paul Pierce just like Larry Bird. it's not fair. dont worry, Yao will be highly celebrated by Rockets fans one day and he will get all due credit and even more. that's how we do it in H-town

 

I love Yao, i'm very happy he is part of the rockets. on offense he is unbelievable.

However Hakeem, was the best defensive player ever to play basketbal. And yao is not evn close to him on defense. That being said I think it would be a nice game.

I think the biggest problem would be for Yao to Get the ball, because Hakeem is so fast it can be difficult for Yao''s teammates to get Yao the ball.

For me Hakeem would probably play better then Yao in a matchup, i think i will think this untill Yao proves he can lead a team alone, without the help of T-mac, this season Yao didn't prove he can win without t-mac.

Also Yao should play at this level for a lot of years, and not just for one year. I think he is capable of doing so. However compairing him to Dream at this stage of his career is not right. We should have this discussion again in a couple of years.

 

this is the best post so far in this thread

i would like everyone to read it

the comparisons are great/smart

 

this is a great point. quick centers have always been challenging to Yao and they gave him the most trouble. I can see Hakeem steeling the ball several times even bofore it gets to Yao especially if u have Luther Head doing the entry pass

kinda off topic here, you are from the Netherlands arent' u? I thought I would look smart if I guessed because Marco Van Basten was my favorite soccer player and he is the coach of Netherlands national team which I really love. you should include Ruud Van Nistelrooij on that list as well, he is currently my favorite player

 

not really, simply because:


1. Hakeem's Defense = Ben Wallace's Defense X 100000000
2. Yao's offense is not even close to Kareem. not to take anything away from Yao, but wake up, there is not a single similarity. Kareem concealed the ball really well and didn't have problems with quicker defenders. Yao gets stripped easily and quick defenders give him a lot of trouble. that's not mentioning the fact that Kareem's hook shot is WAAAAAAAY different than Yao's hook shot. Yao is mastering the "baby hook" where he gets really close to the basket, Hakeem wont let him get a good position on him. Kareem could hit hook shots from freakin 20 feet. he was unbelievable.

btw, Hakeem was one of only few to ever block Kareem's hook shot (other than Hakeem, I can only remember Manute Bol blocking it). can u get me a picture of that HeyPartner?

3. Dream's offense = Amare's quick moves X 10000 + super post moves.


and dont deny it, it's plain and simple, Dream would dominate and would dominate big time.

 

damn, I just realized that I am the only clutchfan that stays up until 4:00 in the morning posting stuff. where did y'all go? why did you leave me alone?

LOL

last word, Dream Rocks. Dream is the best all around player to ever play the game offensively, defensively, whatever u want, he offers u everything. I wonder if they had Fantasy leagues back then. it would've been easy; just get dream and u win

I better get some sleep now. good night rockets fans, or shall I say, good morning?

 

drama queen

 

yes really

if you can make better comparisons, you should do it

the matter of the fact is

he did his best to compare the two players

when he siad Yao's offence vs Hakeem's defence he used the comparisons of

yao vs ben - both of which are current players

kareem vs hakeem - both of which are past players

this is a really smart way to compare because in each scenario the two players are from the same time period and hence yeilds a more realistic comparison

obviously kareem is not yao and ben is not hakeem, if they are then we wont have that discussion since Yao would be playing ben (hakeem) twice a season


now from your posts i realise you are probably around 15-16 so you get over excited at the greatness of Hakeem

please remember, no one is doubting the greatness of Hakeem, but you dont need to underplay Yao's skills to make Hakeem look better

 

Dream: Password.

Yao: Password?

Dream: Password.

Yao: Two rings?

Dream: Unbeatable.

When Yao gets two rings then Yao can get admitted to the inner sanctum of Rockets lore.

Seriously both are dominant in their own right. Yao with his size and shooting efficiency. Dream with his variety, athleticism, explosive leaping ability, anticipation and quickness. Given enough possession, Yao can score 30-40 on Dream and vice versa.

Dream never got the credit or respect he deserves outside Houston.

Trying to be objective, the simplest way to neutralise Yao is for Dream's team to play a run & gun style.

If it is a 7 game play-off series, let's just enjoy the contest and contrast in style.

 

After reviewing this thread I would like to adjust my one-on-one totals for Hakeem vs. Yao:

Hakeem 88 pts 52 rebounds 21 blocks 16 assists 0 turnovers

Yao -4 pts 1 rebound 0 blocks 34 turnovers