Although tmac played fantastic in last several games, comments like this show he is still a half-witted kids.
I see nothing wrong with his comments especially since it was directly asked of him. I think it was a diplomatic answer, but I don't think the defense has improved entirely because of Mutombo. Since Yao is out our smaller bigs have had to log more minutes and they're able to react more quickly and aren't giving up midrange jumpers the way Yao would who would just be clogging the paint. Deke is doing a great job getting blocks, but Hayes, Landry, and Scola's defense is being underrated because of their versatility. Also he said sometimes its better. Meaning against bigger front courts we're going to miss Yao. Yao plays Duncan, Amare, Howard, and Shaq well for instance and better than anyone else on our team.
I think actually it shows Tmac's leadship! Yao is out of this season. Tmac himself and his teammates need encouragement. If they believe they still can win without Yao, that is a good thing. In fact, I believe Yao himself is happy to hear that. I remember Yao first called Deke when he knew he couldn't play anymore for this season. He hopes Deke can give his teammates that confidence. Now, his team is winning, and he must feel relieved!
Things are lost in translation, taking english and then changing it to chinese only to have it changed back to english by somebody else gurantees that we aren't reading what was actually said.
You sir, has to be a more thorough Clutchfans reader. This topic - the original words in English by Tracy McGrady, have already been discussed at great lengths in other threads. It probably is a bit unnecessary to translate English into Chinese then back into English, then analyse this latest translated translation.
It's pretty obvious that Deke is a better defender than Yao, even at the tender age of 55. Yao's overwhelming/astronomical edge is on the other side of the court, and he's a decent defender in his own right (not great like Deke, but good enough).
I agreed that with Yao the team tend to be a bit slow especially offensively but defensively, they need Yao presence inside to intimidate, alter shots and prohibit penetration. This is all correct but IT IS OKAY to play like this during regular season, but when it comes to Playoffs, you need Yao inside presence to stop some of those West's big men....because in the Playoffs, you can't play loose like this and expect to win, you have to grind it out. Also, I do not know if Yao is slow or is it because he's playing through injuries...someday he's slow but i know from watching him play through his career that he can be super quick...so i don't know.
it's amazing that he can still be effective at his age i actually haven't had the chance to see him play much..but i mean, multiple blocks per game, even when he hasn't played much this season, just comes back and seems to be doing well. i'm guessing that he's slower, but still, still still..amazing! but yeah, it's unfortunate that yao's out, cuz man, our team could have done really well in the playoffs...it's less likely with deke, buti remain hopeful, and definitely will be waiting for next season
Actually, looking at our offensive and defensive stats during the streak before and after Yao's injury, it's the offense which is significantly better. Code: games OFF DEF before injury 12 112 100 after injury 6 119 98 It was a similar story last season too, if I remember correctly. We'll see how this holds up the rest of the way, but I think an argument can be made that Yao brings more value on the defensive end than offensive end. The reason is that if Yao is out, T-Mac seems to step up and play better on offense. There's other ways to get scoring than just the post up (e.g. some of the best offensive teams in the game over the last few seasons -- Phoenix, Dallas, Golden State -- didn't rely on a post up game). On defense, yes you can partly replace what Yao gives you with Dikembe for about 20 minutes a game. But other than that, we're are severely undersized around the basket. I think that could eventually catch up to us, particularly against the bigger, rebounding teams.
Exact opposite. Obviously Yao is much better offensively than Deke, even if he is slow. T-Mac was just saying that they are a better defensive team with Deke. Deke is a future HOFer because of all his defensive awards. Intimidate, block, and alter shots along with prohibiting penetration is what Deke does.
Can we PLEASE make it bannable to post anything from sina.com here? ... OK, maybe not that harsh, but it should be an insta-lock, and it should be bannable after repeat offenses. Good lord, talk about twisting words.
