Do we read the same article ??? This writer is not saying Shaq is still the man, and surely he is not to be called a b*stard..... In every part of this article he is reiterating the same message over and over again....... Yao Ming is currently the best centre in NBA. Period. All he lacks now is a NBA ring, but that does not take away the fact he is currently the best centre in NBA. Read these lines more carefully.....please.
then maybe you can tell what was meant by "the best healthy big man in the game". to me it sounds like he is saying that the currently unhealthy shaq is still the best and that out of healthy big men yao is the best.
and also notice that he says yao is "yanking" the mantle from shaq when we fans are saying the mantle has been yanked. he implys that yao is not there yet.
Well, you can't deny Shaquille O'Neil's greatness and contribution to the NBA/basketball sports, can you ? It is well known though Shaquille O'neil is far declining as he is 8 years older....and soon will be remembered as a great NBA centre, the once MDE. Yao Ming has surpassed him, has the best games now, and is currently the best centre, and no other American breed of centre can challenge him....but he has yet to win championships and he is still far from greatness, right ?
Only real challenger will be Oden . howard i think is great, but yao is way more refined and polished then him.
i consider yao one of the greatest because he is playing under different rules than centers of the past. his skill-set surpasses every center i've seen with the exception of hakeem. sure kareem was great but he was limited in his moves. shaq was good because he is big enough to push his way to wherever he wants to shoot from. yao ming is the best right now period. if you want to talk about shaq, all one can honestly say was he was the best. you don't call a guy "the best" because he is still playing or because of what he was able to accomplish in the past. you can call him one of the greatest to ever play the game. from now on, shaq can only be complimented in the past tense as far as i'm concerned.
Howard hasn't been playing long enough to be as polished. I haven't seen Oden play, but is he more polished than Howard already? That's really scary like in Duncan scary, if he is.
what if Shaq comes back and dominate Yao next game? You don't think it's impossible to happen, do you? Does Shaq get the best center title back?
Howard does seem to develop a couple of post moves now. But I don't think he draws doulbe team like yao does yet.
No, Oden is very raw. But Oden will be more of a traditional NBA center, whereas Howard is really more of a PF.
I don't know if Howard will ever be polished on offense, but that won't necessarily stop him from being a dominant center. I need to see more of Oden before commenting.
what the hell difference would that make besides giving the haters more fuel? he has a good game. that's what would happen. he still is not the best.
Great for Yao to get recognition and credit for his hard work and steady improvement. I'm still in the thinking of caring more how the team does in the postseason and getting wins but you gotta take the nice writeups like that. It gives us something to care about during the regular season but they're kinda right. Big men, or any player, make their marks in the postseason. And I need to see about 4-5 more clutch performances like that to truly say Yao's straight money. It does say something that he can get Player of the Month and these nice accolades while STILL having things he can work on to better his game!
It was sweet because I was at the Verizon Center last night like mentioned in the article! Hell yes, Yao made history in front of my eyes.
Agree. Can't believe this excellent column is being micro analyzed for some "fault.' It's just ludicrous. Some of you are embarrassing yourselves, and haven't a clue that you're doing it. The writer was dishing out a bucket of high praise. I'm damn glad to see it. Yao is finally getting the props from the national media he's been denied, with some exceptions, for so long. The man has come a long way from those videos we saw that summer after the draft. Halfway around the world, and all the way to the pinnacle of his position... one the Rockets have had a glorious history with, a glorious history that continues because of Yao, and our damned good luck.
the writer was dishing out guarded praise. he left himself an escape hatch in case yao goes into a slump. this guy isn't saying anything that hasn't been said. he is saying that yao is still behind shaq which is the common concensus among writers and analysts. shove the maalox up your a$$ where it will be more effective.
