What a joke there comparing Smits to Yao??? on ESPN????

While agreeing with you they are referring mainly to his lateral quickness and his sometimes lack of aggression. However they are not analysing his overall game.

 

This annoys me to no end. Even T-Mac was comparing Yao to Smits the other day on the Jim Rome show. At this point in his career Yao is taking a very different path than Smits did. I'm strictly talking about their games, and none of that agressiveness, "softness" mumble jumble.

Smits' offensive game was all about getting open near the free thow line and shooting face up 10 footers. Yao on the other hand will go weeks on end without facing up and firing a jumpshot. Yao gets over 90% of his shots off of postups. This idea that Yao doesn't like to bang in the lowpost is crazy. He isn't shy away from fighting for position and he doesn't float on the perimeter looking for jump shots.

And just because he tends to take a lot of fadeaways doesn't mean that he's "soft" or he's "like Rik Smits". That's a high percentage shot for Yao. Karl Malone's bread and butter shot for years was a fadeaway jumper. The only difference is that while Yao likes to pivot the long way around to get some space between him and the defender, Malone liked to pivot the short way and do a "step back" move to get his shot off quicker.

Don't get me wrong, Yao does tend to rely too much on the fadeaway instead of using his other post moves (especially since his hook shot percentage seems to have taken a tumble in recent games). But more times than not, that fadeaway is a good shot for him.

I remember the first game against the Lakers this year. Yao looked so much like a 7'6" Kevin Mchale out there. He had his hook shot going, a nice drop step, fadeaway, and up and under move. He was tossing in shots from all different angles, and was totally dominant. I had high hopes after seeing that game. And while he hasn't been able to keep up that kind of play, I have at least seen what he can acheive on the offensive end if he puts the onus on himself to be a scorer.

Reboundingwise, Yao is nothing like Smits. Smits' career average rpg was 6.1 and his career high was 7.7 rpg. The one person that really reminds me of Yao in terms of rebounding is Patrick Ewing. They both are a bit akward going after the ball. They both aren't all that quick and need to use their positioning and box outs to get boards. And check the numbers. Ewing didn't average double figure rebounds until his 5th year in the league.

Defensively I think Yao is a little underrated. He's not a very good weakside shot blocker, but his man on man defense is actually pretty good. There aren't many guys in the league this side of Shaq that has a lot of success going at Yao one on one. That includes Amare who didn't do a whole lot against Yao and Big Z who got stuffed and denied a couple of times when he tried going inside.

And unless he's dead-tired, Yao will always flash in front of cutters going through the lane, as well as "show" on Pick and Rolls. Yes, Yao can get burned on the Pick and Roll if the screener rolls quickly enough, and Yao will have speedy guards go around him. But screen and rolls can be a weakness for any big man. Even guys like Duncan and especially Shaq.

I just think that it's crazy to continually compare Yao to Smits. From a straight basketball point of view, their games are dramatically different.

 

I don't think it's so much a direct comparison as it is a case of 'as close as you can get.'

If you aren't talking about the elites like Dream, Shaq, Robinson, Ewing, etc., then in the modern era what's the next closest?

It's not so much that Yao is exactly like Smits, but that he's somewhere in between.

In that way, I can understand the comparisons.

 

hes looking a lil worse then smits right now.

 

Maybe an insult to Rik.

 

yeah, what a shame for smits

 

Espn wasn't comparing stats

They were making the point- Tall, slow, awkward, non-athletic

 

the irony is yao has lost his shooting touch and beng changed by JVG to be a player relying entirely on layups and dunks.

 

i never liked smits, even tough i am from holland. And i feel that Yao is so much better then smits ever was. The only thing smits could do is shoot open jumpers, ok he was very good atit. But he didn't have much game besides that

 

i will comapre yao with Z... stats wise they are almost identical...

but somehow i think non-african american players tend to be less aggressive, soft and passive... examples are Yao, Z, Rik Smiths. Sabonis, Divac, Shawn Bradley, Gheorge Muresan etc etc...

 

I guess if Yao is averaging 30 and 20 despite his slowness and lack of athleticism, they would still comparing him to Smit.

 

As a matter of fact, Yao would be much more productive if JVG would let him play like Smits 20% of the time.

 

Yao might do something with steven A's wife, he was furious with Yao, acting like a fool out there.