What if Yao had started his career on a team with no other star?

swilkins · Jan 10, 2005

Kobe being a prima donna has nothing to do with the fact that he is such a high impact player with or without Shaq. Will he go as far? No, but I don't think they need a Shaq to have a winning season.

Damn Lakers. I was hoping I wouldn't have to think about them today.

daoshi · Jan 10, 2005

Originally posted by gotoloveit2
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IMHO, Chinese as a race are shorter than the European whites or American blacks. It's fair to say that Yao's 7' 6" is kind of equivalent to 7' 9" of the other two races. Imagine a 7' 9" black person, I wonder how athletic could he be.
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then, you need to change you HO. I'm no generic expert, I'm sure it plays a big part in determind the height of a race. But your view of Chinese is shorter than Euopean is flawed because the average height of the younger (12 -- 18) generation is taller than American & Europeans, (I read an articale from a magzine). I believe it has more to do with the living standard the Chinese people have experienced during the past several decades. Prior to 1980s, average Chinese were working hard to just get enough food to eat; now that's not an issue anymore. Most of the family see their kids are taller than the parents because of that.

Chilly_Pete · Jan 10, 2005

Originally posted by gotoloveit2
Since many of us questioned on Yao's passiveness, Pete conjectured if Yao was clearly the best on the team, could he be FORCED to take the leading role. Rockbox's statement is generally correct in that MOST great players figure it out no matter what team they are on. But it doesn't really answer Pete's question on Yao's situation. Dream and Duncan were clearly better than their counterparts from the get-go. Was Rockbox agreeing with Pete? Unlike T-mac and Yao, there was no competition between Magic and Kareem as far as scoring. Magic's primary role was to find the open man on the floor, just like between Stockton and Malone. He didn't need to play as a second fiddle to Kareem. Shaq or no Shaq, Kobe would take over because of his ego.
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Correct, I was conjecturing that if Yao was clearly the best player on a team, how would he react to being forced to taking the leading role.

I took it from Rockbox's answer he felt that it would not have mattered. If Yao were going to be a dominate player he have shown that ability even while playing with another star player. Obviously there are some things hindering Yao, that those other star players Rockbox mentioned did not have to deal with as much. Such as Yao's fatigue problem from having to play basketball during the offseason because of his Chinese National team commitments.

I just brought it up because I have heard other posters claim that Yao would defer to more senior players. I was just wondering if Yao were in a situation where he was obviously the teams best player, would he take it upon himself to try and dominate?

PhiSlammaJamma · Jan 10, 2005

As far as the deferral theory, I believe it, and science has proven it true. People become leaders when they are forced to lead. Put a woman on a raft with her children and she'll lead. Put a woman on a raft with some men and she's less likely to take charge. It's not rocket science. If Yao were alone he'd be the leader. He'd dominate.

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What if Yao had started his career on a team with no other star?

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