What player of all-time do you think Yao Ming's game Resembles?

Well, I will not agree on the skills comparison. I think his strength is his shooting touch, and his size.

Yao doesn't have the sky hook or the juke it out moves of Hakeem. Those two are unique. Yaos aresenal isn't going to wow you. It's basic hook shots, a baseline spin move on defensives that over play him, and jumpers. Other than that he needs the help of his teammates to get dunks.

I will say that the gap between Duncun and Yao right now isn't as much as you make it. Duncun is fading. Yao has caught up in that sense. Also you have to remember that Duncun has far better teammates that does make his life easier.

Duncun is by far the better rebounder, but on offense, the Rockets depend more on Yao in a half-court game than the Spurs do on Duncun, and that's saying a lot.

 

I said daugherty because of the slow,sound,effectiveness,notch below all time great type of production both have shared. I know brad is listed at 245, but that was his entry weight vs the 270 he played at. Brad was a very good center during the time when there was good depth. You think about the centers that were in the game around 88 and you're talking moses,parrish,dream,ewing,kareem, just to name a few. He was right there, but since he played in cleveland, wasn't flashy, and was kinda soft, he gets overlooked.

 

Sabonis in his NBA life. Pre-NBA Sabonis was absolutely awesome.

Dolph Shayes (sp) from way back kind of... but Yao is much better player.

 

Patrick Ewing, probably. Finesse centers.

 

I would say Kenny George:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WctBazFZAMc
... j/k

 

I just don't think Yao resembles any of those players. Yao truly is the most unique player ever to suit up a basketball uniform. Yao is such a hard worker that he has made up for his lack of athleticism with very hard work. Yao truly is a great team player...almost to a fault at times. At 7'6'' he has better foot work and moves than anyone else I have ever seen at that size.

He is definitely a lot better than either Smits or Z...not even close IMO since Yao is a superior post player than either of those guys ever were. Yao alters more shots in the paint than either of those as well.

If you forced me to pick someone to compare Yao to it would be George Mikan. I only saw Mikan in highlights but he seemed to dominate people with his superior height. He had a lot of low post moves like Yao and was a true back to the basket player.

 

I just don't see Yao as a true finesse player. Yao is clearly one of the strongest players in the NBA...no weakling can play Shaq the way Yao does. Yao plays where the real men play...in the paint. Because Yao will lay the ball up at times instead of the thundering dunk does not make him a finesse player in my book. If anything he is one of the few power players left in the NBA since on damn near every single play he is fighting for low post position and fighting to score in the paint.

Hakeem had the Dream Shake and Yao has the Shanghai Shake. That is where the comparison ends between the two. Nothing else in Hakeem's game even remotely resembled Yao's game. Hakeem was a goal to goal defensive player and an could beat you with speed and quickness or brute force. Yao is just a completely different player than Hakeem was.

 

This is thrown on this board quite often and quite incorrectly. Rik Smits was a 14.8 pt and 6.1 reb player for his career. Yao averaged that in his rookie season. The only resemblance is the height. I guess if we use that as the basis for comparison then every 6'6" player in the NBA should be compared to Jordan right?

 

I could not agree more about Smits. Yao is superior and plays much more in the post. Smits had some post moves but put when I saw him play he scored most of his points shooting jumpers from the free throw line in.

I like my comparison of George Mikan. The first dominating big man.

 

Because I don't think he compares very well to any of the mentioned above. Before Kareem, who did you compare him to? Wilt? No, his game was very different. Who did you compare Olajuwon's game to before the Dream came along? No one. He is pretty unique. Yao's combination of size and shooting skills is very unique. I don't have a good comparison to offer because I don't believe there is one.

 

Never been a yao. may never be another. we won't appreciate what he does until he is gone.

 

To me Dream was Bill Russell with offense. Russells offense really was not that great.

 

Not to criticize but to say Dream was Bill Russell with offense is kind of like saying Jordan was like Dominique with a killer jumper. That is a pretty major addition in skill sets.

 

Lets try it like this....

Jordan is like Dominique with a killer jumper and great defense.

I'm just saying that I think Dream's defense was very similar to Russel's defense. The deference is that Russel did not have a good offensive game.
I just don't think its a stretch to say that.