As a companion thread to the who is better Dwight or Yao? Which player would you rather have on your favorite team? Dwight or Yao? DD
Right now? Yao In the long run? Dwight One of my biggest fears with Yao is that once his prime years are over he's going to become washed up REAL fast. Once his body starts to deteriorate physically we're in some trouble since he's already painfully slow as it is. The NBA is all about a speed based game anymore and will continue to move into that direction. My fear is that sooner or later Yao is just not going to work anymore. BUUUUUUUT hey, i'm going to go throw up now and push myself down a flight of stairs for even saying that!
I disagree completely. Last year I would have taken Yao. He played so dominant early on before the injury. This year Howard has completely outperformed Yao. Right now Howard is a dominant force on the glass and in the paint. And Howard has eased on the turnovers, Yao on the other hand has given 4 separate American coaches grey hair with his lack of TOs.
Yao is a better shooter but that is about it. Dwight is a better defender, better rebounder, better blocker, better at holding is position. Dwight just has a bigger impact on the game.
To add... If Yao was playing the way he was early on last season when McGrady went down. No question about it. Yao would be the best.
Seriously the Magic has really build a nice team to surround Howard! Lewis maybe overpaid but he complements Howard nicely. Look at their starting 4, Lewis, Turkoglu, Bogans, Nelson, all can shoot. Their bench, Evans, Arroyo, Cook, Garrity, Reddick are all decent shooters too. That really makes double team Howard tough! Thus Howard's scoring is way up this season. Of cause, you cant admit that Howard is much more stronger and athletic than Yao in the post and his defense and rebounds is light years ahead of Yao. To conclude, right now i will choose Yao. Yao is still unstoppable offensively when guarded "legally" and he destroy the opponents if they guard him one on one! But 2-3 years later, no doubt, Howard will be the best center of the league for years to come. Chinese athletes usually decline fast when they past 30 years old!
They are totally different players and so i dont think you can compare the two. Yao is an offensive juggernaut with a polished offensive game. He is a finesse player and has an amazing touch fr a big fella. Howard on the other hand is brute strength and agility. The guy is a beast of a man. His offensive arsenal is no where near Yaos but because he is so strong and explosive he doesnt need a soft touch. Defensively, Howard is better, again because of his ridiculous strength. He is also more mobile and can guard the Amares, Boozers and Duncuns. But then you have to give Yao the nod with his passing skills and court vision. Also Yao's amazing FT percentage doesnt make him a liability at the end of the games where as Howards does (although he is getting better) All in all both guys are completly differen players. ATM id still take Yao however in 3 or 4 years i think dwight howard can average SHaq like numbers, something around 27-28ppg and 13-14 rebounds to go with 2 or 3 blocks. My bold prediction though, and dont bite my head off here, but i can almost gurentee a championship for Howard because he is just gonna be unstoppable. Yao on the other hand needs a lot more help and we have seen he cant carry a team.
don't tell the folks in the GARM about this thread, the whole message board would implode! and a public poll, very clever!
record of teams dwight howard has played: 118 wins 138 losses orlando has played 10 teams with losing records, 7 with winning records record of teams yao has played: 147 wins 106 losses houston has played 5 teams with losing records, 12 with winning records.. I'd like to see Howard go through the western conference and try to dunk all over the mavs, suns, and spurs every month.
Yao is still better right now, IMO. I'm still more impressed with a polished, finesse type game and seeing a guy that carries a jumpshot play than I am watching just a ridiculously physically strong and gifted athlete bully his way around the paint with the same 2-3 moves time after time. That's no disrespect to Dwight either. He's awesome. He's averaging 23.5 PPG and shooting 60+% all while still carrying a relatively simple and predictable offensive arsenal. I will say that he's much more dominant around the basket since you don't put with up those type of numbers with raw post moves and while lacking a jumpshot without being an physically intimidating and dominating presence around the basket. The scary part is he's only 21-years-old. He's going to be one of the best interior players in the league for a long, long time now. It's still Yao's time though, IMO.
And since Adelman has used the twin towers line up a couple of times, I guess you can say that Yao is more of a PF than Dwight.
He should be, but he's not. Yao wasn't able to defend anyone last night, but against most teams, Yao is a better defender. He certainly holds post position better and plays better position defense. Decent centers have big games against Dwight.
