^umm. First of all stoudamire had microfracture surgery, and its surprising to some that he still has most of his athletic ability. And second, stoudamire was first team all nba last year (though yao deserved it), but it is obvious he is no scrub as you try to make him out to be. Heck some people even list him above yao in the best center rankings. I believe if dwight howard were to suffer some major injury that you speak of that makes him a bust, yao will not do much better. I mean can yao get any slower than he already is.
If Howard ends up having microfracture surgery, then, sure, all bets are off. I compare him to Shaq, who starting at age 20, had an unbelievably productive 11 year run with the Magic & Lakers before age put on the brakes. If you look at tapes of Shaq in his first 3-4 seasons, he looked a lot like Howard does today. He was quite athletic until complacency slipped in. IMO, because Howard is lighter, he should be less injury-prone than Shaq. He is a better rebounder and I fully expect him to average 15 rebs/game for the next 10-12 years. He also is much more dedicated to basketball than Shaq ever was and takes better care of his body. Don't know if anyone caught the Mavs game on Monday, but Howard did a decent imitation of a Tim Duncan bank shot a couple of times. I hadn't seen that very often. He already can use either hand on a jump hook. It's possible Howard is like Hakeem and continues developing offensive skills into his late 20s. Really looking forward to tonight. I hope Yao brings his "A" game and shows the youngster how skills can make scoring a lot easier.
I didn't claim Stoudemire is already a bust, although "nowhere nearly as explosive" is probably a bit too strong of an expression by me. It's pretty obvious to most neutral observers that Stoudemire is only a shell of himself after 1 major and 1 preventive surgery of the same nature on the same spot. Yao has been playing under a fundamentally different offensive system this season. He's basically sacrificing his own personal stats for the sake of his team and coaches. I don't mind one bit the drop in his ppg if it means to make the team's offense less predictable and more multi-pronged, and most importantly, more difficult to defend when it comes to playoff time, which was the key knock on JVG. Compared to last season where Yao was more of the focus of Rockets' offense, Yao has seen increases in minutes, FT%, steals, rebounds, blocks, and assists, but decreases in FG attempts, FG%, FT attempts, and TOs. The biggest gripe I have is his FG%, which I think has to do with both Yao's own doing and his teammates (if his teammates are hitting their shots, it would definitely ease up the defense on Yao, which would in turn help Yao make higher percentage shots). It's true Yao had more surgeries than either Stoudemire or DHo had, but Yao's game does not heavily depend on his athleticism/quickness, thus making Yao less susceptible to the lasting effects of injuries, relatively speaking. Moving away from banging in low post all the time would also pay dividend to Yao's longevity in the long run. Notice none of the Yao's prior injuries was Yao's own doing, rather, they were all caused by somebody else. The same can't be said about Stoudemire's knee, though. Compared to Stoudemire, DHo has even less polished offensive skills and is likely to suffer more if injured.
I personally wouldn't make a big deal out of this game one way or the other. If they meet in a 7-game playoff series then their head-to-head matchup stats will certainly be more definitive.
you do know that won't happen unless both teams make the final, right? yao never played shaq in a 7-game series since shaq moved to the east. would you be so ready to dismiss yao's past two season personal victories over shaq as less definitive?
Agreed completely. I meant that tonight's game will be great entertainment. The true measure of which player is better will be played out over the 82 game season against all teams. In addition to every Rockets game, I watch as many Magic games as possible and I want to see the two big guys match up with each other. It's rare either guy gets to play against another superstar big man they must account for on both ends of the floor.
WOW you people are some true haters. Everyone has the chance of getting an injury. Using your example, Amare should be a bust right now because he has had one major injury. Well guess what, he is still averaging a respectable 20/9. Dwight Howard is 22. Big men are raw, it takes time to add some offensive weapons. And when the hell did Shaq learn anything? He is a career ~60% ft shooter, doesn't have much of a game outside 7-10ft, and has four rings. Stop sippin' the haterade and enjoy the domination of Dwight Howard.
And he's doing that playing just over 30 mpg. His PER is still pretty good (number 10 right now). He's having big problems with fouls compared to a couple years ago. Offensively, I don't see much of a dropoff. The expectation a couple years ago, though, was that he'd continue to get better because he was so young. That hasn't happened (due to the knee). I think he should get better as year goes on, though.
No doubt about it ,D Howard is No.1 centre in NBA now. I also never doubt that,if Yao hava Kidd or Nash instead of Tmac,he'll do much better than today. But above all ,it's just my imagination. Yao is a good centre already .In the future he'll be a great centre .But i'm afraid I'll never see domination on him like DHoward or Shaq..........
Yao is better than Dwight Howard. Yao has better game while Dwight Howard depends way too much on his athletic abilities. Once he loses his hops by aging or gets injured, he's a goner like Penny Hardaway. Yao can play until he's 40 and still be effective, Dwight Howard will be like Shaq by declining at age 33.
lol Dwight decline when he's 33? Have you seen the dude? He's a physcial specimen, and I don't just mean he can jump. He's cut like none other, he's got the young man look....always prefer my superstar to look like he's 25 when he's 30 and not 45 when he's 30. PLUS he doesn't smoke OR drink. Lol magic fans joke about how a crazy night for dwight is staying up to 3 am playing video games. Wow why are the 2 best centers in the league nerds.
That's what everyone said about Amare' before he got those surgeries. When Dwight Howard loses his hops due to aging or MAYBE possible injuries, it's bye bye baby.
The point is it's "bye bye baby" for any player with a serious knee injury that slows him down, including Yao.
seriously, if yao had amare's knee injury, he'll be out of the league. he already only has the bare minimum athleticism required to play in the nba.
Some of you guys need to stop the Dwight vs Shaq comparisons. Sure there games are similar, but Shaq was way more dominant at the same age. I think it was pretty evident from the last game that Dwight has a long ways to go before he can even be mentioned in the same breath as Shaq. If it wasnt for the constant double team, Yao would of dominated Howard in the last game.
