This is what keeps me awake at night, I said this during the final two games of the Utah series last year. Yao was too tired & timid to grab a rebound when we needed it most. It isn't Yao's fault, I thought JVG overplayed him, the big fella was just tired, I was screaming at the top of my lungs to get him out of there during the final 2 minutes of Game 7. Then I sat and watch horrified as Utah got offensive rebound after offensive rebound and finally put the dagger in us. They had too many opportunities. And then, of course, our warrior, Tmac gets blamed for not getting us out of the first round.
yao played well in the 4th quarter of game 7. he took it hard, got fouled and generally did his job. those rebounds you're talking about were long rebounds, exactly the type which yao has problems with, due to slow reaction speed. even if yao had been fresh 9/10 a smaller faster player would pick those up I dont know if you or whoever else blamed tmac but in post game interviews yao himself blamed himself for not getting those
again, with yao, we are more equipped to compete against teams like the lakers and spurs, who have legit inside threats. i think defensively we CAN guard the gasols or duncans with scola/landry/hayes. what i worry about is that we need a guy who can at least equal their offensive output of around 20-22 ppg and yao can do that on most nights. however, v. teams that are small/quick, yao rarely is dominant v. those teams (he'l have some nights that he would but most nights, fronting defenses will render him ineffective). this lineup is better b/c we can switch up on any small guy without having to do too much rotation that gives up a lot of open shots. the only 2 teams that i think we really need yao for are the lakers and spurs. i think we match up much better with utah without yao in a 7 game series. we can hold our own v. mavs, suns, hornets, warriors... but again, no team gets better without one of their superstars unless you get something back. yao is injured and we do not get another guy to replace him. we just need everyone to step up their games and they're doing that. to compensate for his inside presence, we need tmac and scola to post up more, along with more penetration from our guards.
i started watching the rockets and the nba pretty much from dream's rookie year. not the earliest on this board i know, but pls don't say arrogant stuff that you've watched losses by the rockets more than people seen games, ok?! and if you insists yao does nothing great but ft's, you still have no credibility. none. nada. where is your rebuttal to my post? and don't equate any big yao fans to a chinese-oriented yao-only-fan. that is just stupid.
he might be a regular alright. but if you call someone - who says stuff like "yao is not great, just good" or "yao does nothing great but ft's" - as "keeping it real for the rockets", then the thickness of your skull is probably in the ballpark of his. i'm gonna try to be arrogant for once in my life and say - get some education, people. pls. education saves lives and this nation.
I don't post for star ratings or for everyone to agree with me. I'm going to ask u, Mr. IBM, other than ft's, what is yao great at? I'm going to give u some categories and tell me if he's great at it: Is Yao a great rebounder? Is he a great passer? Is he a great scorer? Is he a great defender? If hs great in any category, give a answer. When I mean great, I mean that regardles of what's going on, he excells in a category. Holla at me.
depends on your definition of "great" and "good". hey, why don't you call up a national show? He's a REGULAR. they wouldn't put him on if he didn't know the difference between Josh Howard and Juwan Howard. LeeBigEZ gives specific examples and his overall knowledge of the game and history. I'm glad I have a thick skull, at least i'm not a jellyfish. Keep it real on Sirius radio EZ!
Thanks Tinman. I'm just saying there is a difference between Brad Daughtery and Hakeem. There is a difference between Rasheed Wallace and Tim Duncan. I mean anyone that watched Daughtery all agreed he was good before his back went out. He could score on the blks and out to 15ft. He was a 10 rebs guy and he was a good passer and ft shooter. Dream was a great post scorer. Great on ball and off ball defender and a great rebounder. U can win with good. It takes more good players around other good players to win a title. Its easier to be great and have ok players on the court. I'm not saying u can have crap around, but greatness can make up for a lot.
First of all, Yao is in fact a great scorer. Anyone who can average 20+ pts / game on over 50% field goal shooting and over 80% free throw shooting while being doubled as much as Yao is a great scorer. Yao has put up those numbers the last three seasons running. If you want to disagree, then please name me another player to average those stats and who you also don't consider a great scorer (putting Yao in that category alone would make your objectivity suspect, don't you agree?). But more importantly, your criteria for a great player is irrational. By your rationale, a one-dimensional player is rewarded for his focus on a single skill, while a multifaceted player is put at a disadvantage for focusing on his complete game. Tyson Chandler is a great offensive rebounder, but he isn't a great player. The reigning MVP, on the other hand, is no more "great" in any single category than Yao is (and don't say Dirk is a "great jump shooter", because then you have to admit that Yao is a "great post-up player", or name someone significantly better). Personally I don't care if you think Yao is "good" vs. "great" because it depends on where you draw the line between the two. But at least use criteria that makes sense.
So, honestly, among all the centers in the NBA today, where would you rank Yao? And we're not talking about ceiling or potential or whatever happens after this season. I mean the present. It's a valid question because I'm going to assuming you'll agree with me he's a Top 10 center. You'll probably agree with me that he's a Top 5 center. We'll probably even agree that he's a Top 3 center. If you don't consider Duncan as a center, then we can surmise that Yao's a Top 2 center with Dwight Howard. Based on PER, Yao is 2nd behind Howard in Center Rankings [Yao was actually 1st last year in PER among centers and also 1st the year before that]. So even at #2, he's 2nd among 30 starting centers. Doesn't that say something if he's in the top 2 among centers for the past 3 years? Well, that's among centers. Centers in today's NBA are mostly crap players True but as of right now, he's 7th among all players in PER. Last year, he was 5th among all players. The year before that, he was 9th among all players. If you knew he's been in the top 10 among PER for the past 3 years among ALL players that qualify, you can still just call him good to very good?
So if u avg 20 that means ur a great scorer? What I've always said is that before u can be considered great, u have to at least be great at something. Yao is a good scorer at certain point on the floor. When he gets the ball inside 8ft, he can turn into a great scorer. Personally, great scorers always hit that 25pt plataeu.Great rebounders hit that 12 mark. It doesn't matter about double teams because like I said earlier, u have to double perfect to affect great scorers. In todays game, Yao,Howard,Kaman,Gasol are the 4 best centers in the game. All of the good, none great. U could switch teams with all 4 and neither makes the other team any better or worse. As said earlier its nothing wrong with good. The rox can win with good. When he plays great, the rox are unbeatable. Basically in todays nba, I really thought Yao would be 27ppg and 13 rebs and 2.5 blks. I'm happy with 20-10 and 2 but I guess I was suspecting greatness.
- Maybe not great but danged good and top 10 in NBA From the post he is a good passer. He is a very effecient scorer - bordering on great. He alters more shots than he gets credit for.... Overall he makes the team better and that alone is great. DD
As long as the Rockets keep winning, I will be happy, but it also means there will be more fuel added to this fire. Hopefully, Yao hears this too and comes back stronger than ever next season.
I'm assuming you wanted to combine both the 25 ppg and the 12 rpg as a true test to measure how great a center is. I'm assuming this since, well, there are been plenty of players that have averaged 12 rpg but can't do nothing else and there's been more than few who averaged 25 ppg but can't rebound worth a damn. Allow me to bring up some facts. Tim Duncan, who I would assume you think is a great player, has played 10 seasons and has performed the "great mark" of 25/12 only once in his NBA career Kevin Garnett, who most consider to be a pretty damn good player, has played 12 seasons and has yet to hit a 25/12 mark in any year. Hakeem Olajuwon has only done this 25/12 mark ONCE IN HIS CAREER Shaquille O'Neal? Four times out of 15
Wow I did not see this at first read. You know how many guys are putting up 20/10 in today's nba? FIVE And how many of them are centers? TWO 27/13? The last person that put up those numbers was Shaq...roughly 8 years ago. I'm sorry if you were expecting Shaq-like numbers out of Yao but in today's NBA, where the league is clearly favors guard play (Tim Hardaway and KJ would have a field day in today's NBA), you are not going to see 27/13 for a while.
Yao wont be truly a great player until he stops still getting outplayed by players he should be outplaying often. You know the Boozers, Harringtons, Timberwolves guy (don't remember his name), etc. He's still very good though.
