It's kind of asking for TOO much out of a 7'6" 300+lb center to guard a smaller, faster PF is it not? "Hey Yao, go and put up 27/13 tonight while getting mauled all through out the game. Oh yea, cover those smaller power forwards, too, because you need to make up for our lack of size at the 4 spot. Thanks!"
Yao can get 25-12 if he wants to. It's call hogging the ball and taking more shots. He's already around 22-11. I see Yao many time doesn't fight for the defensive rebound to pad his stat when there are 3 other Rockets are under the basket. But on the offensive end Yao fight for the ball. Take a look at Yao, Camby and Howard offensive rebounds. They are all around 3.1 to 3.6 offensive rebound per game. Since Yao's a team player, he might never even try to get 25-12.
The same thing could be said about T-Mac. He could average 30ppg if he wants to if he takes as many shots like he did while in Orlando.
My point is 25/12 is not something that's been easily done. You can't just throw numbers out there and think "well it's only ONE more rebound per game or it's only FOUR more points per game". The days of having such a dominant or "great" (as leebigez wants to define them) are over. Why? Because, as anyone can see by the Lakers, Jazz, Hornets, Celtics, Pistons, you got more than one All-Star player on your team and that pretty much disperses all the shot attempts around.
Welp thats the probelm with Yao then. He's a mismatch for certain teams but he is also a liability for others. Not what you call a great.
Now this is a head scratcher. Do you remember how Hakeem did against Mark Eaton? If I went too far back, how about the way Dream destroyed Robinson (who, by the way, is a statistical juggernaut fitting to be deemed great under some people's standards) in 95?
The measure of a great player is the degree to which he changes the game: Does the opposition tailor their defensive game plan to stop him? Do they double or triple team him? If they don't double team him, does he make them pay? Does he intimidate the opposition on defense? The answer to all of these is yes in the case of Yao. Look at Garnett. His stats are piddling, yet he's consistently mentioned in the top 3 in the MVP discussion. Also, as a center, his defensive contributions are much more important than perimeter players like Lebron and Kobe. That's cuz he has to defend post players and intimidate/block perimeter players that have penetrated. In the playoffs, he'd be as vital to his team as any other star, except Lebron.
What you're saying it's true. It's a team game so players give up stats for something that's more important than individual stats. Coaches, teams and strageties has change over the years. The Spurs for instance have a player in Duncan that can be 25-12. But Duncan doesn't need to be 25-12 for them to win games. They are playing a smart team ball that doesn't wear out Duncan and they have other guys who can step it up. We all know what it's like for T-Mac, Iverson, Kobe and Lebron averaging 30ppg and the team going nowhere.
Yao is a perfect player for a team ball club. He's not an individual player. Yao fit this team perfectly. He's not the type of players that will disrupt this club. THe guy will sacrifice his stats in order for this team to be successful. Even if he's the 6th men off the bench like Ginobli of the Spurs. We got ourselves one heck of a 6th man.
How about let Boozer, Harringtons, Jefferson guard Yao one on one without somebody else roaming around from behind? Yao would destroy them even more.
No, Yao usually settle for fadeaways when he's played physical by them. He ends up getting picked or block pretty often in the high post. I like it when he plays physical and gets better positioning instead of getting pushed around by smaller guys.
Yao settles for fadeaways because once he put the ball on the floor, double team would come and took the ball away. Without double team, Yao would just dribble to the middle and score layups everytime.
Maybe, or maybe it's because other teams don't really respect our role players. Yao averages like 2 assist per game. Certainly they aren't paying dearly for doubling him. This year though the role players are starting to play really well that teams cant afford to double anymore.
Maybe? Yao burned virtually every team who plays him straight. It's proven. Average 2 assists doesn't tell the whole story since Yao can't throw bullet passes like Tmac, many times opponents are quicky enough to cover the first open guy, but not the 2nd. Hockey passes and score doesn't show on Yao's stats sheet.
someone said it earlier and he's right - one w/ a brain should not post in this thread no more. but... let's keep it real for the rockets, shall we? lol. and ask trapping question like "what does yao do great"? (i'm holding my 25pts/12rebs threshold here...) does yao assist like jkidd? does he score like lebron or kobe? does he rebound like rodman? does he block shots like hakeem or mutombo? too hard for a 7'6 center? no. yao has to meet ALL these to be considered "great". and he fails to hit the #'s in all of these categories, how can you say he's a great player? (meanwhile, someone avoids to answer my questions like why do ppls double yao like crazy out there if he's merely "good"?) oh, my! why don't you ask the same questions but sub yao's name with, hmm, say, michael jeffrey jordan? (someone so many consider him the goat, you know.) what does mj do great other than scoring? well, i retract that. actually, by my personal standards, a "great" basketball player has not been born yet; because in my book, a true great one must hit the "plateaus" (big word, lol) of 50pts/30rebs/10asts/5blks/60%fg/90%ft per game. so no one is "great". after all, jordan only avg'd 30+pts on 50% shooting for his career. and meanwhile, he fails to meet my "plateau" in all other categories as well, you see... i'm just glad there are more people out there with common and basketball sense than a few who have been trying to "keep the rockets real" (or maybe they meant unreal?).
Taken from the Q & A thread with Tmac. He just said all the same things I said in this thread... the reasons why I think we are ok without Yao. I think some people owe me an apology, especially the guy who crucified me for saying Yao clogged up the paint area. Q: But now you've lost Yao for the rest of the season, so doesn't the style of play have to change again? A: With Yao we're more of a slower team. It's no knock on Yao, but sometimes we're a lot better defensive team when we have Dikembe out there because that's really what Deke brings to us. He brings that presence, that intimidating factor back there in the back. When teams sometimes go small, Deke is mobile and he's a great shot-blocker. Offensively we're just more up-tempo, spreading the offense out, the paint's not clogged up and that's how we're playing.
(didn't see this at first.) of course, no one is a great scorer at half court. your point? remember, education is the key...
Offensively, I'd have to say yes. The Rockets have improved in assists, points per game, and field goals. Defensively, I'd have to say no. Yao's presence in the low post causes less players to drive in. He matches up well with many of the centers in the NBA and when our opponents try to go small, we can just switch yao out for someone like Landry.
