The only problem is Yao's TS%, even career FG percentage are all higher than TD. With the same treatment by refs, Yao's FG percentage obviously will be even higher.
And if you watch enough games, you'd know Yao gets double teamed more than TD, and that affects his FG percentage as well. T hat also shows teams just don't believe Rox role players can beat them like Spurs role players can.
Here is my take on this subject- Yao is an amazing specimen. His size makes him virtually unguardable at times in one on one situations, he has amazing touch around the basket and in the midrange, and the guy has a ton of heart and never wants to let his team down. His passing, rebounding and defense all have improved as he has gotten older. But, because of his size and how the league is evolving he will simply never be a true franchise player. His size makes him vulnerable to getting stripped on the block, he isn't quick enough to make a move to beat teams that front him, he cannot play an inside-outside game because when he is on the perimeter he can only shoot (instead ofshoot AND drive like Amare or Boozer), and his size also makes him very injury prone (people falling into his knees and whatnot). The biggest problems for him are that with the league becoming more athletic and more uptempo, his best defensive ability (shotblocking) is neutralized as he cannot retreat to the hoop when he is guarding a perimiter oriented big man. And when that is taken away, he is a total liability defensively. Now, does that mean he can't be a first option on offense and cannot be a part of a championship squad? No, but he simply can't be tagged the franchise player because he is too much of a liability in many ways.
Well, I could argue that Yao will never, ever, ever get treated right by the refs. And there's nothing you or I or Yao or all of China can do to change that. And if that's the case, we still can't build around Yao.
The problem, however, is that threads like yours really polarize fans, and never lead to constructive and insightful discussions.
That is fine with me. You are entitled to your opinion. I just don't like people making wild assumptions like it's a fact. I can do that too.
That's the point. We need someone stand up and hit the WIIIIIIIDE open shots. Actually, I think Luther did well at it, and least he showed his confidence, as well as Steve Novak. Find some TRUE shooters, do like the the Spurs do. Then, victory will comeby.
I agree with you that they do polarize fans, but disagree that a thread like this could lead to constructive discussion. I mean if 1/2 the people would get off their knees for a few mins to stop sucking Yao's piece than they would be able to put some substance in their posts and actually debate the OP's statement with facts and well thought out statements instead of "Yao greatness" than we would be getting somewhere. The problem is right when one person comes up with a somewhat to great thought out post/thread criticizing Yao, you get 20 other posters/YOFs that just get ticked off and blindly support Yao. I mean they just can stand hearing anything bad about Yao, even if it is true. Just because somebody criticizes Yao does not mean they are a YOH, they might actually make some sense!!
Don't worry about RocketsMac. He's just a delusional Mclady fan who doesn't know much about basketball.
Thats a great take. I guess i was stating the obvious. I do think if yao had rest in the summer and could actually do some real nba training and let his body recoop, he could get quicker and stronger. Will he ever be as quick as a young shaq, hakeem, or robinson, probably not. He can use his size and potential strength as a huge advantage. Think if yao would complete some of those plays at the baskets with dunks instead of blown layups. Yeah he'll go to the ft line and make the ft, but there are plays at the rim that if he would just dunk the ball, he would get 2 plus the foul. So now instead of being 20ppg, he would be 25 or 26. How many times when he gets the ball and is bumped or fouled when you say dunk the freaking ball!!!!. I could say its a culture or whatever racist type of words one can use, buthe's been in the league long enough now to know he needs to finish strong. he's been in the league long enough to know that if a guy drives to the basket, he would be better off jumping for a block instead of holding your rms up. the refs are going to call a foul anyway, so dont give the 6'2 guard 2 plus the foul. I just see it too much of it 6 yrs later. This is the nba, with the greatest atheletes in the world. they players will dunk on you, blk your shot, and punk you if you let them. Its the reason people have always called david robinson soft. People fouled him, pushed him and everything without any retaliation. So teams know going in they can dunk on yao, foul him hard and do anything to yao without any consequence. If yao doesn't put anybody on their ass and stop people from coming, they will keep doing it. Its things like that that big guys need to do. Its nothing wrong with getting a flagrant foul or a hard foul on a player. they do it to him.
Depends on what you mean...OF COURSE you can build around him. He's one of the top big men in the league, and regularly commands double and triple teams from the opposition. Arguably, he draws more attention from opposing defenses than anyone else in the league. Plus, he's unselfish, hard working and a good locker room guy. That said, because of his unique limitations, he's not someone you can throw on to a court and say "go dominate and bring us a championship" a la Shaq or Chamberlain. Yao is best suited for a system offense and defense that optimizes his incredible skill set. So, is he a championship caliber player? YES! Is he someone you can build around? YES!
Didn't read it. I can't take someone seriously who uses the letter "u" to represent the word. OMG! Liek, did u kno Yao Ming is AZN!?
Man, basket ball game is a team play game. If a 20-10 player can not be the nuclei of a team, what kind of the player will be?
10 times? it must be a hyperbole or you're crazy...yao might have had a slightly better scoring average but hakeem or drob would've shut down yao by fronting him. shaq at the age of 35 still blocked/altered yao's shots ONE ON ONE consistently! bottome line is yao would still be no better than those true franchise centers had he played in their era.
YJL's a better athlete than TD? hahaha... dude stop embarrassing youself. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c_-JyLBJc-s&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c_-JyLBJc-s&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Yao does nothing great. Yao is a great shot blocker. Yao is also a great passer for a big man. And while some of you trivialize free throw shooting as something not worthy of being great at, it is an especially valuable skill for a big man. Aside from near automatic and-1's, understand that with Yao (unlike any other center in the nba), defenses cannot ever intentionally foul him in the final minutes of a close game. You could say the same about Duncan Duncan is great at everything, save FT's. His specialties are offense and defense (but he is also great at winning championships). Duncan is a horrible athlete. Duncan is a world class athlete. Don't confuse taking a mental approach to the game, and lack of flash, with lack of athleticism. There are few stronger and faster; but fewer still as big, strong and fast with his endurance, durability, and degree of balance and control. Don't discount those last two as not within the scope of athleticism. Don't define athleticism as purely quickness and vertical leap alone. BTW there is a particular screen name here that is having some fun w/you guys (notice he is ALTERNATING between conversational/casual to over-the-top broken english, and repetitively referring to the same two NBA players of a particular common nationality).
Just think of how many quality big guys used to be in the league back then. I mean Hakeem came into the league in 84 and moses was fresh off a mvp and ring, kareem was still good, as well as parrish, sikma, mchale, and elvin. The next season ewing comes in with kevin willis, daughtery the yr after that, david robinson after that. A few yrs later while hakeem is in his prime and 30 yrs old, here comes shaq,zo, and dikembe. a couple yrs later here comes duncan. From the time hakeem came in in 84 till he left the rox in 01, he has faced all those guys in their prime. i mean we're talking about hall of fame pivots. Moses,Kareem,Parrish,mcHale, Ewing,Robinson,Shaq,duncan,Mutombo,mourning are all hall of fame bound. Yao is playig against undersized guys, basically 6'10 guys trying to play pivot. If those guys played today on a regular basis, man.
yao is a great scorer and a great talent, though it's possible that he came into the league about 10 years too late. if this was the early 90's there's no question in my mind that he'd be more dominant then a patrick ewing. zone defenses and nba rules tailor made for small players are the only reason teams like golden state can guard him. 10 years ago, he'd eat al harrington for lunch and dinner. he's also clearly affected by the coaching change, as the year and a half before he broke his leg, he was simply unstoppable. i think lee is wrong and you absolutely can build around yao, but the only possible reason you wouldn't be able to would be because of the league not because of deficiencies on his end.
Can someone tell me what is the purpose of this thread? Just to blast Yao? I guess that is the only motive of the thread starter. Seriously, no one can win games alone. Look at the lakers when they traded Shaq and tried to build around Kobe who is arguably the best player in NBA these days. The result? Miss playoffs the first year, 1st round exit the next 2 years. Can you say, "U cant build around kobe?"! Another example, KG and your beloved T-mac! Bottomline is, it takes FIVE to win and to be specific, you need FIVE quality players to win! Too bad for the rockets, they only have 2 quality players and the rest are just bench players!
some common misconception about yao in my observations - #1, he's somewhat a defensive liability. totally wrong. yao is a good shotblocker and rebounder and is getting better at 'em. on top of that, his presence alone changes a lot of shots. look at #'s teams take inside shots and at what % they score at those shots, y'all will know. like i said, the rockets don't become one of the top interior defensive teams in the league by chance (or by hayes and juwan for that matter). #2, he's turnover-prone (too easy to get stripped, etc.) wrong. his turnover averages have been in the range of 3-3.4 per. that is decent among big men or anyone who handles the ball a lot. considering the offense goes through him so much, it's a fairly good number. not to mention these t/o #'s also include offensive fouls and 3-sec, traveling, etc. i.e., not even all his t/o's come from being stripped the ball. in other words, you can't tell me he got stripped many times per game, can you? #3, he should've dunked the ball more. dunk is overrated anyway in my mind. 2pts is 2pts no matter how you get it. i think what some (incl. myself) hate to see is yao missing a point-blank range layup (which could happen to anyone - does bonzi come to mind?) while he could've dunked it. but for one, this doesn't happen too often, we just tend to remember these for a longer time. for 2 he's been doing better at this lately. i don't see this as a huge problem for him. actually, if i recall correctly, cbs website once did a "dunk-o-meter" and tracked # of dunks by players. guess what, yao was higher on that list than the likes of td and kg. surprise, eh? #4, yao is soft. this possibly has been the biggest typical yet wrong assessment on him. feigen and fran have some pretty good blogs lately on this one, and i remember seeing this being discussed here. hopefully this has been cleared a lot, especially lately. i can go on and on. but to go back to the op's point - if yao is someone we cannot and therefore should not build around with (imo he is the right guy to build around, but i may come back to that later when i have more time), then whom do you think we should build around on our current roster? if there's no one, does that mean our team currently is hopeless (coming off a 4th-in-the-west season)? if so what do you suggest we do from here? and pls don't give us craps like trade yao for howard kinda stuff.
