Seeing as this trade won't happen unless Yao is healthy or Gasol gets injured, I'd have to lean towards no. I hate saying this, but "when healthy" Yao gives the Rockets more than Gasol could. Yao is a true center, a much better interior defender, and is more consistent in the post. He attracts double teams even when he doesn't have the ball. He's got underrated passing and court vision, and his BBIQ is very high. He's proven to be an efficient go to scorer, even when he's not getting that many shots. That being said, he's slow, injury-prone, too timid to take that outside shot (even though we all know he can hit it at a good %), has a bad tendency to try to sneak a dribble in the post when there are guards around (leading to easy turnovers), attracts refs attention too easily (leading to dumb fouls), and doesn't bother doing much against the fronting other than letting his teammates figure out a way to score. Gasol's one of those mixed PF/Cs (I always thought him a PF, and his little brother a C, based on their playing styles). He's smart, but his defense is questionable at best. He is very gifted and well-rounded offensively, an excellent passer, and he can run. Gasol would obviously be better in an uptempo game, but Yao's presence alone affects games a huge amount, entire defenses focus themselves to stopping him, leaving our other players with better opportunities to score. I think when Yao comes back we'll find a way to mold him in. I daresay that the team that played against the Lakers with Yao was the best team we've had in years, and can become even better with all the new pieces we develop this year.
