Lee never wanted to bench Brooks, that I remember. He's been calling for Brooks to start since before the season.
yao has butterfingers, but that doesn't mean he's soft. and i don't see he has too much trouble holding on to his post positions under normal circumstances. what most people tend to remember was when he's fronted/sandwiched and was only open for a second and our guards failed to deliver the ball. also, when he's fouled and didn't get the whistle, or fought back but immediately got an offensive foul called, that's when people think he doesn't have the physical strength. in fact, many yao's defenders have acknowledged after the game that yao's tremendously strong. yao is slow (naturally), so in a loose ball situation, he'd lose more often than he's win. does that equate "soft"? i think not. actually, you don't see too many 7-footers get down to the floor nearly as often as yao does. in any case, yao's body takes a beating on a nightly basis. yet he goes back there every chance he gets and tries to help the team, despite all the crzay officiating and some freaking injuries and he's never been intimidated by the physical play. to me, that's RESPOND well to physical play, not the opposite. but if you want to now classify them as "grey areas", i will let you go, for now. let's just go by your definition of "hater" for a second. we have people here saying yao's a liability on both ends of the floor and that the team would be better off w/o him. wonder if you'd acknowledge these qualify your definition of "hate"?
Didn't read anything else in this thread. But to this the answer is very easy. Wonder why the question was even asked. Two words: Hell No
I'd give them a chance to clarify their opinions -- why they think that way. If I think they're basing their opinions on legitimate basketball points, even if I disagree with their conclusions, I wouldn't call it hate. If its based on ridiculous assertions that don't match reality, then sure.
I live in LA and I would absolutely LOVE this trade. It would be a win-win for both teams. Gasol is more a finesse player that would flourish in Adelman's system and Yao would maximize his skillset in the triangle with Phil Jackson's tutelage. Damn I'm getting goose bumps just thinking of watching Yao and Kobe on the same team. Teams would have to play Yao straight up and with the constant cutting of the triangle, the fronting defenses would be a thing of the past. Get it done Morey!!!!
Yao will never be a 1st option on a rring team just like garnett, allen, pau, there are enough of them. Yao nor pau are good enough mentally to control a series for for b games. Pau can't do it for 7 games and yao can't do it for 40 mins. Productiion wise, they have been equal. Durability wise, pau has been more durable. Pau will probably have the longer career. Not to mention, u don't have to worry about mins with pau.
Yeah I see Pau face constant double and triple teams... Pau doesn't affect the games like Yao does. Yao DOMINATES games even if he scores 4 points because of the way he distorts the game. Other teams gameplans for this dude. They treat Pau as an afterthought.
Kobe is a jerk who plays well. I don't like him, but like his ability and willing to win. Nice trade for yao
Are you adelman or Phil jackson? If not, how does the 1st sentence come out? As for the mental thing, don't compare yao with pau anymore. But I agee with the trade
Right, equal production... one playing against single coverage due to Kobe Bryant being on the floor, and the other against double and triple teams.
So I guess they double yaao when tracy plays? I guess utah doubles yao, right? I guess when portland was fronting yao, people are considering that double or triple teaming also. I guess pau wasn't getting doubled in memphis when he was the first option and leading the team into the playoffs, right. Teaams don't double pau as much because he's not in one spot all the time.Like I said, same production, no matter how u look at it. I never said I would take pau over yao, i'm just saying neither are #1 options on a championship team.
If Yao (healthy) and Pau were to trade places, the Lakers would've finished this series off in 4 games. Besides, who would guard Yao?
hmm.. put a healthy Yao instead of Gasol, and he'd be scoreless against the quicker, stronger, and smarter Chuck Hayes.. in addition, Adelman would put brooks and (insert Scola, Landry, Hayes here) on the pick and roll and we would run circles around Slow-feet Ming.. we would've won the series already had Yao been playing in place of Gasol..
Yao averaged 22/10, 25/10, and 22/10 when Tracy played. Pau average 20/9, 20/9.8, and 19/8 those same years. The only argument you can make is durability, and I'll give that to you.
To be honest, I totally would, and it all has to do with durability. If someone said straight-up we would give you player X for Yao and player X could play 80ish games at a very high level and he was a big, I would take that deal. Let's be rational here; big men over 7 feet 4 are disasters waiting to happen, and it's not like Yao is a once-in-a-generation Wilt or Shaq; even when he's healthy, he's a game-changer but he's not the type of player that you say we're never trading this guy. He's not a prime Shaq, a Wilt, a Hakeem etc. Gasol for me fits under the definition of my player X.
Pau got doubled in Memphis because no one else could score. Yao gets consistently doubled or even triple teamed. Entire defensive schemes are created to deny Yao the ball because once he gets it he's unstoppable. Portland basically used 2 guys to sandwich him to deny him the ball. Gasol is rarely doubled by strong centers or forwards. In the finals last year he got shut down by Kendrick Perkins in single coverage. Yao would destroy Perkins in single coverage, and paired with a wingman like Kobe fronting would not even be an issue.
trade yao to lakers,lakers will be unstoppable.front and double yao won't working when a team has kobe.and if u single coverage yao or kobe,they will eat your head..
Paul fits RA's system better than Yao, but he cant make Rox better. For those who say he is better than Yao in offensive end, thats totally a joke.
