analysts? who? jalen rose or jamaal mashburn? or tim diggler? lol. look, you want tough player, you got one in yao. unless you describe someone who comes back from the tunnel without going back to the locker room after his knee gets bumped badly and then scores 8 in a row in the clutch, or someone who refuses to let the trainer even take a look at his fractured foot during an all important playoff game (and still gets 19/14 before he goes down) - "soft"? really?
Barkely said it and the TNT crew agreed with him. Mark Jackson said it and JVG agreed with him. It's the reason why Kobe wanted him to go to L.A and reason why Michael Jordan wanted to play against him during his prime. Toughness is an important quality to have on a championship team and that's why its valued so highly. That's not tough, that's call a sting. It stung Yao a bit and he came back and played. Nothing special, I've done that many times. I've never doubted Yao's ability to take punishment, just not in him giving it back. Dirk and Pau can take punishment that doesn't mean their tough. Their games are finesse/soft.
"I think I'd be a great fit in Houston," Boozer told the Salt Lake Tribune's Ross Siler. "I've been thinking about it for a long time now. I'm great friends with Shane [Battier] and I think it would be a great fit for me. That said, I'm still open to the possibility of staying in Utah." - http://www.thedreamshake.com/2009/4/1/817520/is-this-really-happening-boozer Not that I'd be interested in Boozer anyway. I say just keep this team together. Add an athletic 7 footer and one more Wafer-type player who can finish better and pass well (to play off the bench). That McGrady guy would actually fit the bill pretty well, if he can get his ish together. And that's it. No trades. No huge signings. We have the pieces, we just need to keep the chemistry right and tight, and be able to hang if Yao gets hurt next year. I want to see Dorsey develop into a Ben Wallace-Chuck Hayes with more athleticism type of player.
LOL ... backpedaling much? Your original statement "Give me the guy who I know I will get 18 and 9 from every night rather than the guy who splits between 35/15 - 7/5" alluded to no condition under which Yao's scoring and rebounding consistencies can remotely approach those of Gasol's (or what else could "every night" mean?). The analysis results show your assertion is widely off mark. But I'll bite and do the numbers for playoffs: Code: ----PPG---- ----RPG---- Gasol Yao Gasol Yao Mean 18.27 17.11 10.09 10.89 SE 1.57 2.22 0.80 0.65 Range 17 21 8 6 Minimum 13 7 6 8 Maximum 30 28 14 14 Note the playoff sample sizes are smaller and therefore much less indicative of "every night" stats. Although the consolation prize for you is Yao's scoring variation is larger than Gasol's, Yao's rebounding consistency is remarkable. If you look at individual game logs, Yao rebounded well regardless his scoring (the only exception is Game 2 in Portland). This is a repudiation of your claim that Yao's rebounding would go down as his scoring.
The question isn't who is a better player. But the question is would you trade Yao for Pau. Why would you trade Yao to potentially the best team in the West. You don't make big deals like this with a team you are competing with for a title. Stupid question, can't believe it made 8 pages and I posted in here 3 times.
say i believe you for a moment that you've played after a bumped knee... in a pickup game... lol. are you saying you've played with a broken foot, too? also, give me one example that shows ron is tougher than most other rockets.
When the day comes when Gasol constantly demands a double team, then I'll think about it for 2 seconds. No. Why are these threads keep popping up?
Yao said he got hit pretty hard and just needed to walk it off. "My knee feels fine, thanks for asking," he said. "There's no need to worry about it. I just need to put ice on it. Does that sound serious to you? I don't know why you're trying to diss pickup games but I had friends get hurt badly from it. Two of them require serious surgery and were never the same again. Did I say I played with a broken foot?
Yes, I will. Trade Yao's soft ass for Gasol, plz. Gasol is perfect for Rox, & Let Yao go LA! Make it happen, Morey! Fingers crossed~
if Dwight Howard, yes!!! yes!!! any day yes!!! Paul, nah thank you. he is a better rounded player than yao but damn he's soft.
The real question is: Does it matter how good Yao is if you can't count on him being available? He gets hurt every year! His body is apparently too big for the bones in his feet to take the pounding of an NBA season. Pau has never had the injury issues that Yao has. Take the injury issues away and I would take Yao over any other big except Howard.
You have brought up a good point,but at the same time I don't see the Lakers taking the risk of trading Pau for Yao because of the latter's injuries.
If Yao had no health issues, I would take him over Howard at the same age. But as it stands, even a Yao-for-Gasol trade is tempting.
I fail to see how you somehow interpreted my claim as absolute when I clearly and explicitly qualified it in the very next sentence. It should be intuitive that playoff performance is the litmus test. I wouldn't hold a supposed franchise player to any other standard. This is just too rich, LOL. my "consolation prize" is in Yao's scoring variation yet you've put selective emphasis upon rebounding as indicative of your triumph? Seriously? talk about analytical disingenuousness. i'm sorry, but yao can have a cookie for his rebounding consistency, but we both know that scoring is the barometer for a franchise player and go-to option. come on now, let's get serious - consolation prize? unless you're seriously positing that a franchise player's rebounding consistency is indicative of greater overall consistency than scoring consistency. maybe i missed something and we're arguing about chuck hayes, but last i checked, yao is this team's best player and #1 option on offense. he has a responsibility to rebound, but his value to us is his scoring. if he isn't scoring, we most often find ourselves in trouble.
