I caught that Philly announcer's "Yao is no polished Kareem" comment yesterday and I'm just shocked. One thing that truly irks me is all the boneheaded comparisons people are making about Yao as if he's the next coming of some other dude. Don't get me wrong, I have a great respect[b/] for NBA's rich history of centers. But to make comparisons as to Yao being the "second coming of another" is becoming simply ridiculous. Fact is, Yao is UNIQUE (he's 7'5"). He is his OWN MAN, and he's got HIS OWN GAME. Contrary to some early scouting reports, 1.YAO is not another coming of Rik Smits, even when Rik had GOOD feet. Rik was quite the Dutch scoring machine. I respect the guy a lot. But poor feet limited his abilities. 2.YAO is not the second coming of Kareem Sure, Yao throws mean hooks +2, +3, +5 feet from the hoop. But Kareem (errr Ferdinand Alcindor) did 28.8 pts/pg and 14.5 rbs/ in his ROOKIE YEAR! That is absolutely incredible! But again, not to shortchange history, but the game has changed. 3.YAO is NO Shawn Bradley. Just ask Shawn that question. 4.and YAO will never be another Shaq. Here is another interesting comparison. Shaq out of LSU was NEVER NEAR as polished as Yao. Yao has the fundamentals down more than Shaq did at this point in Shaq's career. Unfortunately, I think Shaq's bang bang game has altered our perspective as to what a 21st century center should do. Yet, any who remember Shaq's early years remember the critics complaining how Shaq had not post game. So then, where does Yao fit? .YAO is THE TOTAL PACKAGE sweetly wrapped in a 7'5" frame His team oriented philosophy sums it up best. I think Yao will go on to garner more "team" awards (i.e. championships) than individual accolades per se. Does that make him any less significant or polished than Kareem? Who knows? Who cares? With a guy who probably has the best basis to talk comparisons - RudyT, when asked of the Hakeem and Yao comparison a few games back, put it best, "He's got a feel for the game. He was free-flowing. He is a little bit like Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) in that he has an instinctive feel where you can't teach what he does. With guys like that, the sky's the limit." -peace
Hey Everybody! A little refresher on Kareem's and Chamberlain's place in history, and how they got there! http://www.nba.com/history/players/abduljabbar_bio.html Enjoy
Ok, Sarge I'll bite. I agree with your "Yao is his own man" premise. But he is the the most "alien" rookie I've ever seen. It's not the consistency, it's not because he's from China either. It is because he is so big and so skilled and so unfamiliar with the American style of basketball. So like many other foreign players in that respect, but so different in the combination of size/skill and mentality. I've said before that his strengths are overcoming his weaknesses at a mind-numbing rate, and they continue to do so. But where his game is now, I can't say. I know it's very good and I know he'll only get better. But the stamina/exhaustion factor coupled with the culture shock and his entire team is playing a new offense and defense, it's hard to get a good read on where he is. Any comparisons to NBA greats are really impossible, but if this helps Yao would have done well with the big "O" in '69 in Milluakee, he would have dominated at a ridiculous level when Wilt came in. If you really want a comparison I can make it's Ralph Sampson except Yao has a good body, a better shot and more fire, oh yeah and he's just bigger overall. But people in Houston are quick to forget what Sampson would have become if he remained healthy, he was better than Dream in his first two years and had incredible skill for a 7'4" guy. In a way our having Yao seems like karmic redemption for what happened to Ralph. Either that or some higher power really enjoys having a great big man in Houston.
declan, I've heard that comparison before with Ralph Sampson. That's actually one of the few fair comparisons, I think, that are out there. Like u said though, injuries kinda took him out of his game prematurely. With respect to injuries, I hope Yao goes easy on the fadeaway jumpers. That's a quick ticket to back problems, IMO. A lot of young centers like Ewing used to thrive on fadeaways. But more often than, it's a trip to the masseuse three years down the line.
Check this out. I hope the Sampson comparisons end with the "personality" differences. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/features/si_nbafinals/1986/ -peace
"Despite the fact that he had worn a DANCE FOR DISARMAMENT T-shirt to practice the day before, Bill Walton tackled Sampson, who grew progressively enraged as the battle wore on." I thought this part was pretty funny .
