If proper healthy like the eagle of night , Yao could win championship every year by himself with no team mates
And more. Dream was the total package. The Rockets were pampered in having a player like him that it was/is difficult to find a replacement. Yao was thought to be it but despite His skills, is still miles away from Dream.
It is embarrassing for the board that only 85% have said no. There is probably less than a 0.01% chance (yes I'm making up statistics here) that Yao could have led either Hakeem led championship team to a title.
If played by old rules with illegal defence instead of 3sec violation yao could lead any team into championship.
when exactly is Yao's prime? His best basketball for me is always when he just return from injury and before the next. Thats like 3-4 months of good basketball and thats it. Till the day Yao can show he can play good basketball for the WHOLE season, he should not even be allowed in the same sentence that consist of lead and championship.
I honestly can't believe that anyone with even the slightest knowledge of pro basketball would ever under any circumstances compare Yao to Dream. Honestly, the only two things they have in common is that they are both foreign born players that were drafted by the Rockets. I won't speculate as to why over ten percent of the board seems to think otherwise, but just because you identify with a specific player doesn't mean you should sacrifice your objectivity when discussing their game.
I'd have to add on that scale(that if it was 1-10), those years Hakeem was 12. He was completely unstoppable. I'd don't know if any center ever to play the game that could have stopped him. Those were the years that there were many quality centers in the league. Yao is a solid 6 or 7 in a era of not many true centers. But in Yao's defense the rule changes have hurt the way big men can play the game. With Yao's health issues, his aggressiveness and him being so prone to lose the ball, drops him down, other wise he could maybe reach a 8 or 9. For the guys that voted "Yes", you apparently never saw the Championship years or "The Dream".
man thats like asking could TMAC lead the bulls to a championship if he replaced MJ.,.ofcourse not...dont get me wrong im not bashing TMAC.,.i love the dude.,.just check out my username...haha.,.but HELL NO
I made a poll like this along time ago http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=151691 Let's remember that Dream won the MVP AND the DPOY that year (94) whenever someone actually does that, then you can compare him to Dream
I remember a few years ago, Dream was showing Yao some post moves. Yao looked like a lost puppy trying to guard him. My answer would be a big No.
A more accurate question would be if Yao replace Ralph Sampson, could the 86 rockets win a championship? I would say definitely.
For everyone that said that the big man is killed by the rules today and they had a free walk in the past, they need to watch some old videos. What Pryzbilla did in the playoffs this past year is no where considered aggressive in the old NBA, Yao had both of his arms free at almost all times. You see big men with contact inside, rebounding with one had (because of the other arm is locked), it's a very different game without that was allowed before there was the Zone. The refs were not whistle happy at all, and you'd have to get murdered to get a call. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aaJRYprAWBM&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aaJRYprAWBM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Pay close attention to the 2:00 mark and see how one battles for position (checkout Bird vs. Barkley) in the past. The amount of moves and counters kinda resembles UFC.
Nothing against Yao 'cause he is a good player but Hakeem was unstoppable and the rest of the guys were role players. Yao will do well on a team with other players to take the attention away from him. If you are talking about what type of team Yao could win with I would say a team like the Lakers. He could do Gasol's job without a problem but he would not do as well on a team where he is the center of attention (no pun intended). He can't beat double\triple teams like Dream did.
