If Vince Carter in his prime replaces Jordan on the 90-91 Bulls team, do they win the championship? Hakeem is a top five all-time center. It is not fair to compare him to Yao.
Theres no way a slow footed Yao could gaurd David Robinson to even get pas the Western Conference. Daivd would average 30 points a night on driving past him and shooting over him when Yao played off of him for the drive. Hakeem was the best over all of those players and that is how we won. Yao couldnt take Ewing even. Yao is good but Ewing might have been better and so was Robinson and Shaq. I would have still taken all of our Rockets players at that time to win games for us but there was just some games that Hakeem was so dominant that he won them by himself in many instances and he was one of the best playoff performers ever. Not to mention Yao wouldnt have even made into the playoffs. He would be injured by the second round making this point moot.
HELL no. idk if we have seen Yao's prime, and if it passed without me noticing than that's pretty sad. Yao has to get to the Finals before we can think about that
i like yao but its hard to imagine but... make no mistake about it Yao would have been a force in the old days where guys WERE NOT allow to double team a guy if he doesn't have the ball yet...nowadays u can front yao and have a "safety" behind yao so even if he catches the ball, a guy is there to contest yao. factors: no double teaming before yao catches the ball and illegal defense"zone" yao would definitely cause a lot more problems for opponents example game 1 of the rockets vs blazers series were Prizilla thought he could take yao 1v1...guess not then they changed strategy for the rest of the series were they have fronting prizilla/oden and a "safety" behind yao.
I don't even see how the Rockets could have beaten the Jazz, Suns, or Spurs in those years, much less could have beaten the Knicks and Magic. The Jazz and Suns would have pick and rolled Yao straight to the disabled list. David Robinson would have had Yao in foul trouble right from the tip off. Ewing and that crew of bullies would have beat Yao up in a way he's never experienced and a 24 year old Shaq was so quick and active that he was just a different player from what Yao has seen of him since he came into the league.
Yao is too soft for that era, so no way. But another interesting question is who could have replaced Hakeem in that time, obviously excluding Shaq.
You want Yao to play PF? Good luck with that. If you're switching Hakeem out to PF, I'd have to think about it. The paint would get kind of crowded.
the more time passes and the less educated the new fans become, this would happen. As a Rockets community, we need to emphasize tradition and glory like the Lakers and Celtics do. No Laker fan is going to vote Derek Fisher over Magic Johnson. History is important.
I think a young Kareem may be then only one that might have also won a championship. Shaq would be too limited of a 4th quarter/clutch option. Wilt? I guess so but he played so long ago. Bill Russell lacked the offensive game. I think those 4 guys are the only ones that are in the same league as Hakeem.
I don't think we should get carried away here. Just because he's no Hakeem does not mean he sucks. Yao would probably have been at Brad Daugherty's level. Maybe a little more dominant offensively. He gets pretty rough treatment right now as it is - and the double-teams/fronting would not have been entirely legal back then.
I blame you for exposing 15% of our constituency as the uneducated, moronic, Rockets fans that they are.
Right Now he cant and he doesnt hav a chance he has the best supporting cast and the worst fellow all Star .. ( I Saw a TNT commercial where Charles Barkley says Who rubs off the other more Yoa or Mac the Mac speaks chinese .. will it seems that yoa rubbed thet stupid harline fracture TMac ) anyways if he wants a championship one he must : Retire internationaly with respect to all the chinese fans accept a more leadrship role and become more aggresive and selfish have a better 2nd all star scorer ..
also people forget...its easier for big guys during the older era(even tho it was rougher)...harder for the perimeter guys(uses body bumps and hand check were legal)...nowadays EASY for perimeter guys and harder for post players with the zone defense and no illegal defense besides the 3 second violation. Yao would have cause more problems in the old post era days. can not double him before he catches the ball.
