I agree with you Desert Scar. I think LeBron will be a great player but I'd take Yao over him. And thats not just because Im a Rockets fan.
DS- Good point, but Yao until he joined the NBA usually only played vs pretty weak teams in China. Granted in international competetion he played against alot of guys who would be succesful in major NCAA or NBA basketball but his USUAL level of competition was pretty low. THat was one thing most questioned is how he would live up to the best competetion on a 82 game schedule (which he has done very well)
True, but we now have the knowledge Yao can play in this league. From what I know now, no question I pick Yao. Further, if Yao was coming out this year this is probably true as well: 1) You can't teach a guy to be 7'6" with a nice shooting touch and a solid foundation in his lower body. 2) Yao's international comp was still quite a bit tougher than Lebron's. Now if you had a Hakeem or Drob or Shaq or Duncan coming out while they had been killing elite college level comp that is one thing to pick over Yao--but Lebron and noone else since Duncan has been that kind of a sure thing.
Scar- Usually, I agree wiht 95% of things you say... but LeBron is WAY more NBA-ready than Darius Miles. Miles doesn't bring many basketball skills to the table, other than making a nice pass, once in a while. LeBron has already developed a pretty solid fadeaway jumper, a shot that took Kobe a good 4-5 years to master. Also, LeBron supposedly whipped random members of the Cavs, last summer during his illegal workout/practice/whatever. LeBron is also way ahead of Miles, from a physical standpoint. LeBron will be a matchup nightmare for opposing SFs because of his 6-8, 240 lb frame. I don't think it's crazy to say that LeBron would average 20 ppg next year, if he is the go-to guy from Day 1. Going back to the topic, I would probably go with Yao. I do think James will be the better player, but a good center is just too rare to pass up. I think that Yao and James will be the 2 best players in the NBA, 8-10 years from now.
That still doesn't prove how he'll hold up to NBA talent. <i>Ba-doom-ching. Thank you folks!</i> Seriously though, I'm in the group that thinks he's gonna be a special player. If you have an ESPN Insider subscription, there's a GREAT article on him today. Dude has his head on his shoulders. I'll admit I thought Yao would be a bust, but he's proved me wrong. The main reason he's succeeding is the same reason LeBron will succeed -- they both have a great work ethic and drive. Possibly the next Jordan-Olajuwon like everyone has been saying.
I didn't say Lebron wasn't better than Miles, mainly using the case to point out that no matter how dominant a hscler was there is a ways to go to the pros. KG, Kobe, T-Mac, Brown, Chandler, Curry, Bender, Amare, Miles--a lot of really highly regarded hsclers didn't score half of 20PPG their first year and I don't think any of this group even got to 14PPG. I would say it is 1/10 odds at best Lebron can score 20PPG next year in the pros, which is still better odds he will be as good as Micheal Jordan. I would say maybe 1/5 odds he becomes as good as T-Mac or Kobe or KG--for every one of them there are 3-4 Bender, Miles, Kwame and Curry's. Is Lebron playing in the McD game tonight. UA's two blue chippers for next year are (Shakir & Ebi, sp?) Glad to see you would take Yao over Lebron KR.
Yep. I've seen Ebi play, and he is a Nowitzki/KG mix. Very athletic and highly skilled for a 6 ft 9 guy. He can shoot from downtown, drive to the hole, pass, rebound, block shots.... He just is really skinny. UA got themselves a hell of a player in Ebi. You can thank Josh Pastner for that, since Ebi played for the Houston Hoops AAU team, who Pastner used to coach, and the team his dad owns/runs.
People like you made assumptions about Yao before even hearing a single thing about him. Everyone practically knows everything about LeBron since he's been on tv this whole year, in articles left and right. I bet if Yao had all this exposure last year during his final year with the Sharks, everyone would have been on his jock. I have a feeling LeBron is going to go to the Heat...we'll see what happens...
I still think Yao haters would exist, just because he did it against Chinese competition. If Yao did what he did against AMERICAN HS or college kids, then Yao would have had a lot more love.
6-8 and 240 lbs at age 18? Am I reading about Robert Traylor? Does it ever occur that James might be a tweener between sf and pf in the NBA with that kind of build?
Honestly, let's see what James can do next season first. Having said that, even if James dominate in his rookie season and live up his Magic/Jordon potential, I'd still pick Yao. No regret.
No-brainer, LBJ Have any of you seen any of his games? He is always a man amongst boys who can score whenever he wants, even in the Mcdonald's All-Star game, but he chooses to get everyone else involved and makes all of his teammates better. This is somthing Yao has yet to do. People say look at our improvement this year compared to last years injury filled season. I say look at our almost identical record from our team of 2 years ago when everyone was healthy. We have shown no improvement and nobodies game has improved with the addition of Yao. I can guarantee you whoever is lucky enough to get James will be significantly better next year, both team record and the play of those around him. About taking a good big man over a great small man. That is the case 99.9% of the time, but LBJ is that special player that defies all the usual logic. He has Jordan's athletic, marketing ability and Magic's basketball knowledge in the perfect basketball body. He will average at least 20,7,7 next year at the age of 18. About the marketing and hype, He is already more hyped than Yao and will only explode once he can start getting paid for his services. He is much more marketable because he speaks the language. He will be on your t.v. every third commercial. We will all be sick of seeing him in a year or two. He will sell out every arena he goes to. He is a Gm/owner/coach's fantasy.
Good point about Lebron making everyone around him better. I think Yao has the potential to do that, it's just a matter of him getting the ball more.
Right now, I think James edges Yao. Lebron is gonna be awesome, he passes like Magic johnson and has the scoring ability of Tmac and Kobe. He's 6'8" and has the build of a power forward. Given 3 years of development, I think James is gonna be the top players if not the top player.
That is if James doesn't go into mental rehab after getting punked by NBA players so hard that the "King James" tatoo fell off his a$$.
