True. But he had a very smooth jump hook and turnaround jumper, which is what Yao relies on a lot as well. He didn't have that baseline spin move that Yao has gotten good at, at least not that I recall.
what would you call him? yao's certainly not close to a poor man's shaq/hakeem. a poor mans's ewing would also be about right imo. but what's the difference?
the only similarity is that they are not major-impact defensive players. Yao's offensive game is substantially ahead of Riks.
I know, Yao is good, but he is not an all time great, and his slowness of foot will probably stop him from ever being considered one of the all time greats. Yao is a star no doubt, and a great player, but NOT an all time great. DD
while Yao's game is similar to Rik Smits, Yao is just flat out more talented than Smits ever was....granted he's still a little soft, but Yao > Rik Smits.
Love Yao's game and wouldn't trade him for Smits. But if it were physically possible to time travel some of Smits' teammates to Dec 2007, I can think of quite a few trades that would be really interesting.
I'd like to weigh in on this, but seeing as before the season started I said Dwight Howard was a poor mans Shawn Kemp, I think I have very little ground to stand on.
No it just means that the other team knows you have no shooters to make them pay for the double team.
Like I said before, Put a shooter like Reggie Miller on your team and we're going places. Travis Best was an average pt guard but he knew how to run the team and that front court that Indiana had with the two Davis's was like a wall. But that was a more methodical team too that had set plays and ran a lot of screens for Reggie which is what I think we need on our team.
This is what happens when you don't win in this league. You win and you get credit; you don't and you get criticism. Yao has not had any post-season success in his career; hence he ain't getting no love from Mr. Simmons.
Aren't we past the point of taking BS and his BS seriously? I haven't read him in years because I tired of reading the same old jokes over and over again, but his basketball analysis was always very superficial. I imagine he thinks he's god this year because of the Celtics, it almost sickens me to think of the crap he is churning out with the Celts, Pats & Sox riding high. Too much. Blech.
Rik Smits wasn't 1/3 the back-to-the-basket player that Yao is. But they were both over 7', not particularly quick, and have good jumpers. So it's a great comparison!
