Thanks for the link but I have watched every single Rockets' game since Yao came to NBA. I'm not saying Yao has no agility... He's amazing for 7'6". .. But you can't compare his quickness to Hakeem's and Shaq's. Next game, I'll have a stop watch to count the total time of one of his complete spin move and get Shaq's. We'll see.
You guys are looking at the past. Shaq can't do nearly what he could. Neither can Jordan for that matter. Injuries and age, injuries and age. Youth will be served.
iOrange, you need to go back to read my post again. I was using a post from the Indy fan, not mine. I've been saying it all along that Shaq has more than just a power game. The guy has some very nice offensive moves in the post. I still believe he is by far the best center in the game at this time. now, if you compare Shaq's move to Jordan style, that's a different story. You are not serious, are you?
never mind I was pointing to the Indy guy then. Actually even I can do an Air J layup, 2 feet lower than the rim and 3 times slower...
I watched the Indy game, and this is not what happened. The bench kept the lead and extended it while Yao was on the bench in the second quarter. Indy scored ten or twelve straight against the starters in the third including Yao. SF turned the ball over about four times in this stretch, Cat and Rice were still ice cold. It looked like the Rockets were about to choke when Indy took a ten point half deficit and turned it into a 3 point lead. Rudy is slow to adjust sometimes and SF was faltering back into his out of control turnover mode. Without Yao, the Rockets get blown out. With Yao they have a chance, only because he's got better court sense and bball IQ than his teammates ( and lots of other nba'ers. )
Don't bet on it, derrock. We don't know what kind of number Yao will put up by the end of the season. Yao only had 24 games under his belt, but what he has been doing is way better than anyone has expected in their wildest dream. I don't think Rudy expected this, Heck, I don't think even Yao himself expect this. Gosh, I cannot believe what I'm saying. I still remember I posted an answer to a question regards Yao on a Lakers board back in 2000, when I called Yao a Bradely with a better O, but worse D. Those observation was not just speculation. I watched a couple of Yao's CBA games when he was 17, and couple more in 2000. I still remember the game he was totally schooled by Tang, a 7'2" player who was 3 years younger than him, another game he couln't do anything right when he was guarded by Bateer. But, what a difference two years make!
World Championship in Indiana I guess. But I gues the other guy mean't "PLAY-OFF" experience instead of championship. I don't want to get over my head but I am quite sure that Yao has the highest BB IQ among all the Centers in the NBA (and probably top 5 in all NBA). Rookie of the Year + a few MVP votes.
Okay so now we have this Tang guy, a 19-year-old who, "totally schooled" Yao. I'm beginning to get a little scared of all these Chinese seven footers.
I didn't mean Tang is a better player than Yao at this stage, but he did DOMINATING Yao for that game. The story was that there was some media hype about Tang, who was very talent, and younger than Yao. So Yao made some comments like, he's going to crash Tang, etc. After the game, Yao was very humble, though
Actually, by my calculations, he would probably be the fourth best center in the league. Fifth if Jermaine Oneal is counted as a center, and sixth if Pau Gasol is counted as a center (since they both play like centers, but because their respective teams already have centers, they are PF's). #1 is Shaq obviously #2 is the most underrated player in the NBA Zydrunas Illgauskus 18ppg, 7 rpg, and remember this is without an all star point guard to get him the ball like Yao has #3 Ben Wallace - Not as good offensively (ppg, assists) than Yao, but better than him in every other area of the game 6ppg, 15rpg, 3bpg #4 Yao - 12ppg, 7rpg
Your kidding right??? Illguakus is shooting at 40% clip and Ben Wallace is a poor man's Dennis Rodman. Oneal and Duncan maybe but not those two.
Yeah Z is one of my favs. But how could you rank big Ben on top of YaoMing? This guy plays offense like the twisted-mind Rodman. Rodman was a great scorer and he FORCED himself to miss shots Ben just doesn't have the ability...
I disagree. Just one question: 5 sececond left in game and you are behind 1 point. Who among those four centers you would like to throw the ball to? Stats is not everything ...
That's funny, I coulda sworn I've seen CBA highlights on my CCTV satellite dish that showed Yao doing these crossover, reverse type moves you're talking about. Also, why would Yao do a crossover near the basket? Centers are taught to keep the ball up to use their height advantage. If you wanna see agility, why not take a look at how well he moves his feet on offense and defense, don't get fooled just because you've seen Shaq do a reverse or two in his 10 years in the NBA.
Great !!! What next ? 7th if Olowokandi could play ? 8th if Dikembe was not a dik ? 9th if Camby was a bit stronger and taller ? 10th if Horace Grant still played ? 11th if Theo Ratliff didn't play in Atlanta ? This is ridiculous...Yao has a double double in all but 1 of his last 10 games...We now expect him to score 20, get 10 boards and block 3 shots every time out...
