Although I agree Yao should step up, but the weak competition argument is getting old. If the game is played 1-on-1 and position by position, then Yao should dominant his weak opponents. But it's not.
I would reorder them according to PPG first: Shaq (21 PPG, 12 RPG) Yao (18.4, 8) Z (18, 8) Miller (15.5, 8.5) Nazr (13, 9) Magloire (12, 8.5) Big Ben (12, 12) Damp (8.5, 7) Then I would also look at FGA and FG%. This can be very telling for big men. You want your center shoting at least 50% on high percentage (point blank) shots, traditionally. In order of shots taken: Z - 13.2 FGA, 47% Yao - 12.9, 50.4% Shaq - 12.8, 59% Magloire -12, 44% (that's just sorry) Curry - 11.2, 45% Miller -10.7, 52.3% Ben - 10, 48% *skipping some others* Nazr - 9, 55.6% Damp - 7, 51% Also consider turnovers: Shaq: 3.2 Curry: 3.1 Magloire: 2.9 Yao: 2.8 Z: 2.4 Damp: 2.1 Miller: 1.4 Ben: 1.4 Nazr: 1.3 Fun, full comparison. The numbers certainly make it hard to argue against placing Yao as a top 3 center. I'd say they support saying that Shaq is still the best in the game, and that Brad Miller and even Nazr Mohammed should get more appreciation than they might get. Magloire is overhyped by virtue of his single defacto inclusion on an Eastern All-Star squad. Place the buyer beware tag on Curry's forehead, though. I think fan frustration in regard to Yao shouldn't be considered a statement that he isn't one of the league's best. If anything, this is just another reminder about how shallow the position is. That Ilgauskas takes the most shots of any center but only enough to be #38 among all players is alarming. Dream had a career avg of about 17 shots per game. Ewing 16. Admiral averaged 14. Kareem had an 18 shot per game avg (granted it was in an era of 120 point games). So Yao looks good amongst today's leaders at the position. The flip side is, most of us here on the boards still remember the 90s, which were a golden age of centers when compared to NBA history. I think many see the potential in Yao to become a historic great on that level, but his production thus far has not met those expectations or hopes. Maybe that's unfair. Evan
If we are comparing Yao to Erick Dampier, Big Z, and Brad Miller, we should be disappointed in Yaos performance. These guys are borderline all-stars. When you draft first overall, you are looking for a franchise player, a superstar. It doesn't always happen, but that is what you want.
I agree. Just because Yao being the second best center in the NBA doesn't mean he is a Franchise player or doing great. I mean, the best center Shaq is 21th in scoring and only 4th in rebounding. Yao is big but he is not playing big (35th in ppg and 23th in rpg). Reggie Evans and Haslem averaged more rebounds than Yao.
I respect your opinion of what a franchise player should be, it's just different from mine. I feel both Yao and Shaq are franchise players. Right now, Yao is not great. He is good. I find it very hard to believe that he is plateauing. The man is still learning fundamentals, NBA fundamentals. He is learning to score in ways he's never done before. Less dribles, through multi-teams, quicker shots. It's his third year, and I feel he had made good progress in all areas, maybe not rebounding. I feel his rebounding skills are better than before. Once we get a long shot blocker, I think he is at least a 10 rebound guy, which will make him a good rebounder. The fact that he is 7'6 really makes his missed rebounds look bad. We really shouldn't hold his height against him. He gets rebounds a normal sized person(lol, you know, 6'8 normal) would not get, and we take them for granted. My only thing against Yao is his wussiness. He invites others to abuse him. He invites others to get too close to him. I have been calling for him to physically hurt dirty players to send a message for the league. I know perhaps it's not an honorable thing to do, but I feel it's necessary. It's the only way.
U hit it where it hurts clove. I am with you. Yao truly sucks. He sucks more than rik smits. He sucks more than Shawn Bradley. I want to sucker punch yao in the face. Becoz of him, the rockets suck. Everybody knows yao can score more than 18 and grabbed more than 8 and blocked more than 2 and gave more than 3 assist. But he is hindering himself from doing these type of things becoz he just sucks. Lebron, Amare, Wade, Boozer, they are all putting more impressive numbers, plus their teams are performing much better too. Everybody knows that the rockets suck by losing to three donut teams, **** this sucks. I hate to see the rockets play becoz yao just sucks, and tmac shoots tooooooooooooooooooooooo many j's. hey TMAC, watch a high school kid named lebron and observe how he destroy every player who is guarding him. Plus, study how he makes his teammates better and how to blow up teams.
