here they are head to head compaired Yao Ming Houston Rockets Position: C Height: 7-5 Weight: 296 From: China Player file | Team stats 2002-03 Statistics PPG 12.9 RPG 8.0 APG 1.4 SPG .33 BPG 1.94 FG% .543 FT% .776 3P% .000 MPG 26.6 Amare Stoudemire Phoenix Suns Position: F Height: 6-10 Weight: 245 High School: Cypress Creek (Orlando, FL) '0 Player file | Team stats 2002-03 Statistics PPG 12.5 RPG 9.1 APG .8 SPG .76 BPG 1.08 FG% .471 FT% .673 3P% .250 MPG 30.9 really close this is going to be a good playoff and roy race.
here are the stats for the past 10 games through tonight: amare: 17.0ppg, 12 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.0 bpg, 69% ft, 54% fg. yao: 13.7, 9.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.1 bpg, 82% ft, 46% fg. amare over the past 10 games has been pretty damn impressive on points and boards and is also in his best stretch of the season. this stretch is yao's weakest since his first 6 games as defenses have keyed in on him and he hit a mini wall which might have already passed. amare has momentum but how will he adjust to defenses that only yao has seen so far. he can't dunk over a double- team but yao certainly can shoot over one. my guess is that with yao's upward learning curve he adjusts quickly to these new defenses while amare hits a bit of wall eventually. however i doubt either one significantly pushes past the other. if both teams records are close i see yao getting the edge because of the rockets improvement since last season. we could very likely have a co-rookie award again. as far as the future goes, imo, 100% of general managers and coaches in the league would take yao over amare to build a franchise. one will be a great pf but the other will be a great 7'6" center. which one comes along more often and when was the last time a great pf won a championship ring? i'll take the center.
"No, teams do not usually play a collapsing zone with two or three player surrounding Shaq" LOL, funniest statement of the year.
When Shaq and Duncan were rooks, there was no zone. It would have been considered illegal d to double before they got the ball. They are now more adapted(as are their teammates with their every instinctive move) to the NBA. They would have been denied the ball just the same as Yao was last night. Impoissible now tho..their fellow players know just when they r gonna cut right or left. just my .002.
Why Marbury still couldn't get over the fact that there are more All-Star caliber PFs than Cs in this league? I am glad that Cat realized this: Guards can only get you so far.
On a previous note, I think Amare chances for being an All-Star this year is not do to popularity or skill, just that the West is known for it's forwards. We have Chris Webber, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowiztki (probably misspelled that), Kevin Garnett, etc. Center is a different thing, as Shaq is the only real other notable center other than Yao. If Phoenix just miraculously was in the East, then Amare would have a pretty good chance as the East is known a lot more for it's variety of shooters/guards.
<i>I know that. I've watched the game. But I don't watch many Lakers and Spurs games so I don't know how they are able to beat this kind of zone but we are not. Shaq/Duncan should have commanded more respect from opposing defense than Yao. I don't believe that they haven't faced this type of defense yet. If that's really the case, we got to play this "Boston defense" against Shaq on Friday denying him the ball seeing they have much worse perimeter players than us</i> Your missing the point of why teams play that type of defense and how you beat it. When a team plays a defense that is geared to shut down a single player, then they are gambling that the other 4 guys can't beat them. Against Boston, our other players did enough with the opportunites that Boston gave them. Back in '94,'95 and '96 Seattle use to play similarly again Hakeem. Because of the illegal defense rules, they had to at least pretend to be doubling after Hakeem caught the ball. But they had two extra guys cheating over toward Hakeem before he got the ball and then they ran at him hard as soon as the ball went to him. In those years, Hakeem usually scored 9 or 10 points in our games vs the Sonics. Those games were always decided by whether or not our other 4 players could make the Sonics pay for paying so much attention to Olajuwon. As long as Kobe is on the floor, I don't think you'll see any teams completly sell out on defense to stop Shaq. As somebody mentioned earlier, the fact that Yao can't consistently get good low post position, makes the Celtics style defense more effective. He's setting up outside the lane, so the defenders can double him without having to worry about a defensive 3 second call.
I can't stand those comments anymore that say Amare doesn't get double teamed or triple teamed or boxed out. You can not have watched games, why are you talking? He is getting double teamed everytime. When he had 38 against the Wolves he constantly beat 2 guys to score. Teams don't box him out... they CAN'T he is way too quick and strong and athletic to keep him off of the boards. He had 10 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS against the Spurs twin towers. You can't honestly believe that teams are sleeping on Stoudemire and don't try to stop him.
In addition, I think it only fair to mention the mpg in last 10 games. Yao - 29.7 Amare - 35 Yes I'm a homer, and yes I would follow Yao to hell and back. With that said, the game against Denver in which Yao played only 11 minutes, was easily going to be a nice double double game for Yao. Another thing, teams are totally focusing on Yao. With the zone defenses now, it's near impossible at times to touch the ball. The big thing is you have Yao who is playing tired because of years with little rest; not to menion he is not a physical speciment in the first place. Then you have Amare who is a physical speciment and had a significantly lighter schedule the past couple years. Has anyone watched the Suns this season? As rocket fans we see the big difference Yao brings to this team even without good stat nights. He has changed and helped our offense, made our defense stronger, and overall - helped us to be a team! Is this similar to what Amare does? Amare is a stud and Yao is a stud. The question is: Is the ROY basically the MVP award for Rookies? Who's more valuable? I think the ROY comes down to who gets past the rookie wall quicker and continues helping their team towards and in the playoffs.
I don't know if anyone has posted it yet, but Yao has dropped another rung in the Rookie Power Rankings for nba.com Amare is still in first place, and Caron Butler has moved into second.
Momentum is a fickle thing. Right now Amare is the ROY, but next week it could be Yao. If Yao drops 30 and 15 on Shaq fu, then we shall see who is ROY. Honestly, who cares? I mean, the only thing that really matters is how their teams are doing and they are both doing well. DD
There were still numerous opportunities to get Yao the ball. As Heinsohn the announcer said during the game, Yao was wide opened under the basket after a screen and roll but our guys opted for the jumper. We were fortunate that game that our guys were hitting but relying on long jumpers will not get us past the first round of the playoffs.
Lets not get too wrapped up in the moment of time... In the beginning, waaaaaaaaay back in November, rookie of the year talk was filled with ALL Drew Gooden all the time. Late November through December came around, that brought Yao's time to shine (with a little Dejuan Wagner thrown in), he was the "lock". Currently the "rookie of the year of today" is Amare Amare Amare. Take it easy, its mid-January and we don't know what late-January will bring- maybe Mike Dunleavy? () I'm hoping an ***-whooping for Shaq by Yao Ming, but even i doubt thats going to happen. Should be interesting to watch though. All said and done, Yao has brought some semblance of consistency, some huge games, and stat-wise he is pretty solid- if I was to vote today- it'd be Yao Ming. THE TOP-5 thus far, Yao Ming - 26.6MPG 12.9pts 8.0rebs 1.4ast 1.9blks 54FG% 77FT% 11 double-doubles Amare Stodemire - 31.2MPG 12.8pts 9.3rebs 0.9ast 1.1blk 47FG% 70FT% 16 double-doubles Dejuan Wagner - 33.8MPG 16.0pts 3.0ast 1.0stl 37FG% 31%3pt 78F% Drew Gooden - 26.6MPG 13.0pts 5.8 rebs 1.4ast 0.9stl 47FG% 70F% Caron Butler - 36.2MPG 14.1pts 5.6rebs 2.4ast 1.7stl 41FG% 85FT% Right now its Yao or Stodemire, but who knows what the next 3 months will bring? STuart
Probably cause so much has been made about how much basketball Yao has played in the past year or so without a break.
You do realize Amare isn't the best forward on the Suns yet, correct? There is a major difference in the degree opponents scheme to stop Yao verus Amare, major difference. As far as the issue as why the doubles and tripples don't work as well versus Shaq or Duncan, well, for one, Yao isn't as good as those guys yet. If Yao gets as strong as Duncan (getting as strong as Shaq is completely unrealistic) he will really be able to help his teamates drop the ball to him in good position--even if double or trippled. Right now we get a lot of TOs because 1 opponent player can hold him down or slow him while the other goes to steal it.
Comparing them, 1. scoring - even: They have drastically different styles, but they're roughly the same caliber right now. One has jumpers, the other dunks. 2. rebounding - Stoudamire: Yao rebounds decently because he has good fundamentals on box outs and is 7'5; Stoudamire has better instinct and more upper body strength; if Yao ever becomes stronger up top, Stoudamire won't be able to compete w/Yao in this category 3. defense Yao: Stoudamire isn't so bad, but Yao is so good at help defense that he can single-handedly kill an inside game for an entire team 4. distribution - Yao, by miles. Yao is the best passing big man in the league, with the possible exception of Sabonis. Stoudamire looks below average in this category. I'd rather have the taller, more polished player, especially since it's so obvious that he'll be able to improve on his upper body strength in the future. I don't see how Stoudamire could become much more athletic than he already is, and there's no reason to be certain that he'll ever become more sound fundamentally. Not that he won't, but it's less certain than Yao hitting a weight room.
