Right now Yao is a solid center. I say with a offseason at Fondy, some teaching from Kareem, and a weight room Yao can be a beast. Even though he'll never play like Shaq, he can be dominate in his own way. We know he can get any shot he wants, he just doesn't take enough. In 5 years, I say Yao will be the best center in the league, like an upgraded Tim Duncan. His numbers will be something like this 25pts 9rebs. What ya'll think?
I think as long as Shaq and Duncan in the league he won't be the best and with the imergance of Amare in Phoenix as a center he won't be as good as those guys. He can be good but first he has to live up to al the hype.
I don't ever recall a lot of hype surrounding Yao. Yeah, he has good size and a shooting touch on him, but I don't remember anyone saying that he would be a 30/15 monster and the next Wilt or Shaq. 18/8 are already very good numbers and Yao has more than satisfied expectations and proven his haters wrong. I would say that Yao can become a 24/11 force. His rebounding should be fine once he gets some strength and becomes better at boxing out.
Yao needs to improve on his conditioning to play atleast 40 mins per game. He averages 18/9 in about 33 mins a game. His numbers will increase as he plays and stays in the game longer.
In 5 years, Yao will be 30 years old. There's a good chance he won't be nearly as effective, actually. I'm surprised he's held up, health-wise, for 3 straight seasons like he has. But historically, men of his size tend to break down once they approach their 30s. It's not a given that he'll be better, or even as good, as he is right now.
In five years he will be a better centre he already improved his game for last seassons stats.. but i dont think he will be the best centre one day or anything like that.. yes he will be grate but not the best imo
when yao gets tougher and angrier and has time in the summmer to practice he'll be amazing like shaq or close to shaq in dominance
I never wish to compare Yao with Amare. But personally I think Amare is someone who can get a fabublous stats but not the winning of a game without a good passer. While Yao is a different type. More often than not as long as he's on glass, we have more chance to win, even tho there's not a good passer within Rox.
In Rockets uniform hopefully, 50% of basketball fans may think hes overrated but I think hes great and he should stay with the rockets, he averages 17.5 ppg and played with Francis last year who wouldnt pass a lot to Yao and Van Gundy tried to get into Francis's head by telling him to pass to Yao more, but i expect Yao to at least average 20 ppg and 9 rpg by next year and if he gets enough minutes the year after that he could average 10 rebounds a game, which would mean hes a real good center, and I would love for Yao to be like Hakeem, stay in Houston until the year before he retires to get a ring
It's not Van Gundy's fault that Yao is averaging only 32 minutes per game. It's partly his own, and it's also because Mutombo played so well. If Yao is to stay in games even in foul trouble, then you could expect him to play even less because he'll foul out. Until we get a better help defender or Yao becomes less foul-prone, I doubt he would ever average the minutes that would enable him to get those numbers.
Yao needs to tell himself "I've got all the tools" To me, it always looks as if he shys away sometimes. He lacks strength but that can be taken care of during offseason. With his size, plus strenght, and alll the effort by the coaching staff to keep Yao improved every season, he could get 24/11 like Trip said. He just gotta keep attacking. Hell, who's going to block him? Sure he might get blocked and get humiliated but bigger chances are that he's gonna get fouled and he'll go to the line for 2.
Yao's pretty good but I still think he will never be on the same level as shaq, or KG, or Duncan, or even Stoudemire. Yao is overated because hes tall. I remember his rookie year he made the all star team amare didnt but amare won the ROY. So Yao's overated and will never be on the same level as some other dominant big men. But dont get me wrong Yao is still a great player.
dont think just because hes not gonna be like KG or shaq or duncan hes not already good, hes yao man, hes gonna be however good he is going to be, and his conditioning is fine its just he plays year round in case some of you guys forget.
TheTruth5 and miamiballa12, I'm not starting a flamewar, but take a look at these. Yao & TMac Overrated? Leave Yao Alone! Is Yao Overrated? I think the consensus is that Yao is not overrated.
It's hard to call Yao overrated when in his Rookie season he was getting bashed. People were calling him a bust. They were saying things like "Yao makes Shawn Bradley look like Bill Russel". So Yao has been through alot, he finally gets some respect. If you've followed Yaos NBA career you should know that he is capable of being a great player. All he needs to do is be more consistent.
^ I dont know what you guys are talking about, you guys would kiss yao's *** to get him on the lakers, as would almost any team in the league. None of you guys know what you are talking about. You know any guys close to yao's hieght who have been as good as him? He can play really well, but there are obstacles to being 7'5. Give him time, and he can be a great. His numbers are already pretty impressive and he is definetly in the top three centers in the league. He will likely be the best center in the league in five years.
