<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think Yao will ever be as dominant a player as Shaq for several reasons. Firstly, he'll never have the same type of stamina so he's not going to be able to beat defenders down the court as routinely as Shaq did in his prime. Because he arrives late to the offense much of the time, this cuts down on the number of plays run for him as well as makes it more difficult for him to get easy shots. He's fairly slow going after loose balls and has poor reflexes, which prevents him from being a strong rebounder and shot blocker. Yao's hands aren't as big and strong as Shaq's, and that prevents him from finishing as easily in traffic. And while Yao is capable of delivering good passes, his passing game depends on how he's used within the offense, and in Van Gundy's system his passing isn't used very much (which is a real shame). Also, Yao's personality and relationship with his teammates is much different. He doesn't demand the ball the way the great dominant players do, and consequentially he doesn't get the ball as often as he probably should. I don't know if his teammates respect him like Shaq's and Hakeem's did. Yao's one advantage over Shaq is his shooting touch. But that's not enough to make him any where near as dominant.</div> Yao doesnt get an off season break, thats a big part of why his stamina is so low. He plays basketball for the full NBA season and then goes back to become the centerpiece of the chinese national team. He has no time to rest up and be as fresh as shaq has been. Shaq didnt goto the olympics. Yao has to go, if he doesnt he wont ever be allowed in china again. People in china hate wang zhi zhi because he didnt come back, Yao is such a large icon that if he does turn his back on the national team itll impact the way china views the united states.
