Peak Only: Dirk/Yao or KG/Dwight

[Matt15]

Peak only, which duo would you rather have?

[Basketballefan]

Dwight/KG quite handily. They would be devastating on defense and would get you a fair amount of offense as well.

Dirk/Yao would be good offensively but average defensively.

[Colbinii]

Dwight/KG quite handily. They would be devastating on defense and would get you a fair amount of offense as well.

Dirk/Yao would be good offensively but average defensively.

Dirk and Yao may be average defensively but you put a team around Yao like his Rocket teams with defensive specialists all over the court and then add a top 10 offensive player of all-time in Dirk and they would be much better than average defensively.

I would take Dirk and Yao, not quite handily by any means, but because of the elite offensive the duo would have.

[Mamba4Goat]

KG and D12 would eat them alive.

[Basketballefan]

Dwight/KG quite handily. They would be devastating on defense and would get you a fair amount of offense as well.

Dirk/Yao would be good offensively but average defensively.

Dirk and Yao may be average defensively but you put a team around Yao like his Rocket teams with defensive specialists all over the court and then add a top 10 offensive player of all-time in Dirk and they would be much better than average defensively.

I would take Dirk and Yao, not quite handily by any means, but because of the elite offensive the duo would have.

Well the same can be said for KG/Dwight, you can surround them with good offensive players.

At the end of the day, you're more likely to win championships with an elite defensive frontcourt as opposed to elite offensive frontcourt.

[Darren_Errman]

I can think of some strategies to slow D12 and KG.

I honestly don't know how ur going to game plan against Dirk and Yao.

[Hawk]

Howard and Garnett for me. Garnett has the better peak here IMO and Howard was a defensive beast while scoring 20 ppg with .616% TS

[lukekarts]

KG and D12 would eat them alive.

I'm not sure how? Garnett never showed he could slow down Dirk, and we know how Yao vs Dwight works out.

In truth, you can't really go wrong with either duo, but I think Dirk/Yao would be better. Sure, they're not instantly a #1 defensive team, but they're almost certainly the hardest team to stop. I'd much rather go into the playoffs with a very good defensive team, and two excellent offensive options, than an elite offensive team, but only two good offensive options.

[Masigond]

KG and D12 would eat them alive.

How, when it was actually Yao who was giving D12 nightmares (averaging 23.6/10.4 against Howard's 12.2/9.8)? Do you really think that peak KG is that much better than peak Dirk? Those two were quite on the same level as seen in all those duels in the regular season (and Dirk showed in the 2002 playoffs that Garnett couldn't stop him. This pre-peak Dirk was averaging 33/16 against near-to-peak Garnett's 24/18).

When you're talking head-to-head, your claim seems to be quite wrong IMO.

[HeatRing2012]

KG and D12 would eat them alive.

looks like a pretty exclusive opinion you got there... Yao was known to crush Dwight whenever they met (on both ends) and Dirk got the better of KG in the playoffs.

if anything, then the reverse is true: Dirk+Yao would eat them alive and it's not even close

[Mamba4Goat]

Yeah, let's base our opinions of matchups when D12 was still a young developing lad and Yao was in his prime..

The thing is, offensively, it's pretty much a toss up of who's feeling it that day between the two groups. Defensively, it's not close.

[SlowPaced]

KG/Dwight. KG was a very versatile offensive player in his prime, he was a team on his own, in a way. KG-Dwight combo is simply scary defensively. I think people forget how good KG was offensively in his heyday. He could dribble and penetrate like a guard and had great assist averages.

Dirk/Yao combo would be an absurd size advantage, however you'd need really good defenders on the wing to make it work.

Dirk/Yao getting the better of KG/Dwight in their matchups is an out-of-place argument considering the question is "Who'd you rather have on your team", not "Which duo would perform better than the other one in a game?".

[Masigond]

Yeah, let's base our opinions of matchups when D12 was still a young developing lad and Yao was in his prime..

How much do you think that Howard has developed since being 22/23 years old in his fourth and fifth season when Yao was still whooping his ass, outscoring AND outrebounding him in most games? Howard was already leading the league in rebounding back then (in both seasons) and scoring around 20 ppg on >.580 TS%...

Dirk/Yao getting the better of KG/Dwight in their matchups is an out-of-place argument considering the question is "Who'd you rather have on your team", not "Which duo would perform better than the other one in a game?".

True, but it was Mamba4Goat who brought it up without having any evidence for his claim that Howard and Garnett would be better in a head-to-head matchup with Yao/Dirk.

KG/Dwight. KG was a very versatile offensive player in his prime, he was a team on his own, in a way. KG-Dwight combo is simply scary defensively. I think people forget how good KG was offensively in his heyday. He could dribble and penetrate like a guard and had great assist averages.

Dirk/Yao combo would be an absurd size advantage, however you'd need really good defenders on the wing to make it work.

Yao was quite consistently anchoring top 5 defenses with the Rockets, even before playing with the likes of Battier. Then add Dirk as another 7ft guy and opponents would have trouble to score inside the paint (Yao alone is quite a force for that, just as seen with Howard in his games against him - Dwight has NEVER scored more than 21 points against Yao's teams, and in his close-to-peak seasons he was averaging less than 16 points against him). Those teams would live and die by their shooting, while they would face the trouble to defend Yao's and Dirk's very efficient scoring prowess. Try to keep up with that.
Yes, Garnett and Howard would be better on the defensive end - no real contest -, and they are capable offensive players. But while it was nice to see that Garnett was such a great passer, his teams were best when he had a good passing teammate doing more of that task (Cassell in 03/04 and Rondo/Pierce/Allen with the Celtics). His assist averages are somewhat overblown in terms of real impact while on the other end Dirk didn't even need the ball in his hand that often to create space for his teammates (an often underrated aspect of his game).

I can understand why people might prefer the Howard/Garnett duo, but I don't think that there's any claim for it being any other than close.

[JordansBulls]

I'd take Dirk and Yao both do things differently on the floor and can hit free throws when needed.