Better career Rudy Gobert or Yao Ming

[EasternHeretic]

Rudy's now been in the league the same number of years as Yao, though Yao played one less season due to injury.

Yao

8× NBA All-Star (2003–2009, 2011)
2× All-NBA Second Team (2007, 2009)
3× All-NBA Third Team (2004, 2006, 2008)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2003)
Baksetball HOF

Rudy

3× NBA All-Star (2020–2022)
All-NBA Second Team (2017)
3× All-NBA Third Team (2019–2021)
3× NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2018, 2019, 2021)
6× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2017–2022)
NBA rebounding leader (2022)
NBA blocks leader (2017)

As of now, who's had the better career?

[JulesWinnfield]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

[Harry Garris]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert's better defensively and for a center that's the more important side of the floor to excel at.

Yes Yao had a better post game but Gobert also plays in an era where players don't post up. His lack of an offensive game is partly due to coaching and playing style. If Gobert played in the early 2000s he would have gotten post touches and more opportunities to score.

[Percentsign]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert bests Yao in WS/48, so it’s not just “availability is the best ability.” The stats indicate that Gobert was a better player in quality, not just quantity

Overall, I think Yao got in the HOF moreso because of his general influence on the game. He was extremely popular, and he meant a lot to his country, as evinced by the All Star votes that he would get from Chinese fans. Vlade Divac might have made the HOF for similar reasons

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Yao would be slinging 3s now but I don’t know what you’d do with him on defence other than drop and hope. Def better than Rudy, though. He’d punish smalls.

[Lockdown504090]

we can meme him all day but gobert is one of the greatest defensive players of all time. hes carried the jazz on defense, like only the greatest offense players of all time have done on the other end. its not even close for me. yao is probably the better talent, but those injuries really screwed up his potential.

[Tottery]

China votes are the only reason Yao is an 8 time all-star. He played 5 games 1 season and was voted an all-star.

[cupcakesnake]

At his peak, Yao was flashing big signs of being that unguardable, unsolvable offensive player that you could build a contender around... that's how it felt and looked at least. In reality, Houston's Yao offenses (and Yao/Tmac offenses) were pretty mediocre, despite being led by the great Rick Adelman. Yao got talked about like he was the next Bill Walton in terms of passing ability, and while he did throw some nifty passes, he averaged 1.6 assists for his career and 2.7 turnovers (only got worse in the playoffs). The only thing he had in common with Bill Walton was his injury woes. Yao was more valuable defensively, where he was just too big an obstacle in drop coverage. Houston consistently built excellent defenses around Yao's drop coverage.

Obviously Gobert has offensive weaknesses on another level from Yao. Yao had the softest touch we've ever seen from a giant like that, and Gobert's touch is below average. But Gobert is better in his offensive role than Yao was in his. Gobert has been pretty monstrous as a pick & roll finisher, despite playing his whole career without a good lob passer. Defensively, Gobert is much more versatile than Yao, regardless of what the haters think about that.

I'll take Gobert's defense, efficiency, and durability over Yao's career any day. We never quite got to see Yao put it together. He looked like he was going to become an MVP type of player, but he didn't get there before injuries ended his career.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

At his peak, Yao was flashing big signs of being that unguardable, unsolvable offensive player that you could build a contender around... that's how it felt and looked at least. In reality, Houston's Yao offenses (and Yao/Tmac offenses) were pretty mediocre, despite being led by the great Rick Adelman. Yao got talked about like he was the next Bill Walton in terms of passing ability, and while he did throw some nifty passes, he averaged 1.6 assists for his career and 2.7 turnovers (only got worse in the playoffs). The only thing he had in common with Bill Walton was his injury woes. Yao was more valuable defensively, where he was just too big an obstacle in drop coverage. Houston consistently built excellent defenses around Yao's drop coverage.

Obviously Gobert has offensive weaknesses on another level from Yao. Yao had the softest touch we've ever seen from a giant like that, and Gobert's touch is below average. But Gobert is better in his offensive role than Yao was in his. Gobert has been pretty monstrous as a pick & roll finisher, despite playing his whole career without a good lob passer. Defensively, Gobert is much more versatile than Yao, regardless of what the haters think about that.

I'll take Gobert's defense, efficiency, and durability over Yao's career any day. We never quite got to see Yao put it together. He looked like he was going to become an MVP type of player, but he didn't get there before injuries ended his career.

Well they had JVG for a few years, one of the most unimaginative coaches ever, TMac also always battled injuries, and by the time Adelman got there TMac was pretty much broken, Yao got hurt that 1st year, TMac played with a bad back but missed time as well, then Yao actually carried the team to a nice record in 08-09 and took the Lakers to 7 in the 2nd round with TMac missing lots of time, the whole playoffs. Then Yao broke in the middle of that Lakers series. JVG’s style probably boosted Yao’s production but that’s it, he was too loyal to loyal scrubs and too scared to take risks. That team was a real what-if, TMac was the best wing in the game when healthy and Yao was probably the #2 C in the league.

[Lockdown504090]

China votes are the only reason Yao is an 8 time all-star. He played 5 games 1 season and was voted an all-star.

people hate gobert more than china, interesting.

[jfs1000d]

Yao. Lol


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[cupcakesnake]

At his peak, Yao was flashing big signs of being that unguardable, unsolvable offensive player that you could build a contender around... that's how it felt and looked at least. In reality, Houston's Yao offenses (and Yao/Tmac offenses) were pretty mediocre, despite being led by the great Rick Adelman. Yao got talked about like he was the next Bill Walton in terms of passing ability, and while he did throw some nifty passes, he averaged 1.6 assists for his career and 2.7 turnovers (only got worse in the playoffs). The only thing he had in common with Bill Walton was his injury woes. Yao was more valuable defensively, where he was just too big an obstacle in drop coverage. Houston consistently built excellent defenses around Yao's drop coverage.

Obviously Gobert has offensive weaknesses on another level from Yao. Yao had the softest touch we've ever seen from a giant like that, and Gobert's touch is below average. But Gobert is better in his offensive role than Yao was in his. Gobert has been pretty monstrous as a pick & roll finisher, despite playing his whole career without a good lob passer. Defensively, Gobert is much more versatile than Yao, regardless of what the haters think about that.

I'll take Gobert's defense, efficiency, and durability over Yao's career any day. We never quite got to see Yao put it together. He looked like he was going to become an MVP type of player, but he didn't get there before injuries ended his career.

Well they had JVG for a few years, one of the most unimaginative coaches ever, TMac also always battled injuries, and by the time Adelman got there both Yao and TMac were pretty much broken. JVG’s style probably boosted Yao’s production but that’s it, he was too loyal to loyal scrubs and too scared to take risks. That team was a real what-if, TMac was the best wing in the game when healthy and Yao was probably the #2 C in the league.

Sure. But it wasn't like they were an up and down offensive team. They were pretty consistent a poor offense and an elite defense over Yao's entire career, regardless of coach and personnel.

I think Yao and T-Mac looked and felt like that (top players at their positions and MVP candidates), but whenever I look under the hood, I find it pretty stinky. Despite both being all-time level talents, neither figured it out. Tmac's shot selection was so bad, and as injuries sapped his physical gifts, all we were left with was a hero ball chucker. Tmac never touched league-average efficiency in Houston, and even at his best in Orlando there were weird red flags like: why was Tmac such an awful finisher around the hoop? He has the finishing numbers of a 6'0" unathletic guard, even in his prime. Then with Yao, when you realize he absolutely isn't a high-post hub on offense (due to his big problems turning over the ball) he's a lot less appealing as a player. I saw what you saw: a 6'8" do-it-all hyper athlete wing with an unstoppable pull up game, and a 7'6" dude with immovable lower body strength and a soft fallaway jumper from anywhere. But neither turned those ridiculous packages into what they could have been, though obviously injuries didn't give them big chances to do so.

All in all, Yao and Tmac was a disappointment and to me it was more than just the injuries. Neither of these guys were quite what they could have been/might have been/should have been. Maybe they would have have had more time to figure it out with better health of course. The best Houston year was the one where Yao and Tmac both got hurt, and Metta World Peace, Luis Scola, Shane Battier, and Aaron Brooks took the championship Lakers to 7.

[JulesWinnfield]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert bests Yao in WS/48, so it’s not just “availability is the best ability.” The stats indicate that Gobert was a better player in quality, not just quantity

Overall, I think Yao got in the HOF moreso because of his general influence on the game. He was extremely popular, and he meant a lot to his country, as evinced by the All Star votes that he would get from Chinese fans. Vlade Divac might have made the HOF for similar reasons

Gobert is like 9th all time in WS/48. So you putting him over everyone who he bests in this statistic? That’s makes Rudy a top 10 player of all time. He’s not even a top 10 player right now. I love analytics as much as the next guy but Gobert is an example of why they can have blind spots and why we are far from perfect to this day at fully gauging impact. He’s no where close to the player I have to hear people sometimes tell me he is. And I liked Gobert more than most early on in his career and was higher than the average person on his potential in the league.

[Bornstellar]

Question is about better career and its obviously Gobert. 3x DPOY is more impressive than anything on Yao's resume

[JulesWinnfield]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert's better defensively and for a center that's the more important side of the floor to excel at.

Yes Yao had a better post game but Gobert also plays in an era where players don't post up. His lack of an offensive game is partly due to coaching and playing style. If Gobert played in the early 2000s he would have gotten post touches and more opportunities to score.

Era doesn’t explain the difference in offensive talent level and skill set between Gobert and Yao. Yao was superior offensively to Gobert in any era you would have put them in. He was just way more skilled, vastly superior shooting touch (this is a guy who shot FT in the mid 80s%) and if he played today he’d probably be knocking down threes at a highly respectable clip. If Gobert played 20 years ago it’s still not like he’d be featured offensively because it would be a disaster. He’d be a rich man’s Marcus Camby

[rand]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert bests Yao in WS/48, so it’s not just “availability is the best ability.” The stats indicate that Gobert was a better player in quality, not just quantity

Overall, I think Yao got in the HOF moreso because of his general influence on the game. He was extremely popular, and he meant a lot to his country, as evinced by the All Star votes that he would get from Chinese fans. Vlade Divac might have made the HOF for similar reasons

Well the WS/48 gap is .020 so I wouldn't make such a strong argument using it beyond the fact that WS has poor predictive power compared to many other stats like RAPM. All the advanced stats love Gobert though not just over Yao but in even more questionable cases like over Gasol. It should be noted though how many times some opponent in the playoffs found the formula to totally neutralize Gobert.

Unlike Gobert, Yao was a two-way player. You could build an offense around him as your #1 scoring threat. You could dump the ball into the post with no other action and Yao could manufacture above average efficiency scoring. Gobert can't be the #1 of an offense since he has no post game, no drive, no jump shot. If you have playmakers around him Gobert can get some easy buckets especially against low quality teams and he'll score off the glass but that's all.

I agree that the weight of Yao's career accomplishments falls a bit short of the modern standard for the HOF but that's because his career ended during what should have been his prime. His unfortunately shortened career was still very memorable especially his battles against Shaq and his domination of Dwight. He's more famous than 99% of HOFers, a better player than more than a few (a lot better than Vlade Divac), and renown as a player for his unselfishness, sportsmanship and camaraderie. Not to mention a great ambassador for the game of basketball in China. I'm glad he's in the HOF.

[CLosP]

Gobert for sure. How many of Yao’s All Star selections were not earned? Yao might be the more talented player, but Rudy has done more in the league.

[Percentsign]

Yao is the better player. Gobert played 125 games more in the same number of years. If someone would rather have Gobert because “availability is the best ability” then that’s fine. But no one is convincing me he’s actually a better basketball player

Gobert bests Yao in WS/48, so it’s not just “availability is the best ability.” The stats indicate that Gobert was a better player in quality, not just quantity

Overall, I think Yao got in the HOF moreso because of his general influence on the game. He was extremely popular, and he meant a lot to his country, as evinced by the All Star votes that he would get from Chinese fans. Vlade Divac might have made the HOF for similar reasons

Gobert is like 9th all time in WS/48. So you putting him over everyone who he bests in this statistic? That’s makes Rudy a top 10 player of all time. He’s not even a top 10 player right now. I love analytics as much as the next guy but Gobert is an example of why they can have blind spots and why we are far from perfect to this day at fully gauging impact. He’s no where close to the player I have to hear people sometimes tell me he is. And I liked Gobert more than most early on in his career and was higher than the average person on his potential in the league.

Gobert has much less playing time than all the people in the top-10 all time in WS/48. The more games you play, the harder it is to have a high WS/48 figure. But with Yao, he and Gobert played roughly the same number of games , so WS/48 is an appropriate way to compare them

[Ugalde]

peak Yao>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rudy. but Rudy can play a lot more so i’ll take Yao. or neither

[matt6715]

Yao was a beast and so fun to watch but Gobert's career will end up with more accolades without a doubt