Peak Yao Ming: where would he rank in today's game?

[justinian]

If Yao was transported to today's game during his prime/healthy year, where would he rank among the best players/bigs?

[GYK]

Hard to say. His longest seasons weren't his best per game years.
I would say his 2nd or 2nd to last seasons would be most likely. Better is not as good as Marc and right outside of the top ten.

[baki]

Statistically Yao hit his peak into his 5th season, but only played 48 games.

At his best he was Shaq's equal or sometimes better, which is saying a lot about the big guy because Shaq is one of the best in history.

He killed a younger and peaking Howard (Yao won 7 out of 9 meets against Howard), who is ranked as one of the top centers today while not even being anywhere close to what he used to be.

That said, Yao would be somewhere near the top if not the top in today's game IF he was in his prime with no injuries.

[tsherkin]

I think that, had his big volume season played out, his production would have declined. He was best-served as a 30-33 mpg guy with a lower volume as much as anything else. Wicked shooter, struck me as a great second option. JVG was stupid for having him taking charges and pushing so many minutes on a frame of that size, particularly with his commitments to Chinese international play.

There wasn't ever really a point where he was Shaq's equal, so that's clearly false. He was never the passer or dominant volume option. It's disingenuous to describe him such, because he never really faced a prime Shaq. He faced Shaq in one prime year (as a rookie), when the distance between the two was a yawning chasm. Then he had 03-04 Shaq, Miami Shaq and after that, boom, out of the league due to injury, basically.

Also, using team record in H2H for Yao/Howard is foolish, because the Rockets were better than the Magic for a few years as Howard's direct-from-HS career blossomed. Dwight wasn't the Dwight we know until 07-08, during which Yao was injured for 27 games, and after which he played only 82 more games in his entire career.

Yao would very likely be an 18/8, 18/9 kind of player today as he was then, hovering in the 30-33 mpg range. 111-113 ORTG, very impressive. 60% ish TS, some turnover problems, not a stunning playmaker, pretty good defender. Instantaneously one of the best centers in the league without question. You could talk about a healthy Dwight, maybe Duncan (15/10 with that defense and passing, even if noticeably inferior scoring efficiency), and of course AD and Cousins. Outside shot of considering Marc Gasol. Anyway, a handful of players at best, so Yao would surely be a top 5 center.

Good player. Not a superstar by any measure related to play-quality, but still a very good player.

[Nitro1118]

Being that I was a huge T-Mac stan, I watched almost every game of Yao's prime. He was a terrIfic post scorer who could get deep post position against any defender in the league. He didn't have a ton of moves but didn't need much besides little hook shots. He was a solid 10RPG guy, decent passer, excellent FT shooter and amazing locker room guy.

However, he had a few major holes in his game. People mistake his great FT shooting for great jumpshooting, which is an area he was never strong at. He could hit a couple in the 10ft range, but he was never a catch-and-shoot or long range threat. He never had the court vision to be a strong centerpiece to a great offense, and his size made him easy to strip the ball from by smaller players.

Lastly, while his size made him an intimidating rim protector, he was very slow-footed which made him a liability at times during his prime. In today's NBA he would be exposed on a regular basis with all the small-ball lineups/stretch 5's out there. In the 2007 playoffs Van Gundy couldn't trust him to guard Mehmet Okur, so he had Yao on Boozer, who he made look like prime Karl Malone out there. Those Houston teams always looked stronger defensively with 40 year old Mutombo on the floor.

Overall, I'd put him on Marc Gasol's level, a little higher if you put the right players around him. Definitely not top 3-5 like I've heard some people on this site say in the past.

[Jaykoolzboy]

Top 10 player in the league , maybe top 8 with the right system and player surrounding him. Today's game just isn't designed for dominant slow half court big man like what it use to be. I always think Yao Ming would be a much better player if he start his career in the mid 90s where his unique combination of skills would really shine.

[Sasaki]

Also, using team record in H2H for Yao/Howard is foolish, because the Rockets were better than the Magic for a few years as Howard's direct-from-HS career blossomed. Dwight wasn't the Dwight we know until 07-08, during which Yao was injured for 27 games, and after which he played only 82 more games in his entire career.

Even in 08 and 09,Yao was killing Dwight in head to head matchups. Of course, that really is not all that important, because that is just a matchup issue - Yao could kill more traditional centers like Howard, but as Nitro pointed out, stretch 5's/smallball lineups ate him alive.

There's also the issue which I've discussed before that Yao's hands were not very good, which when combined with his lack of speed meant that actually getting him the ball in the post was incredibly difficult. And I definitely agree with tsherkin on JVG ( though I have a very, very low opinion of Van Gundy compared to most basketball fans out there - him arguing with Zach Lowe that Jonas should be an All-Star, Demarcus should not, and KEVIN SERAPHIN should be in the All-Star discussion was up there with any stupid stuff Barkley has ever said).

[Clyde Frazier]

I just had a “yao > dwight when healthy” flashback…