http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/8979041?topNBAplayer_101805 5. Tracy McGrady, Houston: McGrady can drain 40-foot jumpers like they're going out of style, get to the rim at will and finish at his whim. He has been doing all that over the past few seasons, but last year, becoming the leader of the Rockets under demanding Jeff Van Gundy, he grew into a complete player. For maybe the first time in his career, he cut no corners on defense, which became hard not to notice when he frustrated Dirk Nowitzki into poor outing after poor outing in the first round of the playoffs. Yes, he has failed to win a series, with his teams blowing substantial leads in his past two appearances, but to point the finger at him is not only short-sighted but simply far-fetched. Expect him to help push Yao Ming into the next stage of his development, while guiding the Rockets to heights that haven't been reached since the days of "Dream." Houston is his town now, and he represents it well. 31. Yao Ming, Houston: We're still waiting on him to take his game to the next level. At 7-feet-5, he needs to dominate, needs to assert himself as a force, and as he enters year No. 4 in the NBA, he has shown only flashes of those abilities. Consider that in the Chinese League, he averaged over 19 rebounds in each of his last two seasons before coming over, scoring about 30 per game. While the level of competition is obviously much tougher here, he should still be breaking the 20-point/10-rebound barrier yet has failed to do so thus far. With McGrady taking some of the pressure off him, he should step up and embrace the advantages his size and skill level afford him.
I agree with the top ten although I would try to squeeze Jermaine O'neal in there. Beyond top ten it gets pretty ridiculous.
Look at the names in front of Yao, what a TOTAL joke this list is. Zach Randolph Elton Brand Paul Pierce
I'm at work and just skimmed his list. For the top 5, I'm not sure about putting Shaq ahead of T-Mac. Don't know if Shaq can dominate over 82 games any more. I would switch Wade (#10) in front of Iverson (#9). Both are in my top 5 favorite players but Wade makes his teammates better without completely dominating the ball. Vince Carter (#15) over Jirk (#17) is very questionable. My opinion of VC hasn't changed any. Jermaine O'Neal (#11) has to step it and prove he's not injury prone. He needs to dominate in the playoffs to convince some skeptics like me.
Ridiculous for the ranking of Yao at only 31.....feel that a consistent "A" student only got a "F" in a course...
Tell Tony your opinion! I usually don't care who is ranked where, but Yao at 31 is just too stupid to ignore, so is the stupidity of this magical 20-10 barrier that Yao needs to break before he's considered an elite level player. Yao has to be the most underrated player in the NBA, I can't think of anyone else that gets dissed like this more than he does, and mostly by people who don't watch him play. The list of post players who get as much attention as he does offensively is two deep, Duncan and Shaq, the list of players who consistently impact a game as much as he does on defense is one deep, Tim Duncan. Not even Shaq is as unstoppable as he is on offense, yes, I mean that. Idiots like this guy don't even see what Yao's real problems are, one his stamina level, and two not getting the ball enough, which is sometimes his fault, sometimes his teammates. Oh well, Yao probably needs to win a title before getting his due since his only fan in the national media is probably Rick Kamla and he isn't going to self promote himself like Shaq.
YAO still has a lot to prove guys, he hasn't done a whole lot. Elton Brand for one clearly has better numbers than YAO so how could you say YAO should be ranked higher than him? Because he's taller? I think YAO should be around the 21-25 area of this ranking and could possibly break the top 10 one day, but he still has to prove it.
Yao is becoming one of the most underrated players in NBA by media. I hope NBA teams do the same so Yao can see less double teams. Right now only Shaq and maybe Duncan get double teamed more than Yao in low post.
I have no problem with Elton Brand, I have a problem with arenas, bosh, kenyon martin, zach randolf, ron artest, and jamison being ranked ahead of Yao.
I have problem with Brand too. From the games I watched between Rockets and Clippers, Yao definitely had more impact then Brand when he's on the court. Brand plays more minutes, touches the ball a lot more, gets better stats, but not altering the game like Yao does.
Everyone say Yao is overrated. And everyone is bashing Yao. How can these 2 things coexist? This one is the most ridiculous one. Arenas? Bosh? KMart? RWallace? Randolph? Jamison? Brand? Marbury? Artest? Carter? BDavis? all ahead of YAO? They must have something Yao dont have. Like losing for most of his career, punching fans, injury-prone,or looks like Garnett?
I agree. The Rocket T-Mac is also underrated, but the most popular excuse is acceptable to me, he still needs to get out of the first round.
using similar logic, Yao should be no less than top 12.. because GMs will trade anyone from 12 to 30 for Yao in a heart beat.
yao at #31 is a complete joke. he may not be top 10 but he's at least top 20. and AI is at #9??? what the hell is this guy on?
this is a joke. they had yao at #9 last year. yao improved his games, stats or not, and now he's #31?
