"The big threat at this point is injuries -- Yao missed 25 games last season and another 32 this year, and one wonders if the pounding his 7-6 frame delivers on the lower extremities is too much for them to take. But if the Chinese giant can stay on the court, one would think he has a 5-to-10 year window where he will be far and away the game's most dominant post scorer." I have a problem with this. His lower exremities taking a pounding can possibly be associated with the toe-nail infection(21 games missed) The other injuries involved someone kicking his foot(dammmmn Okur from the Jazz ) and rolling into his leg(Tim Thomas, clips ).....both of which have NOTHING to do with his 7'6" frame pounding his lower extremities Those injuries are for the most part, freak unrelated injuries NOT due to wear and tear. Let's examine this by percentage. Out of a total of 57 games missed this year and last, 63% were due to freak-fractures(36 total: 32games/tibial plate and 4 from foot, would have been more but season was over 4 games after foot injury) and 37% were due to toenail infection. One could argue that 100% of the games (which is 57 games: 25 last year, {21 toe infect. & 4 brkn foot}and 32 games tibial plate fracture this yr) missed this yr and last were due to freak injuries since 8wks prior to his toenail/osteo infection someone stepped on Yao's left big toe leading to the infection later on. At this point, he does not have the typical knee and foot injuries that come from wear and tear from just being a big man playing the 5. I hope this made some sense. Thank God he now wears a specially designed sneaker from Reebok with a reinforced toe box.
I think his point was that Yao's massive frame is too much for his weakened, due to the freak injuries, lower body... I think he will be... but no, he's not.
It's pretty much a given, though, that none of the centers listed can guard Dirk. Today, I'd most definitely take Dirk in a one on one matchup with pretty much everyone on that list. Which is why the list is pretty complicated to make, because Bosh, Amare and Duncan (maybe JO?) could all be power forwards...or centers. NBA.com lists Bosh as a forward, Duncan as a forward-center, and Amare as a center. Point is, in some instances Center and PF are interchangeable, PF and SF are interchangeable, SF and SG are interchangeable, and SF/SG to PG are interchangeable. So you can judge by (1) how a player is listed, (2) where he gets the majority of his minutes, or (3) what their game most typically resembles. Your point is taken with Dirk, though. He does get some minutes at Center...but he plays mainly as PF, and his game resembles that. But do you really consider Amare a center? You don't think if the Suns had Yao, they wouldn't play him at center, and Amare at PF? Same with Bosh and Duncan. There is pretty much no chance, though, you'd ever play Yao at any position other than center.
If that is the case, I still disagree with that because as far as we(roxs/med. staff) know he is 100% healed from those conditions. He has NO toenail infections/osteomyelitis or any lingering effects from that. He has no lingering effects or arthritis etc from his foot fracture. Finally, up until this last game(though it is early in his come back) he has no adverse effects from the tibial plate fracture and I would expect that to continue to be the case due to his great and long recovery....plus the use of the brace. Now, it remains to be seen if the next 5+ yrs will generate weakened ankles/feet, knees, and such that would be related to just wear and tear from being a huge 5 or reaggravating a previous injury. btw, I hope the league starts respecting Yao, that game where Zydrunas Ilgauskas tackled him with no call is just disconcerting.
Ewing's a consistent 25/11/3 guy in his prime. He averaged 28 points, 10.9 rbs, and 4 blocks a game one season. He led his team to NBA final. I'm sorry, until Yao can top that, he's no bettr than Ewing, not even close.
good post! though I wouldn't be surprised if oden passes howard for second! <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4b5n-sGFws"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4b5n-sGFws" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Nice list, except it shouldn't extend all the way to 10 deep. Honestly, there just aren't 10 center today who have a shot at all-time greatness. Yao, Howard, Amare, maybe Oden(if he really deserves the hype) and Bosh(if he actually decides to say he's a center rather than PF ala Duncan). After that, the players are huge reaches in terms of seriously aiming for potential. But that's simply because there aren't enough super-talented and clearly defined young centers these days.
This discussion is crazy......... And let's read what Yao Ming has to say about this ESPN NBA 10 Greatest Centres of All Times. These 10 centres belong to history.......... And Yao Ming had only played for 5 seasons, with maybe another 5 ~ 8 seasons to follow. Is it too early to predict whether he will be there amongst the history's best ? And Greg Oden who ? Give me a break. He has not yet played a single minute in NBA.
You're an idiot. The article is talking about centers, but you listed a bunch of PFs except bigZ and Kaman who are both worthless.
Oden would be lucky if he could be compared to Mutombo when he's done with his nba career. Just another example of NBA's hype.
Can't believe they left out Bargnani, this kid is going to be better than anyone on that list, and this I am sure of, the guy has no limit to his potential, if he works hard and gets his minutes he's going to be most versatile center ever to dominate the NBA. He has a solid lower body for the post game, similar to Yao, he just requires some time, it's going to come down to work ethic.
you think darko and aldridge is any better candidates, and still they are on the list. if the list is based on potential, then i think darko is bit too old for that considering that he is in the same draft class as dwane, lebron, and carmelo. why don't you just add k. brown to the list as well he's also a number one pick that sucked... And Jermain O'neal and Amare Stoudamire are both power fowards, and they are on the list, that's why i put those pf on the list, im not an idiot.
