I think the zone defense is affecting all big men, including the most dominant one himself, Shaq. Here are his stats for the year. SEASON STATS: PER GAME | TOTAL | PER 48 MINUTES REBOUNDS YEAR G GS MIN FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% STL BLK TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 2004-2005 13 13 34.0 7.3-12.7 .576 0.0-0.0 .000 5.0-11.6 .430 0.23 3.2 2.9 4.4 4.2 7.1 11.3 2.5 19.6 Here's his career stats CAREER 822 -- 37.6 10.7-18.5 .577 0.0-0.0 .050 5.6-10.5 .536 0.68 2.61 2.9 3.4 4.0 8.1 12.1 2.8 27.0 His shot attempts are down 6 from 18.5 to 12.7 per game. That is the sign that the zone defense is also affecting him bigtime. Shaq's point per game is only 19.6 versus his career total of 27 per game. The same double teaming that is keeping the ball out of Yao's hands is doing the same to Shaq. Without the zone defense, I think Yao is as dominant as any of the great big men throughout the history of the nba. Notice that when he is single covered, he EASILY scores in the high 20s or low 30s. Like the 2 kings game and the knicks game where these teams refused to double down on Yao and he replied with nearly 30 points a night. In summary, I think Yao is learning to adapt to the double teaming and playing with contact. Shaq's stats this year are almost identical to Yao's. Yao will eventually surpass Shaq in the dominance department. With Shaq's decline due to age and with T-Mac's joy in getting dimes from Yao, I don't think we have to wait long.
Still have to wait until the season is over, but it does seem like the NBA is starting to move away from a big man dominated game. With smallball teams like Seattle and Phoenix doing so well this season and Detroit winning the championship last year without a dominant post up player. I can only hope that this is just a temporary thing or else having a star center is not going to mean as much as it has in the past.
If you've watched Shaq's games, i don't think its the zone at all. His wing players arent good at entry passes yet and also Dwayne Wade has been dominent. Just wait, Shaq will avg over 20 with 18 shots a game
Excellent point. Can you imagine Yao going one on one with the centers that Kareem drug around in the 70's? And if they doubled him, somebody is wide open. Would Yao get them the ball? He does now, against the zone. The zone sucks. All those defenders piling into the paint makes for ugly basketball. I don't think Kareem or Hakeem could do any better against the zone. Shoot, I was watching old video of Wilt the other night. As far as basketball skills go, he did not have anything that Yao does not have. He was playing against smaller players. Yao is a highly skilled player who would easily average 30 against those old man to man defenses.
Blitz, without question Shaq can score 30 points every night if he can get 18 shots a night. The problem is, he can't get 18 shots a night. The defense will sag and double down on him. Before Shaq gets the ball and after he gets the ball. If I had Shaq on my team I will want him to take 40 shots a game. Just as much as I want Yao to take 40 shots a game. Unfortunately, the zone defense is preventing either center from touching the ball.
Shaq's numbers have been gradually dropping for the past 6 years, but he has still managed to average 26 points on 16 shots per game over the past two years with the zone implemented. He only took 14 shots per game last year, so dropping one per game isn't really much of a drop, especially through only 11 games. I'm not sure how you can suggest that, all of a sudden, the zone is killing him this year. He also happens to be playing 3 fewer minutes per game this season, which definitely is contributing.
Zone defenses do hurt Shaq and big men in general- in fact Shaq left LSU early in part because teams would literally collapse their entire defense on him the moment he touched the ball. But let's remember, we are only 15 games into the regular season. Does anyone think Shaq really gives a damn about dominating the Wizards in November? He's won 3 championships and is arguably one of if not the greatest big man ever. He's more than willing to let Dwayne Wade steal the spotlight and fill up the basket; Shaq has reached a state in his career where the numbers don't matter. Wait until the playoffs to decree Shaq's game in serious decline- the big man knows when he has to turn it on. I suspect those numbers will tike a swift hike come March when he's tuning up for the final playoff push. And the same thing with the Suns and Seattle, wait until the playoffs start before we start announcing a new age in basketball has begun. Smallball teams historically do well in the regular season but their offense breaks down in the playoff's slower half-court game. The Pistons didn't have a dominant big man, but they still had excellent size to give them big-time defense and interior scoring necessary for half-court offenses.
But Yao played backup minutes. The good thing is this time around Yao won't, so we can enjoy how he goes head to head against Shaq.
Shaq keeps on with the Kobe hatin': http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_...k1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwN0aA--?gid=2004112401&prov=ap "``The good thing about Dwyane is, he gets his but he keeps everybody else involved,'' O'Neal said. ``That's the sign of a great player, rather than taking 40 shots to get 20 points.'"
shaq starts slow every year. he probably is coasting right now. he knows they will make the playoffs and when they do the diesel comes out to play
