Neither are hall of fame guys, but very good centers. Till the age of 30, who was the better player? Maybe Durvasa can pull the stats and line them up for me :grin:
I voted for Yao, but on second look stats-wise.. Alonzo looks pretty solid. His blocks per game numbers may push him past Yao. Another consideration is that Alonzo played at a time when the rules favored the big man.
Yao would be in the Hall of Fame if he retired today. Not so much for his play, but for what he did for the game globally.
Who is a better player: Sabonis/Shaq? Internationally Sabonis is the favorite. Yao admired Sabonis the most before he enters NBA. Rules are different, and people value Olympics gold more than NBA title in a lot of countries.
Zo. Yao is obviously a superior offensive player, but Zo was a great defensive player. He was a 20-10 guy for a decade on a winning team. Zo is a better version of Howard IMO.
Zo was a better defensive player, but Yao's better at offense. It depends on the type of team you have around them. Zo would be a good complementary piece that anchors the defense and has his own very good offense. So if you already have a dominant perimeter player, Zo might be better. But Yao would be the centerpiece of an offense and can distort opposing defenses by his demanding of doubleteams. If you're starting a team from scratch, you pick Yao. That's why I pick Yao, although I'd pick Zo on a team with, say, D-Wade.
The rules today would have or minimal effect on zo's game. Offensively he could dribble drie and shoot from mid range and post up on the blocks. Imagine if zo could play his own personal zone. He would kill everthing at the rim. I chose zo because of his offensive versitility,defensive prowess,tenacity and toughness. The guy was was so intense all the time it just rubbed off on everyone else. 21-10-3blks as a rookie and still couldnt win roy.
I voted Yao simply because I knew this was just leebigez's cleverly disguised attempt to diss Yao. :grin: ^^^^ This pretty much summarizes all that I want to say.
Sabonis himself would laugh if anybody told him he had a better career than Shaq, (who, btw has an Olympic Gold Medal and a WC gold medal).
Not that I think Zo is that much better than yao. Heck Yao might be better, but the poll should be closer to 50-50 than 70-30.
Ummm...no. Not even close. Yao didn't do crap for basketball globally that Jordan hadn't already done. The Basketball Hall of Fame could probably not care less what Yao did for basketball in China.
This is actually a pretty solid comparison. My first inclination was to say Zo. He was the better defensive player, and that's coming from someone who thinks Yao is consistently underrated as a defender because he doesn't block as many shots as you'd think he should, but is a great defender nonetheless. I think those that say Yao is the better offensive player than Zo are probably right, but it's not that big of a difference. Overall, I'd say Zo slightly better on defense, Yao slightly better on offense. I think Yao's best seasons were better than Zo's best seasons in the years in question. Surprisingly, Zo also seemed to miss games frequently, even in the early years. Where Zo might just squeek by on top is that he was generally more consistent. Whereas Yao took a few years to get to where he ended up. Alonzon came in and average 20, 10, 3.5 blocks his rookie year and stayed around there consistently. I think if Yao was American, he would clearly be the better center. He would have had the advantage of playing college ball (at least for a year) and not struggled with the new country, having to play for China every summer, etc. issues he's dealt with.
It's a Rockets board so it's expected. Mourning is a 2 time defensive player of the year recipient. His numbers are better when you account for rebounds & blocks. Edit: Yao has averaged lower minutes per game so that does affect his stats obviously.
Not sure why people are so interested in making a public poll. I think that makes them more interested in who votes where rather than the results.
Haven't looked at stats to compare but impressions from memory: Yao has larger weaknesses in his strength as a player (offensively), namely turnovers, inability to adjust to fronting defense, etc. Mourning, on the defensive end, had no holes. In my opinion, he made a bigger impact for the success of his team. Zo over Yao every single day.
