After Yao Ming's latest foot injury, it is becoming more and more clear that Yao is never going to be the same center again. An All-Star every year he was healthy, many wonder what Yao's career could have been had been had he avoided the injury bug.
Could he have become the next Bill Russell? Hakeem Olajuwon?
To take a look at what he could have been, we'll take him apart one section at a time—offense, defense and intangibles.
Offense
Coming into the league, nobody was quite sure what to expect from Yao on the offensive end. Some expected him to become a solid inside force because of his incredible height while others thought that he was nothing more than a tall string bean.
Charles Barkley, a man who knows a little bit about basketball himself, even famously declared that Yao would not score 19 points in a single game his entire rookie season.
While it came relatively slowly, Yao became one of the top offensive big men in the game. With a bevy of post moves, Yao was a polished scorer on the block earlier than most big men are, but most important to his success was his sweet shooting ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Patrick Harrel
Yao Ming: If Not for Injuries, Would He Be an All-Time Great?
January 27th, 2011 by Patrick Harrel Leave a reply »
Advertisement