SSBA

Yao Ming....

887 Career Games

710 Double-Doubles
471 Player of the Game Awards
47 Player of Week Awards
22 Player of Month Awards
9 All Star Appearances
8 MVP Awards
1 Defensive Player of Year Award

Career Stats:
30.7 PPG
13.3 RPG
3.1 BPG
2.7 APG

0 Championships

Amazing ... but there is a reason.

He played for 2 teams only, the Raptors and the Hornets (after an early stint with the Rockets) and after 2008 he never had a team around him that was strong enough to go the distance. What he was missing mostly was a strong 2nd scoring option and enough good role players, as he only had either. And regular season success is worthless when individual matchups dictate the playoff series.

Look at his chances for a title by periods:
The early Raptors years probably were his best team and title chance as the Raptors dominated the league and 2 stunning playoff defeats (including the memorable 1st round defeat from Okur and the Bucks) that lead to the Raptors breakup. They never won more than 46 games afterwards anymore and even missed the playoffs when teamed with 26ppg scorer Hoffa (but the rest of the team: yikes).

On the late Raptors later he was surrounded by mostly youth who simply wasn't there at that time.

With the Hornets he was the only offense early, missing a top 2nd scoring options as most title teams had. And while the defense was always top the Hornets simply ran into opponents - mostly the dynasty Nets - with deeper offense in decisive playoff series. Still, on the 2013 Hornets he came as close as you can get, one win away from the title (before another stunning collapse followed)
TMac came way too late as his better years are long gone now.



In my view Yao had two realistic chances for a title:
the 2007/08 Raptors teams with Peja, Mihm, B-diddy, Cato (and youth like Sedran, Springs, Lovelette and Schenk) ... they broke up WAY too early. Only Cato was older than 29 and they could (and should) have won a couple of titles later.
And of course when he finally overcame the arch rival Nets and took the Hornets within one game ...
 :?



But of course, it's not over. Put him on a veteran team like the Celtics now. Would you honestly bet against Yao-Dirk-Marion ?
 :cheers:

i would bet ...
no way that dirk and yao can play together and you should know better than everyone else how old they are already and how bad they play in the POs. As you posted regular season success isn´t counting in the POs.

I disagree

First, Yao was hardly the problem during the playoff losses, he did all he could, especially at a younger age. But when he had an off-night his team was in trouble as nobody was ready to step in. With Marion and Dirk that wouldn't be a problem

And second, Dirk of now isn't Dirk of let's say the Sonics title team. He LOVES to play 2nd fiddle now and is in trouble when holding the primary responsibility. But he dwells in situations where somebody needs to pick up the slack, like when Marion has an off night.

So he would be a good fit, but of course, the guessed asking price (which i don't know) would mean he's basically unaffordable ...

lol you mean that dirk and yao can play with the same focus?

i think yao's been on 10 all star teams actually.  he only missed it in the first Rockets year. 

As for the 0 titles, I don't think that's a reflection of Yao.  Yao alone will get a team to the playoffs.  And the teams he's been on are always among the Top 4 in record each year.

I disagree. He had a great supporting cast in both, Raps and Hornets. Why he didn't deliver? Beats me.

(although i'm 100% Raps should have been a champ that year when Bucks upseted them in the first rn. Probably the most memorable moment in the history of SSBA IMO)

nope

from 2007, his teams were ranked:

Raptors
#1 (lost conf finals)
#1 (lost 1st round)
#19 (didn't qualify)
#13 (lost 2nd round)
#8 (lost 2nd round)

Hornets
#3 (lost 1st round)
#2 (lost SSBA finals)
#1 (lost conf finals)
#1 (lost conf finals)

these numbers show that Yao isn't the one to put you over the top ...
:-)

I wholeheartedly agree  :cheers:

I may have been an 8 seed, but my team did have good players at every position and flexibility, at least the flexibility to match a perimeter big (Okur) against Yao.

and the best part was your astonishing analysis afterwards, why this upset actually WAS NO SURPRISE AND PLANNED THROUGHOUT.
 :shock:

That left me absolutely speechless, completely rattled the Raptors - and it took them years to recover - because it was actually TRUE. Hats off to that series win, probably the all-time great strategic achievement in SSBA.
 :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:

^

In all fairness, I planned it out and made at least 3 strategic lineup adjustments with the intention of giving my team the best chance to win, but I didn't think I would win, didn't expect to, and it was still a surprising upset. 

And of course, my team was dispatched with ease in the next round by the 4 or 5 seed, regardless of my adjustments :)

I think I've consistently put a very good team around Yao. Even when I didn't have a 2nd scorer, I had some of the better role players in the league (Dan Gadzuric, Stromile Swift).
I don't see how it can be said that McGrady was not a 2nd scorer to Yao. He averaged over 20+ ppg last season and is doing the same this season. The problem with building around Yao is that I had to trade all of my assets to get him. The only thing I can be criticized for is making the trade to begin with.

The reason I haven't won a championship with Yao is that I was at my peak at the same time that the Nets were at their peak, and I just didn't have enough to take them. Add to that a little bad luck and you have no titles for Yao on the Hornets.

uhmm...how about get yao to play with keogan shutlz and khoury?  :D although that would be impossible...but yao and keogan would be awesome....number 1 and number2 in the league's scoring list... :D

oh, that would be great. Like MJ and Kobe on the same NBA team. Nobody gives a lick about defense but scoring would explode. The Hornets might even average 110ppg then ... but give up 105ppg.



Sorry if it did sound like it, but I won't critizise you at all for the Hornets. You were among the elite teams in the last 4+ seasons and that alone shows you did pretty much everything right. Only some strange correlation of the stars prevented a sure title for you (honestly, the hornets losing after being up 3-1 on the Warriors is right there with the Sonics sweep of the Nets. These "happening" simply can't be explained logically)
 :?

I somehow forgot to mention that in my first reply here (but it crossed my mind constantly) that for all these superstar aquisitions you usually have to overpay so much it actually throws you back a few steps (... well unless you get Amare for backups). I'm not sure getting TMac later on was the right thing to do since
- without him you were so darn close
- his defense is practically non-existent and he can hurt you more than help you, especially in certain series matchups


but you can prove us all wrong this postseason ...
 :cheers: