Post by Rog on Oct 8, 2016 17:13:17 GMT
The 49th nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame is known as a bust, and while the expectations of his career didn't match up to what he produced, he was still a damn solid force in the middle if you gave him a chance. Was what he did good enough to overcome the hype he had and realize he really was elite, or is the shadow of being a bust too hard to overcome?
Career Stats
32.7 MPG, 16.9 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, 2.0 BPG, 0.8 SPG, 2.3 TOPG on 44.5% from the field and 80.2% from the line
Best Season
Cavs(2002) 25.2 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 2.5 TOPG on 45.2% from the field and 77.9% from the line
Career Highs
Points: 51
Rebounds: 24
Assists: 8
Steals: 6
Blocks: 9
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 87
Player of the Week: 0
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 545
Triple Doubles: 0
Accolades
2002 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2002 - Rookie of the Year
2002 - All-Rookie Team
Arguments For Induction
- The biggest argument Yao has was his scoring, he averaged over 20 points a game in 6 seasons, while shooting around or better than 45% in each of those seasons. He also was an expert at the free throw line being a 80% shooter from there. For an inside scoring center in this league those are damn good numbers. If he had kept those scoring numbers up for longer, he might be among the best centers ever.
- Solid rebounder, averaged 10 a game for his career and his 6 to 7 year peak he was always above 10.5 and sometimes reached near 12 for a couple of years.
- He was also solid defensively, averaging 3 stocks a game in his career and carrying a high defensive rating his entire career. Overall the guy gave you 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 stocks on 46% and great free throw numbers while also being a decent passer and not as turnover prone as some scoring bigs in the early years over a 7 or so year stretch. Not bad.
Arguments Against Induction
- Going to keep this short because this case is terrible. No awards, no title, only really a 7 year stretch where you can say he was good to very good, never great because he is 7'6" and couldn't grab rebounds at an elite rate, averaged more turnovers than assists, and wasn't an elite shot blocker. He was just a really good scorer, nothing more. That is not a Hall of Famer. Period.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully!
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25**
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