Message to Cavaliers Front Office: Get Yao Ming!
June 22, 2009 by The Sports Watchers
Filed under More Sports
Okay, getting the Houston Rockets to trade Yao Ming to the Cleveland Cavaliers may be harder said than done. However, if Houston is willing to consider it, I say give them whatever they are asking for, because Yao Ming + LeBron James = NBA Championship!
Yes, that’s right. I said it. You put Yao on the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James and whoever is left on the roster after the fallout from that trade, and I guarantee you that LeBron James is taking home an NBA title by the start of Summer 2010. And if LeBron James wins that title next year, that would all but assure Cavs fans that he’ll be in Cleveland for a long time to come.
So why am I sure that Yao Ming’s arrival in Cleveland will assure the team immediate success?
Well, when you combine the best perimeter player in the league with the best big man in the league, that’s the result you end up with (i.e. see Kobe and Shaq, circa 2000).
And no you didn’t hear wrong. I did say that Yao Ming is the best big man in the league, at the very least, he’s the best center by far. Who do you want to compare him to? Dwight Howard? The same Dwight Howard that averaged 15 points per game in the NBA Finals?
That guy?
Sorry. Dwight may be the best defensive player in the league and the maybe the best rebounder ever, but if we’re talking about putting the ball in the hole on the offensive end, Howard severely lacks the ability to do that on a consistent basis. Yao Ming doesn’t.
Besides, the issue isn’t really whether or not Yao Ming is better than Dwight Howard, it’s about who is better when the two of them play. Afterall, that’s who Cleveland has to have in mind when they make any moves this off-season. And if you look at the head-to-head matchups between Howard and Yao Ming, it’s not even close; Yao owns Howard.
In 9 games against Dwight Howard, Yao Ming is averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds. Just another day in the office for Yao.
Conversely, Howard averages only 12.2 points and 9.8 rebounds against Yao.
I didn’t even get to the good stuff. Yao’s teams are 7-2 against Dwight, including 2 wins this past season, so don’t give me that he didn’t have a team around him argument!
Thus in my opinion, the acquisition of Yao Ming by the Cleveland Cavaliers would guarantee that the Cavs would beat the Orlando Magic, their foremost contenders, with a healthy Yao Ming during the playoffs. In addition to that, the Cavs would definitely elevate themselves past the Boston Celtics with the acquisition Yao.
And yes, I do believe that a healthy Yao Ming would mean a victory for the Cavs over the reigning NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers, should that be their opponent in next year’s NBA Finals. Of course, the Cavs don’t have Yao yet, so it’s all a mute point, but Cavaliers fans can dream, can’t they?
