Miami Heat forward Shane Battier was taking questions from fans on twitter Thursday night and one answer was interesting (hat tip to Sheridan Hoops):
When you look at Battier’s other teammates over the years it makes sense. Tracy McGrady was on some of those Rockets teams but by that time it was a broken down McGrady who was a shell of his former self. There was Pau Gasol in Memphis, but peak Yao was better than peak Gasol.
Some tend to think of slowed, often-injured Yao first, but the Yao of 2004-2007 was a force of nature. He averaged better than 22 points and 10 rebounds a game twice, shot 52 percent for his career and could both dominate on the low block and knock down a midrange jumper. He was almost impossible to defend.
Yao was a great player who had his body betray him at too young an age. A loss for all of us.
