[Sir Patchwork]

Brad Millerish sounds about right.

[croco]

... seven feet tall.

[Chan]

I always though Shelden Williams had a bigger head. His forehead looks like a house.

[R-Star]

JO's got a pretty big head too. I think hes Riana's older brother.

[NewAgeBaller]

more versatile, less dominant.

[hroz]

LOL if I was 7 foot what do you think I would be???????????

LOL it doesnt matter cause I am not even close to 6 foot. (5' 7 if you want to know

[JPSeraph]

I've always thought Yao would be much better off if he weren't so big. Perhaps around 7'2" would be ideal. At 7'0" he'd probably be much less likely to get burned by those quick PF's other teams like to use in an attempt to turn the mismatch in their favor.

I think his defense, stamina, and overall effectiveness across different matchups would be improved. Since he'd probably be quicker off the floor and maybe have a touch more vertical, his offense might actually become less predictable.

On the downside, he might be easier to bully around since he'd weigh less than he currently does. Overall, I think it'd balance out nicely. But who knows, maybe Yi is the 7 foot Yao?

[roux2dope]

You cant discount physical attributes as to why players are dominint. Shaq was dominant because he was 350+ lbs, Wilt was Dominant because he was 3-4 inches taller than most centers in the NBA, Yao is dominant because he is a freak of nature, he can get any shot off he wants, he barely has to jump to rebound, and by just being a 7'5 freak teams dont drive the lane against the Rockets. If he was 7'0 i am sure he would be a nice player but he's not so who cares. He is a once in a lifetime freak taking over for shaq, who took over for kareem, who took over for wilt.

[Krstic All Star]

Originally Posted by roux2dope

You cant discount physical attributes as to why players are dominint. Shaq was dominant because he was 350+ lbs, Wilt was Dominant because he was 3-4 inches taller than most centers in the NBA, Yao is dominant because he is a freak of nature, he can get any shot off he wants, he barely has to jump to rebound, and by just being a 7'5 freak teams dont drive the lane against the Rockets. If he was 7'0 i am sure he would be a nice player but he's not so who cares. He is a once in a lifetime freak taking over for shaq, who took over for kareem, who took over for wilt.

Not quite accurate. Wilt was dominant because he was physically ridiculous - his combination of strength, speed, and athleticism is what separated him from the rest - not his height. There were other 7 footers then, it just happened that they were stiffs.

[JPSeraph]

Originally Posted by roux2dope

You cant discount physical attributes as to why players are dominint. Shaq was dominant because he was 350+ lbs, Wilt was Dominant because he was 3-4 inches taller than most centers in the NBA, Yao is dominant because he is a freak of nature, he can get any shot off he wants, he barely has to jump to rebound, and by just being a 7'5 freak teams dont drive the lane against the Rockets. If he was 7'0 i am sure he would be a nice player but he's not so who cares. He is a once in a lifetime freak taking over for shaq, who took over for kareem, who took over for wilt.

As Kristic pointed out, this simply isn't correct. Shaq was also dominant at 300lbs and there are many who feel he would have been better served keeping his weight down. Both Wilt and Shaq were physical marvels - at 7ft+, there are a lot of stiffs taking up room on the block because the talent pool is so thin.

I don't think any of us knows for sure how "Yao at 7 feet" would turn out. A lot of it probably depends on how much would he gain in quickness/mobility versus how much would he lose in sheer height advantage.

I think at 7'2" or so he'd still have sufficient height advantage while losing some of his ungainly and occasionally embarrassing immobility. But who knows for sure?