John Hollinger, one of the better (if not best) analyst at ESPN, has included Yao on his "All-Underrated Team". link: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...john&id=2378068 PG - Jameer Nelson, Jason Terry, Mo Williams SG - Jason Richardson SF - Gerald Wallace, Andrei Kirilenko, Luol Deng, Josh Childress PF - Elton Brand, Nazr Mohammed C - Yao Ming, Jackie Butler Here's what he said: "And sometimes a player can be world-famous and still be underrated. Yao Ming, for instance, is a household name ... and yet most people routinely underestimate how good he actually is." "Each of the past two seasons, the Rockets have started the year slowly, and each time commentators have used the opportunity to launch scathing critiques of Yao's game. Part of the problem has been understanding his per-minute effectiveness -- Yao last year averaged 18.3 points and 8.4 rebounds, which people tend to think of as "good" but not particularly great. Once you adjust for his minutes, however -- he averaged only 30.6 last season -- that translates into 23.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per 40 minutes, and he did it while shooting 55.2 percent. Now we've learned that Yao did this while quietly battling a painful toe injury. Since Yao got his toe fixed, he is playing his best basketball for a team that 's playing its worst. He's put together 14 straight 20-point games, for averages of 28.0 points and 12.9 rebounds over that period, suggesting Shaq may have some company at the top of the center charts next season."
