Yao Ming vs. Cazzie Russell Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Cazzie Russell and Yao Ming, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Yao Ming played 8 years in the NBA, 4 less than Cazzie Russell, who played 12. Yao Ming had the first of his seasons in 2002-03, while Cazzie Russell had his rookie season in 1966-67. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12
Rookie Season
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2002-03	1966-67
Team	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	82	29.0	13.5	2.4	5.8	8.2	1.7	0.4	1.8	2.1	2.8	4.9	9.8	.498	0.0	0.0	.500	3.7	4.5	.811
Cazzie Russell	77	22.0	11.3	-	-	3.3	2.4	-	-	-	2.3	4.5	10.2	.436	-	-	-	2.3	3.0	.785
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cazzie Russell	4	22.3	15.5	-	-	4.8	2.8	-	-	-	4.0	6.5	16.5	.394	-	-	-	2.5	3.3	.769

Season 2
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2003-04	1967-68
Team	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Knicks Lost East Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	82	32.8	17.5	2.4	6.6	9.0	1.5	0.3	1.9	2.5	3.3	6.5	12.5	.522	0.0	0.0	.000	4.4	5.4	.809
Cazzie Russell	82	28.0	16.9	-	-	4.6	2.4	-	-	-	2.7	6.7	14.5	.462	-	-	-	3.4	4.3	.808
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	5	37.6	15.0	2.2	5.2	7.4	1.8	0.4	1.4	2.6	4.0	6.2	13.6	.456	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.4	.765
Cazzie Russell	6	34.8	21.7	-	-	3.8	1.7	-	-	-	2.7	9.2	16.3	.561	-	-	-	3.3	4.0	.833

Season 3
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2004-05	1968-69
Team	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Knicks Lost East Div Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	80	30.6	18.3	2.6	5.8	8.4	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.5	3.7	6.7	12.2	.552	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	6.2	.783
Cazzie Russell	50	32.9	18.3	-	-	4.2	2.3	-	-	-	2.8	7.2	16.1	.450	-	-	-	3.8	4.8	.796
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	7	31.9	21.4	3.3	4.4	7.7	0.7	0.3	2.7	2.7	4.4	7.9	12.0	.655	0.0	0.0	-	5.7	7.9	.727
Cazzie Russell	5	7.2	2.4	-	-	1.0	0.2	-	-	-	0.8	1.0	4.2	.238	-	-	-	0.4	0.4	1.000

Season 4
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2005-06	1969-70
Team	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	57	34.2	22.3	2.6	7.6	10.2	1.5	0.5	1.6	2.6	3.4	8.2	15.8	.519	0.0	0.0	.000	5.9	6.9	.853
Cazzie Russell	78	20.0	11.5	-	-	3.0	1.7	-	-	-	1.8	4.9	9.9	.498	-	-	-	1.6	2.1	.775
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cazzie Russell	19	16.1	9.4	-	-	2.5	0.8	-	-	-	1.6	4.2	8.7	.485	-	-	-	0.9	1.0	.947

Season 5
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2006-07	1970-71
Team	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Knicks Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	48	33.8	25.0	2.1	7.3	9.4	2.0	0.4	2.0	3.5	3.3	8.8	17.1	.516	0.0	0.0	.000	7.4	8.6	.862
Cazzie Russell	57	18.5	9.2	-	-	3.4	1.4	-	-	-	1.3	3.8	8.8	.429	-	-	-	1.6	2.1	.773
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	7	37.1	25.1	3.3	7.0	10.3	0.9	0.1	0.7	4.7	3.9	7.9	17.9	.440	0.0	0.0	-	9.4	10.7	.880
Cazzie Russell	11	10.9	5.6	-	-	2.0	0.7	-	-	-	1.3	2.3	5.8	.391	-	-	-	1.1	1.1	1.000

Season 6
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2007-08	1971-72
Team	Houston Rockets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	55	37.2	22.0	3.1	7.7	10.8	2.3	0.5	2.0	3.3	3.1	7.9	15.5	.507	0.0	0.0	.000	6.3	7.4	.850
Cazzie Russell	79	36.7	21.4	-	-	5.4	3.1	-	-	-	2.2	8.7	19.2	.455	-	-	-	4.0	4.8	.833
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cazzie Russell	5	32.2	14.2	-	-	4.4	1.8	-	-	-	2.6	6.2	12.6	.492	-	-	-	1.8	2.4	.750

Season 7
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2008-09	1972-73
Team	Houston Rockets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf Semis	Warriors Lost West Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	77	33.6	19.7	2.6	7.2	9.9	1.8	0.4	1.9	3.0	3.3	7.4	13.4	.548	0.0	0.0	1.000	4.9	5.7	.866
Cazzie Russell	80	30.4	15.7	-	-	4.4	2.3	-	-	-	2.1	6.8	14.8	.458	-	-	-	2.2	2.5	.864
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	9	35.9	17.1	2.1	8.8	10.9	1.0	0.4	1.2	1.9	3.0	6.0	11.0	.545	0.0	0.0	-	5.1	5.7	.902
Cazzie Russell	11	23.9	14.8	-	-	3.3	1.5	-	-	-	2.2	6.5	13.4	.490	-	-	-	1.7	2.0	.864

Note: Yao Ming didn't play in 2009-10.

Season 8
	Yao Ming	Cazzie Russell
Season	2010-11	1973-74
Team	Houston Rockets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	5	18.2	10.2	1.4	4.0	5.4	0.8	0.0	1.6	1.4	2.6	3.6	7.4	.486	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	3.2	.938
Cazzie Russell	82	31.4	20.5	1.7	2.6	4.3	2.3	0.7	0.2	-	2.4	9.0	18.7	.482	-	-	-	2.5	3.0	.835
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cazzie Russell	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-