Yao Ming's Offensive Potential

With people getting to know more about Yao, the comparison to Shawn Bradley has been flushed down the toilet. Now people are comparing him to Rik Smits careerwise and some claim that Yao can never be as good as Hall of Famers such as Jabbar and Dream, which I don't agree with.

Yao is already better than Rik Smits skillewise IMO, and I sure don't see the reason behind the no-way-Yao-will-be-a-HOF glass ceiling.

To make it simple, I'll just talk about offense and leave defense, which we know that Yao is good at, out of the discussion here.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Dream - not Rik Smits - are who Yao Ming should look up to, Yao Ming's hook shots are aleady good, but he'll be deadly if he can develop that sky hook of Jabbar's. Yao has some nifty post moves now, and there's no indication that he won't further manage getting some dreamesque moves down. On the contrary, no doubt Yao will be better posting up under superior coaching. Upon acquiring those things along with his sweet jumper he'd be the best finesse center the league has ever seen.

Yao has the tools to learn that unblockable sky hook of Jabbar.

Yao has the agility and footwork to better his post moves after Dream.

Even if Yao doens't get those two things, he has other facets in his game to make up for the absence of sky hooks and dreamy moves.

Not only Yao has a chance to be the best finesse center ever, he can be something more. A power player with serious height advantage.

Both Jabbar and Hakeem doesn't have Yao's bulk and height.

Weightwise, Jabbar and Dream are never close to 296 lbs, Yao Ming is currently 3rd in NBA in terms of weight/height ratio behind Bateer and Shaq.

Heightwise, Hakeem has a lot of moves to get his shot off but Yao's being able to shoot over people makes up for that deficiency.

Yao is more powerful than people give him credit for right now, if Yao can add some more bulk, say 10-15 lbs, he can easily back people down for some high percentage shots - didn't he back down Davis in the WBC? - which Hakeem wasn't able to do as well.

Furthermore, Yao is crafty with the ball and showed ability to drive and penetrate against NBA centers, something Dream wasn't known for either.

Dream has that baseline fadeaway jumper. Yao has the same shot, he can also make it a turnaround fadeaway jumper. His go to money shot.

If it's not good enough, Yao has a Duncanesque bank shot.

Imagine a Yao Ming who can launch a sky hook, spin some Dreamesque moves, drive and slash, back people down, shoot cotton soft jumpers, bank shots and 3 pointers. The most offensively complete center of all time in NBA history.

Maybe that's why Antonio Davis said he's glad that he won't deal with Yao in Yao's prime?

What I'm saying is, Yao has the ball handling, the touch, the height and weight that makes him having the potential of exceeding Jabbar and Dream offensively. Sky is the limit for Yao.
When it's possible that Yao might end up being another Rik Smits, which is fine with me, there's no way to tell that Yao won't be a future Hall of Famer. It'll be such a gratifying experience to watch Yao grow. Did I say Yao can be a Hall of Famer?

 

I'm just talking about Yao's offensive potential here, it's not contingent on his being a Rocket or not.

My assessment is based on what we've known what Yao can do, from his games against the NBA players, so they are not far stretched and baseless. Of course, never did I claim that Yao will be a hall of famer, or he won't be another Rik Smits, just talking about his POTENTIAL based on what he already showed against good competition.

 

I'm under the impression of teams can't hold a players' right forever, I think I read somewhere that the right expires after certain years. I can be wrong but if that's case, Yao doesn't have to be a Rocket to play in the NBA. Beside, the Rockets can trade the right to other teams that's willing to take risks to wait on Yao in the god forbidden event of cancellation of Yao's arrival.

I guess the sports officials want to sort things out on Yao's assurance of playing for NT, hence the delay. I wouldn't worry too much over one internet article from China. Unless denied by people in the know that Yao won't be a Rocket I'm assuming he is a Rocket.

The CBA made an agreement with the Rockets, they didn't violate it. Delay in signing is not a violation unless the deadline is passed. I understand the Rockets fans are upset, so am I, but there's no reason to treat Yao Ming as a non Rocket for now when no one in power denies Yao Ming's signing.

Whew, bad timing for my thread.

 

Offwelfare:
You are absolutely right. Yao is one of his own kind and shouldn't have his career be limited to Rik Smits. There's only one Yao and he can make his own name!

Yao's speed and athletism are not his drawbacks but plus, compared to the normal NBA 7 footers. His strength and stamina are fixable. None of the above factors can be regarded as real threats to his immense potential. Cultural, political and training problems? Too cryptic.

I'm not predicting Yao WILL be a superstar, I'm saying he CAN be.

Being a Hall of Famer isn't important for a basketball player? That's like saying winning a Nobel literature prize isn't important for a writer.

Your misunderstanding is deep, I only said Yao has a Duncanesque bank shot, is it not true? How does that constitute comparing him to Duncan?

Comparing Yao's strengths and weaknesses with Hakeem is not crazy, I explicitly said that Yao should look up to Hakeem - WHICH means he is inferior to Hakeem right now. How does that sound crazy?

Weight/height ratio means nothing? I guess horsepower/weight ratio doesn't mean a thing for cars too.

For a power game, players needs three things in place, bulk, lower body strength, and to a lesser degree the upper body strength, players with the bulk but not the lower body strength can't back people down, such as Adonal Foyle.

Yao has the bulk, and a large portion of that bulk concentrates in his LOWER body.

Two benefits, legs are the engine and upper body the bridge to transmit power while backing people down, Yao can now back people down with his bulk and huge legs but his upper body strength can't consistently counter the resistance from opposing player - his weak upper body gets bent between his leg's power and defender's resistance - he can do it once in a while so that his upper body doesn't get tired quickly. That's why I said Yao can be a power player once he gets stronger in his upper body, and from what I've seen WBC, Yao's upper body strength is improving.

Yao said Oberto being better than him, but I don't need to agree with it. Yao might be underestimating himself or he's only referring to the WBC games. You'll be crazy if you really think Oberto is better than Yao, Oberto is not the one shooting 76% and averaging 20 and 9 in the WBC. If Yao had the teammates Oberto has without that stupid coach, he could blow up WBC.

I think you misunderstood my take on Yao being better than Smits, I wasn't talking about Yao being better than Smits as a player, but his overall offensive skills. From what I saw of Smits' play, he has an awesome jumper and a reliable hook shot, which I think Yao is equally or more good at. I didn't see Smits doing well putting the ball on the floor and play a post up game that Yao does. Maybe this is not fair 'cuz I only saw Rik Smits play when he's hampered by his injuries, but from a skillwise point of view, Yao is a better all around offensive threat than Smits. Given enough touches I think Yao can average Smits 18 ppg, why? If Cato could average 8 points in his first year as a Rocket without any offensive skill, it's hard for me to believe that Yao can't score 10 more points by himself in his first year. Yao won't average 18 ppg in his rookie year, for the lack of touches, though.

Right now Yao is no where near Smits' effectiveness in an actual NBA game, Yao is after all a rookie who's learning how to play the game. His lack of NBA experience put him far behind Smits and he'll make a lot of stupid mistakes, but seriously, which facet right now in Yao's offensive skills are worse than Smits? or what Yao should learn from Smits in terms of offensive skills? I'd like to hear more on that.

I agree with other things you said, including that Hakeem would own Yao for the time being, and Yao has work really hard to realize his potential. The point for this thread is not to hype Yao up but to express my faith in Yao's potential that one day he might achieve the same status that Hakeem did.

As for Yao contractual issues, I agree that it would suck for Yao, the Chinese basketball, the NBA, the Rockets and fans if the matter blows up. It's a no win situation, it would suck the most for me as I am both a Yao and Rockets fan. However, I won't blame China for delaying Yao's signing, I'll blame Wang Zhizhi for his selfishness and greed at this point. I'll blame China only if they break the agreement of letting Yao go to the Rockets. I won't argue about Wang's situation furthermore since it's not what this thread is for.

I still regard Yao as a Rocket unless otherwise denied by authorities, I'm not giving Yao up right now! Not even casting a shadow over his bright NBA future! Even if Yao won't be a Rocket I'll still talk about his game 'cuz I am his fan.

Wish you enjoy your season tickets.

BTW, I didn't know about Windandsea's article when I posted this thread.

 

Nikestrad:

I don't doubt what you say, glad to hear that the Rockets can hold Yao's rights as long as possible under some conditions.

Part of my first impression is from Francis' rebellion against the Grizzlies, since ppl talked about the option of his sitting out for a couple of years and making the Grizzlies lose his rights.

So it's not the time limit but player's void of contractual obligation that matters in the rights to them. Thanks for the update.