Honestly, while the sample size has been small, I have been really encouraged by Yao's ability to catch and pass while on the move. I guess after a few seasons of Van Gundy-Ball, I had assumed that Yao had bad hands, that he was turnover prone, and that he could not catch passes into the post unless they came directly to his chest. This is simply not true. In less than two preseason games, I've seen Yao catch lobs and bounce passes to the post, sometimes into his body and sometimes with him having to reach with one hand to catch the ball. I've seen him catch passes from the outside where our PGs try to lead him into the post, throwing it ahead of him and letting him go and get it and establish position quickly. I've seen him receive passes while cutting to the basket, catch the ball between defenders, and flush it down (see the pass from Brooks to Yao directly under the basket in the 1st half tonight against the Greek Squad). I've been hearing varied levels of concern about the new offense (I'm talking to you, Calvin Murphy), and about how it is counterproductive to take someone of Yao's size away from the basket when he can dominate down low. But from what I've seen, the amount of energy Yao expended getting so deep into the post last season was not worth the payoff. People worry about whether Yao will have the stamina to keep up with the Adelman offense. I think its more amazing that he had the stamina to survive the JVG offense, as constantly fighting to get under the basket undoubtedly gave Yao more of a burden on offense than anyone else on the team (yes, even more than T-Mac). With Yao not having to (1) waste so much energy getting deep in the post every play, and (2) fight through a sea of hands under the basket and having to catch contested balls, we will see a more energetic player with a similar level of production, a lot less wasted effort, and a lot fewer turnovers. For someone of Yao's size and speed, the mroe often we can get him the ball with a little bit of space, the less we have to worry about deflections, strips, and steals because he did not have the quickness to make his moves in a crowd down low. Last year I forgot that Yao has hands. This year I look forward to being reminded over and over every game.
Sure, Yao will save more energy and less risk of health problems in playing more outside than inside. I'm sure the opposing centers will also be spared from a grueling physical marathon in having to deal with a 7'6 310lb monster. But so what. THat's where Yao belongs. Most of the time. JVG did everything right. His only problem was, his offense wasn't creative enough, and he was too stubborn to use all his players. JVG planting Yao in the low post was absolutely correct.
I agree with this. I predict that once the season starts we will see Yao primarily in the low post and only as a changeup he'll come up high for a few possessions.
I see only two from the box score. Maybe you have the inside scoop we don't know, would you care to share?
