[Aggressiveness] What was the turning point for Yao

We have (young)players that can run with Suns now: Skip, Bogans, Hayes, Swift, which should do a better job on transition defense. And Yao doesn't play in pain anymore. So I expect Yao to do much better than last time.

 

He finally got some rest ...

 

It's not only that he is dunking more. He is more assertive on both ends of the floor. He has become vocal towards the referees (not afraid to get a T), and he even waved his his teammates for ISO play on the offensive end.

I have never seen him done those things in the past 3 years with the Rockets. We might be seeing more of a Yao that we saw at the Olympics in the near future and that really bodes well for the Rockets fans.

 

The turning point is when Alston started taking the control of the offense.

Yao needs someone else to set him up at the low block at the righ time, but we have never had anyone be able to do that consistently, until Rafer started taking over the leading role as a PG.

 

Alston's assists number is gonna go through the roof too by giving the ball to a terrific low post scorer at the right spot.

 

Yeh, so many people have tried that, SF, Mobley, Sura, Wesly, even TMac, I wonder why none of them had the "luck" to get those assists #.

 

Here's the biggest difference in Yao (and it was very clear against the Clippers):

Yao is running his ass off! Watch him - when we we're getting the ball down the court, he is the second man down there.

And here's where that helps: Yao is establishing his position before the opposing team can react. He's not having to fight his way into the lane and around the hoop - he's already there. This has not only granted him better looks and positioning for shots and rebounds, but it's also keeping him out of foul trouble.

Now, maybe it's because of conditioning, maybe it's 'cause his toe feels better, maybe it's coaching, maybe it's energy from the point guard (probably all of the above)... whatever the reason, Yao is running down a lot faster and establishing his position.

 

The Rockets didn't do well without Yao. It is a fact that wouldn't be neglected by Yao, which made him realize how important he is to the team and boosted his confidence, among other factors.

 

The aggressiveness kicked in because T-Mac just couldn't put the team on his shoulders anymore. Yao is maturing...

 

I've noticed that Yao seems to use a little face-up now, and driving a bit more when he has the room. He hardly ever did that before.
Additionally, he'll take a looong stride towards his defender, spreading his legs which is giving him more space to operate. When did that start? I've never seen him do that before.
Who was he studying during his time off?

 

He really is. I couldn't remember seeing Yao run so hard as he did last night. And he did not look exhausted, either-- Dude is getting scary.

 

Yao is a rhythm player and has historically been at the mercy of each game's tempo and style to determine whether he is in a good or bad rhythm.

Now he is learning to CREATE HIS OWN rhythm by establishing position (not necessarily even that deep sometimes) and wheeling and dealing via drop steps, spins, pump fakes, etc to get into a groove and then a move that he has developed muscle memory for. That fake to the middle drop step towards the baseline for a hook is automatic. Then he's got the short jumper if they don't bite...and of course he's got the baseline spin if they overplay. He is slowly developing a nice arsenal and needs to continue to do so to become a truly unstoppable force on the inside. His next challenge is to learn the tricks of the trade to seal his man so that they can't deny the entry....and also getting to his spots quicker and more efficiently.

 

i think he got 2 fastbreak slams last night leaving kaman behind

 

he's taking advantage of his size... when your 7'6" your strides would probably get you across the whole court in like 5 steps.

 

Vince Young could.

 

absolutely. and they both have a good mid-range jumper. if they choose that plan of action, i'm guessing 15+ pts for howard and swift.

 

you know, it could be true. at least in rockets' case. when amare played he wanted to cover yao all by himself and obviously it didn't work. and now without amare, they finally decided let's double him with one guy fronting and another cheating from the back. like another poster said, our open man, be that howard, swift or whoever, has to punish them.

 

getting his toe fixed, plain and simple. Unbelevable but why not? he finally feels comfortable. I really NEVER thought I'd see a spin move. This might be the biggest deal all year, getting his toe fixed. LOL.....