If this has been posted already, mods pls remove http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300027427 When I read that, I just wondered what Yao's follow up was. I hope his next move was to pick BR's brain further and find out what exactly what kind of passes BR was referring to. Yao's already a great passer for his position, but if there was a chance to get even better and broaden his knowledge of the passing out/around the post, that'd make him an even more dangerous player.
i think its a great myth perpetuated by the occasional no-look, behind the head, dropoff passes to moochie/francis/mobley his first two years that yao is a 'great passer' for his position. i'd say he's decent to above average at passing, and has a long way to go before he even reaches brad miller's passing talent. yao has improved but still struggles mightily passing out of the double team. his passes are often too low, too high, or completely errant. rick adelman touched on the fact that he tries to make homerun passes instead of the simple ones. this is probably along the lines of what bill russell was talking about and hopefully yao can learn (much like tmac is realizing now) that the best pass isn't always the one that directly assists on a bucket.
Yao should learn how to be a great passer from both Russell and Walton, and he will need this if he wants to be more effective in the new system.
Yao is probably the most overrated passer in the league. i dont get the notion why people called him a great passer. he cant even pass out of the low post without getting it deflected, and he always passes to his teammates' ankles.
I agree that Yao is an overrated passer. The next step in the evolution of Yao is not having him become a better passer but rather have him wanting to dominate more and score against double teams and even triple teams. I hate, I mean hate when Yao waits for the double team. Score Yao, every dang time.
i'm glad Yao is talking to some legends. I mean, what can talking to legends do for you? you know when that akeem kid talked to that moses guy?
Let's see 1. Back out to the guard (lob) 2. Cross court lob 3. Ditch in to cutter behind 4. Bounce to baseline 5. Shovel to baseline 6. Alley-opp 7. pop-out to spot of 3 8. bounce to top of key so that's 8, any one can think of 3 more?
Yao has GREAT court vision for a center but that isn't much good when he is too slow and gets too bothered to make use of that vision. He can't consistently pass effectively from a double team but he can make some nifty passes now and again that maybe only 2-3 other big men in the league can make. I would prefer he be a solid but unspectacular passer for sure. He reminds me a bit of Lebron (stay with me) in that he makes passes that most guys at his position are simply not capable of but at the same time he misses the simple, correct pass so often.
Yao's a great passer for a C. He's third behind I think...Brad Miller and Marcus Camby. Fourth if you consider TD a C. But that's only really like 10% of the story. Yao consistently passes it out to the perimeter while being double teamed. Because the Rockets run "full rotation", the ball always goes around once or twice before settling in the open shooter's hands. Still, I'm always impressed how many times Yao can pass it out under pressure; it's something a lot of other dominant low post centers (Dwight especially) have never really gotten. The guy's got good court vision due to his size and uses it effectivly. Yao has also shown that he is a good passer on the high post, especially when the Rockets run him out there and free up the court. Yao High Post Passing vs Miami Yao's not that creative. But most of the time, when he passes the ball out, it finds itself securely in the hands of a player that is a threat to score. And that's the true marker of a good passer.
I disagreed with some of you guys, Yao is a great passer and he just did not get to use that passing skills that much because he is still the best low post threat we have and he is getting better at passing out of double team and make the right decisions as to attack or pass it out. When Yao does pass, he displays very good court vision and his pass is usually right on the money. Remember those passes he did for Francis and Cat, and to Kelvin Kato for dunk.
I m afraid i have to agree with you this time! Yao is overrated passer, he is a good passer but not great passer. Bogut, Shaq, Miller all are better passer than Yao. Yao has good court vision and is a very creative passer. That's all!
Yao is not a good passer. He was a good passer in his first season. After that he was converted to a low post scoring machine.
for someone who has great court vision, Yao sure does get the ball stripped out from the blind side a whole lot.
He's 7'6. The average NBA point guard is like almost 2 feet shorter then him. Give Yao a break XD. Also...eh...for some reason, seeing Yao play now, I never got the vibe that he was too creative like some of you have...I think he's more like a machine; he always passes out, but never really does anything too nifty. The one C that comes to mind when you mention creative but inefficient is Big Z. The man has crazy highlight behind the backs, but on the grand scale of things, he's an inefficient passer. I think of Yao as the opposite; no flashy behind the backs but the ball usually ends up where it's supposed to be.
Yao is a willing unselfish passer, which are good traits, but it does not equal effective passing at ALL for Yao.
I think that more describes Shaq than Yao. But Yao's getting better at that, not being a playmaker with the ball but just getting it out to someone.
I too agree with Yao not being a good passer. Generally he is bad anytime he has to make a non-scoring decision with the basketball. The main reason why I was scared at the prospect of Adelman coming. But Adelman adjusted.
Almost everybody is missing the point. Yao's a decent passer but for a guy his size he's remarkable. It's like that footage where he went behind his back to beat a defender in the open court on the way to the basket. For anyone else that's not exactly a big deal. For a guy who's 7'6" that's freakish, and that's why people made a big deal out of it.
