Are you comparing Yao's game to Ostertag?? Did you see Yao torch him last night?? Oh, I think DA is wayyy better than Eisley.
I know someone is going to say 'let's compare them to Reggie Miller and Rick Smith' (oh...may be he means Rik Smits )
How about... Batman & Robin, Laurel & Hardy, Snoopy & Charlie Brown, Cheech & Chong?? Seriously though - I saw one feed from DA to Yao last night worth noting. Besides that I haven't seen much else or maybe I haven't been paying attention. The TMac-Yao p-n-r dwarfs any Yao-DA combo I've seen so far.
DA had the luxury of playing with Duncan so he knows how to defer to a big man and knows how to execute an entry pass. That was the reason I was for an Horry signing a few years ago even though he wasn't playing that well. The entry pass is a skill most often overlooked and the reason Big shot Rob had a job when his shot wasn't falling.
How about Brian Shaw and Shaq? Chick used to say that Shaw is the best post-entry passer on the team. He called them the Shaw-Shaq redemption. Oh, I miss that Chick.
DA is good at getting the ball into the post. We're lucky to get him so cheap. Very lucky. He had other options. What's great is that DA/Yao can run the left side and TMac/Swift can own the right side. If our stars spit the court, we divide the defense, and Yao shouldn't have to come out and set picks for Tmac. Yao can just camp out, post, re-post, and feed shooters. Alston's job is much easier if we have a real tandem on each side. He can swing the ball to either free wing, and we're good.
I think Skip will take the Shaw role. He was flat out amazing with his entry passes in his first two games. "Skip to Yao" has been kind of quiet since then, but JVG has been using a bunch of funky lineups and they haven't played together that much since the beginning of the preaseason.
What does vietnamese soup have to do with DA and Yao? DA is not even Asian and Yao is Chinese... DA and Yao = Laverne & Shirley
I suspect you will be waiting a long time if you are waiting for the day that VG doesnt have Yao setting picks up high....if you notice...that is a job that he uses all of his big men for...Deke does it, Stro does it, Juwon does it, and Yao does it. That is just the way it is. besides, what Yao does after the pick these days goes a long way towards setting him up for good post position more often than not.
Forget the Kobe/Shaq comparison. I haven't noticed any special chemistry between DA & Yao at all. What DA brings to us is a player that knows how to use his abilities to fit into an offense, pick his spots and take advantage of our two players that draw a lot of attention. This is what Jon Barry does. DA is good on the break, passes well (both to the post and on the perimeter), has good court vision and will knife a defense if he's left open by hitting the outside shot or going to the basket. The guy is just a smart basketball player who has figured out his place already. The new player who clicks with Yao the most is Skip, by far. You can see in Skip's eyes Yao is his first passing option almost every time. Stromile and Yao seem to connect with each other also.
So you're basically saying that Yao clicks with pretty much all of our new players. Maybe it's not them, maybe it's just Yao. By simply being himself, Yao has forged special bonds with the new players. Instilling a sort of unwavering trust in them that by shoving the ball to the post, good things will happen. I think if I was acquired by the Rox this off season, I would've clicked with Yao as well. Remember, when in doubt, always throw the ball to the big man.
This is one of those "inverted" threads, but apostolic3 and pasox have made good observations. watashi315 I have to disagree that Yao getting nice more nice looks in the paint has anything to do with bonding or any change in his play. We simply have not had guards that were even close to adequate at getting Yao the ball in good position. Regarding DA specifically he has underrated passing ability that hasn't really dramatically shown thus far, but he's another player with a high bb IQ that I do think will help us (and Yao) more than most think. Hopefully Yao has improved, but with the players we have now I think his stats will improve regardless because of the guys we have around him.
