Yao Ming is ninth among NBA centers in passing. Here are the top 8: Boris Diaw, Tim Duncan, Carlos Boozer, Jermaine O'Neal, Marcus Camby, Andrew Bogut, Mehmet Okur, and Chris Bosh. Bogut is the only true center of all of those guys, the rest are forwards or forward centers. So, among true centers, Yao is second in the NBA in passing. Considering the fact that in our offense most of his passes are going to lead to another pass, that is not too shabby. I would say he could work on blocking more shots or being a more dominant rebounder over his passing. While I am on stats here, as of tonight the Rockets are second in scoring differential in the NBA, at +5.8 (the Spurs are first at +7.5). If this continues, it is a very positive sign.
They can't really say anything else about how he can improve besides 'he's gotta be more aggressive and dunk on people.'
What a dolt. Penny and Kobe were both super player even after Shaq left them. Wade was already a super player before Shaq came to Miami. And exaclty how does Kenny Smith think Yao can make TMac better? TMac was already a superstar when they teamed up.
Just let winning do the talking...once they do that those guys will jump on board. They only pay attention to the trendy (Heat/Lakers,etc...) teams...
Anyone else notice Bill Walton breathing heavily after a few of those passes he was dishing out...it was pretty funny. Yao is a very good passer but this offense isn't built around much motion. Last night there was alot more motion than usual with T-Mac, Hayes, Head all cutting to the basket. We all saw Yao's true passing talent under Rudy. He had some of the most amazing passes in his rookie season. They also had a segment before that talking about the Rockets. Legler, Anthony and Walton all agreed Yao is progressing and becoming a beast but said that they need to do it in the playoffs. They discussed T-Mac's "decline" at length and made some good points: 1. The injuries taking a toll on his body, especially the type of injury he has, the back problem. 2. In Orlando he was pretty much the only option and had to put up crazy numbers, now he is the #2 option with Yao dominating. G. Anthony said that they should show another chart of McGrady's declining scoring average along with a chart of Yao's increased scoring averages which shows that he is deffering to the big fellow. Walton said that T-Mac is old in terms of basketball years and that there are other players at his position that do the same thing but are better than him now. Legler said T-Mac is still a superstar caliber player but now is the time for him to establish his legacy in this league by taking the Rockets deep into the playoffs or else he won't be remembered for anything. I totally agree with that and hope T-Mac realizes this. It would be sad for someone of his talent and ability to be remembered as only a great scorer. 3. The Rockets roster turnover rate. Each of McGrady's 3 seasons have seen completely new faces/new teammates. It takes time to get adjusted and get to know one another on the court.
Later on the show they were showing highlights of the Rox game and they showed the Yao pass to T-mac for the one handed dunk and you could hear Bill Walton in the back saying "Beautiful pass by Yao!"
Look at it this way. If Shaq were traded back to the Lakers, how much better would he make Kobe? (He'd probably make Kobe worse, that's what happened last time. Both of them made each other worse.)
They are right you know. Well halfway right at least. Incorporating more passing opportunities into Yao's game would make him that much more dangerous (which is one that made Shaq so effective that he didn't get enough credit for). What they left out was, assistant coach Gundy's offense does not have all of the cutting they were talking in his offense. If he did, it would put even more pressure on the defense and we wouldn't be so predictable by just either posting or shooting 3's all day long. Im sure Yao will look more into it but the coach has to get the team in that movement concept as well for it to succeed as best it could.
These are the reasons I think Yao's assists are less than what we would have expected based on his rookie year: 1. The Rockets don't get him the ball unless he's got good position close to the basket ... maybe within 8 feet. When you're operating that close to the basket, that greatly reduces the opportunities for assists. There are far more passing angles available if you're in the high post, for instance. 2. When he gets the ball, he usually makes his move quickly before double teams can come, reducing the chance of a turnover. I think this is what the coaching staff wants him to do, because he doesn't handle aggressive double teams very well. 3. Under Rudy, he was free to make more daring passes. I wouldn't be surprised if JVG told him when he got here that he doesn't want Yao making risky passes. 4. I just don't think he sees the floor that well. Sometimes teammates will be wide open in the lane and Yao never sees them. There have been multiple instances when there's a loose ball that falls right next to Yao which he has an opportunity to pick up, but instead he just runs back on defense never realizing it. The lack of court sense shows up sometimes on the defensive end as well where he'll just completely lose sight of a player he should have rotated to. I don't know if it's concentration, his height, his hearing, or something else, but this is an area I'd like Yao to improve on.
In my opinion Yao would get 5 assists a game if they gave him assists for the amount of times he finds a wind open guy for a layup but then the guy gets fouled. They go on and make some free throws, but it doesn't count as an assist. It should count because we still got two pts. We just don't have any finishers at the rim. We are too short. See Chuck Hayes, Luther Head, Rafer Alston. The few times he found tmac last night he got back 2 back assists for dunks. We just need some people who can finish around the rim. Instead of drawing the foul
Huh? They won 3 titles in a row putting up great numbers! and went to a 4th final together before Kobe decided to be a baby and not take shots in game 6 to prove his point. Too many egoes got in the way, this is what makes the Yao and T-Mac combo so great, they compliment each other without worrying about who is getting the #'s. Now they just need to win a few titles!
Most of the time it seems like when Yao's deep in the post with the ball, the cutters are actually not cutting to the basket. They are cutting to free up some space for Yao to maneuver. Sometimes you'll see Yao wave for a guy to run through so he won't have to worry about a weak-side strip. Yesterday was the first time I've seen Tracy cut to the hoop, probably because the Warrior's defense is so porous.
I only wish that he would have this frame of mind for the whole game! For fairly long periods,it's disturbing to see Yao Ming running up and down the court to deliberately avoid the action on the offensive end,so that others might get their share. its about time that instead of scoring 24, 25 or 26 he moved up another 10points . He can do it!!
Before a certain game in that injury-ridden season for the Rockets, also known as the 2005-6 season, Yao detractors in almost any Yao debate -- whether it was in the media or on the CF.net -- would invariably bring a "sore point" in his progress to kindly remind you that Yao had never won and/or had not been able to win a game without TMac. Never mind the relatively small "sample size" in term of the number of such games, never mind Yao was playing with a bad toe in many of these games, never mind the "mitigating circumstance" in which Yao had been exclusively playing with a new PG Alston, a rookie Head who just hit a rookie wall, an underachieving PF Swift, a disappointing veteran PF Juwan, an over-the-hill and still-recovering SG Wesley, an inconsistent and not-100% healthy SG Anderson, a perpetual NBDL material Bogans who started in place of TMac, an inexperienced Hayes, and last but not the least, a flying Ryan Bowen, Yao detractors would go all their way to make sure it was a "legitimate and fair criticism" that "merely" reflected the "fact" that Yao couldn't carry the team on his shoulders and that Yao was still a soft p***y. If memory serves me correctly, it was incidentally also a Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets game, in which Yao dominated with a 20-20 performance. Yao detractors have since got one fewer item to dig up. Still, they will bring up something else every once in a while. Sometimes, you've got to feel sorry for them.
