IMO, i truly believe Yao will not peak at 18 and 11. Maybe 11 rebounds, but his scoring average will be higher than 18 before hes done. Iwas at the game at MSG the other night and started thinking about the BBS, and how a lot of the Yao peeking arguments were "he's not agressive." Counterpoint: Yao is aggressive. Could he be more aggressive? Absolutely. But weve seen that at least 3 times this season dunk on an opponent after previously getting dunked on or scored on. Yaos style of aggression isnt the in your face kenyon Martin aggressiveness, its more like the John Stockton, silent but (smart) and tough type of aggression. When Yao gets the touches, he scores nearly 20 pts a game. The guy knows how to score, even when he gets touches and isnt shooting well, he usually ends up with decent numbers because he also gets to the line and converts. I think his rebounding and blocked shots will only go up as his understanding, conditioning, and confortability improves. Its not a matter of aggression at all. By thepeek of his career he should be averaging 24-26, which is bout what Dream averaged.
Yao has definitely stepped up his agressiveness when close to the basket. Remember how many times he'd settle for those weak layup attempts(with alot of bad results), rather than dunks, earlier in the season? Now if he could only get more aggresive ,more often, on the boards. I can't wait to see what he comes back with next year, after some rest and offseason work!
His FT shooting has truly been impressive. Like the other cc netter posted in the other thread, 92% in Feb! He is over 80% for the year now after a very slow start. As to your Yaos scoring in the future, I definitely agree it will be well over 18. I say he will have a year with about 25. Imagine if Shaq could hit 80% from the FT line, he would have averaged 35+ several times in his career. Granted, Hack a Shack would not have been employed but you get my drift.
A point i left out. Lately Yao has been getting quite a few offensive rebounds, especially big ones down the stretch. Although he is no great rebounder, he has shown he can get some boards and be aggressive. I dont know if anyone else has posted this, but has anyone noticed him use the full-blast sky hook in the last 3 games? Its a thing of beauty. When he is able to hit it with both his right and left, both going to the middle and to the baseline..watch out. judging from his learning curve, it should be by sometime early next season. as bill walton would say "Yao Ming has the greatest learning curve in the history of basketball. He picks up things on the court that most wouldn't even dream of. What skill, what talent, what height. If only Shaquille O'neal had the skills and desire of Yao Ming. Yao is truly one of the great minds of basketball John wooden, Arvydas sabonis, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, and Tom Tobert, what a class act!"
Hasn't this topic already been discussed ad nauseum. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52382
