His eyes are more than 7 feet off the ground. Think about it. His length is in his legs, not his arms. So the bad news is that he doesn't have the hugest reach for blocks or boards. But the good news is that his head is much higher than the head of a guy like Hilario. Yao can stand next to Shaq and see right over the top of his head. We've all seen the video. Yao is already a good passer and has the brains to get even better. We're going to be able to run an offense nobody has been able to run with any consistency before, because there's never been a player with this combination of height and skill. Guard throws the ball in to Yao. At 7'5", there's no question he's catching this ball. Guard cuts. Other guard cuts. Small forward cuts. Down the lane, backdoor, baseline, you name it. Whoever isn't cutting is poised for an open 3 a la Mario Elie. The whole time, Yao's hoisting the ball over his head, waiting for one of these guys to get enough space to pop the ball in to them for a layup or dunk. What are you gonna do? Slap his arm? Think about the clock. Having a 7'5" guy with good hands means yo'ure not wasting time waiting for a safe chance to throw the entry pass. You're tossing that ball in to the post with confidence that our guy is getting it. Now we've got lots of time to run cuts. If you double Yao, he's got a minimum of 15 seconds to find one of our guys going to the hole unguarded for a layup. Remember how sweet it was in '94, knowing Hakeem would find the open man? Yao will never be the scoring threat Hakeem was, but he'll be a better passer. And that ball over his head will be untouchable. Think about the difference between being 6'11" and being 7'5". Think about your perspective on the court. It's hard to imagine, because none of us is anywhere near that height. It's like looking through a periscope, except with a full range of vision. From there, you can see everyone moving. Hakeem was a great passer, but he couldn't see everything Yao can see. Now think about being a point guard. You bring the ball up to the perimeter. You're 6'3", facing a 6'5" defender. You're 25 feet from the basket. You're having some difficulty seeing. If you throw or bounce a pass for a layup, the ball has to travel a long distance untouched, raising the risk of a turnover. Wouldn't you like to cut that distance in half? Wouldn't you like to see the exact location of every cutter and defender? Wouldn't you like to be a foot or so taller, and 10 feet closer to the basket? Wouldn't you like to be Yao Ming? Oh, this is gonna be fun.
Interesting point. This post made me think about something Rudy T was pointing out on a 610 interview. This was shortly after we got the #1 pick. Rudy said something to the effect of "Yao Ming can see the court from a different angle." Should be fun to see what new types of offensive situations are created with Ming on the floor.
It sure helped that Magic Johnson was 6'9" and most other point guards were under 6'3", I see a large upside using Ming in the high post. DaDakota
well, ming is not built for the low post, so the high post fits perfectly. if steve and cat can learn to run the ofence through him they can increase their scoring average by a couple points. ming can also average up to 3-4 assists per game. he will not be a 4-5 block per game guy. but he will be a 2-3 block guy. and lets not forget about how he will change shots made by the opponent. that should acount for another 3 or more.
Excellent points. I just think so many people are forgetting that this guy is 7 foot freaking 5. And he's got skills. Did you see the video of him jumping that guard at half-court and coasting in for a dunk? Every Ming-doubter should watch that play. The guy dribbles like a freaking guard. The question so many people are asking is "can you guarantee that Ming is a sure thing?", when they should be asking "what other player has a better chance of becoming the best player in the league?".
Sounds like David & Goliath, without the rock & sling. I was all for trading the pick, but now that he's here, I'm 100% behind him. After all, he's now, a Rocket.
I agree that Ming will bring court awareness and passing skills that we haven't seen since the Dream. I envision him playing 15-20 minutes per game, off the bench at first (he will have a long summer of competition, and Rudy will bring him along slowly), but the second half of the season, I could see him playing 30 minutes per game and averaging 12 pts, 8 boards, and 3 blocks per game (that is...if Stevie and Cat pass him the rock). He is a team player first, and will need to learn to get his.
Damn, you took the words right out of my mouth. Magic, obviously, had extremely good court vision. The guy had skills that bordered on telepathy, but one of the tremendous advantages he had was his height for his position. It's nice to have good court vision. It's even nicer if, because of your size, you can see the WHOLE COURT. It is a big advantage.
I too was for trading the pick. But now Yao is OUR guy and I am looking forward to seeing him develop into an All-Star.
I have visions of Ming fronting post players. Can you imagine a player trying to pass the ball into the post? The passer can fake all he wants. Ming does not have to jump. How many steals will Ming have? How many blocks will Griffin get from the weak side ?
The most impressive thing to me about Ming jumping that guard and dribbling in for the slam was the fact that he dunked off one foot...a lot of guys that big would have had to gather and jump off two.if they were even able to dribble that far in the 1st place
MING IS THE THING!! plus wouldn't you think Rudy would excel at coaching a team with a big man? we are gonna kick some nba butt! this year, next year... for many years!!!!
The Theories are in place, but now all Im interested in is the execution of them. That's a completely different story!
But he cannot run with his 300 pounds body. He looked so tired in the final game with Army Rockets. I am very disappointed after I went over that clip. Yao is slow, too slow, he can only walk (He cannot run)to his position by r****ding his team anything about 10 seconds. He was playing a very passive game without ball in hands. He was not willing to rebound,block, or take a good position. He seldom lifted his hands in the air on defense end. He was so unstable. A very slight push made him limp out or turnover. The center he was defending on scored nearly 50 pts. one episode: A Sharks fan (pretending to be an Rockets) threw something into Rockets' home court floor. That led to a technical call and made Sharks the champion. ...That's disgusting. After the game,Yao's coach Li Qiuping told millions of basketball fans: "this should not be a close game, We should have dominate them a lot" Yao, did not improve anything on defense in three years . Actually he was getting tired more easily than before. Shame on Chinese coach and basketball. Please don't play like that in NBA. I don't want to bash him. I just got a bad feeling. I hide it in this thread,hoping no one will notice it. Still he has some upside: His offense improved a lot. He can shoot very well now. He can suddenly increase his passion and speed when he gets the ball. He loves dunk. His pass is pretty good, I saw some creative passes. He has an NBA level offense rebound, tip in,dunk, hook,maybe jump shot. If one day Yao Ming becomes a good player, Rudy must be awarded the best ever coach.
Funny all the clips I saw looked like he ran pretty welll, with maybe the one exception being the Chicago workout. Good Analysis Will. There are so many options the rockets will have with Yaoming on the court. He opens it up for the other players and just don't get it.
