Why is this even an issue? I consider him somewhere in the below average to average range. Since there was no "in between" option i'll give him the benefit of the doubt and choose "average". The better question is why is he expected to be an exceptional passer in the first place? He doesn't have good hands. He doesn't have good reaction time. He's very easy to fluster when doubled. For these reasons, rarely would a player that suffers from these problems be expected to be some Webber-esque magician with the ball. He is very willing to pass and unselfish enough to do so. It's just impossible to overlook these blaring problems whenever you are discussing something like this. Couple this in with his poor A/TO ratio -- you get the picture. Now, enough with the negativity or are we going to debate Aaron Brooks' post game next?
That's an excellent post even though I disagree that he would have come close to reaching Brad Miller's passing abilities regardless of how he was utilized and developed during his NBA career. If he was playing more from the high post from day one, yes I do think he'd be a better passer than he is now but at the end of the day I just don't think he developed his passing skills enough at a young age to become an above average passer at this level. And to nitpick, this is poll is about where Yao's passing skills are right now regardless of how or why, even though those are probably more interesting topics.
very bad passer. his passes go at 2 mph and rarely are they on target. 1/2 the time he passes from the low post the ball is deflected somehow. he's just too slow. defenders can easily deflect the ball.
LOL, what happened? Did you find a clip of one of Yao's super predictable passes or one where he passes the ball out of bounds?
That's a very good point. The time it takes for Yao to process and execute what he wants to do is more than enough time for NBA caliber players to react and get their hands on his passes. Just watch the next game or two. You will see several near TOs and deflections when Yao passes cross court out of the low post. One clear problem that leads to Yao's predictability is that his head is never on a swivel. He usually telegraphs his passes by looking where he's going to pass the ball for about 3 seconds before he actually passes it.
no. as long as it's a right pass, i don't care if it's predictable. it may not be eye-popping, but it's still a good one. someone mentioned sabonis. if yao was above avg., then he'd be jumping out of the roof then. everything is relative. yao is still a decent passer, but overall he's about average. man, a rare case where i was convinced by some clutchfans and sorta changed my mind.
A problem with Yao's pass is that he mostly uses one hand to pass out the ball. It seems that he can't control the ball very well by one hand. So the ball always comes out of his hand in bad angle and low speed. If he uses both hands, quality of his pass would be much better. Of course, it would be harder for him to pass out the ball with two hands when backing up his defender.
Solution: Yao must play water polo in the offseason. Seriously though, that is another good point. Those one-handed cross court passes do lose accuracy and velocity. Another reason there are so many sketchy looking passes and deflections.
Tmacfan, your name should be yaofan. Dare I ssay you're the 3 letter word? You seem to defend Yao a lot. Why post yet another thread if you're just gonna bash some people for thinking Yao's passing sucks? Anyways, I think Yao is an average passer. People say his great height helps him to be a great passer but he botches it up a bit.
When he came into the league it looked like passing was going to be one of his strengths but he has dropped off significantly. I'm not sure why, very strange though.
the only TRUE nice above average pass yao has ever made was the no look behind the back over the head pass...and thats only happened twice, once to moochie norris and i think the other one was to cuttino mobley. man, those were SIIICCKKK!
I think the problem with Yao's passes is that Yao has either one of two mindsets: to work his way to a fadeaway/hook shot or to pass the ball. And this, is very obvious. When he wants to pass the ball, his head is up high looking somewhere at the 3 point line, with the ball being dribbled in one hand. When he wants to get a shot, his head is down and the ball is much closer to his body. This means that his passes are easily anticipated since the defenders know when he's going to pass, leading to turnovers. Now it's not that we need Yao to develop Brad Miller/Chris Webber behind the back pass skills, but it would just be nice if Yao had some more variety - fake to get into the post for a shot but dish it off at the last second.
good thread.. i was always wondering how good Yao really is with regard to kicking the ball outside.. i think he is just an average passer..
I'd say above avg. for a guy of that size. Kinda like Gasol, makes fine passes when doubled in the post that result to wide open threes. So avg. at least but I say little above that, I'm fine with his passing.
His passing is at best average. I'm always surprised when an announcer calls him a great passer. I have seen him make some great passes, but not enough to call him anything but average. He makes as many great passes as bad. From what I've seen, I actually think he's a great passer to cutters, but since the Rockets are a team of mostly stand still shooters, you don't see much of those passes.
