The Skip and Yao Relationship - An Early Look Inside the Numbers

Yao will average at least 22 and Rafer will be pushing 10 assists per game. Remember, when the regular season starts, he will have both Yao and TMac on the floor with him for more minutes. He's getting 7 right now playing junk ball in preseason. I think he should easily be in the top 5 in the league in assists.

 

I agree that Alston will make life much easier for Yao, but I take the first 2 games with a truckload of salt. There was no interior defense to speak of. For the first time in a long time, Yao was able to walk into post position and get the ball with little ball denial defense.

The real test will come when teams resume mud wrestling with Yao to fight him off the low post. I think Alston's ability to deliver the quick, accurate and timely pass will help Yao immensely. Alston is very adept in running basic offense. He dribbles with a purpose, changing direction and pace to create passing angles.

When the better teams clog the middle, we'll have to work harder. Again, Alston will improve our ability to get the ball into the deep post but I expect that we'll have to run the pnr with tracy and Yao. Against Dallas, the team discovered that you can simply lob the ball to yao on the pnr, and the defense is not set enough to deny the pass. The opposing center is caught between jumping out to help on Tmac and staying home with Yao. When he is standing in that no-man's land, that's when we hit Yao with the lob.

I think the basic premise of this thread is right - Yao's regular season numbers will approach 20 ppg. We're talking about 1 more basket per game, 1 more free throw a game. Alston's passing ability will generate that.

 

1. As others have said, playing against a depleted 76ers frontline and the Orlando Magic is not a definitive sign. Yes, Yao himself looks a lot better, but let's see how he plays when tougher defenders come along.
2. Yao still needs to work on catching post passes. There were a couple plays last night where he was being fronted, a lob pass was thrown over the fronter and a little behind Yao, and he just tipped it with his off hand and a defender grabbed it. When a post pass comes in Yao has to secure it first, then make the move.
3. THE BIG THING EVERYONE'S FORGOTTEN, we have yet to see the McGrady-Yao pick 'n roll. I know McGrady has been loafing this preseason (and STILL putting up 20 in limited minutes) let's see how well they do with the pick 'n roll. When that play comes back I think Yao will be even more deadly on the offensive end.

Overall, I'm encouraged. I can see Yao going between 22 and 24 for an average. Now, if ony we could get his rebounds up...

 

We play the Spurs this Saturday. Although it's just pre-season and the starting crew may see limited minutes, it may give us a better glimpse of how the Yao/Skip combo plays. Right now, these games are a bunch of scrubs, or a bunch of scrubs playing with some starters for the most part.

 

Don't forget that Yao was injured last year in a pre-season game with the Spurs when he got tangled with Nesterovic. He wore the 'wrap' for the first a good part of the start of the regular season. How much that hurt his production is debatable - but it definately did not help it. If he can avoid injury this year he'll get a little bump from that as well. I Look for Yao to be improved this year but we'll get a much more realistic guage of how much against the Spurs on Saturday than we did from either Phily or Orlando.

 

exactly. iirc, yao had a strong preseason last year (i think).

i'm looking forward to seeing skip and yao play together. hopefully the three or four times that yao fumbles a pass in a close game during the season doesn't deter skip from keeping the faith. the passes to yao that i've seen so far have been soft, uncomplicated passes that he'll be able to catch as opposed to the bullet passes or the "i saw you zig this way, so i zagged the pass that way" garbage that resulted in yao not getting the ball in a position to where he could succeed.

 

I was wondering who would be option 1? Maybe the hoop.

 

While I don't disagree with your assessment, I do suspect it'll be much more difficult for Yao to get into - and hold - his spots in the regular season than it looks in the preseason.

 

Nice post, thacabbage. I hope you're right.

Let's not forget, though, that Yao led the league in scoring in the preseason 2 years ago. Just sayin'. It's preseason.

 

what does IIRC mean?

 

A VERY GOOD POINT !!

Espeically in the first and third quarters.

DD

 

If I remember correctly.

 

Yao had a very mediocre preseason last year.

 

then the preseason before. that's right. they were in shanghai last preseason. brain fart.

 

Yao needs to play more minutes..

he averaged 30 min / 12 fga / 18 ppg which is not bad.. but he needs to take more shots and play more minutes. Hopefully he can average 36 minutes and take 6 more shots.

Yao taking 18 shots would push his ppg well about 20 maybe 25?

J

 

I was thinking the same thing. That pick n roll between Yao and T-mac was our best play last year against the Mavs and to go away from it would be a big mistake. That play will get T-mac an open shot or a mismatch with a bigger player OR it will get Yao an easy score at the basket. I do hope that JVG hasnt forgotten about that play and is just saving it for the regular season.

 

Good post thacabbage. I agree that Yao will benefit greatly (possibly more than any other Rocket) from having a guy like Alton to get him the ball, but like Rileydog said, the real test will come when the season starts.

I do think Yao will break the 20ppg barrier this season. If he continues getting the respect he deserves for being one of the premier bigmen in the league, I could see him averaging 23ppg.

 

If I recall correctly
or
If I remember correctly

 

I like that Alston pushes the ball upcourt quickly. It really puts pressure on the opposing defense. Last year, it seemed like the point guards would dribble up to the 3-point line then start setting up the offense, but Alston is looking for a pass as soon as he gets the ball in his hands. He zipped a couple passes to Yao in good position when he was near half-court the past two games.