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

It's so great to know that we have FOUR core players locked up for reasonable prices (max for T-Mac and Yao is reasonable):

Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Rafer Alston until 2010
Stromile Swift until 2009.

And we can just build around that core.

How sweet it is.

 

It's pretty obvious that Yao has been working on his post game during the offseason. He has this one new move for getting position, where if the defender is trying to meet him outside and prevent him from getting deep, Yao does this spin move on him. Yao gets in a bit deeper, and posts up on the side of the defender.

Now if this was the same old rockets, that might not do much good, since most of our entry passers are mediocre at best. But with Skip, he's shown that he can make that pass to Yao, away from the defender for an easy bucket.

The lob is still not working that great, because Yao has been puting himself directly behind the defender so the passer can't see much of Yao to make that pass. But I'm sure they'll work out those kinks.

 

I doubt he can sustain it the whole year, but I'm sure there will be stretches when he will carry us. Its a pretty good sign that when I see Yao put up 19 pts in 21 minutes, I just ho hum and expect that from him. Two years ago I was shocked when he went over 16 pts

IIRC Tmax' PnR partner last year was JHo before he got hurt. IMO it works better for the partner to be someone other than Yao, since he has trouble with moving picks sometimes (thanks Mark Cuban ).

 

Good points all around in this thread. My 2 cents...

Yao has always been able to get position in the paint, the problem was he was not getting the ball before he got moved off the block or a 3 seconds call was coming.

The difference I see in these first two games is that Yao is getting the ball as soon as he establishes position. No hesitation from Skip (or others) to get him the ball. He pulls the trigger on passes inside that others (in the past) would pass up (no pun intended).

 

I still haven't seen the games yet (I will tonight, thanks to R2K). My question is, has Yao been double teamed off the ball so far? Many teams denied Yao the ball by fronting him with very close weakside help. I wonder if Skip has been tested in those situations.

 

I only watched the highlight. As mentioned before, quite often Yao was able to get the ball just as he got the position, so there was no double team when he caught the ball and he had no hesitation to shoot or attack the rim.

So I think the answer is Yao has not been thorougly tested yet.
But I suppose getting the ball and shoot before the defense collapses on him is one way to beat the double team.

 

Cabbage,

I agree with much of what you said - however..

The minutes would make a marked improvement. If Yao was playing 'superstar' type minutes production would go up significantly. 30minutes to 36 minutes is 20% or 22pts a game and over 10 boards. Plus as several have pointed out he has improved each year.

I think there is a Swift factor as well. I think he can do a lot to reduce the ticky tac fouls Yao gets. Can this help him get the 6 extra minutes per game - yes, I think so. If the two of them have chemistry - then watch out.

 

you know what, you are right. That is what I'm seeing. Well early last season he had a very hard time getting in position, but towards the end of the season it was more about sealing his man off to allow the entry pass.

 

If Skip continues his outstanding play consistently, Rockets should not worry about putting Sura back to the starting PG position when his bum knee gets *healed*. Tough love for Bob, but hey it's all about winning.

 

Yao had been playing an average of 30 MPG while his FG has gone up from 49% to 55% over the last 3 years. And his PPG improved by 1 pt.

With this stat, I think in order for him to get 20PPG is to make him stay longer in the court by increasing his playing time.

And the reason why he was limited to 30MPG was the foul trouble and "stamina" thing.

So my question now is, if he continues to play 30MPG due to the obstacles I mentioned above, will it still make a difference by having a true PG and "due to the fact that he will finally get the ball in positions where he can score. "?

Thanks.

 

Yes.

He is much more quicker to attack immediately upon receiving the ball. In the past, he would hold the ball for a moment to see what the defense would give him, he isn't doing that. He is getting the ball right as he establishes position and is forcing the defense to react to him and not vice versa. Also, the foul situation should improve. It is clear that we are quicker on the perimeter with the additions of Head, Anderson, and Alston. They should be able to stay in front of their men more so than guards in the past. This will decrease the amount of penetration into the paint that causes Yao to rotate over, and in most cases, be a little tardy from the weakside. Also, we haven't even talked about the addition of Swift, which will take even more pressure off of Yao. Yao will no longer by the sole shot-blocking presence on the floor, this will move some of those potential fouls to Stromile, who is better served for the weakside because of his quickness, and explosive jumping ability. Thirdly, Yao came into camp at 7.5% body fat, this will help Yao's stamina and allow him to play more quality minutes. Fourthly, all of our additions this summer have had another thing in common other than their great athletic abilities, they can shoot. Stromile has a reliable shot out to 15 feet. Head can fill it up from the arch, as can Alston. Anderson is a good spot up shooter as well. Having guys on the floor who are solid shooters takes defenders out of the paint, giving Yao the ability to set up with less double/triple teams, and less competition for offensive boards.

 

So, Yao's stamina; any complaints thus far?

 

He is only averaging 20 mpg and will probably continue to do that until the regular season starts, so I don't think we can tell in the preseason games.

 

But it took Yao 30 minutes to produce 19 pts two years ago,
now only 20 minutes...

 

Hey, our new member on Clutch BBS! Welcome aboard!

 

if yao continues to attack quickly, that will draw quick double teams. At a minimum, all 5 defenders will be looking at him.

Query - will we send cutters into the lane? Yao can clearly pass over the defense but he is turnover prone when pressured on defense.

 

There hasn't been a lot of cutters yet (if any) when Yao or T-Mac have had the ball, has there? No high-screen p'n'rs with Yao and T-Mac either. The offense has been pretty vanilla except for Alston racing up the court.

I know it's just preseason, but with possibly four new rotation players our offense may be a work in progress for awhile (and yes I do think so far Head is close to earning real minutes).

 

I, too, would like to see some more cutting to the basket. Tmac and Yao are doing their thing and that's great, but everyone else takes either jumpshots or fastbreak layups. I'm hoping Swift is the main cutter because Yao will be doubled and Swift is a great dunker/finisher.

We're still working out the kinks of our offense, but so far no cuts and no PnR. I want to see some more of that during the preseason. I don't want to start the regular season with an unpolished offense. If we're still turning the ball over 20 times a game in November it's going to be a long month.

 

I don't know why you guys enjoy ripping on Kelvin Cato. He was as much a reason as Yao for the Rockets team to be the best (or one of the best) defensive team in the 2003-2004 season. I hope Swift will one day develop into a defensive player like a healthy Kelvin Cato once was.

 

In 3 years, his ppg went from 13.5 to 18.3. That was an increase of 2.4 points/year.