What do you think are realistic expectations for Yao next year? 20/10/4/3?

What is he doing until the Asian games? Is he just practicing with the Chinese National Team? If he isn't have to play tournaments all summer I think he won't be as tired as last year. I wish he was practicing against some NBA talent though.....

 

Depends. If Yao gets as many touches as the other big men in the game like Shaq, or Duncan, I could see Yao averaging 20 or close to 20 points a game. I don't think he'll get above 5 assist though, only because most big men are usually the start of the kick out passes around the perimeter, and not the final pass that results in open bucket. If assists were rated like in the NHL, the second passer would also get an assist as well. But then the triple double would be degraded cuz' then it'd be easier to average that.

 

Oh yeah,

17points, 10rebounds, 2assists, 3blocks

i'd be very happy with that. very.

 

Do you think more teams will be gunning for him?

how do you see other teams adjusting to him?

Rocket River

 

Very reasonable numbers. But like someone said earlier, it also depends on how the players around him are shooting the rock so there are fewer double teams. Better sign Piatowski quick or get air Bullard out of retirement!

 

Just having additional touches will up the average 2-4 points a game. He will also be a second year player, which means the refs will give him more calls this year, and at 80% from the free throw line, that could be another 2-4 points a game. That brings his points up to 18-22, IMO.

His rebounding should also improve with the conditioning and weight lifting that Keith Jones started him on for the summer. That should give him the 2-3 boards he missed last year because he wasn't strong enough to get or hold onto them.

His blocks should increase modestly with a new defensive system. If memory serves, JVG tends to set up the defense to send everything to the baseline where the bigs can help out. If this holds true, he could be among the league leaders at 3 or so per game.

IMO, we will see the most improvement with assists. JVG is designing his offense with a great passing center in mind. If we have actual plays set up for Yao to pass to cutters, he could add 2-4 assists, which would put him among the leader in assists for a center.

IMO, 20/10/3/4 is not unrealistic, but if I were betting on it, I would guess 18/9/3/3.

 

Yao should not be concentrating on bball skills this offseason nearly as much as he should be focusing on his body. We have atrainer over there right? If Yao gains upperbody strength and more importantly conditioning I think he can be a 20 ppg scorer next year. He isn't going to breakthrough from promising player to dominating player until he is able to play FOUR quarters for 82 games. He probably could have averaged 3-4 points more last year had he been able to play with the same energy in the 3 and 4 that he did in the 1 and 2. Anyway, my prediction is 18 pts 9 reb 4 ass and 3 blks (also 4 fouls )

 

I think 18/10/1.5 blks/2.5 assts should be good for Yao's second year.

And, just an afterthought, do you think LeBron's going to pull a Kobe on Yao this year (nasty facial dunk)? Or will Yao have had enough of that crap and just either foul hard or block that crap into the nosebleeds?

 

Those are some great expectations. Dont get your hopes up.

28 points would put him amongst the leaders in scoring.
15 rebounds would put him either 1st or 2nd in the NBA.
5 blocks puts him about 2 blocks ahead of the guy who will be 2nd in the NBA in shotblocking.
5 assists would be the most by a center in God knows how many years.

In other words, these numbers, in this day and age, would mean that Yao Ming is more dominating than Shaq ever was.

 

20.2, 12.2, 2.8

 

Well, I expect improvement across the board, and I don't have a problem with the guesses thus far in all categories, except one.

andymoon is right, and odd to say this about a center, but Yao's key stat this year will be assists. I'm very surprised people here are putting him around 2-3 there.

Yes I expect his scoring and rebounding to increase, but if Yao's averaging 4+ assists a game, I guarantee you we'll have a much better team than last year.

Yao's passing is integral to his entire game. He's not like Dream or Shaq, and to get to their level the team is going to have to learn how to play to his strengths.

I know we're not used to this, but thery're going to be a lot of games in his career where he's going to score 14 pts and pull down 10 rebounds and blocks 2 shots and he controls the game.

Dream didn't have the ability to do that. In those games where he had those kind of numbers and the Rockets dominated, it was because of hot outside shooting and he, for whatever reason, wasn't at his best or didn't need to be.

We all know Yao's deficiencies, and they've been celebrated arond the country. A 7'5" should be able to do this, that etc.
I'm sure Yao will be able to do everything in time.

But I think a lot of people don't understand his game as it is now. I hate listening to Bill Walton, always have. But he used to say things like "I generate my offense and create rebounding opportunites with my passing".

Well, he always sounds a little r****ded. Even Wilt, who was a gifted passer must have puked if he was listening. But that was integral to Walton's game and his mindset.

Yao's going to be the leading scorer on this team someday. And I don't think he'll care. Nothing wrong with this thread, I'm not a stat junkie, but I do pay attention. And God, we're bored. But at the end of Yao's career you'll never be able spot when he becomes dominant (I believe, I believe) by looking at his stats. Assists are a stat more deceiving than most, but 4+ from your center won't be an indication of what this 23 year old can do now, but it well tell you the Rockets are better, even if Yao averages only 9 rbs a game.

Physically he's got a long way to go, but if he can get in a well-executed offense, we'll be seeing things we haven't seen before and in Houston, that's incomprehensible. And impossible to see reading a boxscore.

 

Didn't he make the 3rd team THIS year???????

 

I want:

15 points
12 rebounds
6 assists
3 blocks

 

for Yao to score 20 per game, Rox's overall offense must improve, ie score more points per game than last season, because Rox has so many scorers. I doubt that'll happen under JVG who emphasizes defense. I do expect Yao to grab more rebounds and block more shots though simply due to more play time he'll get this season. I'm also one of those who worry about Yao's stamina and conditioning for next season. he's got only 2 weeks of rest this summer!!

 

I want 17/10.

 

22/10/4/3

 

I don't think it's possible for more teams to be gunning for him. Every friggin' team in the entire league was gunning for him last year, especially after his breakout games against the Mavs and the Lakers. Every crappy center in the entire league circled that game on his calendar and told himself for weeks, "I'm not gonna let that big Chinese guy show ME up!" This year, I think it'll actually be a bit easier on Yao, since he's more or less accepted as just another NBA guy now.

Also, while the media crush will still be wherever Yao is, it probably won't be as great at it was last year, when he was such a novelty.

 

18 pts 10 boards 4 assists 2 blocks ....leads league in fg% and leads Rockets to 5th seed in playoffs!!!