The Rockets are winning and developing into a team with an identity, and that's what matters. But . . . six games into the season, I'm asking myself what happened to Yao's assists and fancy passes that we saw last season. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Are his assists really down? He's averaging a little under 2 assists a game which is pretty much where he was at last year. But I thought that the inside-outside offense would create greater opportunities for Yao to exploit his passing skills, particularly with the team shooting a good FG% (almost 47%). I haven't really seen that develop. Of course, he needs touches to get those assists, and teams have done a good job of preventing him from receiving entry passes. But even when he does have the ball in the paint, it seems like he's gone from pass-first to score-first in his approach to the game. Possibly Ewing's influence and probably a necessary step in his development. But I do miss some of those fancy passes from last season. I guess the Rockets are getting back to basics and getting back to winning.
for most centers the priority in the game is to score a lot, rebound a lot, and block a lot. assists is and probably the last thing on most of their minds. They are supposed to be intimidating interior presences
I think you answered your own question. He is getting basically the same number of assists as last year and teams are playing much more complex defensive schemes against him. Tough to make an over-the-head pass when there are three guys behind you and none of them are your teammates.
Teams have caught on to Yao's passing ability, so they aggressively follow the cutters through the lane. He did have a nice pass to steve last night, who was fouled. A lot of times Yao has made a great pass, but the cutter will miss the layup or get fouled, so it doesnt show up on the stat sheet. It was much easier to do the fancy passes when no one was expecting it.
I couldn't say it any better. Even if the ties a string to the ball and drag it around the court (and if it's legal) and we win the game, I'm still all for it!!!
One of the few hightlights on NBA Fastbreak and SC last night was that Yao got the ball in the post, three Heats collapsed on him, and he quickly passed it out to Cat on top of the key. Cat hit a very comfortable three. I mean Cat was WIDE WIDE open. That's kinda very basic passing, but it's superior to the "fancy" stuff IMHO.
Yao still has the knowledge of how to do a "fancy" pass. He wont forget that. They will just come in special situations. They will surprise us! Magic Johnson didn't do "fancy" passes every time down the court. Sometimes he went weeks before doing anything spectacular. Most of the time he just played solid fundamental basketball. And that what will get you consistent winning. Don't get "ESPN highlights" confused with real basketball. Those "fancy" plays are condensed over the weeks games.
In the season there is very little playing of the inside/outside Game. The Gards are hot and they are doing most of the passing mainly to one another.
A great example of the beauty of having a guy like Yao in the post. There is always going to be a man open for the outside shot. Yao is so huge, with such great court vision, that this should just improve and improve as the season goes on. What until Piatkowski comes in to give Cat or JJ a breather... it's the kind of dilemma that'll keep the opposing team's coach up late at night. I hope Cat keeps up his rejuvenated play. The rest and ankle surgery over the summer have him off to a great start. I'd like to see his minutes go down so he can keep it up, though. Pike and AGriff should help with that. Yao should have more passing options soon, with any luck. Yetti, you can't enjoy this, can you. The guard play is terrific and looks to get better. Relax!
Same thing that happened to teams that were only putting one defender on Yao. I'm sure if they started covering Yao man-to-man again, we'd be seeing a lot more of Yao's dazzle. Think of it this way - last night, the Heat were double and triple covering Yao constantly - not just when he had the ball. Because of that, he didn't score as many points as he could have. And with that difficulty against him, he scored 16 pts, 8 reb, 7 blk. That's friggin' awesome. -- droxford
Another reason is that Yao passed the ball to the feed (JJ or Boki) out of the double team, then the ball was swam to the middle for a better opportunity. That's sound basketball, just not showing on the stats sheet. As long as the ball is moving to the open man, it's good. --daoshi
No touches = no assists = no points. Despite their success they are failing on offense still. They will defend Dallas as well as anyone tonight, they will fail to score enough unless Yao gets more touches - no more points - more touches
I think part of the reason he is getting less touches is because teams are starting to respect him and they're playing zone defenses or double teams to prevent anyone from easily passing the ball to Yao. I notice a majority of the opponents' defensive strategy this season is to let the Rocket guards beat them, which is why Steve and Cuttino have been scoring more then Yao.
Not only have his beautiful passes been missing, so is his post up game. I know I'll probably sound like a Yao-hater here but Yao has looked like a complete stiff the past few games. What happened to the array of beautiful post moves he used to have last season? All I ever see him do lately is back it in a few times and settle for the fade away jumper. It's getting to be so predictable. Exactly what has Patrick Ewing been teaching Yao? because Yao's inside game doesn't look much better than last season. Actually, it looks worse.
