Which player will benefit the most from Yao's return?

I chose Luther. And so far, as I thought it would be, Luther is leading with 100%.

When yao is sitting in the paint, the opponent's defense have to suck in to stay with him. Outside shooters will have more wide open shot chances. Luther will have a better life soon with yao on the court.

 

Hayes, easily.

 

HURTS Head . He relies on the open shot created by Yao, focuses less on penetration, uses his underrated athletisicsm less, and takes longer to develop as an all around player...

 

It will be mutually benefitial for both Tracey with Yao. Basically it comes down to, "who do you want to double team?" Nobody can hold T-Mac or Yao one on one. If one gets doubled the other is gonna have a field day.

 

well everyone will indeed benefit, but having to pick one it would be luther just b/c he will be left open more for spot ups 3's. i dont think its a coincidence that luthers worst games have been without yao,.

 

Yao's return will benefit the team the most just playing around, but i voted for Shane. I think we will see more threes out of him when Yao is back.

 

i said tmac because this is how i see the team structured. yao is our best player tmac our most important.

tmacs job is to make everyone else on the team jobs easier
yao's job is to make tmacs job easier

undoubtedly with yao there there pressure tmac will face will be as minimal as possible which will let him be able to create more for himself and everyone else.

either way yao coming back cant come fast enough (but not at the risk of hurting the big fella) i really miss seeing him out there

 

Luther will benefit, but he's still playing well without Yao around.

Chuck on the other hand lost his starting job with Yao out. His offensive deficiencies are much more exposed when he doesn't have a dominant scoring threat in the frontcourt alongside him. He gets my vote.

 

I honestly believe that Tracey "deffering" earlier this season had more to do with his back not being healthy. He passed more because he didn't want to get hurt going to the basket. He passed more because he couldn't extend to get full elevation on his jumper. I think that he will continue to be aggressive once Yao gets back.

It will truelly be a 1-2 punch.

 

It's not just his offensive deficiencies that are masked by Yao, but defensive as well. All too often, he is forced to guard someone way bigger than him, or simply be taken out of the game. Or he tries to draw a charge because he knows he can't block the shot, or prevent the score, or, despite his rebounding expertise, he'll simply be too small to get some boards.

Chuck was still inconsisent in the beginning of the season, and will continue to be post Yao's return, buit I think he still benefits the most.

That said, while Luther may not benefit as much, his benefit may be more important, because he gets more minutes, and has a more important role, imo.

 

tmac will be cashing in more assist because he now can do pick n roll with either Hayes and Yao effectively.

 

It's fun to talk about the Rockets getting better!

For most improved, it's between Luther and Chuck, and Chuck gets my vote.

Our three point shooters have been getting open looks this entire Yaoless run because of Tracy. They might be a little more open with Yao, but not a lot. Someone noted that Luther/Yao baseline cut, he'll profit from that more with Yao than he has with Juwan. (Side note- imagine having to run around Yao and the center defending him to get at Luther- that's like running around three phone booths.)

But the guys who will really profit on offense are the ones who cut hard to the basket when Yao has the ball in the post- Chuck is awesome at this. Now, Chuck has been getting some amazing bullet passes lately from Tracy/Alston at the top of the key, but he has been blowing those layups, becuase the opposing big man intimidates his shot. But when Yao has it in the post, and they double with the PF (Chuck's man), then Chuck cuts hard and gets the layup and it's far more difficult for either the opposing C or PF to recover. (Side note 2: Yao's interior passing on cuts and handoffs is awesome. His passing back out to the 3pt bombers is actually not so great.)
Chuck has, and will continue to look awesome on both offense and defense while paired with Yao.

Expect the turnovers to go up with Yao back in. Getting the ball to him without turning it over has always been hard. Him not turning it over in the face of the double team has always been hard. We're going to have to re-learn this and improve it and it will take time.

 

Because Luther's PT doesn't fall off a cliff when Yao is gone and can still get open looks because of tracy.

 

I chose Chuck, cause in the beginning of the season we were all jumping up and down like little kids because of how amazing he was doing and how good of a complimentary player he is to Yao (and a very damn good one I'll add). But ever since the big man went down, Chuck hasn't been nearly effective, not even close. Yao brings out the best in him, simple as that, it's not a knock on him or anything like that either. He doesn't fit well with Deke, and he's not the ideal center when he goes in at the 5. Luther, on the other hand, has held up on his own when Yao went down. Although, he will benefit with Yao's return (as he'll be more open for spot up 3's), Chuck will, hands down, get the most out of him coming back.

I can't wait...

 

Chuck was doing really good at the beginning of the season next to Yao, so I went with him. Contrarily, Juwan's number will suffer the biggest hit with the return of Yao. I'm sure the Rockets will go to Howard in the post while Yao is on the bench, but JHow probably won't have any more big games after Yao is back.

 

Looking at the list, I see merits for everyone, except Bonzi. I think it will hurt Bonzi as he plays a lot of post minutes without Yao being in the lineup and that number will go down.

Chuck will just get to play more with Yao out there, but will he be better for it? I'm not sure. Head and Alston will get more spot up shots as will Shane. And of course Tracy will be double teamed less.

All that being said, I still think Shane will get the most help. Alston isn't purely a spot up shooter and Head still seems to get a good number of threes. Shane seems to only like to shoot when he's open which is what will happen more when Yao comes back.