Hey all, I figured I could just wait till tomorrow night to see for myself, when I'll finally get to see the Rockets on ESPN, but after another big game from Yao, I'm extremely curious, how is doing it? If you'd please I'd love to hear scouting reports on his development from the end of last season to this preseason, from skills (positioning?), his physical abilities, to his usage by JVG. Any thoughts? Thanks.
let me start off by giving you a very unique scouting report, one thats never been used for any player before. YOU CANT STOP HIM YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM!!
Outside of his skills which seem about the same, it's like night and day. Last year he got tossed to the ground and dunked on frequently and now he looks like a real center out there, muscling people down and getting tough boards. Last night he had this move against Denver, baseline drop step and a monster dunk attempt that he got fouled on. It was like, WHOA! Not even the same player. He *might* be a 20/10 type guy this year and I don't think that's an inflated prediction at all. Some of this new Yao though has to be how Van Gundy wants that ball thrown to him a lot more than before. He IS going to get the ball this year or people will probably be sitting on the bench until they learn to pass. It's been awesome to watch him this preseason. He's really a monster in the making right now I'd have to say and I'm not someone who was really in that camp last year at all. He still doesn't use his height to his full ability and he will get some shots blocked that he shouldn't have blocked but you can see the progress.
I've seen absolutely no games this pre-season but here is a scary stat. Yao Ming has hit 37 of 55 shots for 67.3% field goal percentage in 5 games That should send a message to the rest of the league.
prediction: he gets 20/10 easy this year. i thought it would be atleast one more season before he really broke out, but like he showed last year, he is a fast learner. we wanted him bigger, he is. we wanted him more agressive, he got some attitude. boxscores have been great but you have to see him in action to really notice the change. he is no longer tentative. he's got confidence and wants the ball.
