Yao's improved significantly on a number of skills... and not to diminish the importance of the others, but his HANDS this year are friggin incredible! Can't tell me he wasn't getting fewer passes in previous seasons because of brick fingers. It's also obvious how many rebounds he lost out on, and how his fumbling would ruin his shot opportunities. I had faith that he would improve a lot, but I really wondered whether his hands would improve this much. The ball sticks now. Did you notice him grab that two-handed overhead bullet from Luther?? It's so beautiful... I could cry.
If I remember correctly, someone posted an article here about Yao working hard on catching the those bullet passes during the offseason. Yao probably knew that's one of his biggest weakness. I guess the hard work is paying off now.
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WHY surprising ?? He had been working on this for the past 2 years, ever since Tom Thibodeau replaced Patrick Ewing as his personal trainer/coach. Remember those tennis ball drills I posted before ?? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2322434&postcount=32 It is sheer hard work and his constant desire to excel.........
But overall, Yao does improved on catching those hard passes this season. And some of the turnover tonight were 3 sec violation and off foul.
I was thinking the same thing today. I mean that wrap around pass from Tmac to Yao was also nice. I remeber the last two seasons a pass like that to Yao would jus hit his chest or his hip and fall to the ground. But now he is alot more aware of those sneaky passes. I honestly never thought that he would be able to improve this part of his game.
did you watch today's game? Yao still has butterfingers..maybe he improved on catching the ball but he still gets it slapped away all the time he needs to hold on to the ball tighter
He's protecting the ball much better than he used to and that will continue to improve. I think that's more about learning... quicker release, not bringing the ball back down... etc. But grabbing passes and boards is a skill that I was concerned he may never master. I'm very impressed with what he's done. He's there.
The ball still seems to pop out of his hands a lot. Perhaps he should work on those hand drills a little more. I thought he was better last March in that area then he has been this season.
Yup.. one of the thing that annoyed me to no end was Yao always fumbling away the rebounds you thought he would get, or the passes hit him on the chest that he can't catch the first few season. But we are seeing less and less of that now.
I watched the game live from TV. Most of his 6 turnovers (3 to 4 ??) were 3 seconds violation in offense or defense...... The most ridiculous turnover accounted for was that he was adjudged to have fouled Varejao in 3Q, whereas he was with the back to the basket, with Varejao sneaking up at his back, and Varejao flopped and fell onto the gound. The referee bought the Oscar winning act from Varejao.....Yao Ming called for his 3rd foul, and a turnover was added...... So if you deduct all the above from his 6 turnovers, what do you get ?? 1 or 2 ?? BIG DEAL !!! Compared with previous seasons, I won't say he has butterfingers anymore.
Without a doubt Yao has improved his handling of passes, especially sharp passes. Where he still struggles a lot is hanging on to rebounds. Too many times he gets it poked out by an opposing player. If/when he overcomes that, he could average 15 rpg.
Yao biggest improvement seems to be getting to the foul line in my opinion. And his ft shooting. He still has a laundry list of things he can work on though. -Dealing with double teams better -Becoming less turnover prone -Being more decisive on offense -Stamina still an issue, although he has improved here -He needs to either become a better offensive rebounder or average 3-4 blocks a game. I know it's too much to ask for both considering focusing on one tends to hurt the other - but he should do one well. I think he can improve in all these areas......i think rebounding is the hardest though....seems like he's been around 10 boards for a long time.
