When you look at other star PF's in the league like Nowitzki, Bosh, Brand, Gasol, etc., one thing that sets them apart is that you can throw the ball to them and let them operate one on one to either beat their defender off the dribble, in the post, hit a mid range jumper or draw a foul. But then you have guys like Yi Jianlian and Andrea Bargnani who were drafted for their potential to be franchise big men. But on offense these guys just mostly float on the perimeter playing off their team mates and mostly serving a spread the floor type role. They don't get the ball thrown to them much to let them go one on one. Is this because they don't have any ability to? I mean, the star PF's in this league showed some ability to do this early in their careers right? Also, can we compare Yi with the career trajectories of star PF's in the league? Guys who had an immediate impact in their first year: Elton Brand Pau Gasol Guys who took a leap in their development in their 2nd year: Chris Bosh Dirk Nowitzki Kevin Garnett Carlos Boozer Rasheed Walalce Amare Stoudamire Guys who took a leap in their development in their 3rd year: David West Al Jefferson (Although, it seems they got a much bigger role and more minutes in their 3rd year compared to their first two years. ) Now you have Yi and Bargnani who have gotten pretty good opportunities to develop their games and earn a bigger role on their teams. But they haven't taken advantage of this opportunity yet to take another step in their development or shown more steady improvement. Are there any other comparisons for these two guys that they could still fulfill their potential as franchise big men? It's still early in Yi's second year but he's got to step things up. I want to see him receive the ball mid range, pump fake a jump shot and get his defender in the air, and then drive by him for a monster dunk. Please, just once.
Gotta also look how the team was built around them. Bosh went from 16 to 22 PPG when Vince left because of more touches and same thing goes for a lot of those players. Also, how many of those players were beside a talented center? I don't want to overrate Lopez in his first year but I see the Nets trying to make him into the franchise player over Yi into the franchise power forward. If we could get both playing that great, then it would be awesome!
But the opportunity is open for Yi to be the main offensive front court weapon. After Vince and Devin it's wide open for a third scorer to step up. It's not like he's stuck behind some established veteran player. Lopez has worked his way into getting a bigger role. That same opportunity has been there for Yi. More so. Also, does Yi have the ability where the Nets could throw the ball to him and let him go one one one? They rarely throw the ball to Yi and let him do that. I'm curious if that's because of Yi or is it something else.
People will tell you that he's too weak to play in the post. Yes, some more strength would help, but really, that's not the main issue. Yi is really bad at finishing around the basket, it's really abnormal for a 7 footer. Everyone saw the rim "rejection" right underneath against Dallas. He gets blocked way too often around the rim. I think it's probably a confidence issue, he just rushes all his shots around the basket.
THEY are both 7ft jump shooters. dirk is an aberration so far in the league. yi, bargnani, darko, frye, the list goes on and on! big men are not supposed to stand out by the 3 point line and shoot and not be able to drive. it has not worked out! garnett, sheed, west, jefferson, odom, can all put the ball on the floor and have post games. when dirk or another jumpshooter wins a ring then i will change my mind but until then give me a real big.
What i feel YI can do: Yi provides the team another 7 foot presence on both sides of the court. however, with your usual 7 footers comes with average or below athleticism however this is not the case. we have a very much agile and swifty 7 footer. Teams usually have 3 guys on the court who can stretch the field. Yi challenges that concept and becomes a 4th option. Yi has been shooting from 3 pretty well considering that wasn't one of his strong points. Once Yi gets closer, the shot becomes very easy for him to make (not many opposition can alter his shot). Yi post moves are average at best, havent seen enough of them, but he does have some "moves" however he needs to remember his steps and not travel. where he can improve: given Yi's definite and limited role, i'm baffled why he gets criticized so much. For someone to stand behind the 3 so much by design, rebounds are often out of his reach unless he crashes, which he risks an over the back call. My advice to Coach Idiot(Frank), let Yi get the ball inside and see what he can do, or have him slash inside the paint to recieve a pass for an easy layup or a spot up touch shot(of course this does require Harris or VC to actually pass the ball to the open man but lets take it one step at a time). his 7 ft ht is much more harder to defend when he's closer to the paint as oppose to being hanging outside. the coaching staff is totall negating the whole idea of YI and his potential. Yi also needs to get his head straight and stop worrying trying to impress others. sometimes watching him, it looks like he's playing with a thousand eyes staring at his every move. perhaps he feels he doesn't want to let the team down thus hindering his play. Now i'm going to say that learning to play under coach Idiot is probably as bad as learning an NFL offense, too many plays and set moves and timing etc... its too much for bball. Defending the opposition, that will come in time however its hard to single him out for me considering everyone's D is pretty awful. We can keep going and going, but Yi will grow as much as he is inserted into the O...if the coach wants him to stay and take spot up shots then dont count on his inside game improving at all
Jumpshooting big man? Robert Horry won a few rings by being that type of big. Sheed is just as much of a shooter too, and he won(even it was by D).... not to pick quarrels or anything, Yi should be more determintal to the team, but remember we're talking about the 3rd scorer here, we're not asking him to lead us or anything but YI needs to have that approach. He's not ready both mentally and physically to start taking over yet, that's why we have VC and Harris... Coach Idiot needs to shut up and stop confusing YI!
Yi has already improved one aspect of his game dramatically...three point shooting. While he could always shoot, he was never a three point shooter til this season. Last year, he had six three pointers in 66 games. This season, he has 28 already. He's also shot better than 40% the entire year, compared to 28% last season. His rebounding is a bit better as is his defense.
Wow, good sh*t for YI on the 3pt shooting, i wonder how he will be when he finally plays to his actual strengths in the game....
Yi may be one of the most frustrating players to watch on this team. When he is on, he is great. When he is not, he's fumbling the ball, out of place on defense, getting shots blocked or just plain looking uncomfortable. But...in the last few games, watching him put the ball on the floor once or twice, where he had a wide open lane to finish at the rim...he could be a great zone buster for us when combined with his outside shot. I love it when the Nets can put 4 shooters on the floor at one time. Hasn't happened in recent history of this team. Now that Lopez is hitting that 10-12 footer, we can actually put 5 shooters on the floor. If he gets less predictable and a bit more mobile...and keeps his head in the game...he can be a very serviceable player for us. Superstar? Hard to see it. Able contributor...we have to hope.
When Nets play vs small ball teams. They need to feed Yi in the post. That is the only way for the kid to learn. The dribble drive is pretty much PF play as addition SF on offense, but the PF has to match up vs the other team's PF on defense. This is also frank's failure to beat small ball teams. He play small ball back, because Harris can't run as a pure PG to feed the post. The PF never get a chance to use his size advantage. But I'm not saying Yi or Anderson has that ability though. However, they still need that chance, and not get subbed after missing 2 shots or getting a turnover when the game is close.
While I am an Yi supporter myself, but lets not turn this thread into how much talent Yi has or how much he improved from last year. Those have been mentioned in every single Yi related thread, I am guilty for posting some of those myself too. I hate to see a legit thread turns into a pointless one. Back to the topic, that's a list of really good PF in the league for the last 5-10 years. Many fans want Yi to take off in his second year like those guys did. But you can't really compare him to them. He may become as good as some of them, but chances are he never will. as far as development goes, I agree with NOMAM that Yi should get some more opportunities at high post area. Right now, I think Yi has freedom on offense to do some things, but when you catch the ball 30 feet away from the basketball as a 7 footer, there really not much options for him. yea, maybe he can drive like in the clip, but Dirk was already out of defensive position and the lane was wide open. There is no way Yi can do that consistently. There is just so much more options for Yi in the high post, he is quick enough to blow by some people. he can learn some Dirk's jab step pull up 15 foot jumpers, etc. For everyone's sake, Yi needs to work on his finish around the basket.
Dirk is just a great shooter, and certainly has more than one moves. he can shoot off the dribble, he can shoot off balanced, He can shoot with one leg in the air, bottom line is he can knock them down. I don't think Yi can ever be a good enough shooter to play Dirk's style.
No one in their right mind would let Yi play in Dirk's style. Dirk naturally shoots fading away, 30 times a game.
This guy is currently on the Miami Heat coaching staff. Shouldn't the Nets get someone like this to work with guys like Yi and Anderson?
