Does anyone but me like to see him get playing time with Yao on the court? From the games I've watched, it seems like Yao always find Bowen underneath the basket all alone. The play usually goes lke this: 1.Bowen passes to Yao in the post 2. Bowen runs to the basket, while his man stops to double Yao 3. Yao passes to a wide open Bowen under the basket. I've seen this happen a few times now. Bowen seems to be one of the few players who actually cuts to the basket. Everyone else just stands there. JVG is vastly underutilizing Yao's passing ability with all the standing around on offense. If you take a look at Yao's stats from his rookie year, he averaged 1.7 assists, which is pretty low but still his career high. I think it was that high because at that time, the Rockets had Cat and Stevie, two players who moved around on offense. One player who should cut to the basket more is Luther Head. In one of the last games, Luther head passed to Yao, who handed the ball back to Head as he ran by an used Yao to screen his defender. He had a wide open lane to the basket. He missed the shot, but those are the kinds of plays JVG should add to the playbook. There needs to be some diversity in the offense. The lack of penetration has also decreased the number of easy shots for the Rockets big men.
Bowen does play significantly better with Yao on the court. When Yao was out, though, he was absolutely terrible. He didn't even look like a professional basketball player. Maybe he'll get a few minutes here and there, but with Anderson and Hayes on the team I don't really see the point.
Personally, with the pieces comin back to the team, I really don't see why Bowen should be playing. Bowen is a hustle player, but he's only there for emergency purposes.
