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According to David Thorpe he should:

Yi is a gifted player, maybe the second-purest talent in this class. But I think he oftentimes sees himself as a shooter/scorer, when he could really be a rebounding threat right now if he chose to focus on that. Camby shows up to every game expecting to grab 15-plus rebounds. It's an attitude with him -- he owns the paint and doesn't need to weigh 275 pounds to do it. Yi has long arms, great hands and a superior feel for rebounding, just like Camby. All he needs is the attitude.

The great hands part is certainly a joke. I do like his sentiment though. If Yi could be Camby esque with his jump shot he would be extremely valuable.

Nowak008 wrote:According to David Thorpe he should:

Yi is a gifted player, maybe the second-purest talent in this class. But I think he oftentimes sees himself as a shooter/scorer, when he could really be a rebounding threat right now if he chose to focus on that. Camby shows up to every game expecting to grab 15-plus rebounds. It's an attitude with him -- he owns the paint and doesn't need to weigh 275 pounds to do it. Yi has long arms, great hands and a superior feel for rebounding, just like Camby. All he needs is the attitude.

Hard for me to take the guy seriously with the bolded statements.

I'm excited to learn that Yi has great hands. When did he develop them? This afternoon?

Yi has decent hands... they're just weak as he11....

I actually think Yi's made some progress in that department...I don't think his rebounds are up of late, but he doesn't seem to be getting the ball ripped out of his hands as much as in the first month or two.

Both of Yi's issues are related to upper body strength (hands, finishing at rim). His rebounding rate is only SLIGHTLY less than Bogut in his rookie year. The question is will Yi be able to put on the upper body muscle needed when he's playing as many games year-round as he is.

What do people think of Yi's passing ability?

Chuck Diesel wrote:What do people think of Yi's passing ability?

It's craptacular.

Chuck Diesel wrote:What do people think of Yi's passing ability?

Lets just say it will never be a strength.

Yi just seems to throw a lot of lazy passes at stupid moments like he's sort of coasting out there. I definitely think part of that is adjusting to the speed of the NBA game.

We didn't draft Yi to pass, so who cares. He's a scorer who unfortunately plays with Mo, Redd, and CV. Bogut is supposed to be the best passing bigman since Vlade so that should even out our frontcourt passing ability.

you don't even out passing ability, a player that with little passing ability just subtracts from the offense

Yi has a long way to go before he reaches Camby's level. It's a nice thought though.

After the Bucks drafted him, I stated on the JS that the guy he should emulate, was Hakeem Olajuwon. Similar body type, athletic ability, and gracefulness. I thought he would also have the heart of a champion...

So, um, ya...Marcus Camby sounds like a really good goal to shoot for.

Yi should emulate anyone who can catch passes.

Once Yi gains more strength AND experience, he will show soft hands. He is hurried at the moment, but will relax with time.

Because of his length he should try to emulate Kevin McKale, the post up fade away turn around jumper from inside as his money move.

Yi will become a player. We need to keep him.

LUKE23 wrote:His rebounding rate is only SLIGHTLY less than Bogut in his rookie year.

Bogut as a rookie grabbed 14.5% of all available rebounds, Yi is at 12.3 this year. That's really not that close. Bogut is now at 16.3 this year (after 15.2 last year), so hopefully Yi can make similar progress.

Chuck Diesel wrote:What do people think of Yi's passing ability?

This is one area where I do think CV brings a lot more to the table. But it's not just Yi being lazy with his passing or whatever, it's that he doesn't create good angles to make passes. Because CV can actually put it on the floor, he's able to draw defenders and create seams in the defense.

Yi on the other hand really only gets the ball on the perimeter and guys usually get fairly close to him unless somebody switches off or whatever. He's good about taking an aggressive stance with the ball, but he can't put it on the floor so everyone knows he's going to make a perimeter pass, which is why teams then overplay the other perimeter guys.

Passing and ball-handling is the biggest reason I don't see Yi ever being able to play SF. Hopefully he improves, but right now he's just way too stiff and mechanical in those areas.

fam wrote:Passing and ball-handling is the biggest reason I don't see Yi ever being able to play SF. Hopefully he improves, but right now he's just way too stiff and mechanical in those areas.

I'm worried that passing, ball handling, and catching passes are reasons that he may never become great at basketball in general. He's shown that he can be a very good shooter, but if he can't create anything, he can never be a guy to run your offense through.

So he'll have to be a catch and shoot player off the ball. But at the same time, he can't catch bullet passes. Really limits the ways in which you can use him.

fam3381 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



This is one area where I do think CV brings a lot more to the table. But it's not just Yi being lazy with his passing or whatever, it's that he doesn't create good angles to make passes. Because CV can actually put it on the floor, he's able to draw defenders and create seams in the defense.

Yi on the other hand really only gets the ball on the perimeter and guys usually get fairly close to him unless somebody switches off or whatever. He's good about taking an aggressive stance with the ball, but he can't put it on the floor so everyone knows he's going to make a perimeter pass, which is why teams then overplay the other perimeter guys.

Passing and ball-handling is the biggest reason I don't see Yi ever being able to play SF. Hopefully he improves, but right now he's just way too stiff and mechanical in those areas.

I was talking rebounds/minute for Yi's rookie year vs. Bogut's rookie year. Translated to Bogut's minutes, Yi grabbed 6.6 boards to Bogut's 7.0.

Rebound percentages:

Yi - 12.3%
Bogut - 16.3%

Fam can correct me if I'm wrong but I think those are the percentage of available rebounds they grab while on the floor.