Can Yi play small forward?

[BrewCityBBQ]

I was thinking about this a little lately. Would he be able to keep up with some of the quicker 3's in the league? He seems to have good foot work for a seven footer.

The reason I ask is could we possibly make a run for Gasol? What would it take to get him. I noticed Memphis wants to dump Cardinal in a deal with Gasol.
Would the Grizz bite on an offer of Redd, CV and Voskul for Gasol/Cardinal?

C - Bogut
PF - Gasol
Sf - Yi
sg - Bell
pg - Mo

This would slow us down a little but I think that would defintely let us work inside out with Mo and Bell shooting threes when our big men are doubled down low.
Although Im not sure Memphis would even consider a deal like this.. Maybe we could throw in a draft pick or something.

[EastSideBucksFan]

YI is not a small forward


Memphis would probably have no interest in Redd

They are looking for young prospects to develop with Mike Conley and Rudy Gay. They are also looking for expiring deals

[BrewCityBBQ]

YI is not a small forward


Memphis would probably have no interest in Redd

They are looking for young prospects to develop with Mike Conley and Rudy Gay. They are also looking for expiring deals

Fine, toss Memphis a top 3 protected 1st rounder then. Also CV is young, they can use him to build around too. So you say Yi is not a small forward, fine. Explain why you believe he cant play small forward. I also agree with you that he is not a prototypical small forward but he could cause some serious matchup problems.

[EastSideBucksFan]

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Fine, toss Memphis a top 3 protected 1st rounder then. Also CV is young, they can use him to build around too. So you say Yi is not a small forward, fine. Explain why you believe he cant play small forward. I also agree with you that he is not a prototypical small forward but he could cause some serious matchup problems.

I feel like we've had the "Yi is not a small forward" discussion on here countless times.

Some SF's he might be able to guard like Hedo Turkoglu, Shane Battier. But he would get killed going against guys like Caron Butler, Josh Howard, Gerald Wallace. He doesn't have the handle and he doesn't have the ability to guard those guys.

Memphis already has Hakim Warrick, why would they want CV?

[BrewCityBBQ]

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I feel like we've had the "Yi is not a small forward" discussion on here countless times.

Some SF's he might be able to guard like Hedo Turkoglu, Shane Battier. But he would get killed going against guys like Caron Butler, Josh Howard, Gerald Wallace. He doesn't have the handle and he doesn't have the ability to guard those guys.

Memphis already has Hakim Warrick, why would they want CV?

Personally I dont think those guys mentioned would "kill" Yi. Yi has size and length on them and is pretty quick. Having Gasol and Bogut down low could also help out if those three were to drive the lane. Also in games against those 3, Yi could possibly slide to the bench and you could put Bobby or Mason on them.

[BrewCityBBQ]

Also to note, Memphis would 99% not do this deal. That I know but, I guess the point of this thread would be could we get a big man back and would Yi be able to play small forward in this league?

[fam3381]

Yes, agree with ESBF...I think people fall in the trap of seeing a quick big and then assume that's all you need to play SF. The lack of a good handle is the biggest problem IMO, and why CV for instance is much more adept at playing the 3 (at least offensively). We're already seeing smaller players easily take away his outside looks and making pick/roll easier to defend.

Yi certainly can't play SF effectively now because he doesn't know how to use his height to punish smaller players. Size is really the one advantage he has on SFs, but a) he doesn't yet know how to score in the post and b) we don't really give him the ball there anyway. Hopefully he figures out how to post up smaller players because if he doesn't then I don't see his ceiling being that high. I suspect he does improve a lot in this regard next year considering he has shown some good post instincts before he came to the NBA. Hopefully it's just an experience/comfort level issue.

Defensively I think putting him at SF gets him away from his strengths. His length has made him pretty valuable at swatting shots. As an SF he might still be able to use his length to block shorter players' shots, but he'll also be more out to the perimeter and not near the hoop where he can get blocks on help plays. And in general he's still not going to be as quick as the better SFs, so guys will be getting into the lane on him all day. I do think your rebounding would be better with Yi not at PF, but he's also not as bad on the glass as some might suggest. I'd put him at slightly below average for a PF (34th out of 55 PFs in rebound rate FWIW).

Yi's played as a big man his entire career and I don't see his skills being best suited to changing that now. There's a reason you don't find 7-footers playing SF, and Yi isn't the exception.

[jerrod]

yi's quick for a pf, put him on the wing and it will get ugly quickly

[bulletrain]

Yi has been a really disappointment this whole month. His offense production is way down, but I am most disappointed is that his defense intensity is down too. His poor defense was the main reason the Bucks lost Saturday night.

I was hoping he would follow Yao's trajectory and really turn it on ... but that does not seem to be the case.

[fam3381]

His poor defense was the main reason the Bucks lost Saturday night.

I definitely wouldn't go that far...Harrington was just sticking triples in his grill...a lot of those there was nothing more you could expect him to do. Given the way the guards defended the pick/roll I have a hard time singling Yi out.

[BrewCityBBQ]

Yes, agree with ESBF...I think people fall in the trap of seeing a quick big and then assume that's all you need to play SF. The lack of a good handle is the biggest problem IMO, and why CV for instance is much more adept at playing the 3 (at least offensively). We're already seeing smaller players easily take away his outside looks and making pick/roll easier to defend.

Yi certainly can't play SF effectively now because he doesn't know how to use his height to punish smaller players. Size is really the one advantage he has on SFs, but a) he doesn't yet know how to score in the post and b) we don't really give him the ball there anyway. Hopefully he figures out how to post up smaller players because if he doesn't then I don't see his ceiling being that high. I suspect he does improve a lot in this regard next year considering he has shown some good post instincts before he came to the NBA. Hopefully it's just an experience/comfort level issue.

Defensively I think putting him at SF gets him away from his strengths. His length has made him pretty valuable at swatting shots. As an SF he might still be able to use his length to block shorter players' shots, but he'll also be more out to the perimeter and not near the hoop where he can get blocks on help plays. And in general he's still not going to be as quick as the better SFs, so guys will be getting into the lane on him all day. I do think your rebounding would be better with Yi not at PF, but he's also not as bad on the glass as some might suggest. I'd put him at slightly below average for a PF (34th out of 55 PFs in rebound rate FWIW).

Yi's played as a big man his entire career and I don't see his skills being best suited to changing that now. There's a reason you don't find 7-footers playing SF, and Yi isn't the exception.

Thats a good post fam.

[YiZ$$$]

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I feel like we've had the "Yi is not a small forward" discussion on here countless times.

Some SF's he might be able to guard like Hedo Turkoglu, Shane Battier. But he would get killed going against guys like Caron Butler, Josh Howard, Gerald Wallace. He doesn't have the handle and he doesn't have the ability to guard those guys.

Memphis already has Hakim Warrick, why would they want CV?

OK, I just had to comment because I remember him lighting up Gerald Wallace for 29 pts on 14/17 shooting with 10 rebounds. He could certainly play SF I believe with the right mix of players. Saying Bogut couldn't handle smaller quicker centers would be just as silly. He would abuse the likes of Boris Diaw, Al Harrington, and Oberto one on one. And just to take this to its absurd extreme-- does not Shaq punish all smaller players, no matter how much quicker? To play SF, you have to have quickness and the ability to do a little of everything like guard play and big man play. Yi has that ability. It's just that he is more effective at PF so there is no need for him to play SF on this team.

[jerrod]

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OK, I just had to comment because I remember him lighting up Gerald Wallace for 29 pts on 14/17 shooting with 10 rebounds. He could certainly play SF I believe with the right mix of players. Saying Bogut couldn't handle smaller quicker centers would be just as silly. He would abuse the likes of Boris Diaw, Al Harrington, and Oberto one on one. And just to take this to its absurd extreme-- does not Shaq punish all smaller players, no matter how much quicker? To play SF, you have to have quickness and the ability to do a little of everything like guard play and big man play. Yi has that ability. It's just that he is more effective at PF so there is no need for him to play SF on this team.

yeah, but as the sf yi would need to be in the post to really take advantage of his size, but he won't be in the post because our pf and center would be there

[fam3381]

OK, I just had to comment because I remember him lighting up Gerald Wallace for 29 pts on 14/17 shooting with 10 rebounds.

At the time the Bobs were starting Mohammed/Okafor at the big spot, and Yi killed them on jumpshots. Which is exactly why I like him at PF--he gets more open looks against bigs who prefer to stay closer to the hoop.

I believe he had one play early in the third quarter when he got the ball in a post-type situation and scored. Most of his points came against the big lineup IIRC, though he did match up with Wallace at various points in the game. But I think it' highly inaccurate to act like he dominated Wallace specifically, and he hasn't lit up anyone in about a month, so I'm not sure why that one game would prove much about his ability to play SF.

He could certainly play SF I believe with the right mix of players. Saying Bogut couldn't handle smaller quicker centers would be just as silly. He would abuse the likes of Boris Diaw, Al Harrington, and Oberto one on one. And just to take this to its absurd extreme-- does not Shaq punish all smaller players, no matter how much quicker?

I'm not sure how Bogut's success against smaller players automatically means Yi can also play smaller guys.

Bogut and Yi are basically opposites offensively at the moment. Yi has a nice jumper and occasionally uses his athleticism to finish inside, but generally he can't get his own shot inside without getting blocked. Bogut has no perimeter game but is very effective at posting up small players and most anyone else of similar size. So Bogut can get away with playing against a smaller player because he can at least back them down and score with decent efficiency. Yi does not do this right now, so I'm not sure how it's relevant to your point. Hopefully he figures it out. Fortunately he can score in other ways.

It's just that he is more effective at PF so there is no need for him to play SF on this team.

Well at least our conclusions are the same.

[1377]

While I agree that YI is not an ideal SF, lets at least Try SOMETHING.

Start YI, CV, and Bogs in the front court. Give them a quarter to see what will happen. What is the worse, we fall behind in a game????

[old skool]

The Bucks can't play Yi at SF because NBA scoreboards don't accommodate scores of more than three digits.

Yi and CV would equal a layup drill for the other team.

oLd sKool

[superemxguy]

The Bucks can't play Yi at SF because NBA scoreboards don't accommodate scores of more than three digits.

Yi and CV would equal a layup drill for the other team.

oLd sKool

If you go back and watch the world championship.

At one time, they have Yao at Center, Wang at Power Forward, Yi at small forward for rebound and defense.

It works out fairly well for 8 minutes.
I don't see him get beat on dribble , its the opposite. He intimidated their shots. But I quess, there are not NBA players.
Too bad that is the only glimpse we have.

[magpies]

I believe that Yi should come off the bench for a little while and let either CV or Ruffin start, take some pressure off him and allow him to ease into the game, either that or try him at SF, he might get beat off the dribble and the opposition SF might score but at the moment they are anyway.

Yi will be a good player but this team has to find a way to allow him to develop, the problem is this team doesn't do this.

Our Rookies struggle due to the pressure of being a high draft pick with high expectations and a offense that doesn't let them and a defense that doesn't help