For old root y with left child x and untouched subtreesA,B,C, change the shape from ((A,x,B),y,C) to (A,x,(B,y,C)). Both have inorder sequenceA,x,B,y,C. In a destructive traversal that only rotates at the current root, this transformation extends the right spine by one node and decreases the left-size potential by one.