Remember before the season started, many of us on this board were drooling over the possibilities of the TMAC/YAO pick and role and the idea was that Yao may get a ton of wide opened 17 footers that he would routinely hit (at least in previous years) For some reason, his outside touch is gone and when I have seen him shoot it, he missed badly. Do you guys think this is due to the increased weight training? Or perhaps his nagging arm brace?
I'm starting to think as post players get real aggressive, as Yao is recently, it hurts their shooting. I can't think of any bangers who are also great shooters.
I think Yao's perimeter game has regressed dramatically. The guy can't even hit his hook shot consistently now. If Yao wasn't getting layups, dunks, and putbacks, he would have a 25% field goal percentage. At least he's being aggressive in order to get those kinds of shots.
He needs to work on it, but his coach tells him not to. His coach says if he shoots from outside, it's a sign of weakness. That has to kill your confidence. His coach demands the post up game, but destroys the outside game in the process. Yao has always been a good outside shooter, he will be again. He needs the green light to fix it. He won't if his head is programmed to hate himself every time he fires.
JVG has an ingrained vision of how players are supposed to play. He would never be able to fully develop players like KG and Dirk Nowitzki.
I do not believe that Yao really had a noteworthy outside shot. It was in his CBA scouting report but I am not sure that I can say that I have seen him hit outside shots consistently since he entered the NBA. Also his outside shooting form is suspect. I believe someone like Murph can correct it or maybe Barry snr. In all I believe that as he fully grows and develop he would be able to fully incorporate all the possible arsenal needed to stand out including (hopefully) some outside touch. That said, shooting from outside takes a lot of "leg" and push off power. With his schedule the last 3 years, I will not be surprised to know that he has been playing only on guts lately because this gentle giant has been worked hard from his beloved country and Rox. He continues to progress on all phases and that is good. His rebounding and low post scoring/finishing is what he has to continue to master for now - everything is secondary.
Where do you guys get this trash from? You cant find anything better to do after a quality home win than bash JVG? I think if anything, you should be thanking JVG for making yao tougher on the inside. What is this, his 3rd straight double-double? We do not need a 7 foot 6 rik smits who is a sweet outside shooter. We need a tough big man who can bang in the post and get rebounds, since our power forwards are not able to do that. If i had the choice between picking a 7 foot 6 shooting guard and a 7 foot 6 center, i'd go with the center. I would much rather have yao scoring on the inside, where he can get offensive rebounds, than from the outside.
For a follow up on my previous post, tonite yao had 11 rebs, 6 offensive. That is 6 extra possesions, 6 extra shots. If he was hanging around on the perimeter, as you pasox2 evidently want, i strongly doubt he'd have gotten 6 offensive boards.
I would much rather have Yao bang inside to get a high percentage shot than to have him settle for lower percentage jumpers. Besides, Yao's greatest strength is his size. Why not take advantage of it.
I guess you didn't watch last season when most of Mark Jacksons assists came from pick and pops with Yao. I think it has to do with his elbow and the muscle he has gained in his arms.
You make it sound like having a jumper is a liability. Not having a jumper excludes a player from last possessions in basketballs since refs will not make a foul call. KG shot a jumper to win against the Rockets. Dirk shot jumpers like crazy against the Rockets. Duncan has his famous jumpers that bank off the glass. Big men in the NBA must be able to expand their range outside the paint in order to accomodate dribble drives of their teammates. Only Shaq can play solely in the paint, and Shaq is a physical monster. If Yao doesn't get a jumper and become more consistent with his hook shot, he cannot be great like KG and Duncan.
You may be right about the elbow thing. I have seen close to 97% of the Rox games in this century including close to 100% of last season's but I still cannot remember Yao knocking down those shot on a consistent basis at least to my satisfaction. Again maybe it is the elbow after all. Yao is a tough kid even though he has that "soft" stigma. Like the other fella said, Yao is a great offensive rebounder (better at it than defensive rebounding per capita) and the closer Yao is to the bucket the better. But it will still be nice for him to have a consistent and respectable outside shot in order to make him even deadlier.
Did hakeem have a great jumper? No, he did not, and he was great. I do not think duncan has a consistent jumper. He is certainly not known for his outside shot. Yes, he does hit a couple of bank shots everygame, but IMO he relies moreon his inside game to get his points. I was mainly pointing out that it is ludicrous to say that JVG is at fault for yao's loosing his outside touch. He is a coach, who wants to exploit his players abilities. It is especially foolish to assert that JVG is hurting yao's game when he is clearly more aggressive and fighting for more rebounds than he was earlier this year and earlier in his career.
Indian Playa.. did you just ask if Hakeem had a good jumpshot? You must've been too busy sucking on your thumbs and wetting your diapers if you really beleive that. Go review some old footage---crazy.
Actualy, Hakeem was our best jump shooter from 15 feet and in during his last 10 years with the Rockets. On occasion midgets would even set a pick for him to allow him to shoot. Hakeem was a freak of nature.
