Does Yao have the best baseline spin drive in the league?

Yao has had this move a long time. I remember seeing him use it when China played Steve Nash and Canada in Vancouver after he was drafted. When I saw him use it I knew right then that he was just more than a big, tall stiff. It's a great move for a guy his size.

 

I thought Barkley used that move a lot too... of course, that was a few years ago.

 

Best baseline spin drive? Not even in top 100. Yao does it in slow motion, sometimes dirbbles off his foot or out of bounds.
Shaq's spin is much quicker and a lot more explosive.

 

Top 100? Come on, there isn't even 100 guys in the NBA that have a spin move. It takes a lot of coordination. Off the top of my head, I can think only a handful of guys that have great spin moves; Payton, Pierce, Grant Hill...

And since when did Shaq develop a spin move. He can spin off guys for an alley-oop, and he has an unstoppable drop step. But that's not what we're talking about. Shaq doesn't dribble baseline, he turns baseline with a power drop step. Seriously, I saw a lot of Shaq while he was in LA, and I can honestly say that I don't remember him ever driving baseline off of a spin move.

 

Hakeem used to have a nice spin move off the baseline that usually transformed into multiple fakes, spins and sometimes turn around jumpers

 

I think Hakeem has the best baseline spin drive to the basket in NBA History. Watching him burn Robinson during the Western Conf Finals was poetry in motion. Yao's got to learn from Hakeem.

 

Hakeem was fast as hell and Yao is pretty slow compared to him

You have to have speed

 

Melo has a pretty sweet baseline spin move.

 

I think the reason Yao's spin move is so great to watch is because it's such a burn on the guy that he does it to. It's so embarrassing for a defender to let slow-ass Yao do that to them.

I'm also really liking his quick releases on his turn-arounds and hook shots. Again, they're so graceful that they're beautiful to watch.

Yao is slowly starting to aquire an arsenal of amazing moves. Not many post players, besides Shaq and Duncan, even compare. I just wish he could add that Duncan bankshot, and then he'd be even more unstoppable.

 

Did you guys ever watch a guy named James Worthy?? He had the best spin move (much faster than the dream) I have ever seen.

 

I don't know about his hook shot. Right now it not a thing of beauty. It's a ear-splitting clank.

This is what I want Yao to work on over the summer if he will have the time off that seems to be hinted at. Last year he seemed to hit it more, but maybe I don't really remember.

A more consistent hook shot will open up the spin move and any other moves even more. This gives him a move to the inside of the lane that opponents will have to respect.

Not sure about the Duncan bank shot. It look likes nice and all, but the bank shot is more of a choice than anything. I'm satisfied with Yao's turnaround and his jumper. They hit at the same rate as Duncan.

Of course, I want Yao to work on other things too, like strength, conditioning, endurance, but I'll take a hook shot that hits at the same rate as the rest of his game right now.

 

When you're having a hard time imagening Shawn Bradley or Gearge Muresean doing a base line spin move, you know Yao is something special. Have you guys notice that Yao has been trying to go glass ala Tim Duncan? He needs to work on that shot b/c i've only seen it go in one time, while missing badly those other time.

 

I agree, he doesn't have the quickness of Shaq or a lot of other guys, but c'mon he's 7 foot 6 and if he could do a baseline spin past Duncan/Fortson effectively thats pretty damn good to me.

 

Yao's spin move is nice but let's not get carrried away. Shaq's spin moves are very explosive. And probably the best if we are judging the 7'0 and over class

 

I think the BEST ever has to go to James Worthy. That guys spin move was so quick.

 

You are seriously underrating NBA players if you think less than 100 players have a spin move. Many players don't use it often because they are not required to post up around the basket.

Shaq's footwork and skill is very underrated by fans as well, he crossed over Kobe in practice, went coast to coast in All Star game, I don't think Yao can do that. But because of his power plays, people normally can't see those things.

About Shaq's spin move, I've seen plenty of those. He even did it several times against Yao, either got fouled or got a dunk. Read this and you'll see Shaq has a spin move:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050207/news_lz1s7feet.html

"It happens so fast, you're just like, 'Yeah, he's spinning, he just reversed,'" Heat backup center Michael Doleac said. "But think about what he just did. He spun off a guy, made a quick dribble, as the biggest person to ever play the game, and finishes it gracefully on the other side of the rim. And it looks smooth. You don't see guys that big doing that, but since it's him, people think that's a weak play on his part. That is actually better footwork than when he just catches it under the rim and explodes up and rips the rim off."

 

Agree. The only low percentage shot for Yao right now is his hook shot. Don't know that happened to him. He used to hit a lot of those short distance hook shots. He'd be 60% for the season now if his hook shots are falling.

 

A more approriate title: Does Yao have the best spin move among centers right now.

I say maybe. He definitely bests at it among centers over 7'2. It's a plus for him to have that. But I would rather see him shoot straight up, just ask for troubles when puts the ball on the floor and spin.

 

If 100 NBA players have spin moves, but don't use them then what is the point in giving them a rank. How can you even say someone has a great spin move if they don't actually use it. I mean how much practical value can you place on something that never sees use, when compared to Yao's spin which he does every other game.

I don't underrated Shaq's footwork at all. Far from it. I think he's a lot more than a dunking machine which most people are inclined to believe. But his game is all patterned on the drop step. Some people might mistake it for a spin move, because he does rotate around a defender, but I don't consider these two moves the same. Maybe it's just semantics and they aren't THAT different, but I think it's equivalent to the difference between a Sky-Hook and a Jump-Hook. Similar, but still having quite a divergence in technique.