What should Yao work on this off-season

I think Anthony Falsone will be working Yao's butt off. He said he wants to work on his endurance.

Basketball wise, I think the most important thing Yao needs to work on is his hands. He has good post moves, he see's the court well, and can knock down some jumpers. His only problems are catching passes and rebounding. But being 7'6 his leaping ability is basically non-exsistent. I never expect him to average 12 rebounds or anything like that, but I think there are always a couple of rebounds that get away from him each game....either they fall through his hands, or he gets the ball yanked from him. He just needs to be more aggresive!

Honestly, I think in the play-offs that Yao realized the potential he has. He knows that he can dominate a game....as he did 3 games in the post season. Hopefully thats a sign of things to come!

 

1. He should work on catching and palming a medicine ball................with one hand.....................shot from a pitching machine..............set at 100 mph.

2. He should jump rope for 3 hours a day.

 

Get Jabbar to come here and teach him a reliable Sky Hook.

 

Reaction Time, Anticipating where the ball is going to go, Timing.

Even Jordan knew, its all about timing. If your timing is off, then your whole game is off. I've seen Yao not get his hands up in anticipation where the ball is going to go, for both blocks, and rebounds. It would help tremendously to spare against Mutombo for a whole summer. He would also need to do drills crashing the boards against Mutombo. If he does this you'd see a big improvment.... a less foul prone Yao Ming because he wouldn't be late on everything.

 

I think Mick from the Rocky movies should have him chasing chickens. Yao needs some serious foot speed.

 

Good one.

 

Or at least not to fall back on his ass when trying to get up in someone's face.

 

Yao need to learn rebounding, rebounding and...rebounding

 

Sealing off a fronting defender and catching lob passes. He should also spend a lot of time doing the drill where you dunk the basketball 100 times in a row.

 

His pimp hand.

 

DECISION MAKING

 

Have him watch tapes of the 4th quarter of Dallas Game 7, again and again, until he can almost imagine himself playing like Yao Ming.

 

Shift 20lbs from his lower body and to his upper body. And doing Calastetics so as to increase his stamina a Vertical jump.

 

1. I'd like to see Yao get leaner instead of trying to bulk him up. He needs whatever quickness and agility his body can muster. The length and athleticsm of the league is starting to extinguish the plodding, deliberate post players of yesteryear. If guys like Kareem and Ewing were playing today, they wouldn't be close to as effective as they were in their hey-day.

And Yao struggles to hold his weight during the season as is. He loses weight during the season every year. I'd like Yao to be about 300 lbs, and chiseled at maybe 3%-5% body fat. 300 would be pretty light, considering that muscle is denser and heavier than fat. It's probably equivelent to less than his playing weight as a rookie.

And they should also work on building explosiveness. I know there are jumping exercises that can help with this. And the old stamina problem could use a little more work.

2. Work on a bank shot. If he could fine-tune using the backboard, that could increment his FG% up a little more.

3. Work on a face up game from 15 ft. All the other elite big men in the league (except maybe Shaq, who doesn't need it) can face a guy up when he gets pushed out of the box, and take him off the dribble.

Yao's not going to take too many guys off the dribble, but that doesn't mean that he can't learn to shoot over guys with confidence and then offset that with a pump fake, one dribble jumpstop for a pullup. (with or without the bank shot for added style)

4. Personally, I think Yao's "hands" problem is more to do with concentration than buttery fingers. He's either unready for the pass or takes his eyes off the ball too soon. I think a drill where a group encircling Yao fires passes at him over and over again from all angles would be very beneficial.

5. I remember a drill where Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma's Head Coach) would work on rebounding by putting lids over the rims and tossing the ball up. I wouldn't mind seeing Yao do that, along with getting a fine everytime he tips the ball instead of grabbing it with two hands. Seriously, somebody needs to beat that habit out of him.

6. And last but not least, Yao could also use a Clockwork Orgy-style brainwash video starring Iverson, Amare, Antwan Walker, Kobe, and Shaq entitled "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later."

 

Aside from strength and conditioning?

He needs to do some one-on-one with a good big man (maybe P-Ew or Deke?) to work on holding his position in the post while some chump tries to knock you off your spot.

Also needs to work on his hands. Maybe make him hold a ball while guys try to swipe it out of his hands.

Also needs to work on finishing strong, absorbing contact. I've seen drills where big men shoot while a coach pushes a big padded something-or-other into 'em.

 

I'm no professional trainer but I workout and play bball a lot and this is what he should work on and do...
1)Endurance - jump roping, bicycling, jog 3-5 miles a day 3x/ week (not on consecutive days and not uphill - increases risk of injury). eat high carb diet before running.

2)quickness/ timing/ balance - jump roping, sprints, games like playing tag, catch medicine balls thrown at him, shot-blocking and rebounding drills, drills of maintaining balance while people push him around from all angles.

3)vertical leap - jump roping, calisthenics (Yao, if you're reading this, you can borrow my jumpsoles if you want), trampoline, workout his legs and hips - 10-15 sets each of squats, leg biceps, gluteus, adductors, and calves, deadlifts 1x a week. eat high protein meal after lifting.

4)offensive game - he's already developed this a bit this year with the pump-fake and drive left. he should work on it a bit more so he's comfortable driving in both directions faster, spinning in both dxns, etc... he should watch tapes of tim duncan. be aware of the ball at all times and unexpected passes... maybe he'll pick this up playing some 3 on 3 pick up ball. fronting drills... teach him the timing of nudging his defender then suddenly releasing and going after the ball like a wide receiver. putback dunk drills. drills of him playing against a flop defender. change his mentality to make him more aggressive.

5)defensive game - change his mentality in terms of unconsciously always trying to take charges, drive and dish/ help defense drills... teach him to continue commiting to the guard penetrating but be ready with a hand out to deflect a pass in case the guard tries to dish it off to his man.

 

What I would have him do:

1 - Jumping ability (plyometrics, jump rope, gravity boots to make him walk on his toes)
2 - Core strength / balance (leg lifts in a roman chair, power ab pulls, sit ups on a plyo ball, some sort of resistance ab work, some balance beam work, medicine ball, inverted crunches, oblique crunches, dead lifts or the equivalent thereof)
3 - Endurance (lots of low impact stuff like swimming, running in a pool, run some sprints up hill, bicycle work)
4 - Hand strength (monkey bar, grip training like arm wrestlers use, bear crawls on his finger tips)
5 - Strength training (you don't want Yao to bulk up but he needs to be able to throw around his 300# frame with control, this will also help his ability to absorb contact)
6 - Have a coach hold a kick pad and push on him as he tries to post up and also have some sort of cardboard barrier around 11ft+ high so he can absorb the contact and shoot over his defender better.

What you don't want him doing is going to Fonde or playing meaningless pick up games that will take away from the above. He does however need to get used to all the contact he refs let defenders put on him. He is at a disadvantage due to his height so his center of gravity is much higher the his defenders.