No, you're right. The stats aren't really available, but Yao's 15 footers have not looked as they did when he came into the league, and it does seem he misses a high percentage of them now. That's another reason why many of us and perhaps Thibodeaux are saying it needs to be a part of his game, because it was an inherent facet of his game coming into the league and it's going to be needed at some point. And just maybe it is now.
IMO Yao's face up game - picks and pops, run and shoot, high post offense etc- does not subtract, but helps Yao's low post game, as long as it's used as a supplement to his low post play. It makes his low post game more unpredictable. Instead of keying in on Yao, a moving Yao is harder to be swarmed. It helps Yao pacing his energy through a game instead of fighting down low in every play - it's counterproductive because no one in the league can execute post play in every play, it's too demanding physically. Stratigically, without a face up game, it's counterproductive to make Yao fight in the post in every play, it's also counterproductive to not make Yao fight in the post in every play - for Yao would be taken out of the offense in that case. The lack of dimension in Yao's game makes Yao easier to stop, makes him waste his energy, makes Yao's dominance rely on other factors, such as the shooting of his teammates.Yao can be a dominating force all by himself if he's freed, but now he's a slave to his teammates because he's allowed to only play half of his game. I remember Yao doing a run and shoot in the final seconds of a game this season, boy it was beautiful. It helps getting Yao into a shooting rhythm. Yao doesn't always have a slow release. His slow release is due to his hesitation, which results in lowered FG percentage. For those who abhor a 7'6" center shooting mid range jumpers, Yao is actually shooting near mid range jumpers night in night out, and his mid range jumpers are harder than usual, because he makes it turning around. When Yao is shooting turnaround Js, he is scoring in the hard way as opposed to a face up mid range jumper anyway. The face up game of Yao is a must for Yao to reach his full potential.
Panda, serious question here because I'm very not hip, but what is a "run and shoot?" Is that like a "stop and pop"? Or is it just a "runner"? In my experience the run and shoot gets your quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame and destroys the reputations of both your offensive and defensive coaching staffs.
declan32001: You guessed right. I was referring to stop and pop. Yao should get open by off the ball movement, receive a pass and shoot the ball. I'm tired of watching the guards bricking shots.
He has lost his jumper because that is no longer a part of his game.If you look at his first year's mid-range shootings and his ,i think,Chicago pre-draft work out,you will know that his mid-gange shot is not a myth.He out score Shaq in the first few games mostly by his jumper and he frustuated Shaq because Shaq was forced to leave the paint and came out to guard Yao.But under JVG Yao has lost that part of his offensive arsenal.
honestly you cannot be happy that tmac went down, yao is emerging, head has been a decent pick, you cant be happy due to the fact that we arent going to make the playoffs....that is it this team needs to make a drastic makeover during the offseason....anyone not named yao and tmac can be replaced....howard is a decent of and swift and head are keepers.....also we can go ahead and end this alston vs james arguement because rafer (who is no longer called skip to my lu becuase he has played worse then people i play with at my college) has played like a bum this year....a few years ago with miami didnt he almost lead the league in 3 point shooting and now he is bricking or air balling 80% of his shots....this has been a disappointing year that was doomed when tmac went down in practice before the season opener...the lottery is never a good thing when you are tryin to win championships...
Wrong: this season was doomed when management decided to try and persue a championship with a bunch of "bodies" surrounding our two unproven "superstars." This arguement that "injuries" hurt the team is only reasonable if you think that the "oldest" team in the NBA was going to have a magical (no pun intended), easy-going season where injuries don't occur and every game is a blow out in our favor. We HAD the youngest team in the L, traded it for some "so-called" role players (read: ONLY GOOD AT ONE THING), crossed our fingers and hoped for the best: didn't quite work out like like it did on NBA Live 2005, eh? CD should be fired (trading the francise for a name); Ewing should be fired (why not? what's he done?); JVG should be fired (he SHOULD have known this season would be a disaster, but did/said nothing [and making the 8th seed after totally revamping the Rox isn't IMHO "progress"]). Changes are needed or the Rox are doomed to finish in the lottery for the NEXT decade, pretty much just like the last.
