wow, here comes the bbIQ snob, just kidding. I am just having fun with this thread..and would like to see Yao hit 33% from the 3...but just as an occasional thing......can't speak for anyone else.
wow did he just say if given the chance, yao can have an outside game like dirk? damn, yao is gonna be the best player next yr w/ a dominating inside game and a highy efficient outside game? oh my cmon, even rafer can shoot 3s in practice. real games are different. yao is 7'6. his advantage and what makes houston dangerous is our INSIDE game. yao should still operate 90% of the time inside. occassionally in pick and roll situation where teams double tmac, yao can stay out and shoot the ft shot. absolutely NO 3s.
How many of you here have played any basketball? Shooting a three point shot while wide-open; any decent player with a respectable jumpshot can nail the wide majority. Even having a defender within 2 feet though lessens the percentage considerably. Yao will be at least given some respect at the three if he starts shooting it considerably. As mentioned, it's also not a triple threat position; he can only shoot. Yeah yeah i know some of you said "pass" but why would anyone want a 7'6 out at the three passing into the post? Something seems a bit backward about that. Oh and Yao shooting the Chinese three is irrelevant; their threepoint line is based on international rules, and closer to the college line than the NBA one. Yao shooting one three every three games is about as much as I'd ever want him to see, and then only when he's absolutely wide open.
If Yao is totally wide open out there all day and wants a crack at a 3 occasionally if he happens to just end up out there completely open, then he should have the green light to every once in awhile take one, since various reports seem to indicate he has 3 range, even scouting reports. But that's all it should be, nothing more than that. We don't want him becoming Rasheed Wallace. But then again he shouldn't be told to never take that shot like he was by Van Gundy, because when he's just way wide open, he has a good chance of hitting it. And I think a lot of people here forget about Sabonis. Actually I remember quite well when he hit 3's it opened up his ability to pass the ball down low and also to hit cutters on screen and rolls, because the bigs came all the way out on the perimeter. It certainly didn't hurt his game any by occasionally hitting one from downtown if the defense left him open off a high pick and roll, or off a high screen. That also opens it up for the other player involved in either the roll or coming off the screen and players off the screen, which would be guys like McGrady and Battier, which then in turn leads to a higher percentage shot for them. So it should certainly not be a play for him to just line up out there at all, but if the D is going to sag 10 feet or more off of him at the top of the key off of pick and rolls and off of screens (plays that will always be used in some form or another), then if he occasionally did take that shot when left completely wide open, and was able to knock down 1 out of 3, then it would open up the offense a bit, like how Sabonis did in Portland. But as I said only in these types of instances, and only to make the defense respect that shot by coming over, then allowing Yao to pass over the top of the defense and hit a guy like McGrady as he heads to the rim or the lane, just as Sabonis did in Portland. I am sure Adelman will understand these types of things. This has nothing at all to do with Yao's posts down low. And it really is very simple, if Yao shows in game situations that he cannot hit 1 out 3 in those instances, then he simply has the green light taken from him early on in the season, or even during the pre-season, heck maybe even during the training camp. So it would not hurt to experiment a little. Van Gundy may be totally right to never let him shoot a 3 and it may play out just that way, but it's not really wise to just automatically assume that you know what is and is not, without even actually trying it, at least that's my thinking anyway.
Totally agree. Remember, Sabonis was Yao's favorite player. I personally think Yao would love to have the freedom to shoot a 3 pointer every now and then.
This might be a good idea having Yao out at the 3 pt line on a few occasions during the game just to throw a wrinkle into the offensive scheme. Yes, if Yao can demonstrate 35 to 40% accuracy it may not be a far fetched idea. One interesting idea is have him out on a wing as I would presume he will be trailing plays a lot with a more up tempo offensive scheme he would almost always get wide open looks while the defense is trying to adjust and orient themselves. His bread and butter plays though are 15 feet on into the paint. Man, imagine though how big his game becomes if he could develop that Jabbar-esque sky hook? He would literally be unstoppable with his wingspan.
just stop. there's a reason dirk's game is easy to slow down if u have some athleticism. again, it's VERY EASY to fall in love w/ the J. ask tmac. we don't want yao to have the "freedom" to shoot 3 pt shots. he's at his best when he is w/in 8 ft. EVERY COACH in the league would love for yao to jack up shots b/c their big men won't be in foul trouble, yao can't get rebounds...
I think I agree with this, maybe 75% on the block, back to the basket and maybe 25% face up game, with his faceup game being anywhere from the FT line on out to the 3 point line if he shows he can hit the 3 ball effectively. One of the reasons I brought this subject up was because of the spacing issue. If you have a guy on the low block in the NBA and you have a face up player on the FT line, the players are so big, so long that the defender defending the face up player can very easily step back and bother the post up player while the post defender is behind the post up player. We saw this over and over again with Yao and Juwan on the floor together. Juwan would stand there face up high in the circle 15-17 feet away, and his defender constantly faded off him a bit to stick a hand in on Yao trying to post up, making Yao much less effective. This is the main reason why the Rox were always looking for a PF that could shoot the 3, because they wanted to create more space for Yao. Well, Adelman is wanting to move Yao and face him up at the FT line some, because he is thinking about cutters. I don't know if he is thinking about another low post player posting up on the block. In my opinion, in that situation where you have a Bonzi or a McGrady posting up, I think they need just a little more space, the space created by moving Yao outside a few feet further to the 3 point area. Bonzi, for one, likes to post up a little higher, so he can spin around and/or under the defender and get a step to the basket for the layup/dunk with the defender on his back. That almost requires a clearout type situation. If Yao is face up at the FT line, his defender is sitting right in the paint, waiting to help on a spinning Bonzi. I just don't know if it is enough space. Now, if all you are going to do with Yao at the FT line is clear out the paint and let him either shoot it or throw the pass to the cutter, then you don't need anymore space. That would be a play where the paint is basically cleared out and you've got 4 other guys spotted up and intermittently diving to the rim for the pass, which will be an improvement and a variation that our offense definitely needs. However, for another primary post up presence such as Bonzi, I would think the spacing would need to be greater. I do agree with the posters that are saying Yao is not a Dirk and should not be putting the ball on the floor on the perimeter and dribbling around. That's not the idea of Yao at the 3 line. The idea is to have a player out there that can hit the shot at a highly effective rate when the ball is thrown to him and the defense is not rotating. I do believe that Yao should be able to take 1 or 2 dribbles towards the basket however. Do you realize that at 7'6", it would take exactly 2 dribbles and 3 steps for Yao to get to the rim from the 3 point line. Now, obviously he's too slow to do that. But, what I'm saying is 1 dribble and a step up isn't a big deal, that is not making him into a dribbling Dirk. It would allow him to upfake a defender that is flying towards him and get around that defender for either the pass or shot from the FT line, as he steps into the key area. Can you see that? More of a Bill Laimbeer type play where Laimbeer would spot up at the top of the key and if the defense closed out on him he would take one dribble toward the FT line and can the shot from there. All of that being generated from Dantley/Aguirre operating down on the low block and throwing the ball out. Anyways, having Yao being able to face up to the basket from time to time up high is sure going to be fun. Can't wait to see a pick and pop play from James/Span where Yao picks the defender and receives the ball back at the FT line and cans that shot as a variation off the pick and roll as the defense is so wrapped up in Yao going to the basket that they walk away and leave him at the FT line. I think it will be great stuff.
He's 25-30 feet from the basket many times, that's how the screens, picks, and rolls are set up. That's where Sabonis took his very occasional, I stress very occasional 3, when left wide open. This is nothing even close to any comparison to how Dirk takes his 3 point shots.
some of y'all are baffling. a center shooting 3s??? cmon now. it doesn't matter if he makes 100%. they will ALWAYS leave yao open out there. and when he hits a few, he'll fall in love w/ it. even if he makes 10 in a row, the other team will STILL leave him open. if u have a 7'6 guy shooting 3s, i'll give him 100 OPEN shots anytime of the day.
I don't know what you are referencing but I am suggesting nothing more than perhaps every once in awhile using it the way Sabonis did. Apparently you didn't see Sabonis play. I am certainly not inferring we should start using Yao like Rasheed or Dirk. And him being left wide open is the whole point, but no he would not always be left open, once he hit a couple the defense would adjust. This is the whole point I believe of this discussion. The notion that he would take any 3 that was not wide open is one that would make no sense. But it also makes no sense to believe that the opposing defense knows what is best for the opposing offense.
I would like to see an offense that gets us open looks without having Yao or Tmac post up one on one and shoot with a hand in their face. Ricky A's offense has proven to provide guys with open looks.
First of all, nice thread, good question and some of the discussion is worth tuning in for... But, after reading more than 4 pages of this thread, there's too much pissing and moaning about this. Yao will have more perimeter shots under the Ad-Man and some of those may well turn into 3's... big deal. But one area that will benefit from this happening is Yao having to run less on the court. There's a LOT LESS REAL ESTATE from the 3 Pt Line to the defensive foul line than running bucket to bucket on EVERY SINGLE play!!!! As even TMAC speculated about how Adelman is going to incorporate such a big, slow guy into his system (not that Vlade was Bob freakin Hayes), but with Yao at a high post and with a decent PF to get back to the opposing bucket faster than Yao, Yao can then afford to run 3/4 of the court as opposed to full court, and over the course of the game it WILL save him some energy for later in the game. If for no other reason, I'll support Yao spending 40% of his time between the foul line and the 3pt line as a High Post presence and occasional perimeter shooter. This is the year that Yao becomes a legit MVP contender!!!!
You people arguing for 75% inside do know that that is more time than he spent inside last year, right? lol.
The rest of the time he was running around the 3pt line setting picks. Who says JVG locked Yao up in the low block?
1. Yes, he can. 2. No, he shouldn't. We got enough 3-pt shooters, high % ot not. Yao should concentrate on other parts of his game to make him more dangerous, not like some stupid center/big like Dirk, Okur. As hard working as Yao, a person's time and energy are limited and there are so man other things on Yao's game that have higher priority than practising 3's.
our center should not be responsible for shooting 3s..our guardds should be doing that and Yao should be focusing on rebounding and dominating inside....
I agree in 100%. I said that earlier. Yao is 7-6! He has to be the best big guy! Not the best 3-point shooter
i think yao should be able to shoot that wide open 3, not contested. i mean i've seen big Z shoot that wide open 3 and make it a few times so why shouldn't yao. he's just as a capable shooter. and i remember during the playoffs the commentators were talking about how liek a 35% from 3 point range is equivalent to about shooting 50% or so in the 2pt field, so why not allow that wide open 3. it'll be even better if yao does make 35-40% and requires the big man to come out of the paint and open up the box for our small post ups like shane bonzi or tmac.
