That makes sense... He went to a place they used to have a team... Who is he playing for, the Charlotte school for pregnant nuns?
It may matter when it comes to blocking shots, but we were talking about shooting, yes? You are saying that Yao may not make his normal percentage of shots, and then use the fact that his arms are a little short for his height as a reason. It just doesnt add up. If we were debating whether or not he could block or rebound like a demon in the NBA like he does in International competition, then I could understand your argument(somewhat).. Ok, lets look at it this way. He is 7'6", deduct about 9 inches to the point where his shoulders are...add about 28-30 inches worth of arm to his wrist.. that still puts his release point if his arms are fully extended to just about 10'...and thats with his feet firmly on the ground...lets assume he can jump less than a foot off the ground....that puts his release point at the top of his jump at 11'... If we assume all of the above to be true...how many people in the league do you think can get up to block him? or even get close enough to mess with his shot...I dont think there would be many.. on the true topic...I may have said that seeing Cato and Yao Ming on the floor would be interesting ..I really think the more viable Twin Towers option would be EG and YM...We could kick some major ass with that one...does anyone know if EG has grown anymore since last year? On the homer thing, if you dont have a problem with it...why the sig? The way I read your sig, it appears that you think being a homer would be something to be ashamed of..
it is time for mislead myopians to realize that Palph "STic" Sampson was a scrub. he excelled at nothing. SMoking crack maybe.
who the hell is palph? . . I agree he is a scrub But RALPH SAMPSON was a good player whose career was cut short by injuries. Rocket River
The point I was trying to make was, in theory, a 7'6'' player with long arms will have a higher release point on his shot than a 7'6" with short arms and so we cant just say that cause a player is 7'6'' that hes going to shoot a higher percentage than players that are shorter. We have to consider his arm length and jumping ability. Chuck was only 6'4'' but because of his his long arms and jumping ability, he was able to play with taller players. Regardless, I do agree with you that his arms wont make much of a difference on his shots as compared to blocking shots. Looking at Yaos release point, his arm length wouldnt really matter. I think people wont be able to block yao cause he kinda shots the ball from the top of his head, rather than in front of him, like a David Robinson. Griffin was only 19 last year, so its possible that he could still grown an inch or two. I believe Kevin Garnett did. Griffin has the long arms so he can play like a 7 footer. I agree with you that Cato isnt exactly "twin tower" material. I at times, am also a homer. My best friends wife is from SA and she is a huge Spur fan. I find myself being quite the homer when debating Robinson v. Hakeem. Thats in my sig cause i just wish people would be more objective when talking about the Rockets and their potential. Being a Homer is only natural and shows that you really support your team no matter what, which is a great thing.
Double amen there..anyone who actually saw Ralph play would not and could not say that. If his legs didnt give out on him, I would safely say that the Rox would have more than just 2 championships. The towers of Akeem and Ralph were just incredible to watch when they were both on their game.. ok..codell..its all good then. I believe we have come to some sort of agreement. Thanks for the discussion..
If you look at Ralphs numbers when he was with us, you cant name anyone, besides Hakeem or Moses, that had a better run over a period of 4 or 5 years. I miss Ralph and wished that I could have gotten to see him play longer. Hopefully, Ming will bring back some of those memories. Agreement? Stop that now. You might ruin both of our reps. j/k
Codell, Isn't Yao's shot the most classic form you ever saw? Doesn't it remind you of someone? Bird! Today, only two players that I can think of use that from. Dirk Nowitzski and Derek Fisher. It seems so effortless!
You know what? You are onto something! His shot does look alot like #33. Bird made up for his lack of jumping ability with his release point. Youre a smart man.
except for that whacked out hand position he has on the ball. It may be because his hands are so big. He puts his left hand underneath and in front of the ball instead of on the side. I don't really care because he has a sweet stroke.
When I was a kid, I use to try and imitate Bird's stroke and release in my driveway. Couldnt do it! I never could figure out how he made all those shots. lol
Lack of jumping and release point...Hmmm... That explains a lot. I use to wonder why players like Cynthia Cooper, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzski, Chris Jackson, Calvin Murphy and Steve Nash shots looked like they were going to go into the basket every time. It was their form, rather than their mobility that gave them the shot, which gave them their excellent shooting skil. Some might say, "Yeah, but some of those players had speed." I say, yeah. But look at their shot form. You can tell they spent hours shooting 1000's of shots, alone. All working on perfect form. I can now look back and see why a player like Francis or Jordan would depend more on their speed and jumping to get "an open" shot, rather than practicing on "perfect form." It's deciving. It's a catch-22. It's almost like they think "Why should I work on shooting form (insted of shoot-arounds), when I can just use my speed and jumping to get "my shot?" I don't think they realize that working on "shooting form" takes years to pay-off. In fact, you will miss a lot of shots when you are working on "form." Once they do work on that form, if they happen to be atheletes too. Then, they are just that much more unstoppable. It's the best of both worlds. I hope Francis takes note. I've heard that Calvin Murphy has discussed this with him and helps him out with shooting form (and freethrows).
The sad part, like Rockbox said, is that I think you can only pull that "Larry Bird over-the-head shot" if you have wide hands. Not big hands necessarily, but wide. Calvin and Fisher have abnormally wide hands for being a "short" guard. Francis has small hands; short fingers and narrow hands. Yao has decent width (being 7'5" helps), but freaky long fingers! So, I think that's why he can pull it off (Bird form).
If Yao and Cato played together it would be in a unique situation like Shaq. Yao could play PF against Samaki based on what I saw at the worlds. He would be able to provide shotblocking, rebounding, and scoring from this matchup. If he went head to head with Shaq, Yao may get foul trouble, but would at a minimum probably lose some of his help defense and a lot of rebounding (From what I've seen, people guarding Shaq tend to work on only guarding Shaq as its a full time job with hazard pay). Any rebounding the rocks lose by having Cato guard Shaq, did I say Cato rebounding? Griffin can play center when Shaq is out giving the Rockets a big advantage over the Lakers skillwise at 4 positions. If the Lakers went to Horry at the 4, I think the Rockets would take out Yao or Cato. I still think the Rockets win here as they've forced the Lakers into taking out their second best rebounder and physical defender. Griffin and Mo T shouldn't have to work as hard against Horry as they would against Samake.
Good points. Although if Shaq is out and Griffin and Yao are in there, I would have Yao back at the 5 to take advantage of a potentially weaker post player on the Lakers bench.
