Things come at a price. The higher you jump, the harder you land. If Ming can score without jumping it's best for his safety and career longevity.
Panda You have a good point, he has more of chance to land weird and hurt his ankes and knees. I'm curious to see what type of injuries he' s had for his career.
I thought on that play that Robinson "blocked" him while he was bring the ball up. He stripped it away at about Yao's chest level, and Yao was trying to bring it up to shoot. More of a lesson on keeping the ball up high. also, ricerocket- Were you able to watch the game, or could you just get the box score/recap? Tierre looked absolutely terrible against the press. He ran to the sideline everytime and the offense was completely out of sync. It was so bad that Rudy had to put Cuttino in there when it looked like he was trying to get the 2nd unit guys minutes. 4 minutes or not, Tierre's performance was hideous. Tito was not much better. (I guess this is the part where I mention Erick Barkley was just traded and then released )
Anything is that...with the way yao shoots the ball with one hand like almost in front of it. It makes it almost impossible to block without someone fouling him, which would because his hand is like blocking the ball, so unless the block it from on top, it should be a foul. And the fact that he is 7'6, makes that almost impossible, but of course the refs wont see that. Because if you look at the Robinson block, it looks like it got some of his hand as well. Which by definition is a foul.
So what you are saying is that... you are allowed to slap the crap out of my hands if i am touching the ball...so everytime i have ever dribbled and i slapped their hands trying to steal the ball is legal. or when someone comes on the side of the ball when i am shooting and hits my hand that is used to shoot, is legal. i dont think so..if that is the case, there are a lot of fouls that shouldn't be called. or fouls that have been called on me in my 20 years of playing that shouldn't have been called. i could go on and on. if that is in the rule book, then i dont think that is something that is enforced, or it is a bullcrap rule. either way, i dissagree...you shouldn't be able to slap my hand, only the ball...how many times have i heard the announcers say...well, he got the ball, but also some of his hand. please clear this up for me, because this is going to totally change the way i play basketball. hehe
I think what that rule means is that if a defenders slaps his hand that defender must also get part of the ball with his hand. Its a judgment call for the refs that usually favors the offensive player. On that David Robinson block. I remember that play distinctly. Yao did one too many moves, he out-juked himself. That was a step-back, off foot, fadeaway. He'll eventually learn that because of his height he doesnt need to fadeaway and get caught jumping off his off foot like that. Its not that big of a deal.
I read that part in the rule book, and it seems as though it is legal. The only other rule I could fine that may work against the rule above is this: (5) Incidental contact with the hand against an offensive player shall be ignored if it does not affect the player's speed, quickness, balance and/or rhythm. But I think that is more with dribbling and stuff. Plus, it didn't say if the hand was on the ball. I definitly will change my way.
so when robinson blocked yao's shot...you are telling me that it didn't mess up his "rhythm" of his shot when he hit his hand. obviously it did..as he was unable to shoot hit normal shot. the only instance that slapping someone's hand with it being on the ball that doesn't mess up someones...rhythm, balance and so on, is just when somemone is just standing there with the ball, doing nothing. which happens like never. and if it does happen, the guy deserves to loose the ball. so then my point is that....when robinson hit his hand, it did affect the speed at which he was shooting the ball, the rhythm of his shot, and the balance at which he was holding it, which means that it was a FOUL. but by useing this example....every single time someone shoots the ball, all of the things are affected if you slap the shooters hand. which means that yao...will be almost imposible to block...unless the refs continue to give him the rookie treatment.
Why are you people worrying about Yao's vertical leap? The man can TOUCH THE RIM without jumping... it's not a matter of how high you jump, it's a matter of how high you can REACH. If Yao doesn't have to jump to reach very high, then so be it. When Yao got his first block against the sixers, his hand was a bit above the top of the rectangular box on the backboard - this mean he's at least got a 1 foot vertical (since he can touch rim w/out jumping). I don't think you can or should expect much more of a vertical leap from a 7'6 man, and as Panda pointed out, it's better for his knees and joints that he not jump much.
The hand is part of the ball, the wrist is not. From the picture it looks like it was a good block(unless he came down on the wrist/forearm afterwards). Yao actually looked like he faded sideways(baseline) more than back on the shot in question. Since Yao likes to do the straight turnaround fadeaway he needs to learn to do a pump fake off of said move. A good defender will learn to alter/block that shot if he uses it exclusively(see Eddie Griffin). One of the things that made Barkley so effective was his pumpfakes. Once you draw 2 or 3 fouls off your defender they won't be able to go after it so aggressively.
(5) Incidental contact with the hand against an offensive player shall be ignored if it does not affect the player's speed, quickness, balance and/or rhythm. So....the hand is not part of the ball. Right?? Plus...if the hand is part of the ball...then i have been told a lot of lies in my life. also, all those times when mobley or francis swipe at the ball... are you really thinking they miss so bad they are hitting the wrist. I know whenever i swipe for the ball...most of the time i at least hit their hand...rarely do i miss so bad to hit their wrist. and i am sure they are better defenders than i am.
hey if yall wonder why we worry about yao's vertical its because there are guys who can get up higher in the air than yao! i'm pretty sure EG gets up higher in the air than yao does. i mean like highest point in the air, not vertical alone. just because he can touch the rim without jumping doesnt mean anything. i'm pretty sure t-mac could still posterize yao pretty easily since yao just stands there. he needs a higher vertical, and supposedly he used to have a higher one but he lost it when he started working his legs out. wasn't there some sort of report like that out before he was even drafted? can anyone tell me if that was true? because if it was then getting that vertical back shouldn't be that hard of a thing to do. and no he simply isnt going to get 3 blocks a game cuz he is 7'6". that is idiotic to say. he can alter the game once he comes in and that probably has a bigger effect, but he isn't just automatically gonna be given 3 blocks a game until he learns how to block shots. yao is not an amazing shot blocker....he relies on his size versus someone like EG or Dream who rely on timing and ability a hell of a lot more than simply size. that is something that is hard to coach. some players have it or they don't, maybe yao can develop it since he says he is defensive minded.
