Hi y'all, I've almost never seen Yao Ming making an alley-oop on TV neither can I find one on Youtube. Last time, I remember Rafer throwing him one and he missed the dunk. CP3 threw more than 150 alley-oops (made) this season to Chandler. Imagine Yao can get one/two each game. I'm not meaning ''Ohhh the alley-oop is so cool'' or anything like that. It's a strategic play that can save your game (i.e: Jackie Moon). Is Yao unable to do them because his wingspan is too low? I don't think so. Maybe the coaches should make Yao/Rafer practice them more often and make it real in games. Good night.
Dude I disagree. Yao's wingspan is...let's say more than 8''. He's 7-6'', with the wingspan he's 8-4''. He can easily make an alley-oop...
Yao simply isn't agile enough for it to be a consistent play. Most alley-oops come off of the receiver spinning out and cutting while being tightly guarded. I don't think Yao can make that spin move and cut to the rim in a fast enough time. Only alley-oop I remember is when Francis threw it to him in the all-star game (his first).
I remember one specific time where Brooks tried to allyoop to Yao, the pass was perfect, or good enough at least for Yao to catch it cause it was rim high, but Yao couldn't go up to get it and the ball hit the rim instead and I think rolled out of bounds. Yao then motioned to Brooks afterwards that he should have shot it instead, as Brooks was open when he passed it. Yao will never be a good alleyoop finisher, it takes agility and good leaping ability, unfortunately Yao lacks in those 2 areas.
Most the times down the court Yao has his back to the basket trying to get position against his defender. He's not quick enough to spin around the defender and get to the ball in the air before his guy can.
If I recall correctly, didn't T-mac throw up an alley-oop to Yao in the playoffs last year? I think it was in game 7, but it was a successful one too.
Yao's wingspan is no more than 7'5", and some reports have it at less than that, about 7'3". But that's not a problem. Yao just can't get open very quickly most of the time. He's gotten a few, but not many.
I've seen plently of alley-oops with Yao. Anyone remember those 2-3 alley-oops every game we use to see from Francis-Cato? Hopefully they can reenact that with Yao or better yet, Carl Landry.
His wingspan measurement at the official pre-draft combine was 7' 4 3/4": http://nbadraft.net/2002predraftmeasurements.htm And like it's been kind of mentioned, the alley-opp isn't an effective play for Yao because he doesn't have the balance or explosiveness to play above the rim. It's explosiveness more than jumping ability, because with a timing play like the alley-opp, it's not about how high you can get, but how quickly you can get up there. If you aim for alley-opps at rim-level, those are the kind of plays that Yao can finish.
The alley-oop just isn't the style the Rockets play generally. Tmac hasn't had many alley-oop chances either, despite being longer and more athletic than most of his opponents. Even Carl Landry with his many dunks last year, I can't recall one alley-oop dunk to Carl.
If I remember right, in his rookie season, he used to finish a lot of alley oops from Francis. Although that was how that team usually scored
Francis, for all the criticism he gets about his passing, was one of the better alley-oop passers in the league. Not sure how good Alston is with it ... the conversion rate between him and T-Mac on alley-oop attempts wasn't that great. And with Yao, the margin for error is really small on that pass. So unless the passer really knows what he's doing its best to make the simple entry pass to him.
Anyone stop, and think about the injuries Yao has already sustained playing relatively close to the ground? I myself don't want him going airborne anymore than is absolutely necessary. Be our luck someone would undercut him, and that'd be it.
