I'm willing to live and die in the final seconds of the game with the franchise player. I'm all for Yao shooting the critical free throws.
FT% for Rox players with more than a hundred attempts, from ESPN: Code: <table> <tr> <td>Player</td> <td>FT%<td></tr> <tr> <td> Y. Ming </td> <td> 83.333 <td></tr> <tr> <td> D. Wesley </td> <td> 79.769 <td></tr> <tr> <td> J. Howard </td> <td> 79.032 <td></tr> <tr> <td> T. McGrady </td> <td> 74.556 <td></tr> <tr> <td> S. Swift </td> <td> 68.125 <td></tr></table> You'd trust Yao to take the final jumper, so why wouldn't you trust him to take the final FTs, especially considering he's has the highest percentage of anybody on the team?
I'd be willing. However, the main problem is that Yao can't put the ball on the ground. Sometimes, that becomes a necessity if a player gets trapped or something if they're going for a steal...or if the ball gets jarred loose on the pass. I'd rather have Yao shooting em, but I think I'd rather have TMac or Wesley handling the ball in case it gets knocked away..they could recover, dribble out of it, etc.. So in the end I think TMac/Wesley
Hakeem always had it at the end, and usually was forced to pass it, thus all the heroics for Horry, Cassell, Kenny & Max etc..... Role players hit big shots, and that is when you have a winning team...Steve Kerr, John Paxson...anyone??? DD
Shaq has no flexibility in his wrist which prevents him from getting a proper release on his shot, he pushes the ball at the hole instead bending his wrist and releasing the shot. Shaq has spent hours and hours of time trying to improve, even to the extent of having a special coach brought in to improve his FT%, I'm sure he has tried underhand and every style imaginable.
We're on diff topics-- I was talking what the thread was about... winning with < 24 secs left...where the other team needs to foul you. Totally diff situation when you're on the block and in a normal offense or whatever--then I'd agree with you.
I think it intimidates the other teams for the 7'6" Yao to shoot technicals. It gives them no hope. I think it is a good move as long as he is close to our best free throw shooter.
as shown in the above picture.. maybe shaqs ARMS are twice as big as yaos.. but i doubt his hands are MUCH bigger... maybe they are but nothing significant.. DO U SEE how small the ball looks in yao's hands? when he shoots free throws or holds the ball anytime take a good look... he makes it look like a cantelope
It doesn't hurt to pad Yao's stats a little, too. Yao gets more respect with bigger numbers. More respect means better treatment from the refs.
Although Yao is clearly the better free throw shooter right now, if anybody was ignorant enough to get a tech late in the game (Franchise, Sheed)...I would still feel more comfortable with T Mac on the line. Ecspecially seeing how Yao's shooting touch seemingly falls off at the ends of games. I dont have any numbers to back this up but just by observation I would guess his 4th qtr. FT% is the lowest of any qtr.
Yao has been very good late in games in the past seasons. The only bad spell I remember was in last season's playoffs, when he missed quite a few in one game. Other than that, he doesn't seem to be rattled. Tmac seems to miss way too many lately. I don't know why, but he seems to be a little closer to the line than in the past too.
I really don't trust T-mac's free throw shooting. He hasn't been making them lately, and he's actually never had an 80% ft season, while Yao is going on his third. In terms of pressure situations, if not Yao, then I would go with Wesley. He's made a lot of big free throws in the past, and is usually very solid at the line.
I agree about T Mac's free throw shooting being shaky, even more so lately. But with that being said I'd still prefer to have him at the line over anybody with the game on the line. I can't ever remember seeing him miss free throws that we REALLY needed...while the same can't be said for Yao and definetely not Wesley. I used to think D Wes was uncrackable at the line but this year he's missed alot of late game one's that have given the opposition a chance to atleast tie up the game, thankfully it hasn't hurt us yet that I can recall. T Mac is the teams star and if it came down to it thats the man I'd want with the game on the line. After all that I think Yao should still be shooting the T's throughout the game haha, he needs those extra points more than TMac does, he's an already established scorer and therefore gets the respect from it. These freebies can only help enhance Yao's image and the respect he gets around the league from all these columnists who obviously never watch our games, makes no difference to them if he gets the points off a fadeaway over the double team or two techs...let the big man go for it.
It's just sad that Yao is the best FT shooter in this team. It just meant that our backcourts cannot shoot. The frontcourts are supposed to shoot closer to the basket or just dunk the ball. Our backcourt players should be forced to practise their shots every single day. They should be forced, instead being volunteering.
