Is it me . .. or is Yao becoming DEADLY from 18 Every Jump shot he takes I am beginning to think 2!! just after release and shocked when it doesn't go down not to mention he is an excellent passer. Loving how they mixing it up If we need a bail out shot. v. . Yao from 20 would not horrify me Rocket River
yao has a enormous body. he has to be set to nail that jumper. when he's set and has about half a second to shoot, he's money; when he rushes, he misses since his release is not quick. many players are like that. but i agree, his 18 footer should be used as an option a bit more often; especially in pick-and-pop's.
He's so freakin' tall that the shot is nearly unstoppable. I'm glad they're mixing that into the offense more for the playoffs.
In fact, i was surprised yao didn't go to high post to shot when portland front him. Yao can really shot the ball around 19
specially at or around the top of the key. and usually the defender will play off on him giving him open shot. and if they start playin him tighter, he should do the shake and bake and take it to the hole for a dunk!
high post really screws up defenses. the opposing center can't help down low either on penetration or post up. Yao will make that shot. rockets pg do a good job taking advantage of the high post plays.
The play is bring him out to the high post for a screen/roll play, if the guard has a clear path coming off the screen go to the hole, if the defender cuts him off use Yao as the outlet and let him shoot the jumper. He's deadly in practice shooting Js, he just needed more game shots to knock them down with consistency like he does now. I like it, gives us another scoring option when teams front and double him.
Its about time RA lets him shoot it from there, in his early years he used it to shoot it a few times a game and it has disappeared in the last few seasons.
Two things (seem to be conflicting with each other): 1) stick with what's working and 2) mixing it up. If Yao has a hot shooting streak from 12-18 feet, his teammates should set him up and continue to feed him the ball. More often than not, the guards would turn the other way and look for their own shots. That's one of most frustrating things to watch Rockets play. If the defense is determined to make it hard on Yao to shoot his mid J, Yao needs to turn up his low post game. However, it often seems to take Yao forever to adapt. Okur even made it publicly known that Yao's offensive moves were very predictable. Equally frustrating.
in fact .the shooting percent in the game 1 was as if 1/3 .not excellent . in yao's rookie year ,20 feet jump shots were better than now .
Yeah, I like it too. Some people will bring up his FG% from out there is actually on the lower side, but he has taken them so sporadically in the past that it's bound to be low. It's used more as an option now and it can only make our offense better.
all I know is I'd prefer Yao take the open 18ft jumper with time running down than anyone else on the team shooting a wild contested 18 ft jumper with time running down.
I thought Morey had looked into this earlier and said that Yao's percentage from that far out was surprisingly poor?
Why are you blaming RA? it was JVG who didn't allow Yao to shoot jumpers. In fact, RA has wanted Yao to utilize his outside since he came here but it was Yao who was reluctant to change because he was taught not to shoot outside shots under JVG. I'm glad RA is the coach now because Yao isn't being held back by stupid rigid rules that make him play like a robot.
He probably has taken some shots when the clock is running down, who knows, but if the game is on the line , I wouldn't mind seeing : Yao from 18 for the win, YES!
Actually he was 2-2 in game 1. He shot terribly in the beginning of the season, but he's been very consistent on that shot, especially from the 45 degrees, 15 to 20 feet, in the second part of the season. He's even better in playoffs. I counted 3-5 from first 5 games in the Portland series (forgot about the game 6). I think for a high post game, Yao's biggest problem is that Yao can't put the ball on the floor. His dribbling skills has regressed comparing to when he first entered the league. If he's confident enough to put the ball on the floor for one or two dribble, in the high post, he could gain a lot of rhythm to either shoot or pass. That's something I would like to see him working on in the off season. Yao can only be taken out by "pure" fronting and double, meaning, 100% defensive oriented quick bigs to shadow him 48 minutes. It doesn't work with "star" players, when both Gasol and Bynum are so eager to contribute offensively.
RA has said during interviews that he prefers Yao from not shooting out there, AB was asked one time why doesn't Yao shoot from outside and he said, "he cant shoot that, its just that he doesn't", RA calls the shots and should of ran plays for that shot. RA is the coach not Yao.
