Most of us know that Yao has not much of a vertical leap. Anyone ever thought that it is actually a good thing? Because with the body height and weight that Yao's having, every leap and LANDING is shortening his career. He just can't affort to jump and land too much. If he really has to leap, he just leaps enough to get the job done, not a bit higher. (refer to the clip file put up by Air China in the thread "video of Yao's first T. Just leaped high enought to dunk. )
He's already 7'5". Vertical leap is not that important. What IS important is fast twitch muscles which will allow explosiveness and power. Quickness in ones jump is more important than vertical leap. Ever watch, PJ Brown, Elton Brand and Chris Webber rebound? All of them under 6'10" and can rebound like crazy! Those guys don't have to be tall or jump high. They jump quick and know how to use their strength to box out. He'll develop this with more strength training next year. Now, just because Yao will do strength training doesn't mean that he will put on extra bulk. That's not necessarily true. He will gain some weight, but not much. His lateral movement will improve too. That's also needed. Vertical leap is good for players that are shorter, and want to be in dunk contest. But not for Yao. What we need from Yao is strenght that can be put to good use: rebounding, blocking shots, boxing out, and scoring quickly.
Being interviewed after the Hawks game, Theo Ratliff said that one of the reasons he seemed to do well against Yao was because Yao didn't jump much. The other being that his move was predictable so he just played his right/shooting hand. This allowed him to swat Yao's shots.
Yeah, I remember Ratliff talking about Yao shooting with his right hand. I thought that was silly! Yao can shoot with both hands (shots and jump hooks). Also, Ratliff can move and jump quick! Yao can not yet. YET!
well ratliff has played yao well both times. so maybe yao can learn something from that and get better.
Part of the reason Ratliff stops Yao is that the refs let him beat Yao up grabbing, pushing, holding and whatever else he wants to do. If Yao did that to Ratliff he would foul out of the game.
I don't think vertical is important for Yao. I remember Manute Bol once said when he first tried to dunk, he chipped his teeth on the rim. I believe that Yao can jump higher than Manute because he has much stronger legs. Therefore, Yao only needs to jump as high as needed, defensively, at least. It was ugly to see Ratliff swats Yao's hook shot all the way back to halfcourt. Yao barely jumped on that play. He should be like Shaq and jump as high as he can when close to the basket. I know Yao is able to jam the ball jumping straight up from anywhere within the "charge semi-circle"(what's the proper term for it?). He should try it sometimes.
Maybe if Yao wasn't such a cream puff panzy and decides to DUNK the ball when he is 2 feet away, then we will see how good he can become. Yao has to become more of a man, unless he wants to keep playing like a bag of Charmin....SOFT !! DD
Agreed! Hes persnickity. at times he real aggressive and at other times, hes soft. I don't know what's up with that. Hopefully, next season he can be the Ming with the technical without being called for the technical.
He really does need to dunk more often. I remember Yao was like 2 or 3ft away from the basket and he tried to lay it in and guess what...........he missed. Plz dunk the ball. I'm begging ya.