You know what Yao's signature move is?

Understandably so. A 7'6" guy attempting a hook shot is virtually impossible to block. Look at how far away from the ball every one of those defenders is. Duncan's kinda close, but not close enough.

 

I think his turnaround jumper is more signature than his hook. He uses the hook very rarely compared to the turnaround. Of course I wouldn't mid that changing. =)

 

I hope so! But he shoots more jumpers, like the last poster said.

Set him up one on one, though, and the skyhook should be money. We just need Tmac and a shooter to be distraction enough to keep the weakside defender from stripping him.

 

Why am I flashing back to an episode of Quantum Leap..?

 

I like all those pics. I like noticing how Yao only left his feet twice when shooting, so I guess you can't really call it a "jump" hook.

Still, if you asked ME what his signature shot was, I'd say an open jumper from the elbow. At least it was last year.

 

His up an under layup is a signature move, it just dissappeared tho'. Literally. Gone.

 

I think Yao is the only big man in the league use hook shot so often

 

NOtice he has the excat same facial expression when he was doing all the hookshots

 

I like how he clears out defenders with the left arm on each one.

 

Unfortunately for us, his signature move at this point in time is laying the ball up 1 foot from the basket.

 

Is that illegal if you are not pushing off?

Last season a lot of those hook shots were WAY OFF, to the point where it looked like he was just guessing where the basket was. But if he can get consistent with those, he could dominate.

 

Hey, Kareem did it tens of thousands of times.

 

You can hold them off & protect your space but you can't extend your arm into their space pushing them back.

 

I believe what the refs key on is his elbow. If it stays slightly flexed, no call (Same with Yao's right arm on his baseline spin). That's why arm and shoulder strength is really important: Imagine trying to shoot with Shaq jumping into your bent off arm.

You've got to shoot with contact in the NBA. It's the nature of the game.

 

He doesn’t make enough of his hook shots for it to be his signature move. It looks nice in those pictures, but I would say his hook shot is one of his weakest moves. Too many of them clank off the back of the rim.

 

Hakeem did it plenty of times as well.

 

Kandiman is real close to...oh...at least he raises his arm.

 

Yao's hook shot is streaky. In that stretch in March where Yao was averaging 20+ ppg, it seemed like it couldn't miss. Early in the year it barely went down at all.

Until he develops an unstoppable, go-to move, Yao may never be a dominant post scorer. Look at guys like Kareem (sky hook), Hakeem (baseline fadeaway), Shaq (power drop step), TD (bank shot), etc, etc... Guys like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and KG, while great scorers, were, or are, not dominant in the low post area. Because of his ability to draw fouls, I really hope Yao doesn't become a "shooter"-center.