Before this season he was dunking at every opportunity he could, now he just elects the less dramatic layups. He has missed a few this year as well, what is gong on with our high flyer? Is it that McD doesn't want him to dunk all over everyone, or has he lost a little confidence? If anyone has any insight in this topic, I would love to read it.
Rashon's dunking ability.
- Thread starter mike4cy
- Start date
I remember in highschool our coach didnt want us to dunk (not like "I" could but others). He wanted us to focus on the fundamentals. Dunks were considered cheap and not always easily attainable. You would have more opportunities to shoot or do layups then dunk. Maybe McDermott wants him to focus more on creating opportunities, ball handling, and shooting. Create an all around player out of him and not a one trick pony. My coach also said he would bench us if we missed a dunk.
My high school coach was the exact opposite. He said that if we had the opportunity for a dunk that it was more of a sure thing than a layup because you actually have more of an influence on the ball getting through the hoop. I have noticed a few times when it looks like Rashon has a sure dunk but he loses the handle on the ball before he has a chance to dunk it. I don't know what the reason is for Rashon not dunking as much this year but I doubt coach Mac would be against him dunking in a game as it provides excitement to the crowd and is an sure 2 points most times.
Lets have some spelling practice:
Rahshon Rahshon Rahshon.
Just remember, it's Rahshon with TWO h's.
Rahshon Rahshon Rahshon.
Just remember, it's Rahshon with TWO h's.
Wow, I really never knew that. I feel pretty dumb, thanks for pointing that out to me. :nerd6bs:
I don't think Rahshon can palm a basketball (small hands). Everytime he dunks with one hand, he "hooks" it with his forearm sort of. That would also explain why he sometimes loses control of it.
As for dunking; ALWAY DUNK WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHANCE! It still bothers me like crazy seeing our guys lay it up when they can slam it home. The slam dunk is the highest percentage shot in basketball and if you're 6'6 and above, you should never hestitate to go for the slam. It's easy, shows aggresiveness, pumps up crowd like crazy, and can really get into the heads of the opponents. There's nothing worse than getting dunked on all the time. We should know after last season...
As for dunking; ALWAY DUNK WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHANCE! It still bothers me like crazy seeing our guys lay it up when they can slam it home. The slam dunk is the highest percentage shot in basketball and if you're 6'6 and above, you should never hestitate to go for the slam. It's easy, shows aggresiveness, pumps up crowd like crazy, and can really get into the heads of the opponents. There's nothing worse than getting dunked on all the time. We should know after last season...
If you're standing under the hoop and have an opening, then sure, but our guys like to do these high-flying alley-oops jumping from 10 feet out and miss most of them. It makes for a great highlight reel every now and then, but it doesn't help us win games.
I think the only thing worse than getting dunked on all of the time is missing so many "sure shot" dunks. Maybe that's why they are a little more hesitant. It seems to me like our team has missed a large percentage of these "easy" buckets. I think it's because they are trying too hard to make it an ESPN highlight reel dunk instead of a "get in the hoop" dunk.
You can't really question his dunking ability. He's definitely a high flier. I don't really think its GMc that is telling him not to, because in an earlier game, he finished the last like 5 minutes with 3 pretty spectacular dunk attempts. GMc knows that Rahshon is a fan favorite and when he throws one down, Hilton goes crazy. I don't really think Coach Mc would do anything to take a dimension of play away from any one of his players, especially a team leader like Rahshon.
Remember Rahshon came down hard on his shoulder hard last year and he had to miss some playing time. I don't think it's because he's trying to avoid another such incident, but instead the lack of opportunities to throw one down.
Last year he had Blalock and Stinson wanting to throw an alley-oop every possession. Blalock was amazing at putting it where Rahshon wanted and Stinson was pretty good himself. Until last night, I hadn't really seen Taylor make any spectacular passes. He tried to get one to Rahshon but it was too far. Rahshon grabbed the ball high tried to finish but it resulted in free throws. Then he had another opportunity as he was going down the lane on a give-and-go, which he was bumped and had to stretch it for a layup. Both were technically "opportunities" but not realistic. I just don't think he's dunking as much or as spectacularly as last season because of the lack of realistic opportunites.
Also remember he had that pretty sick put back against Minnesota....
Remember Rahshon came down hard on his shoulder hard last year and he had to miss some playing time. I don't think it's because he's trying to avoid another such incident, but instead the lack of opportunities to throw one down.
Last year he had Blalock and Stinson wanting to throw an alley-oop every possession. Blalock was amazing at putting it where Rahshon wanted and Stinson was pretty good himself. Until last night, I hadn't really seen Taylor make any spectacular passes. He tried to get one to Rahshon but it was too far. Rahshon grabbed the ball high tried to finish but it resulted in free throws. Then he had another opportunity as he was going down the lane on a give-and-go, which he was bumped and had to stretch it for a layup. Both were technically "opportunities" but not realistic. I just don't think he's dunking as much or as spectacularly as last season because of the lack of realistic opportunites.
Also remember he had that pretty sick put back against Minnesota....
He's still our highlight reel player. Last night he made two amazing plays. I heard them first on the radio then saw the replays on the news. The first was while going up for a rebound he was way up and the ball was maybe too far behind him for a tip dunk so he just got his hand on it and curled it around and laid it up off the glass in one smooth motion. Wish my description was as sweet as it looked. The second I think was a lob that got there late after he was coming down and he managed to just flip it up over the side of the rim and in. John Walters was just oohing and aahing over those two plays when they happened so it wasn't hard to pick them out during the 10:00 news.
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I'm not talking about high flying highlight reel dunks. Anytime you make a basic layup, that means you also had the chance to dunk it. If there's a choice between a pretty basic or someone easy layup and a dunk, always go with the dunk. We've had several set plays this year that have resulted in easy layups..that almost rimmed out. Just dunk the dang thing!
The first play was awesome. The second one was a dumb pass. Clark had a guy all over him and the pass should have never been made. Luckily Clark's athletic ability allowed him to make the catch and tip it in. It looked sweet though, but very, very lucky.
If you're in traffic, its not always feasable to dunk. I agree that you should do it when you can, but there are times you can tell they go up for the dunk that they but have to lay it in since they can't get high enough. Take an offensive rebound. In order to get your best jump you need to bend you knees a lot and swing your arms. Bad idea as teh guard will swipe the ball (ask Jiri about that). Plus the fact that there is usually some contact that will keep you down a bit.
I don't think that it was Rahshon that did this, but last night in the second half there was a great rebound on our part. It happened too fast for me to figure out who it was, but one of our guys rebounded the ball and took off to our end of the court. He did a snap pass to the other Cyclone, who set him up for an amazing alley-oop dunk.
Except... the dunk completely missed. It barely even hit the rim, and went catapulting back into Savannah State's guys, who returned it for 2.
We had plenty of time to do a great sure-fire layup, but had to go for a flashy dunk that cost us 4 points when all was said and done. I'm not convinced that dunks are always the way to go.
Except... the dunk completely missed. It barely even hit the rim, and went catapulting back into Savannah State's guys, who returned it for 2.
We had plenty of time to do a great sure-fire layup, but had to go for a flashy dunk that cost us 4 points when all was said and done. I'm not convinced that dunks are always the way to go.
I'll elaborate on that good point: he doesn't have Will Blalock passing him the ball on fast breaks any more. We aren't gonna see many ally-oop dunks, or many dunks at all for that matter, from Rahshon this year. He can't really create his own shot, and we don't have a pure point guard to get him the ball this year.