The next day, Xu Yong met McGrady at a training hall in the city.
He was lucky because the day he called, the Rockets and Timberwolves had just finished their game, and there were four days between the next game against the Spurs.
"That special kid? I want to see him again, too." When Yao Ming called, McGrady immediately thought of Xu Yong. Because the Rockets had just won the game, he readily agreed.
However, when they really met, McGrady did not mention anything about the pull-up shot. Instead, he was very interested in Xu Yong's dunk.
"Show it to me." McGrady gestured to Xu Yong with a smile.
Xu Yong didn't waste any time and immediately demonstrated his two specialties, a one-arm windmill and a 360-degree turning windmill.
McGrady nodded with satisfaction when he dunked the first one, and he made a "wow" expression when he dunked the second one.
Carter is his older cousin. He was pulled to be a background member in the dunk contest that year, but he was the one who witnessed Carter perform this classic dunk on the spot.
"You are the most similar dunker I have ever seen." McGrady gave his comment after being amazed.
"This looks so incredible! You are the best dancing yellow person I have ever seen!" McGrady couldn't help but exclaim.
"You know what? Many people hope that I can tell them how to get a quick first step, but you are the first one to learn from me how to do a pull-up shot. Yao told me your name on the phone, 'Yong' means brave, and you are really brave." McGrady finally looked at Xu Yong and said.
Xu Yong couldn't help laughing when he heard this. Yao Ming was bullying McGrady for not knowing Chinese!
However, this seemed to confirm his previous guess that the relationship between Yao and McGrady was still very good at this time.
"Because I like you, I like the way you play. Basketball is a sport that requires beauty, and your pull-up shots give it the best beauty." Xu Yong threw out his [emotional intelligence] learning.
This may sound like flattery, but it is also the truth. If you ask a hundred fans whether McGrady is good to watch, ninety-nine and a half will answer yes.
After listening to this, Maddie burst into laughter. He suddenly felt that in addition to Xu Yong's special personality, he also spoke very nicely.
"Do you know why I agreed to let you dunk first?" McGrady asked with a smile.
"I didn't know it just now, but now I know. You want to see if I have the talent to learn the pull-up shot." Xu Yong nodded in response.
Maddie nodded. Xu Yong was very smart and it seemed that he wouldn't need to spend too much time on it.
The dry jump shot technique is not difficult, but it requires a lot of personal talent to unleash its power. The two most basic points are good waist and abdominal strength and strong explosive power.
The reason why the pull-up shot is unsolvable is because it is fast enough. Without these two points, it cannot be fast.
Of course, in addition to these, strong jumping ability, jumping speed and core strength can further enhance the effectiveness of the pull-up shot.
"My pull-up shot is a little special, I'll show you." McGrady said as he went to the basket to get the ball.
Xu Yong also looked serious at this time. After all, McGrady was still in the season, and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have much time to teach him, and it might even be just this once.
"You know that every time you shoot a basketball you have to squat down, and that's the key to gaining leg strength." McGrady started demonstrating with the ball in his hand.
Xu Yong nodded. The four basic steps of shooting are bending knees, jumping, straight arms and flicking wrists.
Bending the knees means squatting, which can help people gain leg strength, thereby increasing the jumping height and making the shot easier.
"In this process, the time it takes you to squat and jump is the first key point. You need to use your explosive power to complete it in the shortest possible time." After saying that, McGrady demonstrated it again.
"Just like the dunk you just did, the moment you dribbled the ball to the basket and jumped, you would quickly complete the process from squatting to jumping, because that way you could jump faster." In order to help Xu Yong better understand, McGrady even used dunking as an example.
"It has to be fast enough." Xu Yong understood it immediately.
"Yes, all your movements must be fast. Only in this way can the defender be unable to react." McGrady smiled and nodded. It was easy to chat with smart people.
"Then it's your strength. You need to use your legs and waist at the same time. When you lift the ball, use the strength of your waist to drive your shoulders." McGrady explained in great detail.
"The last thing is your shooting posture. When you shoot, your elbows should be pulled inward. It can make your force more concentrated and the shooting more stable. Don't turn your elbows outward or twist your wrists. Shoot the ball in this posture like this." When McGrady talked about this, he had already started to demonstrate shooting.
Xu Yong nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
"You try it." McGrady said and asked Xu Yong to demonstrate.
After Xu Yong got the ball, he talked about more details, including that the distance between the feet should be slightly less than the width of the shoulders when jumping, so that the leg strength can be obtained faster; the angle between the upper and lower arms should be less than 90 degrees when shooting, so that there is more space to exert force forward, etc.
After recognizing his ability, McGrady really gave it his all.
Xu Yong tried a few times at first and it wasn't very smooth. McGrady saw this and broke down the movements and asked him to stop jumping and practice using his upper limbs.
After about ten minutes, Xu Yong had already started to look quite capable.
"Nice, you are the player with the best learning ability I have ever seen." McGrady couldn't help but praise.
Even if it's just learning a form, it's amazing to reach this level in such a short time.
"You should know the drop step, right?" McGrady continued to ask while the iron was hot.
"Yes, I know, your signature move." Xu Yong nodded in response.
The drop step is McGrady's favorite step. To put it simply, it is a small hop with both feet in place when controlling the ball, forming a front and back foot at the same time, with the center of gravity sinking.
"Yes, you know, this step is very useful. You know, after you use the drop step, you can use it to get the explosive power you need. Then whether you want to break through or choose a dry jump shot, it will be easy." McGrady started the advanced teaching directly.
At McGrady's suggestion, Xu Yong also began to try the drop step.
However, because he did not practice deliberately, his fluency in this skill was much lower than that of McGrady.
"If possible, you can ask a trainer to teach you, which will help you get twice the result with half the effort," suggested McGrady.
"I understand." Xu Yong nodded.
He only knew this step before his rebirth, but he didn't understand the details of how to train it.
Although the NCAA stipulates that college students cannot participate in any commercial endorsement activities, and his personal financial ability is limited, it is still possible for him to find a trainer, take a few lessons, learn the training methods, and then go back to practice on his own.
"Then the second key point of the dry pull-up is, if you find that your opponent chooses to retreat sideways to prevent your breakthrough, or you observe that his center of gravity moves backward, you need to complete the ball connection during the drop step, so that you can complete the shooting action before you jump to the highest point." McGrady demonstrated the combination of the drop step and the dry pull-up.
Xu Yong’s first feeling after reading it was: It has that flavor!
McGrady's previous pull-up shot was a little lacking in appeal, but this drop-step pull-up shot was truly graceful.
And what McGrady said was really crucial. He even mentioned the timing of the pull-up shot.
To put it bluntly, the highlight of the pull-up shot is its speed and suddenness. If the defender does not have time to react, the risk is extremely high.
McGrady has been emphasizing this point from the beginning.
So all in all, having McGrady's teaching class saves a lot of time compared to watching videos and studying them by himself.
Xu Yong then practiced several drop-step pull-ups under McGrady's guidance.
It cannot be said that it is not quite good enough, it can only be said that it still needs practice.
But McGrady nodded frequently on the side. This was his unique skill. If it was so easy to master, his job would have been snatched away by others long ago.
The reason he nodded was that Xu Yong had the ability to learn this technology, including the bullet speed and air-staying ability that he had never seen before.
"Oh, the last one, the aerial posture." McGrady said after watching for a while.
"If the defender is not pinned to the spot by you, you know, if you pull up suddenly enough, they will be unable to move as if they were cast by magic, but if they jump up to interfere with you, you need to lean back in the air to get the shooting angle, and then swing your legs to keep your center of gravity balanced." McGrady said and demonstrated it once.gif.
It appeared, the authentic scissor kick!
Xu Yong expressed his love for it. Among the ninety-nine and a half people who said that McGrady's playing style was good, I'm afraid more than half of them said it was because of this enchanting scissor kick!