Despite the injury Yao suffered late in the post season, I still consider Yao's ability to play in 77 regular season games a huge accomplishment when you look at his injury history the past 3 or 4 years. I think the organization did a better job of limiting Yao's work on and off the court to keep him healthy into the post season. They were very precautious when Yao endured minor bumps and bruises in the regular season and they made an effort to limit how much work he did in practice and on days off. Given the fact that Yao sustained another serious injury, it will be interesting to see how they handle him this offseason and his play in next year's regular season. When you look at the success the team had without him in uniform, I think its perfectly logical to assume that he will be given random games off and perhaps multiple games off during the regular season. With the continued development of aaron brooks and with a healthy Mcgrady , the team shouldn't have such a hard time scoring points against weaker opponents on the schedule. When you look at the career of other dominant big men like Shaquille Oneal, you notice that this same strategy has been applied before. I think it would be smart for the Rockets to keep Yao Mings games played next season to at or below 60 if they are able to continue having success without him. Hopfully the West won't be as competitive next year, and we will be able to rest him more in the final month of the season to get him at or near 100 percent for the post season. Timing is everything. There's no doubt that a healthy Houston Rockets team is championship calibur. Heck. We took the probable champions to 7 games without the services of our two max contract guys. We should do whatever neccessary to ensure that our big guns are ready for battle when the playoffs roll around. Even if we have to sacrifice a higher seed, I still think its worth it to limit Yao to 50 or so games next regular season.
If I am the owner, I'd feel bad to pay the max money to a player who can only play 50 games regularly.
Not if the end result is a possible championship. We saw what Yao could do in the post season against good competition. He dominated the first game of both series and he forced teams to adjust. He is also the anchor of our defense. Remember game 7 against LA and how desperately we needed Yao to defend the paint?
I understand where you are coming from. The team would not be the same without the tallest man in the game! So I see Morey working wonders and getting us a decent back up Center and Yao Ming playing very much reduced minutes in every game but a few.
I wouldn't say that his last injury was "serious" Had it happened in January - he'd have not missed the playoffs at all. I think the last injury was bad luck. The scary injuries are the stress fractures. We avoided that this year - so the training staff gets an A+ Luckily...Yao has not had any ligament or cartilage injuries - crossing fingers. I think he will get through next year ok.
I have this strange feeling in my stomach that the series with LA would've been totally different, if Mutombo and Yao didn't go down with injuries. I know I am going to get creamed for this one, but I think we would taken the Lakers out in 6 games, if both men were healthy. Mutombo would've been more than capable of handling the paint after the refs worked Yao out of the game with Hayes as another backup option. I think next year is the year we inch past them, like Orlando did with Boston and Cleveland. They still don't have answer for Yao or Brooks.
I felt the same way, why not for possible championship, I remember Shaq ever has done the same thing. for superstar,post season is exactly their most important stage. It will not affect too much for the Rockets having a strong bench to enter into post season,but in the critical time during post season,a big man with power in both O and D will determined the trend of games.
I totally believe that too. Except I think that it would have taken us all 7 games, not 6. And I love the name of the poster above me.
Let me say I am a big Yao fan. But he is at that magical year 7 for a really big big man. With careful work and oversight, and a little luck, he can carry this through to 12 years of productivity, but we can expect slight declines, IMHO. Rationing games and minutes should be part of the plan, but even in future playoffs, especially beyond next season, we cannot expect him to dominate games too much. We need an ever-improving supporting cast.
I would like to see yao shoot some more ranged shots instead of him being fronted and then we can't get the ball into him.
I am all for reduced minutes as much as possible. Also Yao sitting out the second game of a back to back and the occasional Kings, Grizzlies and other cake walk games. I agree with sacrificing a top seed in the west in order to have Yao completely healthy
I think his minutes are fine. Under 35 minutes a game and sit out the second night of all back-to-backs. That should work out just fine and keep him fresh. We need a backup C who's a capable starter. Marcus Camby comes to mind.
Yao does not need to sit out the second back to back game. Yao played 35 minutes this season, and it has proved this is OK for him. He played almost the whole regular season and only missed the last couple of playoff games. In a couple of playoff games he almost played the entire second half. He just needs some luck. Another thing is that a good start of the regular season is important for Yao's minutes. In the past two seasons Rockets did not start well and had to struggle to secure the playoffs for almost the whole season. Then it is impossible for Yao to have enough rest and stay fresh for playoffs.
You guys are missing the points. For Yao, the problems are, he had played NBA for whatt? 7 years. He still don't change his game in NBA. I mean, He was the man over past 3 years in Rocket, player comes and goes, Yao is still playing the role who adapt to other players or coaches. Why wouldn't he come out to say, Tmac, you need stop shotting the fade away 3point shot , give me ****ing ball? or Brook, if you forgot me on the post next time, you will be gone forever............. Because of his "nice", he so worry about anything what he has done wrong instead of playing his game. People can say whatever about yao, but this guy carry 300P body for whole season+ off season China game. It's not that surprised he got injuries. If Rocket hope yao lead the way to end, they need to take care him both on court and off court.
If we had Yao for those two games, we may be in the Finals now I think Yao should avoid playing back to backs. We have to understand the reality - Yao is a giant and not extremely agile. Keeping him out of back to backs will ensure that his body always has time to recover and doesn't put additional stress on him. I'm willing to lose 2-3 regular season games for this. If we get a solid back up, it would make things much easier for him.
We need a backup for Yao. I only want him playing at most 32 minutes per game next season. If McGrady and Ron comes back, they should play at most 35 minutes a game. We have too much depth to play our players to much.
Going into this season I started a thread suggesting we should have held Yao back until later in the season. He'd come off the Olympics and I felt we could get by early in the season without him and get him back into the swing of things later than usual. I still think its something you have to consider doing. Sure he might still get injured anyway, and people buying tickets would not be real happy, but what if it did work and it took some wear and tear off off for the playoffs? As for giving him a max contract, yes he has injury problems, but he is a Franchise player in every sense of the word. He is worth max money when you take into account the impact he can have in games, the sponsorship deals he makes possible due to the Rockets reach into China....I think max money is just a non issue.
