I could see this being the best solution for everybody. Everybody here has faith in Yao's ability to recover. With his work ethic, trainers, surgeons and lockout time off, he WILL get healthy. Staying healthy is the tricky part. This is why I think Morey seriously needs to consider making a playoff push, with intentions of bringing Yao back for one last chance. The West has no clear dominant team right now and ripe for the taking from Dallas. Remember Barkley's last game? He rehabbed all season and probably shouldn't have played, but did because he didn't want to go out like THAT. I know it was slightly different circumstances but similarly Barkley didn't want to be defeated by an injury. I know this might affect chemistry, but Yao would be a game changer off the bench. Think Mutumbo against Portland. It would be a shame to see Yao go down in the 6th game of the season against a lottery team like Minnesota or Toronto. It would be much more poetic if he went down in the 6th game of the Playoffs, helping Houston take 2-0 lead against Dallas or LA in the semifinals.
We can't make the playoffs without Yao (not saying we definitely can either), and you can't just miss the whole season and come back and play well in the playoffs.
I disagree, yeah Yao will be rusty from actual game speed, but he has a high enough IQ and well enough form to compensate. I would still expect him to practice with the rockets and sit on the bench for games.
If and when Yao does come back I hope his legs are the same size. I remember watching practice when the team came down here to the RGV and one leg look dramatically smaller than the other one because he had the time to work it back to shape(athropy in that one leg).
The biggest problem I see is making that major adjustment. Are you going to mess up a playoff team's (because in this hypothetical scenario, we've made it) chemistry, rotations, minutes, identity, etc. Yao is a player who you don't just plus in. He changes a team's identity offensively and defensively, impacting play in the paint and tempo just to name some things. I think this is a horrible idea, but that's just me.
I think you're severely underestimating the impact it'll have on chemistry....Yao's not the kind of player that can adjust on the fly like that because he's a specific type of player. Put courtney lee out there and he'll adjust quickly to a fast team, half court team, etc... Yao doesn't have all those speeds and versatility. He can't just blend in, he'll always have a significant impact on the kind of basketball you're playing, so you need to develop chemistry first. And have you been reading the forum lately? There's a lot of fans here who don't believe he'll come back at all.
Yao off the bench makes a lot more sense than Thabeet. Yao will be on the bench every game and at practices to build chemistry. If he accepts a new 6th man role then he could really be the X factor for us. Didn't Kobe not practice with his team this year?
Either bring him off the bench Deke style and DON'T run the offense through him Or Bring him back a few games after the all star break and work him back in slowly.
Yao is done...I'm not sure why people continue with these what if scenarios...but even if this was possible it is probably the worst idea imaginable. You don't make it to the playoffs then totally change the chemistry by adding someone like Yao. He KILLED our team when he came back last year in the beginning...he was bad and our team continued to feed him the ball and stand around. Those days are over...yeah you can say "oh we won't play that way, he'll just be a roleplayer", but we have shown that we fall back to that mode with him in the game. A limited Yao is a team killer, he'd done and so is any team that tries to play him unless he's 100%.
Not if it's going to cause chemistry issues....we've been there, done that. We had him, starting, and it wasn't working. The team itself said they had trouble finding their place because there was uncertainty surrounding the rotation, minute distribution, etc. It's nearly impossible to try and limit a player of Yao's talent level because you'll eventually be faced with, "do we take him out now? How about now? He's doing well, should we wait another minute?" It was the problem the team had when he came back. It's not realistic to say he's going to be coming off the bench. A talent like that is going to be starting eventually because you'll see he's helping you too much to sit. Then you'll be right back to playing him heavy minutes out of necessity. Now if he's not helping you, then it's easier to decide to sit him down and limit his minutes, but then what would be the point of having him? Kobe's been with this team how long? How many playoff games have they played together? Regular season games? More than plenty. Yao has spent a ton of time in street clothes. It's not even comparable, Kobe already has established chemistry and a flow with his team, not just during the season, but during a championship run. That's why he was able to sit out practice, or why he thought he could because you could argue that's a big reason why they got swept (Kobe said they were sacrificing team intensity by sitting him out). And Yao's not even in the same galaxy when it comes to establishing chemistry, especially with the player turnover this team has had.
IF your team made the playoffs without Yao and you are going in to the first round and he's ready to go, you would have a huge psychological advantage. And you would be getting a huge physical advantage too.
He wouldn't be starting, he'd be replacing Thabeet or Hill, which will be an upgrade regardless of chemistry.
If yao ming is healthy, you're saying he wouldn't be good enough to start over whoever we have starting already? There's only one guy in the league who could push Yao to the bench and he won't be on this team. I dont see how you bench a healthy Yao in the playoffs, unless he's in foul trouble.
