All of last year we kept hearing from Van Gundy that Yao needed more minutes to produce more. So far this year, when he has played big minutes his efficiency has been below par. He has played 4 games averaging almost 40 min, yet only 6.5 rebs and .7 blks. He doesn't intimidate anybody and generally has been soft under the hoop. He seems to be a lot more productive and efficient when he plays in spurts and gets three 4-5 minute breaks. My question is: Will Yao help us more if he plays last year's minutes?
It would help if JVG stops asking him to chase guards on the perimeter. He's. not good enough to be superman on both ends.
Yes! The situation is forcing JVG's hand; T-Mac out, the struggles of Juwon, Dikembe, and Swift, the new players getting used to everything, the tough opening schedule, etc., Yao has to play the minutes he is playing to give the Rockets any chance of winning. Once T-Mac gets back and the team settles into a groove JVG has to bring Yao's minutes down, get 30 minutes of great basketball from him and that's it, that's what it's going to take, IMO.
I think this is true, but giving more time for Yao is important in his development and this team's long term success. Ultimately the problem is that Dikembe is not bringing like he did last year. This means that JVG can't sit Yao as long.
That's the whole point of this thread. Didn't we want Yao to play the minutes he's playing now? At the beginning of the season there were threads about that very subject. How can you expect Dikembe to do as much if he's getting less minutes? Besides, you can't get in any kind of rhythm if you're playing in 2 minute spurts. I would consider Dikembe playing less minutes a good thing, because it means Yao is playing more and he's producing more, which isn't the case right now. If Yao plays big minutes like he's been playing the last couple of games (shooting badly, not rebounding or blocking and turning the ball over), it not only hurts Yao's performance, but also Deke's because he can't be productive in 8min/game. We knew our frontcourt was soft and couldn't rebound (Yao, Swift, Howard, T-Mac), but we thought their strength was they could outscore opposing frontcourts. Right now, they're not doing either.
If I recall Mutombo face guarded a rebounder on the missed free throw and gave up a dunk. He aint playing well either.
Bull and Worrel talked about JVG's comments on the topic which were (a) JVG has been just "gushing" about Yao's play and (b) that Yao will learn to play through the fatigue with extended minutes. I think the jury is still out and that it's too early to tell if we need to lower Yao's minutes back to previous seasons. To do so would be the classic sacrificing the long term for short term results.
I guess what I meant is that Dikembe has not been playing that well this year when he has had the time and this has not given JVG the luxury of sitting Yao for long. Just look at our team when Yao is on the court and when Dikemebe is on the court. JVG can't leave Deke on the court for long or that 5 point lead we might have had will become a 5 pt deficit. And Yao playing bad doesn't hurt Deke's performance at all, Deke does. Deke is paid to play good when he's out there. And he's not. When you're on the bench, and you get to play, you have to perform whether it's 2 ot 15 minutes. If you don't get the job done, you will be sitting. That's what is happening with Deke right now. I'm glad that Yao is getting more minutes now. I think this will only help the team. I don't mind losing to teams that might have beaten us even if Yao played fewer minutes. Eventually Yao will learn to play with fatigue like all star players do.
As I have League Pass and had to listen to Dallas announcers last night (which were surpisingly not that bad). What exactly did he gush about it? Or were they just generally summarizing JVG's comments? I'm curious if JVG is excited about Yao's aggressiveness this year. That is the biggest change I see this year in Yao.
I think I read something last season that JVG didn't believe there's such a thing as too much PT for NBA stars.
