I never thought he'd be back in 6 weeks. If he's really himself in mid-March, then we'll be in good shape. Still sucks big time, though. Looks like we need to find a backup 5, because Deke is carrying a heavy load, and there isn't another 5 on the roster, or a 4 who can cover that long, in my opinion. I thought .500 ball would be good enough with Yao out, but now I'm greedy. I want us to keep winning. Deke needs a backup.
There is no need to rush Yao back as the team is playing so well right now. I would like to see him recover to the fullest possible. I mean what is the good if he get re-injured when the competition get tougher later in the season.
For the most part, injury-prone players have the same injury...again and again. Yao's major injuries in the past two years are unrelated. First, there was the osteomyelitis of the toe. At the end of last season, a Utah player kicked his foot and broke a bone. Now, his current injury is a fractured tibia near the knee. Granted, big men will always have problems with their lower bodies, but Yao's injuries seem more like a string of bad luck than anything else. The man proved himself capable of handling the rigors of an 82-game season the first three years he played.
If T-Mac can carry this team and our players keep fighting as they did in last 11 games, there is nothing to worry about. I hope there is 15-20 regular season games left when Yao comes back, Yao will find his condition gradually and we will be strong in playoffs with T-Mac-Yao duo and our talented role players.
Mid-March is about what I thought. I'm not worried. I do think we will have a small slump at some point, probably right after the all-star break, but we are building a nice cushion right now.
Ah no worries. All you need to worry about is T-Mac staying healthy. If he will, the team will make the playoffs (remember bonzi and snyder coming back too). Yao just need to be ready for the last couple of regular season games (15+) so he can play himself in to form. Without T-Mac this team is nowhere, with t-mac its a playoff team, with T-Mac & Yao its a championship dvd that will be out around july/august.
ill say this again, as long as he's ready for the playoffs and we make it to the playoffs even at the 8th spot, it's fine. I know we can beat Dallas.
You people need to calm down. The Rockets are 9-2 in their last 11 games and their schedule after the game in San Antonio next week is a joke all the way through the end of February. They can not only survive without Yao Ming, but they also have a really good shot at keeping up this torrid pace. The team's gonna be fine. My only concern is that Yao can regain his MVP form when he returns. If he does, sky's the limit for this team.
I think people are forgetting how hard a worker Yao is. I dont see him needing a month to get back in games after he is allowed to return to the court. He may need that long to get to his pre-injury conditioning, but I think by late February or very early March, he will return to a game even if it is only 20 min or so at first to give Deke a spell. He isnt like Snyder who needs to learn the system better, so when ready Yao can be reinserted back in the lineup quickly. As for him being injury prone, I dont think you can call it that yet. This was a freak incident where some guy crashed into his leg. I would be more concerned if he kept getting hurt with just playing, like Tmac and his back , or if he had chronic knee problems or something. Honestly when I saw the injury i thought it was ligament damage so just the fact that he is playing again this year, or should play again this year, is a bonus.
This information isn't very surprising to me. I expected him back in Early March. They said Yao could begin on court training in mid-february. They are then saying it will take him a month (4 weeks) to get back to speed physically. This is a guess. Who knows how long it will take. Yao is a quick healer. Who knows how the Rockets will be doing around March 1st. If we are doing well, then let Yao continue his work. But if Yao is running around on the practice court on March 1st at 80% and the Rockets are struggling, I have to wonder if they just get Yao back on the court. It would be just too tempting. I have faith in Yao in terms of his conditioning. When Yao comes back he will be rusty. But him just being on the court is better than not. He might not be up to full speed until April. But 70% Yao in March is better than nothing. The way the Rockets are playing now, if they can keep it up with additions to a healthy Snyder and Wells then we can hang in there to get Yao back for the playoff run.
I'm not putting much stock in Keith Jones... either way. Yao will be back when he's back... just gotta keep winning as much as possible till then.
I agree with you about the schedule, but you still have the problem of Deke & Juwan logging heavy minutes for the next 2 months (27 games). Juwan has averaged 37 minutes the last 9 games and it may be hard for him to continue both the minutes and effectiveness. Deke has averaged 33 mins for the 7 games this month and that is scary. Hopefully we trade for depth.
I'm with you on that bro.!! Let the big fella rest to avoid aggrivation on the knee and let it fully rehabilitate it. Cry babies let this be a lesson to you not to be frighten but instead celebrate to what the team accomplished with out Yao and when Yao join in, the team will be ready for the chase to the playoff. Think positively and not the other way! Go Rockets!
But after the next 2 months, their minutes will be significantly reduced once Yao returns. Especially Deke. He'll likely log no more than 10 minutes a game as the backup center. And as an added bonus, they'll get a little bit of rest during the All-Star Break a month from now.
Yao will be a terror "when" he does get back, count on it. A rested Yao going into the playoffs spells a huge problem for opponents.
