I don't think Yao would be pissed. But ... I think there is an understandable tendency for any coach (even the more "flexible" ones) to stick with their star players for a good while before trying something different. The adjustment, if its needed, won't come quite as quickly.
That's Adelman's mistake. He's treating Yao like a superstar(who rightly deserve so because of his hard work) and afraid to say no to Yao. Yao is competetive and an emotional guy. I think Adelman been playing Yao for long stretch due to superstar treatment. It very stupid to say this team is better without Yao. It just playing a different ballgame to win games. Like I said earlier on. Someone else is stepping up and the team is shooting 50%.
how did the whole tmac trade talk get back into this thread? just keep both. because of tmac and yao, we have a chance to win every single year. not all teams can say that, and we take it for granted.
The way this team is playing right now - I think we could beat a lot of teams in a series. Golden State, Dallas, and New Orleans for sure. Utah and Phoenix maybe. But San Anotonio and the Lakers. Without Yao? Forgetaboutit.
Regardless of how well we are playing without Yao right now, we are really going to miss him in the playoffs when we need another guy to dominate certain games. It's a more exciting version of basketball without him, but I think we can win it all with him if we keep this supporting cast
Would be tough. Even Adleman in Sacremento had Brad Miller or Webber. Superstars...ummm wait. All-Stars...ummm wait. Waitaminute...hmmm I think maybe we can be the Spurs and the Lakers lol.
The bulls did it with Jordan. The pistons did it without a true center. The 97 Sonics made it all the way without a center, the suns team of last year was a few plays away from beating the spurs and winning the championship. Lebron took his team to the finals last year with a poor center. Dwayne wade won a championship without much help from Shaq. The mavs of that same year were the favorites, who did they have, Dampier? Tim Duncan is a PF, so it is safe to say that they don't actually have a true center, and they still win. In today's NBA, you CAN win without a dominant center. And on top of that, we do have solid big men at the 4, and DEKE isn't half bad at center, so I like our chances.
You don't think it also has something to do with the Cash Cow value of Yao and the pressure from China? I just heard that China is pressuring the Bucks to limit Yi's playing time right now so that he will be OK for the olympics evne though they pressured the Bucks earlier in the year to play him more to get him more exposure. Does China have this much power on how we play our players? If so, that's concerning.
And add on to the fact we won 13 in a row with the guy in the lineup I would say we're not better without him. Now, are we a pretty good team without Yao? Sure. You know what this reminds me of? Those old Sacramento King teams of Adelman's when Webber went down and they kept on rolling. I don't remember people saying that Sacramento was better without him.
You act like Deke can give you 35 minutes a game in the playoffs. If this was a prime Deke, then I would agree with you. The truth of the matter is that playing a rotation of Landry/Scola/Hayes/Deke will not get it done against SA and LA.
I think it's time for you to shut it already. This team is not better if Yao's out. If T-Mac's out. If Landry's out. If Scola's out. If Rafer's out. They might play good at the moment BUT this team is NOT better without one of these guys' out of the lineup. We can all agreed that this team is playing very good ball at the moment but this team is NOT better without Yao. And stop with Your stupid Eastern Conference comparison. The Rockets could've gotten to the Final if they were in the East. And don't be comparing Jordan. Dwayne might not gotten much help from Shaq but he sure did got alot of help from the REFS.
While I agree it is ridiculous to say we are better without Yao, in that post he did make a good point...the Rockets do have the talent to win without Yao, and other teams in the past have won with a big gap in their lineup. The next few games, then that brutal 5 game stretch in a week or 2 will really tell us just how competitive a Yao-less Rockets can be.
Who, by some measures, is the greatest player EVER in NBA history. If you can't win with a player with that kind of recognition, who can you win with? Ben Wallace is not a true center? Granted, he's shorter than most prototypical centers but he's a Defensive Player of the Year FOUR TIMES PLAYING CENTER. He doesn't score much but when your center is THAT dominant on one side of the ball, I would say he's pretty damn good And lost to *see first quote response* Although in my eyes he's overrated, Amare is considered a "big man" That poor center, btw, was probably the best center in the East. Next. Shaq, at that time, was still a respectable player who cleared the lane for Wade. And they also had Mourning. Those two, no matter how old they were, still changed facets of the game on both ends. And they got ousted in the 1st round. Nuff said .................I know that it's been about 12 years since the Massacre at the Alamodome happened, but they had a guy name David Robinson once...who was a center...and who helped them win a couple of titles..... Any way you cut it, 9 out of the past 10 championships have had Shaq's or Duncan's fingerprints on them, so, yes, you DO need a dominant big to win in today's NBA. A "big man" doesn't have to be a center, why can't it be a PF? If Boozer plays out of his mind in the playoffs and somehow the Jazz win it all, you wouldn't call that " a team that had a dominant big man"? As long as the player has a low post presence/game that dictates the other team into double teaming him every time he touches the ball, he's a dominant big man. If Yao didn't go down, we probably beat these teams by 30 instead of 12 or 15. It's already bad enough that the best center in the NBA is done for the season, but to discredit what he's helped this team do (carry it for most of the season while McGrady is sucking it up hard, helping them get to 13 wins in a row..something that's pretty crucial to getting to 16 wins) by saying we don't need him to win it all, is not only idiotic but also kind of a bigass diss don't you think?
They can win, but I'm sure you would agree that, in a 7-game series against San Antonio, the chances of beating the Spurs goes up by a good margin with Yao in the lineup.
Stupid post! The power of Yao is far more than shown by statistics. So long Yao is in, each and every player needs to think twice before penestration. Just as Adelman commented, this big guy standing there is sometimes enough.
Of course, the team is clearly better without Yao...but that doesn't change the fact that this team CAN win without Yao. We have a superstar, terrific defense, and now have balance throughout the team and everyone has supreme confidence. With Phoenix and Dallas IMO getting worse through trade, NOH being one dimensional and faultering a bit, the Warriors being one dimensional, and the Jazz being a horrible away team...I really like our chances against any playoff team not named the Lakers or Spurs. Of course with Yao I'd be even more confident, but right now in a 7 game series I'd go in with the mindset that there is a good probability we can beat any of those 5 teams.
We are going round and round now, it is getting ridiculous... Just because Rox is pretty good without Yao (won 4 in a row already), pretty good without Tmac (7-4 against some tough teams, also the trigger point that forced the team to really learned Adelman's offense), it does NOT mean they are a better team without any of them. Again: Rox - Tmac = pretty good. Rox + Tmac = even better. Rox - Yao = pretty good. Rox + Yao = even better. At the very least, having one more dominant player gives you more flexibility during certain situations. So, time to stop all these nonsenses. Desert_rocket is just a hater. You might be a closet Suns fan, and taking out your frustration with Shaq "Suck" O'neal here. C'mon now, fess up.
