i think that is kind of overrated. look at how duncan looked after the first 2 games v. the suns. he's looked worse and worse offensively. tmac avg only 35mpg last yr and he looked worse than he does this yr in the playoffs, where he avg 38mpg with more injuries (and he looked better as the series went along) i think both tmac and yao MUST play at least 35 mpg b/c you have to be able to maintain a rhythm throughout a season, knowing when the substitutions and rests are coming, and preparing yourself for the long haul and pacing yourself. it's all about rhythm.
Not the first time this tactic has been employed. Near the end of Bill Walton's career, they opted to play him about 50% of the time to extend his career. Worked like a charm too.
Walton's a special case, from a different era. He claims that the team doctor shot him up with painkillers so he could continue playing with the same injury that's sidelined Yao now. If not for the abuse he probably would have enjoyed a much longer career. As it is, even though his career numbers are mediocre he's widely considered to be one of the fifty best players to ever play the game and probably the best passing big man ever. And this is despite a career which saw him miss many, many games due to injury.
What I'm wondering is do they need to play at least 35 mpg for the whole season? It seems to me that each of the last few years Yao is at his top of his game for only about 4 months of the season. If we rest him early and then bring him on full time half way through the season that seems like the compromise between getting him rest and getting him up to his peak of preperations going into the playoffs.
We are going to need Yao to play big minutes. In our 22 game win streak, if we would have gone 16 and 6 - we would have missed the playoffs! That not a large margin of error! Move us to the East and then maybe!
I like the basic idea of your post, which is to rest Yao and put his health in playoff a top priority. However, the specifics needs to change. Resting him by whole game does not make business sense as he is the main money machine for the Rockets owner. On the other hand, significantly reducing his playing time should work. The current Rockets roster should win a lot of regular season games with limited minutes from Yao. I'll say in regular season play him 20-35 minutes a game for most of the games, with average playing time at about 25 minutes a game (he needs some high minute game to test his potential). This should help him to mentain his health during playoff time.
I like the idea. But it will be difficult for RA to do. Popovich has a lot more freedom than RA. Popovich is a proven champion and can do whatever he wants until the end of the season and don't need to worry about any criticism. RA needs to prove himself on game by game basis.
ding ding ding. If I suffer burnout at work (and I do), can my boss give me every third day off and pay me the same wages? I'm guessing not. The thing to do with Yao is limit his minutes per game. 30 minutes should be like the speed of light for him, and you cannot exceed that barrier, especially for the first 50 games of a season.
I have a co-worker works like 20 hours a week and my boss has no problems with it at all. Because this guy has made millions for my company and is still doing that.
Ditto the reduced minutes. Around 30 is the sweet spot. I don't recall any other player being every other game or whatnot in the NBA to rest them (unless they're still coming back from injury). Shave some minutes off of Tmac while we're at it, if the situation presents itself.
id reduce yao and tmacs minutes in the middle of the season, spend the first half learning to run the offense again and recapture the chemistry again and then let the role players play the majority of the minutes in them middle of the seaon only bringing yao and mac in sparingly until the end of the game and then bring their min. back up in the last part of the season to get them ready for the playoffs
Reducing minutes or limiting number of games will only result in a poorly conditioned Yao. Remember his stamina issue...improved over time and through extension of minutes. Sit him and it will return
Simpler solution to reducing his minutes. Get someone decent enough to start at center and have Yao come off the bench. The problem is finding someone decent enough to start in front of Yao from the FA list. Biedrins is the most decent (and durable) but it won't look like the Rockets will be able to afford or get him.
Limit his reps in practice and keep more of his conditioning in non weight bearing activities. Play him like normal, if he breaks, he breaks. DD
