I don't think Les would trade his cash cow. Yao's minutes will be limited as an executive order to the coaching staff next season and on.
If I knew for a fact that going from 34 to 30 mins/game would prevent Yao from getting foot injuries, fine. But how do you know 30 isn't still too many? And if 40 mins/game in the playoffs is too many, what does that say about Yao's value as a player? The playoffs are what really matters and is where the cream rises to the top. After things calm down, I hope the forum can discuss whether the Rockets should continue building around Yao without emotions getting out of control. It's a legit question.
I don't think just developing a lineup will fix all the problem. We can't force feed Yao the ball. Yao Ming can't be our focal point anymore (or at least always our focal point). Re-evaluate him at the high post. This will save tremendous amount of energy for him. He can now focus on boxing out and blocking/altering shots. If we can have Yao as our 2nd main focal point, then that'll show how great this team is. Anytime you have a great offensive big man as your 2nd option, things are going well.
Also, Francis averaged pretty high minutes when he was with us. If we can't expect Yao to average over 35 minutes during the playoffs, he can't be our main focus on offense.
lol at everyone. If Yao wasnt injured, the same thing would have happened, we prob still would have lost to the Lakers. Hes 7'6, he cannot play 40 minutes per game many times, there is just no way, we need a backup center so he can just play 35 mpg, and he wont ever get injured, if Mutombo never got injured, Yao would still be healthy.
A good trainer makes a world of differences. I am not saying Keith Jones or Tom Clanton is a bad trainer. But look at Piston's trainers. They have absolutely done wonders. Just look at McDyess.
The reason is that: 1/Rocket is not good enough. Firstly, absence of talent. Then T'mac's injury. 2/Rocket and its coach is not confident with itself. Can't afford to Yao being bench often. 3/No center backup. 3/Yao is so hungry to win. The result is that Yao has to fight hardly and compensate the team's shortcomings.
Let me introduce myself , i come from China which you guys just keep saing a cotroling country but now i am landing the ClutchFans about Yao's injury, i just want to say, i hate you guys very much!!! You ROX fans just keep complaining about his toughness,yesterday there was someone said he was so weak that blocked by KOBE now you know his injuryed!!!!!!!! Just ask yourself ,these seven years ,about his substitude????????? Sometime he should on the floor 40+ And think about Tim-D??? My English is very stupid,but i still think you guys can catch me... Last week I bumped into a American guy on the bus ,the guy's Chinese was very very stupid ,but i can guess what he wanted to say
Step 1 - get him better shoes Step 2 - get him inserts for those shoes Step 3 - monitor his time on the court The team has to be smarter with the big fella, they can not build a team around him, he can be part of it, but not the centerpiece, he is too fragile....we need a star player that Yao can compliment in limited minutes 32 a night..MAX. DD
He DD can't wait for your upbeat video talk after this. Give us some prep talk how to win without Yao and Tmac. j/k I always love your analysis. no pun intended.
It is those damn ugly shoes. Yao needs to dump Reebok and go with some MJ's. Also, I agree with you on limiting his minutes. The Rockets need to get a good backup center. I can't wait till next year but the series is not done yet. Rockets can still make interesting for the Lakers, lets make them sweat.
DD, DD, better shoes? The Rockets and team Yao didn't know to do this years ago when his feet started having problems? If they didn't, they are too stupid to fix this problem now. Love Yao as a person, a wonderful human being, but I think the Yao/TMac era is now officially over. If it isn't, Morey is not as smart as we think he is. Neither should be resigned. I think Yao will likely retire. It just didn't work out overall, but the era had its moments.
Why Yao is injured... For all those saying that injuries are part of the game, that's not it. It isn't even that Yao is big and his body can't take the amount of punishment that other players take in the NBA. The simple fact of the matter is that NOBODY on earth can take the amount of punishment YAO takes during an NBA season. Have you noticed that all his injuries are on his left foot, that is his main pivot foot on his offensive moves on the right block, that's also his weightbearing foot when his fighting for position, that foot doesn't have to just carry 300lbs of weight, it has to carry around prolly 1000+lbs of weight every play because defenders are pushing on him and grabbing him with two hands. Every player in the NBA would have stress fractures if they had to endure what yao ming has to endure. There are only two solutions; 1. Yao ming has to learn how to draw that foul on a consistent basis so that defenders can't just wrestle with him with no impunity, if it means he has to flop, then he has to learn how to flop convincingly, if he can consistenly draw fouls from defenders who are illegally defending him then the load on him will be less. 2. Be a threat away from the basket, either learn how to play out from the high post, or to be able to post further away from the basket and use dribble moves to get to the basket. But if he plays the same type of game now for a whole NBA season, then stress fracture is almost a certainty, humans bodies are not designed for that kind of stress, regardless of whether they are 6'1 or 7'6.
A_3PO: If we're truly being honest with ourselves, I think everyone knows the answer to that question.
We often found that even if yao's efficence down he was required to fight for a consistent time ,such as 20m just for tighting the opponent in a non-key or hopeless game. Coach don't dare to replace him with rolepayer. Everytime, when coach don't manager Yao's time properly that show coach lose confidence, i feel we would lose. Celtics and Spurs just rest Gannet and Duncan in that situation. This year,when Morey trade Alston, i knew he don't want any success this year. So passing the first round is beyond Morey's exception, also do i. I believe if Rocket is enough good and have enough confidence, the others would share Yao's pressure, and Yao would not fight so hardly, not get injury and show consistent good efficence.
Then arguably the FO has built this team wrong for the last several years. Your observation is both correct and not fresh. It has been obvious that Yao Ming can not be a amkor minute player for several years and yet we have never really brought in a b/u center that can really play without degrading the Yao concept. Hayes playing center although valiant is comical and Deke's best days have been behind him for several years. So I lay the failure atthe feet of the front office. They have not made the best decisions for the team one way or another.
maybe the Rockets should use him differently next season. to hell with foul trouble. just let Yao play as aggressively as he can until he fouls out. hopefully by then, the Rockets will have a 20 point lead in their games and it will be like he sat out the last quarter or two anyways. i mean if they can't get effective use out of him for 40 minutes a game, they might as well get maximum efficiency out of the 25-30 minutes he's on the court.
I know the question is now "What to do with the franchise, going forward?" I doubt Yao opts out now though. DD
