Ariza + Budinger = great complimentary players when Yao returns

you're too optimistic, imo. or maybe i am just in disbelief and being too pessimistic.

but if it's a stock that i own, i'd sell it now.

 

Yao doesn't really rely on his athleticism. He should be okay. Although he might loose an inch on his vertical jump.

 

Gasol's not playing and theres no doubt in my mind we're going to run the Lakers out of our gym. we actually might be favorited for tomorrow.

 

33% of your vertical is a lot to lose.

 

I thought 1 inch is 100 percent for Yao?

 

That's what she said.

 

Great compliments for Yao?


GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD ALREADY JEEZ.

We are not going to build compliments around Yao. Yao will need

to adjust to w.e we already have, just like tmac. He is going to

come back this year 99% sure, and we will have a lot of cap room

10' for when we will sign an all star Big man hopefully Bosh.

Please people, it doesn't help to build around the most injury

prone player(s) in rocket history.

 

isn't going to come back i meant.

 

While losing to Magic/Lakers/Celtics every games in a season?

 

Yao's definitely capable to fit in this motion offense. The reason it flourishes with this team is because we have no Go To Guy who can break down the offense by himself. Ok maybe AB can but he's not nearly as efficient as Yao. Obviously Yao's cons are that he's not as mobile/a turnover prone at times, but he constantly shooting 50/80% from the fg/ft, the MAIN reason why we out rebounded most of the opponent/a force who constantly draw double and triple team. You cannot put away how much this team is benefiting from the presence of Yao. Asking him to "ADJUST" to this team means that he will have to play like vlade divac instead of utilizing his efficiency. Just because we blew out Utah @ their stadium doesn't mean that we can take on 80% of the team who has a starting "traditional" Center. I wouldn't mind Yao running the motion offense but i think he should still be our go to guy and focus the motion offense AROUND him.

 

The correct spelling in the context of the title of the thread should be complementary. Complimentary is to akin to giving praise. Not a big deal though.

 

4 games in people are already sounding like we are a better team without Yao and Tmac.
Im not buying this just because of 3 good games in a row.
Sure Im extremely happy about my Rockets at this stage but I'd rather give them another month or two to really figure out what they are capable of.

Dont get your hopes too high people, be rational.

 

I'm not buying it either. But my point is, long term, building this as our foundation will serve us better than building aroud Yao and being mediocre and terrible when he gets injured. Mcgrady shouldn't even be considered. He parted with the team a loonngggg time ago.

 

Agreed Akim. Four games into the season and many posters are already planning the parade route for the Rockets, even suggesting that Yao is not needed. Just because they defeated the Jazz in their own court does not make a contender out of the current Rockets like many in this thread are insinuating.

Calm down folks, there is a long way to go and we know how good the other NBA teams are at adjusting to their opponents. I hope this early success by the Rockets will continue but having followed the NBA for quite sometime now, I know that the road is long and treacherous. Let us just see where this team is headed by the allstar break. Meanwhile, let us enjoy this early success while it lasts, for how long it lasts. Nevertheless, these Rockets make the game really fun to watch regardless of the outcome.

 

I have wondered why no one had commented optimistically about our future. I think we all believe Yao will work his butt off to get back to the court, if anything this year gives the rest of our players a year to gain some confidence.

 

i can't imagine beating a team like utah when yao comes back and plays big minutes
boozer and okur will have 48 minutes of uncontested jumpers...

 

Utah is one team that Yao is not good against.

Bynum/Gasol, Dwight Howard, Shaq will all have field day against the Rockets front line, if Yao isn't at the 5.

 

Big Z here.... I was right around 26 years old when I had my last surgery so I knew I still had some youth left considering the severity of my injury/surgery. Furthermore, I've been injury free since 02-03 with the exception of a few games here and there. As a matter of fact I've played about 93% of the games over the course of 8 years. Yao will be 30 years old by the start of next season with a TON of basketball miles on those tires. Although I had some major repairs... contrary to popular belief... I think I'm far from "injury prone". The same cannot be said about my Center mate Yao.

Like I said... that ship has sailed. It was good while it lasted. Get over it. Now it's time to let go and find the next 28 and under stud.

 

I am pretty sure he will come back. The thing we don't know is, what type of player is he going to be after that surgery. Some people tell there is no way you can come back as good as you were after that surgery. Because with Yao at 15 ppg 8 rpg level, we are not contending next year either.

But I wish him the best. He deserves a great come back.

 

While I completely agree with you on stop building around Yao, I have to say that if you think this current squad is good enough a core for the future, you are not serious enough about winning a championship. Yes this team now has got all the attributes of a winning team but talent. And you can't teach talent. We can hustle all night we can out-work our opponents all season long but because of this lack of talent we will pay dearly when it matters. What do you think this team wud look like in 2-3 years compare to those young and extremely talented teams aka OKC/Blazers? We gonna get stomped on. Honestly unlike most of the posters here I'm kinda worried about rox future. At this stage, A turning point of this franchise, we aren't rebuilding, we aren't contending, as sad as it might sound like, we put all our money on a injury-prone center to come back and hope he plays like he used to... I just don't know if it was the smart thing to do at the first place.