"Thats pride *ucking with you. *uck pride!" Thats classic! What it sounds like to me with all these scenerios and stipulations is the rockets are screwed.
Well when he comes back he needs to play 7 minutes and if he argues about it lets trade him! no but m seriously give him 30 mins at tops and treat him like a superstar.
1. I thought this year was the time to learn how to win without Yao. 2. Sitting him out for so many games will stunt his stamina and conditioning. His body and conditioning is not like Duncan, you can't just put him in the lineup and expect him to play big minutes right away. He'll be bent over in exhaustion for most of the game.
I think sometimes Yao gets a lot of ****t for just being Yao. I hear people all the time(not so much on here...but there are a few) who still think Yao sucks. I think being the first Chinese player who is actually relevant in the NBA puts a lot of pressure on him. It's certainly not common and therefore I think some people in some places are still weird about it. Take that however you want to.....I'm still iffy on what exactly I mean by it. But anyway, I kinda agree with what you are saying...maybe sitting Yao here and there wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course he is a man with a lot of pride so I'm not sure if he would agree to it? Plus even though it's unlikely(more like not happening)...Yao could always move on with his free agency coming up.....so let's not make him mad. :grin:
1. Yea that's true we are, but once Yao comes back we will become more reliant on him so a day off every so often will remind the role players what they can do. 2. It won't if you just turn 2, 1 day rests into 1 3 game rest (if there was 1 game in between). You don't sit him 20 games straight, just occasional games here and there
1. Don't you want to be reliant on your franchise player? What does that say about your chances to win night in and night out when you're treating your main guy with kid gloves? Duncan situation is different, they've already won titles when they started pulling back on Duncan's minutes and games. The Spurs already knew how to win and knew when to turn on the On button at the right time of the season, the Rockets...not so much. More importantly they know how to turn on the On button, many teams and players fool themselves in thinking they can turn it on whenever they feel like it, but the Spurs have proved it already. 2. Even the occasional game will affect Yao. It's a nice idea, but the kid gloves treatment still has drawbacks.
If you told me that the Rockets would get the 8th seed with Yao fully healthy at the end of next regular season, I would take that right now. Rather than playing out the season wondering if Yao could make it through. So in that sense, I'm all for benching him periodically. I really don't give a damn about the regular season, beyond not sucking too badly.
I always believed Yao should be playing at most 60 games in a season. However in the past we rarely had good role players who can win with out Yao. But I think with our current players it's very feasible to win games without Yao especially if we get a decent backup C Along with this Rick really needs to stop with his lame Rotation for Yao. I mean 15 straight minutes before sitting during regular season??????Not even DH does that. Just look at Ariza in the first half of the season and now he is injured.
What do you mean by rest? Duncan sits out the games? He's played 80, 80, 78, and 75 for the last 4 seasons, while averaging almost 34 minutes a game.
In theory, I like this method. However, the major difference with why the Spurs can get away with resting Duncan for x amount of games and why the Rockets may not able to have the same success is TEAM CONTINUITY. Remember, the Spurs have more or less kept the same core group of guys for the past half decade. These guys KNOW exactly how to play with each other. It's become instinct for them. On the other side, every year the Rockets have made a trade involving a key player in the Rockets rotation. And with every major adjustment comes a period of getting used to. We all saw how Yao had to get used to play with Aaron at point instead of Rafer. And we still do not know how comfortable he is playing with Aaron. NOW, you've added Kevin Martin and Ariza. AND potentially Bosh next summer (fingers crossed). The theory of resting Yao on b2b's or specific games does sound like a great idea. But, until it's tested, we don't know if it'll be effective. Which begs the question, can the Rockets afford to test this theory with chemistry and continuity at stake? And as Rockets fans we should know how important team chemistry can be.
The problem is that Rockets does not have this kind of luxury. During the previous two seasons, with TMac in and out the lineup, Rockets had to tried hard to make the playoffs, everyone in the team had to contribute their 100% or even more.
I agree. Just let Yao suit up, but sit him the whole time until we really need him. Like many people on this thread, I don't care about seed either. I think we can seriously give any team a run for their money if we have a healthy Yao. Last year, Yao's injury was the reason Lakers was able to get a championship. The way we were playing and if Yao was there, I think there's a big chance we could have beat them.
Man this is a JOKE!!!!! How do you treat Yao??? Play him for 20 mins... Rest him every other game.... You know what.. Get him a pacifier and put a diaper on him... Didn't we just go thru this crap with a former so called superstar... This is just freakin ridicules... This is not a veteran team.. this is a young team that is starting to find themselves and moving forward as a unit.. Having Yao coming in here to play like a lot of people have suggested is the same as T-Mac coming in and out of the line-up... If Yao can't hang then he can either find a team that can play a slow down game for him or retire.... Those who don't learn from the past are DOOMED to repeat it!!!!!
Hmm, we have a guy who is one of the most unstoppable players in the league, but has an injury problem. See most of the time you have to cope with people's flaws and if you can find away around it you do. Everyone isn't blessed w/ Kobe's ability to never get seriously injured (and especially not big men). So yea if it takes a little babying to win a title w/ Yao, I'm all for it.
First of all, calm down. Second, comparing Yao to T-Mac isn't fair. Yes, they're both injury prone, but it's much different. Yao gets hurt while busting his tail off for the team while T-Mac runs to the bench every time he gets contact. Regardless, T-Mac is gone and Yao is the focus of our team. Giving up a few regular season games (and that's assuming we don't win them) to give Yao rest for the playoffs sounds like a good deal to me. A good seed in the playoffs means nothing if you lose your best player midway through. We need Yao to do some damage and if giving up a few seeds is what we have to give up, I'm all for it.
im all down for resting yao and giving him 25ish minutes a game. but the problem is, we don't have a freaking BACK UP for him and losing a foot of height to chuck hayes is not going to work. i'll admit, this team relies on yao way too much. i guess he's just always been our first option, but he's just so damn efficient that it's hard not to go to him.
This is Yao's last year.... And it's just crazy to say that you people want to still build around a guy that is on the last leg of his career (if he still has one) and to preserve that career you want to only play him about 20 - 25 mins..... Those mins could go to a young or mid level guy that you can develop...
How are you going to win... When you are changing your team to fit around a guy that is only playing up to 25 mins a game....
That is during the season. I don't know if you are understanding this. If we can win 55 games w/ Yao @ limited minutes during the season, and then play him 35+ during the playoffs, this will be a TOUGH team to beat come playoff time.
What is wrong with you, you seriously just post w/ 0 thought in them. 20-25 minutes with who? Mid level guy = Ben Gordon, Charlie V, people like that? Mid level guys don't just become superstars because you play them and super efficient 7 footers don't come around everyday.
