Yao Ming will not play more than 24 minutes in any game this season

Even if its true that we will only play Yao for 24 mins. Why come out and said it publicly? we will gain nothing by letting the other team know that we will only play our best player for certainly amount of time. I would have said that Yao's mins will vary base on situation and discretion of coaching staffs.

 

i think it's a smart move by the rockets.

what would you rather see?

a)

rockets winning 55 games with yao playing 30+ mpg and a high probability he'll get injured again.


b)

rockets winning 50 games with yao playing 24 mpg and a good chance he might be healthy for the playoffs.


also, the rockets actually don't need yao that much to win in the regular season because rick adelman's teams always overachieve anyways.

 

I am sure that the opposing teams will begin to see a pattern if Yao is consistently getting pulled after playing 24 minutes.

 

Is there a link?

I didn't expect a hard cap, but I did expect Yao's minutes to be limited to under 25 minutes per game for most of the season.

If it means Yao will be available every game and into the playoffs, I'm fine with it.

 

Solomon is applying his poor reading comprehension skills after reading his colleague's blog. Feigen said Yao won't play more than 25mpg at least for several months. That doesn't mean for "ANY" games during the season. If Yao's health holds up till the playoffs, there's no way they'll keep him at a hard limit of 25mpg in the playoffs. I'd be surprised if he gets 35 min in the playoffs, but you don't go all-in this season by going into the luxury tax just to sit your centerpiece during primetime. If we've got a big lead in a playoff game, he'll sit, but if it's close, he's playing more minutes.

What's great about our line-up is that we'll still have a low post presence on offense with Scola and on defense with Miller when Yao goes out. Miller will be in the high post to facilitate the 2nd team O. Glad Scola had a taste of carrying his team this summer.

 

Feigan usually likes to blog about it instead of tweeting it.
http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2010/09/with_offseason_almost_over_one.html

 

2mins to go....Houston up by one 86-85 against Orlando. Yao have logged in 24mins of playing time....OK NOW HE GOT TO SIT...mandatory??? OH C'MON....rediculous!!

He should be played according to game situation!! In other words, the Rockets should just do what they done with Yao before....ONLY this time, they don't overplayed him the entire 1st quarter and passed it. Or the 3rd quarter and passed it. They done that very often in the past and that's the only thing that need to be correct. That should get Yao to play around 30mins per game or around there.

 

I doubt it, last game of regular season, Rockets need to win to get number 3, they lose they get number 7, starting of third Q, game tied, Yao played 15min and Rockets +10 when he's on court. The other team's centre is getting killed by Yao but killing Miller, and Yao's gonna play 9 more minutes?

Go tell Adelman that

 

It's not a big secret, if they see him play only 24 minutes after the first 2 games. It's like when T-mac was limited to 8 minutes every game. After the first 2 games, teams knew that the Rockets were limiting him to 8 minutes.

 

maybe they'll play him 15 minutes through 3 quarters, so he has 9 minutes to spare in the 4th. he comes in at the 5 or 6 min mark in the 4th, and thus can play OT if need to. problem solved.

 

Why are so many people surprised now that we hear his minutes will be limited? That's all we have been hearing since his surgery.

Sure maybe it will lower market value on yao but ultimately I'm sure the rockets org want to prolong Yoa's feet life as long as possible... at least to reach for a deep playoff run and beyond if possible.

Yao's humble feet aside... please continue with the mandatory solomon bashing.

 

If Yao breaks his foot again, should the Rockets resign him to the max and limit his minutes to 12 minutes a game next season? :grin:

 

I just want to note to some that there is a difference between "not playing any more than 24 minutes" and "averaging 24 minutes". I want the latter, not the former. When you hit the last couple of months of the season, Yao needs to bump his minutes up to ~30 a game. Because you need to increase minutes to increase stamina for the playoffs.

I don't mind Yao taking games off. Nor do I mind him take a wait and see approach to start the season. But when the stretch run, Yao MUST play more than half a game in order to be truly effective enough for us in the playoffs.

 

What's funny is if the Rockets would have had Yao for only the last five minutes of every game last year they would likely have finished at least five games better.

 

Link to full story:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl...(chron.com+-+Top+Stories)&utm_content=Twitter

 

My main concern is that he plays like "the healthy Yao" we once knew and loved during those 24 minutes. That will make a huge difference for the Rockets. Besides, trying to figure out now the number of minutes Yao is going to play this season based on a Solomon column is an act of insanity.

 

Limit his minutes -> Limit his scoring -> Won't have to give a huge contract during summer -> Continue to get $ and viewers from China

 

Minute limits for Luis and Battier too?

Chase and Jordan Hill might have some minutes coming...

 

If he can only go 24 minutes, then he should only be paid half of a Max contract next year.

And I guess that is one way to make sure everyone gets some minutes....lol...

DD

 

I thought the SAME exact thing went I saw this thread title...

I just didn't have the balls to say it for fear of getting flamed.

But I honestly think there's something to be said about minutes and utility, in justifying who is/isn't a max player.

Not saying Yao needs to be playing 40+ minutes. But there's got to be some range that says a justifable Max player plays X minutes but can go and SHOULD go on to playing 35+ to 40 minutes game if necessary. Esp. in the playoffs. I mean, isn't that part of what defines a true max player?

theSAGE