limited in minutes <> limited role limited role in regular season <> diminished role in playoff Yao's history of breaking legs w/ heavy minutes.
Ok, so what will you do if we play him 40 minutes a night and he breaks his foot again in the first round of the playoffs?
Again this is the same reasoning people said when RA played Yao 38 mins a game at the start of last season. He was getting heavy minutes right off the bat and people were still saying dumb **** like "I don't see why 5 mins more is a problem". Yeah, well look at happened because of your 5 mins more We have to start treating Yao Ming like he's made of tissue paper. Don't play him on back-to-backs, give him every other practice off and limit his PT to 35 mins tops. Everytime he breaks his foot, he wastes yet another season again.
Nobody in his right mind will offer Yao a max extension, especially considering his age (31 next season) and injury history.
It would be foolish to ignore history. Big Z had the same surgery and recovered using the same mpg plan Yao will be on. Not aware of anyone who had the surgery and then went full throttle, but I don't want Yao to be the guinea pig either. Second, San Antonio has proven that you can limit your starters minutes during the season and then be successful in the playoffs. Third, this is not just Morey and RA making this decision, the Doctors are supporting this plan. I really don't get the argument about having to evaluate Yao playing 35 minutes a night in order to know what contract to give him. It's not like his play will be drastically different in those extra 10 minutes a night. Besides, Yao is going to get what the market will pay him, and limiting his minutes can't raise his value, it can only reduce it if possible.
Doesn't fatigue make you more injury prone? I'm not a fitness buff, so I don't know the nuances involved. And even beyond that. Suppose the risk of injury for Yao is evenly distributed. That is, the likelihood of him sustaining an injury is the same for minute 1 vs minute 35. If Yao plays an extra 5 minutes a night, say from 30 to 35, wouldn't the risk of injury go up by ~14%? To me, limiting minutes has only to do with the fact that the NBA regular season is way too long, and means too little. Why have Yao fatigued and hampered by various nagging injuries by playoff time, which all players have at the end of a grueling 82 games season, when you can keep him fresh until that time arrives? Unless the Rockets play amazingly well, we're not going to get a top 4 seed. And seeds 5-8 is more or less the same anyway.
The organization, Yao, their doctors, trainers, etc., all have a lot better information on which to base decisions than any of us have. All we as fans can do is guess at what should be done or say how we wish the organization would handle the situation or cuss and moan because we think their plan *might* be to play him too little or too much (in our opinions) -- or we can relax and go with what the organization decides and see what plays out. The organization will establish an initial plan, go with it, and evaluate any changes to that plan after they start playing Yao for significant minutes. There's no way to say before they start to play some real games how much or how little Yao should play -- not until it's seen how well he responds once he's on the court again and putting his body through the real thing.
Ugh. I never rate threads. But I'm gonna make sure I register this as a one-star. Don't limit Yao's minutes. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!
I think based on history, the most logical thing to do is limit Yao's minutes. We need him at the end of the season as the Lakers series showed.
Limit him early and ratchet him up late....got to find out if he will hold up for that future contract. It has been a year, he should be good to go once he gets his wind. I don't mind them taking it slowly....but I hope they limit his practice time more than his game minutes. DD
Yeah, don't limit his minutes and lose him during the most important part of the season, playoffs... Seriously, I think the Rockets are doing the right thing by limiting Yao's minutes. I know that his salary is way too much to play a limited role but the team needs to preserve him for the playoffs. They did not gave Brad Miller so much money for nothing. Everybody knows that Yao will not be fully recovered at least the first half of the season. Most of the players will say that they are fully healthy due to their competitive spirit. Yao is no different. I think some of the posters here still have not learn the lesson from TMac's situation.
Yao has to play between 20-25 mins at least in the first half of the season. then you could keep playing him more, and Yao playing 30 mins in the playoffs. So you have to limit his minutes at least till mid February.
I think it makes more sense to limit his minutes throughout the season. He can still contribute and help the team, and then when the playoffs start we have a seceret weapon ... SUPER YAO = A beastly refreshed Yao Ming playing 40+ minutes a game and dominating. thats what im hoping anyway
Yes.... limit his minutes. Yes.... he needs to be healthy and ready to rock for the playoffs. Yes.... this thread blows.
I'm sorry but this is just a flat out dumb comparison. Where is this magical place we can take Yao back to to suddenly heal his foot? Is there some foot return policy I don't know about in China? Yao is not a rig. He is a human. And you don't play a season just thinking about the next season. We are contending THIS year. Yao will be a big part of that if we keep him healthy through the playoffs. That means we will probably need to rest him a good bit early on. If his minutes are reduced all year he might even take a little home town discount in his next contract anyway.
I personally think Yao is smart enough now to know his own bodies limitations. When he was younger, he probaly over did things and it resulted in more stress on his joints on body. He is now a vet and will except limited minutes with good grace.
So your argument is to ride him hard so we'll know his future value? Unfortunately, we already have a pattern. It's 'every time we ride him hard, his future value decreases'. It's not worth ruining his career even more just so we know exactly how ruined it is and how much to pay for him.
Retirement, go somewhere else,get the hell off the rockets, thats the return policy. If he holds up, pay the man and lets roll. There will be nothing accomplished with you're highest paid player playing barbie doll minutes. The in and out and inconsistent minutes and team adjustment will be enough to see the rockets out the playoffs and the rockets paying for a unknown commodity. Read this carefully and mix the words. The rockets are no closer to contending than they were 5 years ago. At best, they're the 5th best team in the west and 8th best in the nba and thats at their best. Just because you have a better team doesnt mean you're any closer to contending. Show me a contending team when the best player couldn't be conted on for almost 40 mins a game. You cant, because it doesn't work that way.Your best player has to be capable of playing damn near an entire game in the playoffs. Allen, Ray 275:55 mins Garnett, Kevin 222:01 mins Pierce, Paul 278:26 mins Rondo, Rajon 271:51 mins Artest, Ron 251:00 mins Bryant, Kobe 288:20 mins Gasol, Pau 293:15 mins Fisher, Derek 214:07 mins Divide those minutes by 7 and tell me what you get. I'm willing to bet my last dollar its more than 25 or even 30 mins per game as some suggest. You cant train you're body to play 25 mins a night, then all of a sudden come playoff time you're playing 35-40, it doesn't work like that. The rotations get smaller because the demand gets bigger to have high quality players on the floor most of the game. If you or anyone think brad miller will be ok in the playoff playing 25 mins a game in place of yao and the team will sail just fine, then what the point of having yao. No one ever said that when regarding in other all star caliber player. Thorpe was a pretty good backup center, better than miller and no one said the rockets will be ok with him in there with dream only playing 25 mins in the playoffs. It doesn't work like that. Depth is great for the regular season, but come money time in the playoffs, its not such a big issue. Its about having your stars carry the load and the role players suppliment.
