i think you misunderstood my post. i never mentioned anything about conditioning as a reason for deke not playing. there simply aren't enough minutes to go around. yao, scola, landry take up a lot of minutes. we need their scoring, their minutes cannot go down. what is left isn't much. chuck doesn't play every game. chuck is used as a specialist. when yao gets burned on pick and rolls, hayes comes in as our PnR defensive specialist. or hayes is used to cool off a PF who is burning scolandry. since deke isn't quick enough to guard the pick and roll or guard pf's, hayes has been given those minutes. deke simply doesn't have any minutes left for him.
Im just very curious why Yao isnt more like Mutombo. Yao with Mutumbo characteristics will put him on the top. But hey I'll still take what Yao gives us evertime. It still puzzles me though...
You guys need to relax. Deke was a presence, but Chuck made good defensive plays too. Chuck can barely get minutes himself and he's far younger and more athletic. We don't want to burn Deke out here.
The rotation goes like this for the two spots: Yao-Scola, Scola-Landry, Yao-Landry. However, there is a slight gap between the Yao Ming Scola rotation because Adelman always insists of starting the 3rd and 4rth quarters with the starting lineup. That 5-10 min gap would be perfect for Deke, instead of RA extending Yao's mins or putting a mismatch like Hayes in there. Deke could be that stopgap every game.
Deke doesn't get any playing time for this very reason -- to substitute in Yao's absence. I'm sure none of you expected Yao to play 82 games this season. And given that Deke is very old, why risk any injury playin him, even for 5 minutes? If he's injured and Yao is also injured, who the hell do we have to play center? Scola? Then who will be our backup PF? Hayes? Oh no, not Hayes.
Deke is a better rebounder and would have a better chance to distract penetration. Without Yao, we're not force feeding anyone and the team runs a more balanced offense where everyone is involved and doing their part. We're better defensively with Deke on the court. I remember in Game 7 of the 2006-07 series. Mutombo was PISSED at his lack of playing time, and he made sure to let the media know about it. He had every reason to be pissed, because he was outplaying Yao.
Yao is probably too scared of fouling, because the refs don't officiate him normally. If he played a physical Dikembe style he'd foul out every game, IMO. He can improve, of course, but I'm just offering a reason why he maybe doesn't.
This is all conjecture. That said, Deke's defense and rebounding will always be better than Yao's. I don't think it'd be terrible to play him for limited minutes, even though he really can't do much on the offense. Hayes has better lateral movement and rotation defense, but sometimes length trumps all, and Deke has more length than any other current Rocket. Oh yeah, and he knows how to use his length.
How much more valuable were the following games to the ROX: -Utah -Lakers -Spurs ? We win those 3 games, tonite we're in the #2 spot in the west. whats he waiting for? and dont say PLAYOFFS, because to be in the best position THEN depends on what we do NOW...
Besides shot blocking, I think what Deke offers that Yao cannot is DEFENSIVE REPUTATION. Deke will often commit the same fouls that Yao does, but because of Deke's reputation as a dominant shot blocker, he won't be called for the foul. It seems that the refs respect his defensive game more and they'll be more willing to swallow their whistles.
Deke quote .. in case this has not been posted already... "Just because a guy doesn’t play, or the coaches don’t give him a chance to play, that doesn’t mean all those young kids can come in trying to find a way to dunk. I asked him (second-year forward Julian Wright) one time, ‘Don’t you watch NBA Classic?’ You need to see it." EPIC
But Deke doesn't put up around 20 points a game... Also, people saying Dike should get Chuck's minutes..well I agree in certain situations. However, when Chuck is in to guard an Okur, or Sheed, or any big man with a good outside jumper, then Chuck should be in for those back up minutes for Yao. However, against a Gasol,Oden, Shaq situation, then Deke should be the back up.
The thing that always annoyed me about him not getting minutes is that the D doesn't have to adjust at all when you switch Yao for Mutumbo. However I actually believe teams are more scored of the lane when we have Mutumbo than Yao... yes Yao is big but they know Mutumbo will go after their shots and they know often he gets them.
