With talk having gone around about how McGrady's career could be extended by Adelman's offense, this got me thinking about our 7'6 franchise player. Obviously this offense includes a little less banging down low, but it includes more movement aswell. How will this effect Yao's longevity for the Rockets? Yao's just turned 27, for a guy of 7'6 to play 10 plus years in the NBA is unheard of obviously. Add to that the fact he never seems to get a break with international play and training going on during the offseason. Just how many of his best years does Yao have left?
While it is true that many tall players do get injured or slow, many can play for long periods of time. Think of Olajuwon, Mutombo, David Robinson, and the other 7'6''er (shudder) Shawn Bradley. Someone like Yao could probably play at least 10 more years, barring a major injury.
I would say probebly another 5 years, so IT'S TIME! Don't wait till he is not as strong and powerful as he is right now. And I hope the Rockets won't treat him like Olajuwon, I would like to see him retires here.
Valid question, but regardless of how long he plays, they have three years to win a title with him because I don't see a team with Yao as it's best player ever taking the crown, and McGrady has three years tops. After that, once McGrady is gone, and Yao at 30, the best you can hope for is that he plays at an elite level for 4 more years until age 34, 4 years where it will be nearly impossible to land another player the caliber of McGrady. Top flight FA's don't leave anymore, we won't have any young talent to trade for a superstar because Van Gundy stubbornly refused to develop all of our young talent last year (Synder, Span, Novak), and with Yao we won't be bad enough to land a top draft pick. Even if he gets injured and we land a top pick, that player won't have matured fast enough to dominate through Yao's prime. So it doesn't matter how long he plays. We have three years.
So if you don't think a Yao-led Rockets can ever win the championships, what has McGrady ever done? Led his team to first round defeats? For all the talk about how Kobe can't win anything without Shaq, how about McGrady not being able to win anything.... PERIOD? Snyder, Spanoulis, and Novak are all crap and are either gone already or will be gone by Oct. 30. We don't have any legitimate young prospects. Yao is the Rockets best player already, so if you don't think that the Rockets can win a championship with Yao as its best player.... you're putting a curse on your team.
remember the muscle quality of Asian people is not as good as African American and White people. So the muscles get looser and older quickly.
Yao has got a good 5 to 7 seasons left. As a top-flight player I think maybe about 4 to 6, which would put him around 32 to 34 that is when most players start to deteriorate, most players last true all-star years are in their early thirties....The only players that I can think that were pretty good past the age of 35 are Jordan, Malone (Karl), and Wilt. While, you could probably add Kareem, Dominique, Pippen, Magic, Barkley, Olajuwon, and others. But for most part, they were all a shell of them former selves, but it goes to show you how good they were. The only player I see in the league who I think will still be top 5 player after 35 is Kobe and maybes are Duncan and Nowitzki. Nash is sorta on the bubble. Because I believe they're skills go beyond all-out athlethism and that are so much better than some of the other all-stars that even with slight drop in their game .... they still can be pretty good players. I think Yao can stay around a little bit longer than the other giant centers (over 7,4)....i think he may become more like hybrid Divac and Smits...where starts to play more away from the post and primarily pass and shoot. Which is why I thought was good time to bring in Adelman...? I think if he were to try to play like Shaq and bully people in the post 82 games year and playoffs he would be done by the time he was 30 or 31.
McGrady has done nothing but if you don't think he is a better player than Yao, you are delusional. I love Yao, I think he could put up monster stats this year and possibly win the MVP, but he has his warts that are very hard to overlook. A "best player on your team to lead you through the playoffs" doesn't get his lunch eaten by the likes of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. There will be times when having Yao on the court simply hurts the team. As far as McGrady, he certainly has accomplished nothing, but there has never been a time when I felt like having him on the court was hurting the team or having the ball in his hands was hurting the team. He is this team's best player. Snyder, VSpan, and Novak are all incredible prospects and will contribute huge to the team this year now that we actually have a decent talent evaluator in Adelman. I think Spanoulis will bring that fiery leadership we've been lacking, while Novak is basically Peja waiting to happen. It's a shame Van Dumby kept them shackled on the bench last year. Let me ask you this. There is no doubt Yao dominates the hell out of the Milwaukees and Orlando's of the world. But in a playoff game against Phoenix, Dallas, or Utah, three of the five best teams in basketball (SA and Houston being the others) who would you rather have on the floor if you could pick only one? McGrady or Yao? If you picked Yao, I would suggest that you actually watch a few Rockets games before attempting to offer insight on the team.
i don't think he meant it like that. we've seen that a team with JUST yao ming as the all-star/star player has not done very well. in fact, they have done VERY poorly. sure u can point to no one sticking up for tmac's play but alston and head play pretty well last yr when tmac was out. and yet houston had a very poor record last year without tmac. u can say shaq has had help throughout his career. but for stretches when kobe was out during their peak years, the lakers HAD A BETTER RECORD with just shaq (around 61% winning) than just kobe (around 54%). so shaq is one of those rare breed big man. yao is not on shaq's peak level even as of now. tmac has proven he can get ANY team to the playoffs by himself. and that's as far as he can take you by himself. i think that's what he means. tmac is more dynamic and can do more things on the basketball court to impact the game. maybe this year w/ adelman, yao can do more things on the basketball court. in fact, i know yao will be more impactful this year b/c he won't just be a scorer, but a playmaker. tmac is still our best overall player and the guy we'll go to when we are in panic mode. like NBATV guy said during his preview of the rockets, let yao dominate the first 3 quarters, tmac just has to dominate the last one. he said until tmac realizes that (and not try to dominate a whole game), the rockets will go far.
and people, let's think of the present. who knows what will happen in the future? i mean injuries could mess up anybody's career. or a trade might happen that is unexpected. so let's focus on 07-08. focus on the potential greatness of this team.
thinks of it this way, a runningback in football gets banged up giving them a 5 years lifespan to be amazing while wide receivers last much longer because they don't get smacked around all their career. Yao is now a widereceiver
No one knows his own body better than Big Yao. He had said it himself... His current hope is that he can play until 34. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=132901 Considering the age of Tracy McGrady and his freaky back......and the fact that Yao Ming might still have to repair his right shoulder through surgery by Summer of 2009, after which there is high possibility that he could not get back to 100% of his former self.......Therefore......... IT'S TIME NOW.... this season or next that they win the rings !!
again, 3 yr window is most likely. but if tmac has managed his back problems and yao does not have anymore freak injuries, i won't be surprised of a 5-6 yr window.
