Most of us were probably thinking the same thing to ourselves in the fourth quarter of that Laker game: "What's Adelman doing? Its a dead-ball, Yao is at 23+ minutes played, and he's not taking him out. Have we already scrapped that?" But then, Yao fouled out on the next defensive possession, and it was a moot point. Still, I was surprised how close to that limit Yao got. So how long does it take for Adelman to play Yao longer than the allotted 24 minutes? I think there is an "agreement" between Adelman and medical staff that Yao will stay in the game until the next dead-ball after his 24 assigned minutes. So, Yao could very well play 25 or 26 minute in a game early on. He may even do so in the next game.
Soon, I think they were going to go over in the LA game. If Yao doesn't foul Gasol who knows how long he goes and they just had a dead ball to make the change but didn't. I wonder if Adelman will just say screw it, when he can, and will there be friction between himself and Morey over the limit.
Rick is going to go crazy with the 24 minute cap. NBA coaches just aren't hardwired to do what he's expected to do.
Rick doesn't give a **** about Yao's foot. He is the one who broke it in the first place. This is the same fool who played him 51 minutes in a regular season game.
Can't blame an injury on a coach, nor can you say playing him a lot of minutes has anything to do with it. Yao can hurt himself in 12,24, or 51 minutes it's all just bad luck. But I give this another month or 2 and then they'll say he's progressed well enough to increase minutes.
When Yao is on the floor the opponent scores at a slower rate but the Rockets offense is also at a slower rate because Yao is slow.
When you're coming back from a stress related injury on your foot and you're 7'6, I'm pretty sure minutes do matter.
honestly...i think i dont think its as strict as it seems...we just havent been in a position where we had to stretch it out by a minute or two. I think they just dont want to get in the habit of going over it, even if only by seconds, because then Yao may want to keep pushing it and they'll be questioned more and more by fans. I can definitely see them going over if it's in the middle of a run where yao is playing a significant role. The LA game could have turned into that, but with 5 fouls it was going to end for him sooner than later. They probably told him to stay aggressive, so he'd come out anyway.
I fear this is not gonna end well if Adelman exceeds the time limit. It's gonna be like last season when Coach Vinny Del Negro and GM John Paxson came to blows over Noah's time limit and playing time when he had plantar flaisciata. Who would win in that fight? Rick the Ruler or The Wizard Morey?
The most likely reason for the 24 minute limit is they don't feel Yao is in shape enough to handle the pounding of more minutes: So based on that information, the more fatigued Yao gets, the higher the risk. But is it something that he can train and condition himself to the point that it is safe to play longer? I don't know that any one including the doctors know the answer as there aren't alot of patient's of Yao's size to compare his situation to.
In fact, everyone knows that the rockets won't beat a playoff team consistently if Yao is unable to play at least 28-30 minutes per game. But, it is a high risk if the rockets increase Yao's minutes too soon.
i would say it has more to do with the bones adapting to the stress, more than anything...since the bones were realigned, i'm guessing there's certain bones that are now taking more force than they have been used to. Bones can adapt to new loads, which is what i think they're waiting for. They want to bring it along slowly and not just throw 40 mins before it's had time to adapt completely. Its like a weak bridge that comes back a bit stronger every time you cross it. It's still weak, so you dont want to cross it too much in one day. Eventually it'll be strong enough to take it though.
Im so sick and tired of the Yao era. He has seriously hindered the progression of this team immensely. Every year it's been wait on Yao or Tracy. That **** gets old real fast. Hes been declared healthy let him play at least every game. This no back-back rule is horrible for the chemistry of our team. This team will never accomplish anything until we get Yao out of a Rockets uniform or take the training wheels off and let him play. Eventually you are going to HAVE to let him play full time. Whats to stop him from going down again? If Morey knows percentages so well then why is he even wasting his time with a star who has a near 100% injury rate every year. I like Yao as a person/player but I'm done waiting on him. This is a team sport and we have one man who has/is holding down the betterment of the team. Let him play or get rid of him.
They wouldn't admit it at this stage, but I think you're right. If the Rockets get off to a rotten start -- like 1-5 or something -- I can see them doing away with the minutes restriction, or least relaxing it a ton.
kenny smith made a good point last night that the Rockets should have never set a limit on Yao's minutes or if there was this '24' max limit to not have announced it. They should have said they are monitoring his minutes and he will not play in the one of the two b2b games for precautionary reasons. i think that would have caused people to do all this nonsense of watching a stop clock and announcers mentioning it every 2 minutes
I think that '24' max limit is actually for coach Adelman. He seems to want to play Yao 48 minutes per game if he can.
