Two of three weeks back, I suggest we should take Yao out for the rest of the season and man I got bashed. What has playing him in the past 10 games or so achieved? Here is my summary: 1) We won a couple of games we should have tried to loss. We are almost certain out of top 8 picks. 2) Yao's aggresiveness and efficiency came down. He still had great games, but I don't think he is taking any step forward in the past 2 weeks. He is again struggling with fronting and his rebounding has come down too. 3) Refs are treating Yao like a scrub. It doesn't really take much for them to go back mistreating Yao. As I feared, Yao is scrub to them again. So is it the time to take Yao out of the season now?
Let him play!! It is not like we are going into the play off or something so that he will get a rest... we all will have a very long summer......
No. He is one of our young players (even though he's 25) that needs to continue to gain experience and learn. Keep him in. Plus, from a business standpoint, it would be a bad decision.
If Yao is having problems with fronting the only way he can overcome that is during games. Waiting for the next season is not the right way to go even though we are nearly at the end and have been eliminated.
It is too funny. Do you mean when yao struggle, the team should sit him down? So next season when Yao's aggresiveness and efficiency came down/facing fronting defense/rebounding come down/to be treated like scrub by ref, the team should rest him as well? Why dont you just ask Yao to retire? Just in case, the world isnt revolving around Yao.
Yes. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=110616 For the record, my answer is still the same. No.
you know, you can sort out of problem by playing games, and you can also worsen problems by playing games. We've gained nothing by playing him in the past 2 weeks. Yao's lost the respect of refs and we are further away from the best pick we could get had we not playing Yao. It may sounds absurd, but playing Yao has cost us THREE losses. These three games are putting us 4 slots back in the draft order.
For the record, when I suggest resting Yao last time, he had no problem with fronting, he had respect of refs and he was playing great. I just had the foresight of what was coming and I was right. It is you guys who insisted that we had everything to gain by playing Yao. You've been proven wrong.
Yao will be getting some extra rest this summer so I don't really see the point in resting him. Last year the season ended May 7. This year it ends April 19.
resting him physically is not the main reason, although it won't hurt considering he has the world cup game in the summer. but my main motivation was to secure better pick, maintain his momentum, leave refs a good impression so that they don't treat him like a scrub and we will have both tmac and yao getting fair treatment next season.
I have a better idea: Let's just forfeit the rest of the games left in the season. Then we'll be SURE to improve our lottery status. Seriously, do you think Yao WANTS to just sit out the rest of the game? Do you understand why David Wesley came back to play out the rest of the season? Players have pride. I wish more fans did.
Hell, Yao didn't want to come out after he turned his ankle. The guy isn't going to sit out games unless maybe it's the last one of the season.
Why rest him physically when he's missed 22 games this year, over 1/4 the season? I'm not worried about him at all this summer. If Yao played the entire season AND we made the WCFs (an additional 12-21 games), then the summer would be a major issue. 60 games is a lot less than 94 to 103 games. Resting Yao to tank the season makes sense if you agree with the concept of tanking. Resting Yao to "maintain his momentum, leave refs a good impression so that they don't treat him like a scrub" next year makes no sense at all. Do you seriously believe his play in the last few games has hurt his standing with refs? If so, you are entitled to your opinion but it's so illogical I can't even reply to it. Maybe someone else can state your case better. "I just had the foresight of what was coming and I was right." and "You've been proven wrong." Man O man, where are you coming from? Name a better time for Yao to learn how to fight through adversity than during live NBA games that mean nothing. You can't. Just how has anybody been proven wrong? I don't want to be accused again of insulting people but this statement is crazy. Would you try to explain what you mean? If we took a Clutchfans poll on whether Yao should have played these last 7-8 games since the earlier discussion, my guess is the vote would be ~999 to 1 that there are no regrets. Yao isn't some paper doll that needs to be coddled and protected from the evil refs. He's going to have to put up with being unfairly singled out his whole career. If he isn't smart enough or tough enough to handle it, that is his fault. Ask Shaq. Ask Hakeem. Ask Kareem. Maybe Yao's playing time should be cut to ~25 mins the last 2-3 games. Probably no harm in that. But he needs to finish the season on a strong note because he's still a developing player.
Just in case, the world isnt revolving around Yao.[/QUOTE] a billion Chinese would beg to differ. Yao owns that country.
Is he getting worse treatment from the refs or not? I predicted he would and I was right. Has his aggresiveness and efficiency come down or not? I predicted they would and again I was right. Have we lost out better draft position by playing him or not? I predicted yes and I was right. I don't understand why so many people are not practical. Saving your energy and fighting another day often does more good than insisting on fighting through a lossing battle, heroic it may sounds. Players want to play because it is their enjoyment and they play for contracts (wesley). As a fan, I put club's long term interest over short term meaningless games.
if we poll with this question: would you rather have rox 4 slots better in the draft by not playing yao in the past 2 weeks, we will not get 99% voting no, that i am sure about.
Its good to Yao to play a little more, but I think maybe a little rest like playing 20-25 minutes per game.
I don't want him to rest because the experience is definitely important, but after seeing him go down and grab his ankle it does kind of scare the crap out of you. Would suck for him to get hurt in mostly meaningless games. I'd still vote for him to play. He obviously wants to keep playing and improve so let him.
