If everything turns out perfectly and Yao gets through the Olympics ok, his injury is fully healed and is not causing him problems and he rejoins the team injury free and ready to roll...... What do you guys think about limiting the amount of games he plays early in the season, even if he is completely healthy. I know its a difficult balancing act because in the west its a HUGE gamble not going into every game with you best every night. There is also the real chance that you protect Yao early on and he gets hit anyway. On the positive side, we have seen that we can win games without Yao and because it would only happen early in the season, if the experiment failed you could stop it and still have PLENTY of games to make up for losses. Still, part of me think that if its a choice between a good start, or a good finish to the season, I know which one I would rather have. I know the team already looks after him pretty well but keep in mind I'm talking about resting him when he is healthy, and only early in the season. So what do you think?
That's why we brought dorsey here, but only , only if he can make the team and play some quality minutes.
we played without yao fine for the past 2 years for extended periods of time. we'll be fine if he has to play 28-30 mins the first half of the season or so.
Speaking of first half, how about Yao gets regular minutes in the first half and then (depending on the score) doesn't come back to start the second half. You know, more of a "we've got him if we need him" scenario after half time. I think, at least in one out of every 4 or 5 games that he wouldn't even have to see the floor after halftime. He's not that young anymore, so it's not like he's missing out on his development. Plus the other players can get more accustomed to playing without him (just in case there's another injury). The only problem I could see is the Rockets as an organization (see Alexander, Les) becoming upset that Yao isn't on the floor as much. It could hurt ticket sales. Although at this point, I think everyone is more likely to be OK with Yao resting at all costs.
I'd be a a little concerned with how it would translate to his teamates. It would definitely emphasis that Yao gets special treatments and could cause tension on the team . T-Mac with his history might feel like he should also have the same treatment. The media (ESPN) will definitely blow this up as "Yao chose that it's ok to play in the Olympics for China but will not play in NBA games where he gets a large contract to do so etc.) Also, look at how much attention (good and bad, mostly bad) Roger Clemens for just not traveling when he's not pitching and Barry Bonds subsequent response drew. On the other hand, people and Yao's teamates knows his high character, and I also believe Rockets have a high character team. So it might not be a big deal.
i don't think we have to worry about players having to adjust to playing without him. except for the rookies, they all know how to play without yao. however, i think differently. he MUST play more after halftime b/c we want yao to see more pressure defense... b/c games get tighter in the 2nd half. i want him to play like 12 minutes in the first half, and say 16-18 in the 2nd half. do that at least for the first half of the season and see how his body responds. if he feels good, then we increase his minutes to 35 minutes as we head towards the playoffs.
They will be able to figure it out. I expect Yao to start as usual.Luis will be a scoring 5 on occasions,Deke and Dorsey on defense. Landry and Hayes will take up some of Luis' minutes at the 4.
one other thing, if you have been following the rockets, this team sells out when WE WIN. we sold out EVERY GAME during our winning streak, with or without yao. yao is not the key to the ticket sales, winning is. if the fans see the team meeting its potential, it will sell out. they've seen superstars before. they're not gonna get angry if they dont' see yao for an extra 5 minutes. they're gonna get pissed if we dont' advance past the first round once again.
um, do not worry about that. tmac already has his own specialized chair that no one on the bench has, including the coaches. as long as it's for the right reasons (injuries), they'll be ok. tmac would play less also if we have a legit backup for him. until then, he'll play his 34-36 mpg.
Ticket slaes would be a problem and youd wonder how the team would handle it. Do you announce he wont be playing on the night, or do you announce it say a week ahead of time? Also, I wouldnt worry about the reaction outside of the team and Rockets fans. The media can kiss our collective arses as far as I'm concerned. I tend to think that the early part of the season doesnt mean a great deal anyway. Unless a team gets off to a ridiculously good or bad start (In which case you'd throw Yao into every game anyway), the real chase for the playoffs starts heading into the new year. By the time the season starts Yao will have played a lot of basketball and been under an incredible amount of pressure during the Olympics. I just think it would be a huge relief for him to have some pressure of him physically and mentally early in the season and allow him to ease his way back and really get going when the season itself gets going.
Sign Landry with MLE ,then Landry ,Bjax ,Hayes ,Brooks ,Head ,Woods as a package for Al Harrinton ,Stephen Jackson . As a result we will have a 3rd scorer Jackson and a backup center Harrinton.
There have been a couple of good points brought up here. I'm not a fan of sitting Yao out for entire games; nor am I a fan of sitting him entire halves. Both of these approaches seem antithetical to Yao's NBA re-conditioning and to the team at large. However, cutting Yao's minutes down to, say, 30-32 makes a great deal of sense - provided we have the quality backups to function doing so. I'm not ready to anoint Joey Dorsey as our backup 5 without a minute of NBA experience. He might be ready for that role...but counting on it right now is getting ahead of ourselves. That being said, keeping Yao fresh for the postseason, along with T-Mac, should be a priority. One other point I thought was interesting to ponder. In the (unlikely) event that the Rockets did sit Yao out for entire games/halves, I don't believe that it would bring nearly as much scrutiny as it would in a huge media market. There was no real media scrutiny of Clemens' home game only schedule the last two years he was with the Astros; only with the Yankees did he absorb a large amount of criticism about his lack of practice and travel time. So if Yao was put on a limiting schedule of games early, I think media attention would be low.
I wouldn't mind seeing Adelman treat Yao like Pop treats Duncan. It isn't so much about early next season, it's about the entire season and gearing to the playoffs. Yao's minutes could be dialed back to 32-34 per game instead of over 37. Only on rare occasions should Yao play an entire 4th quarter. Yao's minutes in the first game of back-to-backs should be carefully monitored. Then with rare exceptions, his minutes in the 2nd game of back-to-backs should be based on how many he played the night before. In games where the Rockets are in clear control, Yao could sit out the final 9-10 minutes much of the time. All of the above comments are based on the Rockets getting off to a decent start and not having major chemistry problems to begin the season. If for some reason the Rockets end up battling for a playoff berth, throw everything I said out.
Yao should be dialed back to Van Gundy minutes. About 32-35 min a game. I think Yao gets these reptitive injuries overuse injuries same as Shaq due to their size. I also think that when these big dudes get tired, they get injured like a tired skier at the end of a day from being careless and not as sharp as they were when they are fresh. I am also for watching the NBA teams we are about to play and if we are blowing them out to take Yao out at the half or third quarter. Put him back in only if they are in danger of losing the lead.
There is no way that Yao Ming will have his games limited unless he's injured. We should definitely consider limiting his minutes, but to sit him out full games is just madness.
Do not limit his games or minutes in them, rather limit his practice schedule...and be more prudent there. DD
