Yao to play this season? Good news... Morey sounds confident it is not a career-threatening injury and says its possible the big fella could come back this season.... thoughts? http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4433605
ESPN has a report from a recent interview with Morey. Highlights are: Morey says Yao is progressing well and rehab on the foot starts when the cast comes off which is still multiple weeks away. Everything is on track recovery wise and the outlook for next season is good. He says doctors no longer see it as any potential career ender and that it is still unlikely Yao plays next year but it has not been ruled out. No major information, but at least some good sounding news during the offseason.
I'd rather he just sit out this year, but maybe the Rockets want to know what Yao is capable of before making their next contract offer. I still think offering the max will be a big mistake.
I expect this Rockets team to make the playoffs regardless of TMac and Yao, but I'm really starting to wonder if we could have a scrappy, cohesive team that overachieves then gets 2 superstars on board for a playoff run. This season is certainly going to be a lot more fun to watch with an up-tempo offense, but maybe, just maybe we could have a nice run in May...
Rockets make playoffs = Good chance he will be back for playoffs. Rockets miss playoffs = Just rest him.
Im kinda of with you about him sitting out the season, but it would seem Yao has got alot of determination to come back as soon as possible. If the rockets were in contention to make the playoffs, Yao coming back would probably kill any type of chemistry the team would have attained by the end of season anyway and he would have some major rust to work off.
Some good news. A 7'6'' hole is a lot to fill in the NBA especially one that is as talented as Yao (shot at Muresan, Bradley, etc.)
I'm pretty sure Yao won't opt out next year anyway. And they're likely going to agree to postpone contract negotiations until after next season. That said, I'm sure when Morey says he's not ruling out Yao playing, it's on the 0.001% chance that Yao makes the speediest recovery possible from surgery.
Just let him sit out next year. I want to see what this group of undersized, undertalented, and underpowered TEAM can do. I think it'll be fun to watch.
In my opinion, the best case scenario is T-Mac returns close to the beginning of the season and plays like 2006-2007 T-Mac. We get a 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs and Yao returns just as the season is ending to join us in the playoffs. Yao/Andersen Scola/Landry Battier/Ariza T-Mac/Budinger Brooks/Lowry
