Bro, Yao could dominate the league in a wheel chair for sure. Seriously, all the guy has to do is stand near the paint receive a post entry pass, draw the double or triple and kick it out to the 3 or pass to a cutter to the hole. If that does not work he can turn and shoot if it is 1-1 or even 1-2. What I'm more concerned about is preserving the already lower rebounding and blocked shots (given his height, and given his lower wingspan for his height). I'm also concerned about his post game backing down an opponent and his ability to catch, gather himself and dunk. I'm also concerned about his spin move and reverse finish at the hole. I think we used to be overly critical about his lack of speed, but in retrospect for his size, he was damned fast. If he can get to 80% of that by the end of the regular season--we will be right in the mix of things (provided no injuries to him or other key players ). Don't be so afraid and fear-mongering. Plus Miller will be quite helpful for at least 2-3 yrs.
It would be all good, except I haven't heard anything different from our own management about Yao getting 20-25 minutes.
Those people just aren't taking a very close look at the Rockets. Still, it's better to be under the radar.
My bad, good post. I hadn't looked up the dates, I was basing what I said on this Feigen article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6762638.html That said, again, there are no guarantees. We're talking about a 7'6", 310lbs basketball player coming back from major foot surgery. And as BetterThanEver posted, the Rockets seem to think that his minutes will be limited as well. I don't think they would have signed Miller to the type of deal that they did if they believed otherwise. I think there is legitimate reason to be concerned.
I dunno. If we are playing the "On-paper" game. This is basically the same team that made it into the 2nd round before Yao had the initial injury. Subtract Artest and add Martin and some key role players (Ariza, Buddinger, Miller). Landry wasn't the player he is now so his absence from that team isn't as large. You scale Yao back to 20-25 minutes a game instead of 36 that year. I think if you sum it all up it still ends up being the same. I think if we assume Yao plays 70+ games and plays 20-25 minutes the whole year, then we're projected into the 2nd round. Same as 2 seasons ago. Obviously it all depends on Yao, but I figure based on what Ilgauskas went through and what we know about Yao (hardest worker in the NBA), I think we can expect 70 games at 20-25mpg from him realistically.
Pop is brilliant. No other team are like the spurs (excpet LA maybe). SA never seems to care until after the all star break and then thy magically start winning. Kind of like they trail going into the third and they still win games.. Blazers still got their people (and better) and Nash is still amazing. We have Yao who I don't think is going to be averaging 30 min and 20pts. Just not physically possible. I don't we'll be able to keep up. Let's keep our fingers crossed though
