Guys, All I think that stands to keep us out of the Western Conference Finals is Yao. We need him to stay on the court for 35-38 MPG. That means staying out of foul trouble (we'll need some help from the referees). But if he's on the court we can get 25 and 10 out of him. Mike James isn't Jesus Shuttlesworth, and Vin Baker's career may be "baked," but we did well for ourselves. And I never did get one of those Moochie Norris bobblehead dolls. Stokedfully yours, P1st, 2nd
I can see him playing more mins (hopefully 35-37) in the playoffs but i dont want him to wear down in the regular season. For now i am happy with 31-33 mins a night.
You can see his stamina is steadily improving. Next season I think he can give us at least 34 minutes/game. The seasons that he can play 38-40 mins consistently, those will be our championship years.
If Yao stays relatively foul free, and we can get 32 to 33 minutes out of him, we're gonna win most of the games. There's things Yao can't control, like how the refs call the game. Remember that 6th foul offensive foul on Yao in Sonics game? If we can complain to the league and reduce those non-sense calls, we'll get more out of Yao and win more games.
I agree, but it might be next year before we see those kind of minutes. Yao has zero help D right now in JHo.........hopefully next year we get a banger at the 4 who can help him out. I agree that his stamina has improved tremendously, and will continue to do so, but he's a foul waiting to happen with JuJu out there.
Glad to see you are coming around, P1st, Snd . So now you are not saying he is soft and will never be a 20/10 guy...just that he needs to manage to stay on the court and he can achieve that . Hey, sorry...I know, I know...just giving you a hard time. I think you could pull up like 5000 posts of mine where I have changed my mind. Just enjoying that we have search back .
Cannot believe this from someone who believed that yao would never become a 20-10 guy. Now suddenly you believe that Yao can give you 25! Hilarious.
Uh, fa7999, note that I said IF ONLY WE COULD GET 35-38 MPG out of Yao. Yao still needs some balls and few cans of Red Bull before he can pull it off. Also, if Vin Baker can play at somewhere between his Sonics and Bucs days, he can ease the burden on Yao Ming in the post. That means more scoring for Yao and perhaps even more boards as the defense will have to look out for Baker's nice mid- to short-range jumsphot. I have not pulled a flip-flop here at all.
Sir Jackie, I am only talking about 5-6 more PPG and less than one additional rebound. For Jeebers Christo's sake here, folks, that still isn't the ethereal bad-ass, warrior from Heaven we thought we were drafting. I'm just saying that now Yao has some help in the post IF Baker can still play ball as well as he can sing. P1st, S2nd.
Right here ^ What RocketForever said! I do NOT believe that Yao will ever play 38-40 MIN for the YEAR. But he will play some games like that; like he has already this year (he has some 40 MIN games). Because of Yao is large frame, it takes a lot of energy for him to move his body around. If anything, the 34 MIN per game is a reachable goal. That's just 1 minute difference compared to Duncan (34.5) and Shaq (34.9) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (33). There's only a few top players that average above 38 MIN per game. Mostly forwards and guards (TMac, KG, Dirk, Walker, Kobe....mobile guys like that). EDIT: P.S. In his 18 year career, Hakeem had 5 years above 38 MIN per game. His career average was 35.7 MIN per game. But we're talking about a super athletic player when we talk about the Dream. Could Yao do that? Maybe one or two years above 38 MIN. But is that likely to happen? I'm not sure about that.
25-10 would be pretty bad ass. I think it's the inconsistency of his paying time that is the problem. He generally gets in the mid-30's but seems to have a 20-something minute game once or twice a week. Those games seem to be usually due to foul trouble. I don't think it's a lack of stamina that is reducing his playing time (though he's no workhorse either!).
Search function is such a good thing, take a look at your own posts. Mr. Flip Flop. I do not think Yao is good and I will tell you why in this thread that I have made Yes, Yao sucks...floppy donkey dicks. John Stockton could push him out of the paint, and Muggsy Bogues could out rebound him. We all used to say how good of a player we had if he could play like Rick Smits. The Dunking Dutchmas sure sounds good right now! changed to Fox: Shaq still too much for Yao to handle This sounds fairly accurate to me. Don't start talking about today's game (1/30/05) because Shaq got in foul trouble and didn't play against Yao much. Yao is good, but not YaoWow! like we were told he'd be. I was excited to get him, but I'd entertain trading Yao if the opportunity - real, worth-it kind of deal, came about. Now changed to Yao only need 34-38 minutes. You are one hell of a politician.
Pass 1st, shoot 2nd, nice imagination on your side. Vin Baker, has absolutely nothing left in his tank.
Pass 1st, Shoot 2nd, are you trying to convince this board or yourself that you're not pulling a John Kerry? Sounds like you're flip flopping to me! We can take a vote to see how many posters think you are or you are not!
Consider he is averaging 31 this season, I would say he can average 30-35. If he plays 35 it would be very good. Hmm, just noticed this is my 300ths post.
