Possible for Yao to return to pre-injury form by playoffs? Discuss.

At the world championships he was just back from an injury and was the scoring champ of the tournament. He will have 10-15 games before the playoffs. I do not think it is going to be an issue at all. Will he be as dominant? Maybe not 25 points - 10 rebounds, but 20-10 might be all the Rockets need.

 

Yao is in his prime now. If he gets injured again, I worry for his career.

 

You still failed to address my point that this would result in 2004-2005 all over again. Yao averaged 21.7 ppg in that series, but as Barkley would say, it wasn't a dominant 21.7. Those 21.7 resulted from the Mavs double/triple-teaming McGrady off screens, allowing Yao to roll free to the basket. In case you forgot, the Rockets LOST that series. The Rockets looked damned good in 2004-2005 too, if you forget they went into the playoffs on a 7 game winning streak.

The Rockets need Yao to dominate if they want to win in the playoffs. Even though Shaq last year was clearly not at his best, he still changed the game and demanded double teams. Yao somehow averaged 21.7 points in that playoff series without being a real factor. This can't happen again if the Rockets want to win, and to prevent that Yao must DOMINATE the game.

I didn't say McGrady should forfeit his touches. THERE IS NO REASON WHY BOTH CANNOT AVERAGE 25+. If Shaq and Kobe did it, Yao and McGrady can do the same.

Maybe you should actually try to address some of my points instead of pushing your own, while I'm arguing against them?

 

When he comes back, this is the leg thats gonna load up the rockets and carry back the championship trophy

 

Did you just put in a Barkely quote to support something serious?! Shocking!

 

with his attitude, I wouldn't put odom and yao in the same planet, let alone galaxy. Yao is going to work his ass off and he's going to be kicking some serious butt come playoff time

 

When a monster Yao plus 50% T-Mac at the beginning of this season, we can beat decent teams. Yao and Mac are both superstars, so a monster T-Mac plus 50% Yao will beat decent teams, too.
When Yao become better in the playoffs, plus super T-Mac, we will be unstoppable.

 

I think, when Yao comes back we need to see if he returns to being dominant first. Its still a possibility you know. But us as fans have never been able to see both of them dominate together and they are in the type of form that would let them destroy opponents. Yao in 04-05 didn't get the ball as a primary option. I don't think JVG really considered him the primary option past T-mac. He can now run plays based on them and keep other coaches guessing. I think it can work depends on JVG

 

I think you will find that Yao hasn't reached the start of his prime years yet.
I expect him to keep on improving for another three seasons and then he will play in his prime.

 

First of all, T-mac and Yao can't average 50 points a game. They have never done that together, and very few combos in NBA history have. COnsidering that we score in the 90's, it's even MORE UNLIKELY.

I don't need to address your argument about this being like the 04-05 team, because it's NOT THE 04-05 TEAM! It's an entirely different cast. Clearly we've upgraded at every position around t-mac and yao.

Look, you want Yao to dominate because you are a YOF - just admit it.

I'm done debating with Rookies.

 

Wow! I like the way poster pull this sort of statement to conclude the discussion. Brilliant!

 

So what if I am a YOF? You say I'm a YOF as if I were a Communist or a member of Al-Qaeda. If I'm a YOF, and have measured and well reasoned views, what's the problem with it? The problem with YOFs is when they demand that the Rockets trade Yao to (team that plays close to where they live). Every fan has his favorite player on his favorite team, and there's no problem with that. Yours is McGrady, mine is Yao.

You've resorted to namecalling. You basically lose the argument by default, but I'll address your points anyway.

04 supporting cast vs. current supporting cast:

PG: I think everyone agrees that Alston + garbage << Sura + Mike James
SG/SF (position T-Mac is not playing): Mike James (played SG sometimes) + Jon Barry + Wesley < Snyder/Bonzi/Shane, but not by that much, those 3 guys played very well that year, and McGrady played 40 MPG anyway so it's not as big of an issue
PF: Juwan = Juwan, Weatherspoon/Padgett/Rybo < Hayes.

Sure, the other positions were worse, but PG that year was not a problem at all, while it is this year, and the Rockets got serviceable contributions from SG. PF was very bad, but the PF situation this year is not so great either, when Juwan can't hit a shot to save his life and Chuck can't stop fouling to save his life. Therefore the supporting casts were comparable.

Why do you say that McGrady and Yao can't average 50 ppg when you won't even give the combination a chance? They are putting up raw numbers by themselves which make it capable, what's to say they can't figure out how to play off of each other? Hell, I'm willing to allow for the concept that McGrady takes away a big chunk of Yao's touches and scores a lot, how big of a YOF can I be? I NEVER SAID TRACY SHOULD SIMPLY DEFER. You're a bigger Tracy-only fan than I am a YOF if you only want Yao to play a deferring role.

Oh, BTW, I won't be a rookie for long. I've donated money to this site.

 

Name calling is ridiculus. Who doesn't want Yao to dominate?

 

New Yorker is a known Yao hater and you would be best to ignore him.

 

Not at the expense of winning.

 

Look, a YOF doesn't care about the Rockets winning, just the team revolving around Yao. You can try to justify that somehow this makes the Rockets better - but it's simply not true. The Rockets are a better TEAM now then they were with Yao dominating. That's just the way it is. Everyone can see it.

When Yao returns, he won't be the early season Yao. You know why? Because Yao is NOT a YOF. He'd rather win then score 30 points, and I think it's clear that now he has to adjust and assimilate rather then just expect to be the god and everyone worship him.

Sorry to burst your bubbles YOF's, but Yao is not going to be putting up that many 30 point games. I expect the 20 pts / 10 rebs Yao - which is going to be a nice thing to have - especially in crunch time. Think team, not Yao.

 

You know what, you're worse than a YOF. You're a YOH, and a TOF. I always thought that YOFs and TOFs could coexist, but with you that's not the case.

You are WRONG to say that the team is better now than it was with Yao dominating. With both Yao and McGrady the team was 14-6. This is BETTER than their current record without Yao.

Yao has a far more aggressive attitude now than he did 2 years ago. That is ALL the difference. His skills have not really improved that much, the fadeaway jumper, hook shot, and baseline spin and other moves have always been there. You want to reduce him back to passivity, to the detriment of the TEAM. Face it, with a passive Yao THE ROCKETS WILL DO NO BETTER THAN THEY DID IN 2004-2005. The supporting casts are similar in quality. McGrady was amazing that series, couldn't have been better. YET THEY LOST.

You want McGrady to put up big numbers so he can flame out in the first round again. Well, I'd like to see better out of the Rockets. With both Yao and McGrady dominating, this team can win the finals. With Yao reduced to a passive role, the team WILL NOT EXIT THE FIRST ROUND.

I say to you: think team, not McGrady. Sorry to burst your bubbles, TOF's, but McGrady will personally make sure that Yao has ample opportunity to dominate the game by feeding him repeatedly. You know why? BECAUSE THAT IS THE BEST WAY TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP. It is CLEAR that McGrady has been unable to lead a team past the first round, even with a decent sidekick in Yao. Now Yao is the best center in the NBA and a dominant force. Together they can win a championship, BUT ONLY IF YAO REMAINS A DOMINANT FORCE.

Notice NEVER, in ANY POST, did I say McGrady should be reduced to passivity. This is also bad, because McGrady tends to just shoot a lot of bricks when this happens. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY ARGUMENT AND YOURS. You want to see Yao marginalized, while I don't want to see Tracy marginalized. That makes you a YOH and a TOF, and one NOT INTERESTED IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE HOUSTON ROCKETS.