Yao should be further along in his rehab by the beginning of next season that McGrady was this year, though. Yao will have had a year and a half to recuperate.
the difference between the two is how they handle it. tmac wore out his welcome. yao may be more accepting of the situation.
It will be much easier for him to handle Yao because of Yao himself. Adelman does not have to worry about drama. If Adelman tells Yao that he is not looking good in practice and that he will only get 8 minutes, Yao will gladly take his 8 minutes and wait until coach decides otherwise.
...he will also bust his a$$ to do whatever he has to do to EARN more playing time. Which is the complete opposite of what Mac did.
dont forget Yao will have a full training camp to participate in with the team i dont think mcgrady was able to get a full training camp this season with the team
adelman didn't put it that way. he says he wants to win games, and he will only put the product on the floor that wins games. tracy hasn't gotten back (or probably will never get back) to the player that allows him to adjust his offense for them to win games. and nobody knows if yao will be the same. the quote where he said go up to 15-20 mins, then 30 mins? he wasn't comfortable with that. we will see if he handles it the same with yao. yao may be more accepting, but i'm talking about whether adelman will REALLY FORCE YAO back so he will actually see if yao will regain his form. will adelman give yao AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES to regain his form? again, the same dilemma will face adelman in terms of incorporating yao back without hurting the team b/c: yao may not be the same player, will be slower, and has already stated that he hoped adelman will make a compromise to slow the offense down when he is in there. it is OBVIOUS that tracy will NOT regain his full form by just playing 7-8 minutes a game, or even after a month. only more minutes and more games can really confirm that. adelman wasn't comfortable with that so i believe he really should NOT have played tracy in the first place. we should have talked to tracy and really have this situation handled like it is right now: tracy staying in chicago and wait for a trade. this whole ridiculous saga would not have happened. we all knew the team didn't have tracy in its plans. playing him 7-8 mins and expecting him to be the old dominant tracy is ridiculous.
it is still a much more serious surgery/injury. Z is the only one really has had it and his style of play is completely different. Z was a pretty decent post player before the surgery, and he RARELY plays in the post now, even before the acquisition of shaq. all he is is a jumpshooter off of lebron's pick and roll. the decrease in responsibilities is most likely the reason he is still playing. again, we will see how adelman handles yao's minutes and playing time and whether he will adjust his offense to yao's return immediately or WILL YAO HAVE TO PROVE HE IS BACK TO HIS ALL-NBA FORM before adelman warrants anything? that is the point of the entire article: you want more minutes/role, you prove that you are ready for it. tracy wasn't.
Although I may have seemed overly concerned about Tracy McGrady and his playing time it is because I am mostly concerned about Yao Ming when he comes back. Will he get the same treatment or will Adelman adapt the team to include the play of Yao? If not will they be honest and let him know before the season starts, that the coach will not acommodate him and is unwilling to adapt the team and that it would be best to trade him or have him look for another team. From Adelamn's statement I gather that McGrady was certainly not wanted and the Coach was not willing for him to fully return to to the team. Possibly the coach knew that the 7.5 mins would eventually drive McGrady away! And all would be solved! Adelman sounds humble about all of this, I do however believe that for some reason he had a hardened heart towards McGrady.
i agree that yao may be more accepting of it b/c he's one of the nicest guys EVER. i'm not talking about that. what i think will happen is that b/c the team still believes in yao (b/c of no drama obviously), adelman will really "push the envelope" to see whether yao can regain his form faster than anticipated. and he will adjust his offense so yao has ample opportunities to do his thing. i think he will handle it the opposite way he'll handle tmac's situation. i don't expect yao to have a small role other than 3-4 games, than he will go back to playing the normal yao role, whether yao is ready for it or not. this is a very good point. but again, yao's injury is much more serious and Z said it took him about 2-3 years before he felt anywhere comfortable to be on the court.
The difference between the two is how they handle it. Yao will not be "pushing the envelope" if he's not ready to contribute to winning and Rick sits him. If Yao is not ready to help the team win in November, he won't be putting on his uniform during warmup to make his point. If Rick puts him in for 7-8 mpg, Yao is unlikely to be b****ing to the media about getting 15-20. If he's not ready until, say, February, he'll likely just keep rehabbing until then. If Yao is not ready to play at all, then he'll probably end up retiring. There wouldn't be all this stupid crap as has happened with McGrady. Another difference is that, even though Yao's contract will expire after next season, the team probably wants him back for 2011-2012 if he can come back capable to play. Yao will not be motivated by auditioning for free agency, which McGrady said he was quite excited about.
in a recent article with yao (where he returned to china to visit his sharks), yao basically said it like this: "i can't play at the style they're playing now, so i hope there will be a compromise between the TWO STYLES." those are basically his words (i don't have the search function so can't search for that article). and we saw that last year. the 2nd unit with wafer/landry ran the adelman's offense much better, and we stuck to the halfcourt when yao is in the game. so if adelman will really alter his offense before yao is anywhere close to all-star level (it will probably take him at least one month for anyone to evaluate whether he is or not), how he handled tracy's situation will be looked at differently.
my point is rick adelman will be pushing the envelope for yao instead. rick will surround everything he does around yao ming from the start of next year, whether yao is ready for it or not.
Funny .. . wasn't one of the major points of hatred for SF3 is he wanted to play HIS WAY versus the COACHES WAY? Rocket River in theory
It depends on what Adelman sees in practice, etc. I don't know if Yao is going to be in better, worse, or the same condition comparing to McGrady is now. Assuming they are in the same condition come next December, I'd think it's pretty reasonable for Adelman to give Yao more minutes than he gave McGrady because of one thing: Unless Yao is really just going to retire, the team probably plan on having Yao around after his current contract expires. From all that we've read, they had no desire to bring McGrady back next year and would have no reason to think about how to work him back for the future. The team's only reason for playing McGrady would be for him to help them win this season. You might talk about "showcasing" him, but if he isn't helping with wins, he's not really increasing the trade value, either. Yao, on the other hand, likely has a future as a Rocket, so you probably want to see how Brooks, Ariza, Landry, etc. work around him.
we finally agree on one thing. even if yao is in worse condition than mcgrady, adelman will do this b/c yao is still in our future plans as he will retire a rocket.
Not sure about that but he is in Rocket's future plan. I expect Rockets to do what's in best interest of the team.
Tracy shot himself in the foot with his antics and his mouth. Can't lay the blame on anyone other than himself.
At this point we can't be so sure that Yao will be 100% by training camp. And even though I see Rick's POV here, some things still don't compute. You know, for example, how he says with a straight face that he couldn't play McGrady because the ball has to go through him to be effective, yet at the same time we continue to see Ariza in the exact same role except with none of the talent (and none of the results either). He simply didn't want him back, and whether subconsciously or otherwise he rationalized it. It's the same type of decision making that makes you wonder why Budinger's role continues to be little more than an afterthought/spare cog despite his obvious efficiency. I wonder when the love affair with Trevor will eventually wear out the way it did with Tracy and Ron (remember, it was this same type of rationalization by Adelman that led to Tracy playing last year even though he was not fit to). It's all so interesting to me. I hope this time the situation does work out well for the Rockets, because as I see it, Adelman has made things worse for the front office than they needed to be. It couldn't be that difficult. Play him, see if he is positively helping you win or not, and trade him or let him walk at season's end. Right? Now their leverage is severely diminished.
