No he should not. A premature return could put his career in danger, and it could disrupt the team chemistry. Yao will not be back till next year. Just accept that and move on. The Rockets are playing great ball without him.
It would disrupt our rhythm if he came back. Let him return when there's no timetable rushing him back, when we'll have time to reincorporate him into our offense. Plus, in the miracle event that we were good enough to make it all the way out of the Western conference gauntlet without Ming, then we should be good enough to win the whole thing without him as well. Let him add his firepower to our repeat run.
If Rockets can manage to reach NBA finals, I think Yao should do what Willis Reed did for the New York Knicks. Just get himself to the game and be the starter for 2 mins of the game.
If we go deep into the playoffs without him, then why mess up a good thing? Especially when you're risking his long-term health to do so? Makes no sense.
What I was thinking. "Yao hobbles on, obvious limp...gets the ball...turnaround jumper over KG...is GOOD. OMG. Rockets inspired. Win championship. End of sto-ray!"
I agree. We risk the possibility of disrupting team chemistry that would've been built up to that point. Trying to incorporate a slow 7'6" center into the run and gun team deep in the playoffs won't yield automatic 20/10 games for Yao. Going back to Adelman's Kings a couple years back, they had to play an extended amount of times without Chris Webber and still managed to maintain their elite status. When Webber came back, he struggled to get back in the flow of their game and the team suffered. And I think Webber was traded that following year.
I think he should sit the whole time until his foot is completely healed. This includes the Olympics if necessary.
Not a chance. Even if he was healthy enough to play he wouldn't be in game shape. Decoys don't work in 5-on-5 basketball.
No way. Would be really nice to have Yao walk out of the locker room with a Jersey on though during a critical game 7 in Houston. Fans would go nuts.
he should suit up just for intimidation purposes. then have him come to the scorers table every now and then to simulate him entering the game to throw off the defense.
if we even get that far why disrupt the offense by brining yao back for the finals? i'll take my chances without him, and have him healthy next year.
Exactly. If the Rockets are good enough to get through the West, it would be foolish to try to mess with that.
You missed my point. You can use a "decoy" in some sense in most other sports since they aren't 5-on-5 like basketball is. For instance, football where you could bring in a big named RB or WR as a distraction to get your opponent thinking. That doesn't work in basketball and that's all I meant.
