Most of us have the same concern but Sam is very smart,he has taken the worst case scenario.It's a very hard situation to be in.If Yao comes back healthy but isn't playing particularly well by the trading deadline,I might think about trading him for the best available package.Right now, I want to get a backup C who can score and defend which I admit is going to be very hard to obtain,but I'm no Sam Fisher.
Wow - I didn't know Yao could carry a team to a championship. He was last seen in the playoffs being outworked for rebounds on his home floor during Game 7. Anyway I didn't say he was finished - i'm saying by the numbers - a great player that is unavailabe contributes nothing when he is unavailable. Hardly a controversial point, but one that lots of people seem not to comprehend, or at least do not factor into their calculations. Because it's the most relevant one, being the most recent and it's the most illustrative one about his injury tendeny What was Yao's average in the 30 games he missed the year before? 0.0 What was his average in the 20-30 games he missed the year before? 0.0 The context of this thread is a poster making outlandish speculation as to Yao's trade value, which is apparently a combination of Dwight Howard and Chris Paul and other valuable players - That's ludicrous, for the reasons mentioned
yao never dominated a playoff game, let alone a playoff series, and we have guys on here pinning hopes on yao. yao is turning 28. people on here think this guy is not even in his prime yet needs to get a reality check. a guy injured 3 straight years doesn't suddenly become better and enter his prime and dominate even better than he has the past 3 years. he's in his prime. he needs to stay healthy. if he's injured again next yr, les has to think hard about trading the guy. if he's healthy, then we continue to keep him as one of our cornerstones. same theory applies to tracy. if we stick with this duo, next yr is the final year on how we gauge how much longer we should stick with them. but again, yao has been in the playoffs 4-5 years now and he's never been the best player in any playoff game nor playoff series. that tells me a lot. usually you know who was the best player in that playoff series coming in AND coming out.
"Carry" might have been too strong a word. The only players came close to carrying a team to championship were probably Jordan and Hakeem. Would "lead" be a better word? If you exchange Yao for a Juwan type solid and healthy player, who is going to lead us to a title? You keep skewing the picture. Yao was unavailable in SOME games. You paint the picture like he is zero. That is not true. I grant you that it is the most recent one. But it is the most illustrative one only for YOUR purpose, not for the big picture. The big picture is, he did contribute much more than any Juwan type player could have in TWO consecutive playoffs seasons. Our failure in those two playoff series had nothing to do with Yao's health at all. Yao was injured in the playoffs only ONCE since he joined the Rockets. We made the playoffs in those seasons, didn't we? How would we have done in those two playoffs series if we exchanged Yao for a Juwan type role player? edit: I got mixed up. We did not make the playoffs in 05-06. That year was when McGrady missed half of the season. The fact is, when one of our two main guys are fairly healthy, we make the playoffs. And when we get to the playoffs, we need both of them to have any chance of going far. Trading either one for a lesser player won't get it done in the playoffs. The context of my discussion with you is that you said Yao's value was less than a healthy role player. That's ludicrous, for the reasons mentioned.
big z never played for his country in the summer since he joined the nba...because he didn't have 1 billion people thinking he should prioritize his country over his nba career. you can't say that about yao.
What???????????? You will trade Yao for Juwan?????????????? Only because Yao miss the playoff this year? With Juwan replacing Yao, you think rockets would be a better team in the recent 5years?
He never been the best in any playoff game nor playoff series Which best player make 3 time final MVP Oneal play like a role player?
