Um... what?! I don't even know where to begin, but I'll try: 1) Yao Ming is a #1 option and max player in the NBA. Those type of players don't play "around 25 minutes", unless you're planning on blowing out teams by 40 all 82 games. It's ridiculous that you even suggested he play that little. Even in his ROOKIE year, Yao averaged 29 minutes. This year, he only logged 3.5 more MPG than he did the previous year. Not exactly a huge leap. Play him the same minutes, but pay closer attention to his "injuries" when they first occur. 2) Mutumbo averaged 20 MPG in a playoff series against the most physical team in the league. I think he's good for a little more than "10 MPG" - I'd say 15ish. The problem with that is Adelman never played him - ever. Until Yao went down, Deke wasn't even an option. I think he should've gotten a lot more spot duty, at Chuck's expense. 3) I would be the next Rockets03 if Mihm played 20-25 minutes for us -- FIRE ADELMAN!!!! Again, Chris Mihm doesn't make this team a contender. And if you already have Deke, it's pretty much a wasted spot to sign Mihm as well, considering how little Deke played when he was a backup. Furthermore, it's pretty naive to think all three will get minutes. 4) I cringe everytime someone mentions drafting a big. We have Yao. We don't need to use a 1st round pick on a BACKUP center who will RARELY play. I understand the concern about Mutumbo leaving us with a hole, but we should deal with that when he actually retires. For a team in 'win-now- mode, with an aging McGrady, we don't have the luxury of drafting a backup who won't contribute significantly. Depth at the 1 - 3 spot is a helluva lot more pressing need than whose going to eventually fill the 10minutes Yao doesn't play.
Um... So what if he is on a max contract and no.1 option in the team??!!! Doesn't that mean he should be more protected and treasured and rested more than any other player??!!! so I'm guesssing you'd rather give our star Yao 40mpg and let him score 30ppg and 15 rpg flatout for 30 games so you get to watch him in a suit on the sidelines for the remaining 50 games being injured due to excess pressure on his body?! Think again before u give Yao that hefty load every night. Look at the major injuries Yao has faced in the past 3 years...He's been forced to miss out major chunks of games without detrimental effects on the team's success. Lets take a look at this year for example, he has been forced to miss out the whole of the most vital stretch of the season, including the all-important playoffs. Missing Yao Ming after the All-Star break was luckily compensated by the stepping up of our role players, but the Playoffs?! Having Yao probably meant we've probably won that series against the Jazz. The number one reason Yao has been struggling with those major injuries is---EXCESS AMOUNTS OF MINUTES. Yao isn't just like any other NBA player; he has many more playing committments than other players. This NBA offseason he has to represent and carry his National Chinese Team in the Olympics being played in his homeland China. You'd think he'd put every single joule of his energy into his passionate play for his country, a team he has to carry mostly by himself. Yao has just come back from surgery and will only just start commencing training in June. So he gets no rest during the summer and even more hefty playing time. So after these Olympics he has to get straight back to training camp with the Rockets...and soon after that the regular season begins for the NBA. My point is, after the Olympic he'll be exhausted, he doesn't get to sleep 15 hrs a day and play video games like some others, and heading back straight to training and conditioning he's putting a huge amount of pressure onto his body. We need his body to rest and recover. We are obviously not going to give Yao 25mpg EVERY game. But against weak /rebuilding teams/EC, why do we need to risk injury and fatigue for our hero by playing him in those games? We've shown that we can win convincingly with T-Mac and our roleplayers with our historic 22 win streak, so unless we're playing another contender(the likes of Lakers/Celtics/Spurs), we're probably going to win anyways! In those high%win games we probably need to just give Yao perhaps 20 mins, so he can rest and recover from his fatigue accumulated over time, UNLESS of course the game is close...but that won't be the case 90% of the time.
That sums up your basketball knowledge pretty well. There's no point in continuing to debate. This is the NBA, there are no "easy" games. Maybe Boston should've rested the Big 3 the whole series vs. Atlanta, since the Hawks are inferior and everyone thought the Celtics were "probably going to win anyways!" The games dictate how much the players play. Yao can rest during his normal stretches or if we're up big. End of story.
Yao is playing too many minutes. I would hope that Rocket's management, coaching staff, and owner all acknowledge that this issue must be addressed.
What do you guys think of this deal: Bobby Jackson Shane Battier #25 #54 for Raef Lafrentz Sergio Rodriguez #13 #36 Leaves us with somewhat of a hole at SF, but we have some tools to fix that. What I really like is: 1) Having two backups for Yao. Deke and Raef are both past their days as starters, but IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, I can more than live with these two mannign the position. 2) At PG, we get a great prospect. I'd love to see Rafer starting with Sergio and Aaron battling for minutes. 3) We suddenly have a good pick in the first and a good pick in the second round. Can't hurt our chances of picking a SF. Plus, we still have the MLE left to sign some people. We also have some tradeable assets in Francis, Head, Hayes and our picks to fill that hole. The deal has its disadvantages. But the the Rodriguez potential, Raef backup and draft picks makes me wonder if we'd go in this direction to extend our window a little.
I am curious why Mike Harris did not get more playing time, especially in the playoff. He would at least handle Harping better than Luther Head can. While the team is complaining about no one can create besides TMac, Mike Harris should at least be given a chance... Does he signed with Rockets through next season?
I have thought about Rodriguez too. I also feel that the Blazers won't give him up for the 25th pick.Unless we get an athletic PF with the 13th pick,we can't spare the MLE for a FA SF in case the negotiations with Landry get nasty. Battier by himself won't be able to get the 13th pick IMO and I do feel there might be a low percentage chance of this deal going through if the Blazers are desperate to dump LaFrentz. Raef does have 2 years left, if I was the Blazers GM I would probably retain him as a future expiring contract and keep the 13th pick despite the need for experience. I don't want the 13th pick for Battier unless OJ Mayo or perhaps Eric Gordon fall unexpectedly there.
Harris does have a non-guaranteed contract. I think he might have able to handle Harpring better than Head,but I don't think he can create his own shot much. He is more of an undersized 4 than a true 3 IMO.
Why don't we try and land McDyess? He would be a good backup off the bench and can score. It would be a good backup for Scola or something. Or maybe play him behind Yao at times. He deserves a ring and I'm confident he could win one if he came here! That was so random...but justa thought.
I thought about it earlier in the day,but I don't think we can get him for Jackson's expiring contract,otherwise I wouldn't mind doing that.I wouldn't give up the 25th pick + Bobby for him either.
Um...what? Did you even understand what I said?! Your example of the Celtics-Hawks to challenge my argument is completely flawed. What I said is the REGULAR SEASON...get it right. Obviously we play Yao in the PLAYOFFS!!! indeed there is no point debating if u didn't understand my argument. Look, the evidence is pretty damn solid. Yao has suffered major injuries for the past 3 seasons. Our loss of Yao has the Rockets suffering badly as a result of Yao's injuries. One of the only ways for Yao to stop suffering his annual injuries is to let Yao play less minutes! Yao has the Olympics this NBA off-season which will wear him down quite a bit, especially when he is trying to put up an all-out performance in front of his homecrowd. Add training camp to that, and Yao will be pretty tired before the season has even started. I know in the NBA there is no guarantee a team will win on a certain night...but lets focus on what I meant. A contender like the Rockets, are highly likely to, and probably will, win against a rebuilding team, right? Did we easily dispatch of most teams that are considered "lottery-bound" team after Yao went out? Yes we did! In fact we won by more than 10 points on a vast majority of those games. And Yao didn't even play in those games. As I've mentioned before, Yao does not need to play more than 20 mins on those games. Yao is most needed when we're playing against the likes of Hornets, Pistons, Suns, where he will be vital to us winning. In those tough games he'll probably need to play around 40 mins. Can Yao handle 35+ min per night every game? No he can't. Thats why, I said Yao is playing excessive minutes in the regular season. Thats why I said we're better signing a centre like Chris Mihm and Deke to play the C during those "relatively easy high%-win" games", so Yao can get some much-needed rest and recovery for his body rather than playing 40+ mins in those games. If Mihm/Deke can help us come away with a win, why not while we also get to rest Yao? We first and foremost need a healthy Yao, and to do that, we need him to play less minutes. Here is some supporting argument from another member:
I wouldn't mind Rodriguez either. But we already have Rafer/BJax/Brooks, do we need a 4th PG? I wouldn't give away Battier for the 13th pick. Its not worth it. This years draft is not deep enough to ensure we'll get a rookie contributor at the 13th pick. Battier was vital to the Rocket's winning. Every winning team needs a glue guy don't they?
I think its still about keeping our eyes on the prize and still competing for the ring. I think moves should be made to make it happen now, but not to sink the chances at James. So when i talk about trades, i'm talking about trying to win it in the next 2 yrs, while still having the money for James. I'm a huge Artest supporter for all the things he brings to a games every night. He's a matchup problem for every team guarding him, so i'll take the lighter,calmer version. Al Harrington for Jackson,Francis, and Head. Seems like a major shakeup, but i have a few. GS is trying to unload Harrington and his 2 yrs @ 19m. The rox could benefit from. What Harrigton is, he's a versitile big 3/4 type of guy. He's a good defender, decent 3 pt guy, can put the ball on the floor and post up. Against some teams, he can slide over and play the floor. He's 28 so he fits in the age bracket the rox are looking for. Shane can move to the bench which is where he should be backing up Tracy and Al. GSW gets 3 expiring contracts at the end of the yr. They want to get wright in so its killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Tim Thomas and 2nd for Alston and Landry. Once again thomas is the matchup type of player that the rox can benefit from in the playoffs. People like to say he's a underachiever for his talents and i cant argue that considering where he was drafted and the high ceiling that he had. At this point in his career, he's still a good economical player with a array of skills that could really help in matchup,playoff hoops. I know those anchored to Alston dont like the idea of giving up the starting pg, but we've seen the best and worse of Rafer. I hate to give up Landry, but IMO that he and scola are too similar. The only difference is one is more atheletic than the other with knee problems and is a slow healer. We're still in that 2 yr win window and thats what it boils down to. The rox still have the lle,mle,and te. As brooks take over the starting job,Arroyo or dooling can be signed for a backup with size. Also with the draft, Yao's backup, Hibbert will probably be availible. Green can be a developmental project, but will have a hard time getting in the rotation. Now i'm looking at: Brooks/Arroyo or Dooling Tracy/Battier/Green Harrington/Battier/Green Scola/Thomas/Novak Yao/Hibbert/Mutombo After the 2 yr run, James is free along with Tracy,Harrington,Thomas,Scola. After signing James to a max deal, the rox can either sign tracy at reduced salary or Harrington or maybe Green will be ready.
Bobby Jackson is old and on the way down.You have not mentioned Francis either but he is injured and one can't expect much from him.Brooks has down a fair job on occasions but he has a lot of way to go. Rafer is better than Rodriguez but he is inconsistent and will be older next year. Rodriguez is a better passer than Brooks in my opinion despite his lack of experience and could be a useful backup in the future. Every team needs a glue guy but we have a lack of multi-dimensional scorers and virtually no salary cap room for a another scorer. Scola is a good player,Landry is a nice talent too but it's not enough.I only mentioned a couple of players that I would think about taking a risk for Battier not any one else because this draft is relatively weak.
I kinda hear what ur saying and its one of my arguments as to why the organization needs to consider how much they can count on yao. No other team plays a limits a 28 yr old in his six season to 24 minutes per. I mean, if we're to believe Yao is committed to winning a ring, why should the rox make special concessions to deal with him? I mean 35 mins is not alot. Its like the rox need to take into account that he had an injury from overuse, yet he's playing in the olympics so he's going to be tired and needs rest. If thats the case, isnt that what the summers are for?
Rodriguez is another third option PG to add the Rockets pile of PGs who aren't good enough to be primary backups in Brooks, Francis and Head. In the past I thought adding a backup player like Travis Diener was all that was needed but now IMO the Rockets need to look at replacing or finding someone who can upsurp Alston. This season Diener was ranked 4th in Assist-to-Turnover ratio. He also stepped in as a starter for the Pacers. That's showing far more than what Rodriguez, Brooks, or Francis have this season. Even then I wouldn't want him on the Rockets, not enough of an upgrade.
We do need an upgrade from Rafer without a doubt,but no one is going to help the Rockets out,unless we give up major pieces. The draft can get us a backup PG at best.
You say this as if it's a done deal, as if no other team in the league has this on its mind... it would be amazing if it did happen, but I wouldn't start building a BronBron statue outside of Toyota Center just yet.....
I like all of your suggestions, except for trading Alston. His experience has proven to be key for the Rox in the past and I don't think Brooks is ready. But I really would like the addition of Harrington. Then we could package Landry or Scola with Novak, Head, and another contract for Mike Miller.
