That's the problem. You can't depend on just two people to hold down the defense. Al Harrington scored more than Melo, and that's on Scola. Steve Blake shooting wide open 3's is on Brooks. The front court has to box out and grab a freaking rebound. It's not the responsibility of 1 or 2 ppl.
If he is healthy, play him normal minutes. Think about it...why are we playing him reduced minutes post-injury? There are only two possibilities: 1. He still isnt healthy. If so, I don't want him out there at all until he is healthy. Playing on an unhealed, surgically repaired foot is asinine. 2. He is healthy, but we don't want him to get hurt again. Well of course we don't want that. However, when will we get over the fear and play him the way his foot and body says he is ready to play?? If his body is ready, it doesn't serve any purpose to wait 40 or 20 or 82 games to find out what kind of player we have. All we're doing is placating our fears thinking that this reduced Yao will be a possibly healthier Yao. That's foolish! As long as he is as big as he is, he will always run the risk of foot problems. Nevermind that the doctors and team stated that his injuries had nothing to do to do with his usage rate. People forget that statement because we're placated by having "some Yao" right now. That doesn't change the fact that it was a structural abnormality compounded his his enormous size. Since the structure has been "fixed" and there are no known plans to significantly reduce his size, what is this reduction gaining the team, other than lineup confusion and inconsistency?
There's a bit of a difference between Yao's situation, and most other athletes' situation. Yao has constantly injured his foot over and over again. And while it's not 100% decided what the cause of that injury is, signs seem to point toward overuse and the bones eventually wearing down. The rest of the athletes run the risk of injuring themselves during unforeseeable situations within the game that can't be prevented. The Rockets (and Yao) can do something about his particular situation, and they've decided to do just that. And that is 100% the right choice, in my opinion.
There are only 3 back to backs in next 21 games. Before the will have meeting of the minds to determine how Yao's feet are holding up. I suspect they will take a thousand xrays before then and the pow wow will come up positive and they will extend Yao to at least 28 minutes. They may even give him some B2B minutes albeit a bit more cautious. They will have another meeting in january and give him even more freedom. We just have to come out of the month of November 500 and we will bee okay IMO. Of course they could discover a new stress fracture in Yao's foot in the mean time and that would be the end of that story. As for comparing this story with Tmac , the big difference is Tmac played better on his days off.
So, at the end of the season, when Yao wants a major commitment $$$ and years wise, what will you know at that point? Is it enough for you to know he can play 24 limited minutes per game, and assume that next year will be different, insofar as being to play fulltime? Did his foot "heal" more between now and then? Show me something that says his foot will get better between now and April. Is his foot 100% or not? If this were the second year of a 4 year contract, I could understand.the approach more. However, his is the time to take the BMW out for a test drive. I don't want to baby it before I buy it...thinking it will hold up after I have paid for it. I don't believe you would either. I think you'd put some pressure on it to see if it holds up before committing to it. So no, in that sense, I don't care if he breaks it. That's the business side of life. After all, that is the crux relationship between Yao and Les/Rockets.
Caution with Yao isn't a question of whether or not it's the right thing to do, to me, UTAllTheWay. It's about whether or not such special circumstances in regards to Yao are ultimately beneficial to the Rockets. The team on the court, I mean. Not necessarily the organization. If there is no way to count on Yao's presence at the coach's discretion, as opposed to Yao's durability, then Yao is undependable....at least in terms of tailoring gameplans to accomodate him. The issue has been made that the Rockets don't look for Yao when he's on the court...especially knowing the time they have him for is limited. Limited minutes and contributions are for limited players. Nobody changes their game plan for a bench guy. The Rockets will not make a point of running anything in the low post for Erick Dampier whenever he arrives, for instance. Dampier's job will be exclusively to defend the basket and rebound the ball. Yao's a much better player than Dampier. But if Yao is a role player (these minutes limit him to nothing more than that) because he's injury-prone, then he's got to fit in with the rest of the team the way Dampier will have to. I understand the risk. I understand the rationale. I understand that there are no guarantees. I understand you get out of things exactly what you put into them.....
The problem is that Yao will not Last the whole season at regular minutes, he will get injured again and miss the playoffs. I know you think thats foolish but history tells us that Yao's body cannot withstand the regular season so playing him at reduced minutes is a logical step for us. The rest of the team just has to get used to it somehow.
In other words you...and the Rockets...don't trust the surgery he had. It also sounds as if you think his injuries were usage related, yet I swear reports came out claiming the problems were not usage related, but structural (aside from Hayes rolling into leg). If that's the case, the current limited minutes are a waste of time. As DD has signed, Blake Griffin was out all of last year, too. Yet we, as fans, are apparently ok with this placating. It's too bad because we deserve better...
We definitely need Yao if we want to do anything in the playoffs. The limitation of Yao's minutes is affecting the Rockets continuity but I think the team will adjust. It's only 3 games in 82 game season.
Well, I keep beating this sad tune and its still not working. I always use the rig analogy, but people say it doesn't fit because its human vs mechanical. I think its the same because of their relationship. I wouldn't mind,not that the rockets cared, if they gave yao a new deal. The problem i see is what will it be based on? If yao was playing 30 consistent minutes, he would be 15ppg 7 rebs and I can live with that as a fan. What is that worth in todays market as a big guy? 8-10m per over 4 yrs. That would be a good deal everyone could live with. This 24 minute per game in 6 minute blocks is bs and it will kill the team. The sheer fact he can't play more than 6 minues at a time is the bigger issue to me. While I'm saying all this, the rockets will never win with yao higher than a 3rd option. If he's the 3rd/4th option, cool, but if he's anything higher, its a wrap and your team is doomed in the playoffs.
The Celtic fans were ok with Garnett's limitations last year (would they have been better off had he sat out rather than played with limited minutes and no power from his surgically repaired knee?), we're really just looking for excuses.
