Since most of his game is based on his shooting touch, and not his athleticism (or lack thereof). I expect him to put up something close to 18/10 or 20/10. Nothing too excellent, but nothing that would make it seem like he's declining.
remember when Yao challenged the Cavs to the game at home after the Rockets lost w/ referees kissing ass to LeBron? that's what i expect. nothing less.
Reasonable prediction of stats, but I don't think Yao will play 25 mins. He'll play 30 mins min, and I bet he'll average 35 mins or so. Yao was just recovering from injury last year, and RA still saw him fit enough to log 40+ mins at game. Barring another injury, no way Yao Ming logs mins in the 20 range.
no one comes back in playing shape. even Yao whose game doesn't depend on athleticism will have to play into shape as for his minutes it makes absolutely no difference for the regular season. he could start at 15 minutes a game and start from there for what we care. the goal needs to be at least 35 min in the playoffs, with him being fit to play the bulk of the 4th quarter during the playoffs
There should more posts such as yours. Yao is coming back from a very serious injury. If Yao were to just resume a normal person's activitities, there would be last doubt in many people's minds. Rather, we are talking about resuming playing pro bb AFTER having his foot reshaped! Lord knows what the stress from just playing bb can have on a surgically repaired foot. Therefore, I would echo your sentiments that caution is in order and insurance for the center position must be obtained in the offseason.
Yao will be the be the best center in the league at some point...but not next year,but i feel like some people have forgot that Yao has dominated all competition for the past 3 to 4 years...everyone talks about Dwight this and Dwight that, look to all the Dwight fans much love to you, the guy is a beast. But he cant hang with players bigger than him or better. Yao has dominated Dwight since his entrance to the NBA.Yao to me is a by far better center than anyone in the league when healthy. If you wan't call Dwight the best center in the league than Yao is a Hall of Famer. Yaos' numbers are 19.9ppg, 9.8rpg, 1.9blk, and an 86.5%ft shooter...Yes Dwight beats Yao in Rebounds and bloked shots but who cares when you cant knock the free throws down at crunch time. Yao will forever dominate the current centers of the league today, hes to big and to skilled to handle. Yea hes soft sometimes but the guy gets it done...Yao doesn't get half the respect as these other centers ion the NBA but yet when healthy year after year he makes yet another person look like charles the jackass but kissing barkley....
If............Yao comes back to the Rockets and if his foot is rebuilt and healed and if.... he is fit....Then after getting his game back, he should be a major contributor in limited playing time- never to exceed 30 mins /gm. Otherwise he might retire!
You wrote a whole damn article on Yao's attributes, and yet managed to miss the whole boat. It is about Yao's ability or inability to stay healthy. That is the whole issue. No disagreement from virtually any Rockets fan that when healthy, Yao is one of the best centers in the league.
I, for one, fully expect Yao to come back at full strength. Yes, he will be a bit rusty but he will dominate. Lest we forget, next year will be his contract year. Team Yao is going to make sure that Yao has a good season. Otherwise, they will all be out of a job in 2011. 20/10 for Yao next year.
i expect him to play 20 minutes a game and average 10 points a game next season..u guys need to realize the rockets arnt going to win a championship with yao.. this is coming from a pretty big yao fan..
Winning a 1 vs 1 matchup does not dictate who the better player is. You have to consider how they play against the rest of the league. Dwight Howard plays better defense, rebounds better and generally plays better against the majority of the centers in the league...Yao is more skilled on offense, but his defense gets exploited alot by scrub centers..I'd say overall Dwight is better..but not by a lot
Well 90% he will be injured again. Probably not by breaking his damn foot again, but a bad ankle or maybe knee problems. But if he manages to stay healthy in the course of the whole season, he wouldn't be as effective as most of us would think. It would take at least a few months for him to get back into game shape and get used to the rhythm and the fast pace. It took him years for him to get used to the fast pace in the past. So expect lots of turnovers, 3 seconds called on him, forcing bad shots, and foul troubles. Once he get used to everything again, his numbers will probably look to 15 ppg, 7-8 rpg, 45% FG, 86% FT, 3-4 Turnovers, and 1.3 assist. We all want Yao to come back and picked up where he left off. Most of you believe that he would come back and all of a sudden dominates. But most of you are blinded by his all star years. You guys have to realized that Yao is indeed a good player but he was never a dominate player. This is a very serious injury that he suffered and that it will greatly impact his performance once he gets back. His frame isn't helping at all. Expect him to be even slower than he is when he comes back. Yao isn't getting younger anymore and when he get back onto the court, he would be 30 years old. To some players, being 30 years old is nothing. But to Yao, being 30 years old is a big deal. He had talked about how he will retired at around 32 or 33 years of age. His body had started breaking down when he was around 27 years old. Now that he hit the 30s, his body isn't going to get better but worst. He is much more injury prone plus his endurance is going to drop big time so 4th quarter will take his effectiveness away. So any quick guards will destroy Yao on a pick and roll (Utah Jazz and Deron Williams). So don't expect anything from Yao when he comes back. If you have high expectations for him then you will be in a world of disappointments. If you don't expect much, than anything he brings is a plus to this team. When Yao finally get back into good game shape, he would make a good role player but not an all star player. So do remember, it would take him a few months to get adjusted to the NBA again especially for a player like him. Some players adjust faster than others. Even if Yao is a tremendous hard worker, a player like him just can't get into playing shape during the summer. Yao Ming needs to be in the game in order to get used to the NBA pace. Plus Yao was already incredibly slow before all his injuries, so after this one, it will slow him down much more. Big Z is indeed tall but he's very different from Yao. He wasn't an all star player nor he was as big as Yao. Sure he's very tall but Yao is taller and Yao carries more weight than Big Z does. But when Big Z had his injury, he was much younger than Yao was. Big Z is a good role player so if Yao recovers well like Z does, he would be a good role player also.
i think the only problem is that yao won't be able to handle 30+ minutes consistently. in the minutes he will play, i think his production will be very good. 15 and 7 in 25 minutes per game is what i expect. that's great production from the center position for someone who only plays 25 minutes a game coming back from serious foot surgery.
I believe Yao can work out recap as fast as possible to come back game shape as you said. The problem is Coach need understand Yao shall not play 3mpg average. 30 is the maxium and maybe 25 is better. I do believe last season's injury is mostly because overuse and no backup C.
