There is no such thing as a "Healthy YAO".... even if yao returns, he'll be a shell of what he used to be. gasol from here on will be better. most rel rockets fns would do this trade
Now that T-Mac's coming back, lets blame Yao shall we? Many people say that Yao and T-Mac won't be the same when they come back from major surgery must be physic because they can obviously see the future... Look, I understand that based on previous results from other players, major surgeries tend to show unfavorable results after the fact. Then again, there will always be exceptions. There will also be players that come back successfully after a surgery like these. Results may vary. But do you really think Yao is working this hard on his rehab just to prove the skeptics right? Don't think so... Don't judge Yao until we see the end result of his rehab... Yeah, we can wait one season... Like we have a choice, right?
History is a solid indicator of the future. yao and mac are injury prone players who's best has sadly passed past them by.
You may be right. But let's hope you're wrong. I'm not going to judge until I see for myself. At this point I can only be optimistic as a Rox fan...
what you're saying your hoping for is Yao coming back and still being able to play at a high level. What the rest of us are dreading is him getting injured right after. There is a fine line between optimism and being extremely gulliible and naive. So, a player that has had season ending injuries just about every year...is going to magically be healthy all of a sudden....as he is getting older? Not trying to say this as a jab, but please grow up.
Gasol is perfect in Adelman's system...unlike Yao Ming whose plodding pace and playing style conflicts with the read-and-react offense. Gasol has that nice combination of length, shooting touch, bball iq and post play that you would want out of any big. Plus, he hasn't had a major injury yet I would also lean to yes.
No Worries... But why not be optimistically naive?. Isn't what being a fan of my team is all about? Where in my previous post(s) did I mention Yao will "magically" become healthy? My point is through hard work and mental determination, a player of Yao's caliber may come back at a high level. He may not be like 06-07, but it may be enough to help take the team through post season. Grow up? Nah... I'm too old for that. We gotta take the good with the bad. Yao will be a Rocket awhile. Until Les decides to get rid of him or he decides to leave, I'll continue to support Yao and the Rockets.
Well everyone's flawed, and Yao's biggest flaw is he is damaged goods. So what if he has insane work ethic? He's always in a suit when the team needs him the most! Stop idealizing people, Yao Ming is and will always be injury prone. Even if he wasn't he has been injured so much he lost whatever mobility he has. This makes Yao Ming helpless against fronting, because the other guy will always be able to cut him off from the ball. People talk about KG punking Gasol, but Leon Powe owned Yao Ming already, and Mehmet Okur makes Yao his beeyatch.
I lol'ed because y'all sound like this is serious matter and the trade is going down in any second. BTW you are missing my point. I said was a very good player. Pau would excel playing off Yao. Yao would protect the paint and Pau would block shot at the weak side. He's not your ISO super star or the one leading fast breaks. He's an average rebounder and defender for his size.
If it were all fantasy speculations, we would be better advised to take someone younger because we are heading towards youth direction. Pau is interesting but I'll pass simply he isn't a player who fits in the category hard nosed player who is a good defender / pesky, plays scrappily, has potential to grow and has the underdog mentality. We've got lot of rookies and I don't think Gasol is a very assertive veteran who is going to lead. Not even with the Spanish National Team he has to do that. They play teamball a lot more than in the NBA. However, I am very glad to admit he would fit into Adelman's offense pretty well. But that's not everything.
Seriously, Yao made me see how nice Houstonians are and the city are. Before that I only knew the Hakeem Days and the basketball team but not very much about the city and the community.
Let me ask a question, if yao is so much better than gasol, how come the team had .370 winning % without mcgrady prior to getting artest last yr but without yao the team wins 65% of the games with deke and hayes replacing him? Meanwhile, gasol has led the grizz to 3 playoff berths as the top dog and his 2nd best player was mike miller,posey,swift,or williams, take your pick. Even when pau doesn't play for La, they're not nearly as good,nor do they win as much. Is it by accident that they have been playing at a incredible level since getting gasol?
Opposing teams don't guard the C position for 1/2 the season and playoffs. Yao's broken foot is the best defender. If Yao breaks his foot again, his career is likely over. No contest. Gasol wins.
I doon't think its an exaggeration to say Pau had as much impact on the Lakers as KG did. Before he came into the picture the Lakers were destined for lottery land, then when he arrives they're suddenly the team to beat.
Kupchak came on after the trade and he said that if they didn't make the gasol deal, he felt they might slip out of the playoff picture. Granted, before Bynum went down that yr, they had the best record in the west, bynum goes down and they started loses games. They make the trade for gasol and they take off again.
I watched the lakers vs. nuggets game last night. The laker played really well without Gasol. With Gasol, the lakers had two finals appearance. But, I don't think that was all about Gasol. Before he arrived, the lakers lost to the suns twice in the 1st round. I think the lakers have problems to play the small ball teams. Remember that, the rockets without Yao took the lakers to 7 games. Actually, I think if the current lakers played against the 2006-2007 suns, they probably wouldn't win either.
