Do you believe he will be back and contribute or do you think he is done? i get the feeling people are writing him off to early..
Maybe a little more specific? A factor in what, our success? I personally think he is essential to our success. Hell, hopping on one leg out there he will probably contribute to what he have now..
You did it now. Yao haters are going to have to stop watching their dvd copy of "The Birth of A Nation" to criticize the big guy.
Yao's barely 28...same age as Scola. How can ppl say he's done already? He has come back from injuries before and has a good history of returning to form in comparison to McGrady.
Is 30, coming off 3 surgeries on his leg, he is'nt getting smaller so the stress is going to continue to mount up, has alot of mileage allready..... at best you can hope for 16 and 7 in 25 minutes a night. if e can give us that i'll be ecstatic.
Sorry, but if you voted for option one you are an idiot. If Yao is on the floor he is a factor. Even if he scored 0 points in a game and just stands under the opposing teams basket with his hands up he is a factor.
With his work ethic, I think he comes back strong, now...will his body hold up? I have NO IDEA....but I hope so..... However, there is no way I would give him a long term max deal...even if he does hold up this year...it is just too risky. DD
I am hoping for 15 and 8 in about 25 to 30 minutes of play, that would be a successful return in my book. Not to many centers can put up those kind of numbers and provide the shotblocking a 7-6 guy can do.
I would say between 20 and 30 minutes per game sounds about right. I would honestly be pretty satisfied if he came back and produced about 20% better than Big Z the season after his surgery. Since he's a better player than Ilgauskas ever was, I don't think that's unrealistic.
while I don't think 30 is a bad word for centers like it is for guards...I am basing most of that analysis on the great centers era of the 90s where 30 would generally be a big mans prime. However this hasnt been the case recently... It seems alot this generations great superstar big men are coming right out of high school, racking up a bunch of mileage and breaking down early.
Yao really hasn't had a lot of mileage over the years due to his injuries. This was supposed to be his what? 8th year in the NBA? He's only played 480 career games so there's only 6 full seasons under his belt. Obviously there haven't been many playoff games either. He's had the whole year off, he has the off season to get back into shape and work on his touch. I know there's the factor of Team China, but I think a realist's perspective would expecting him to return and impact the team in a positive matter (18 and 8) immediately.
hi, i just found out today that my friends parents met yao at a wedding last week. i can't make threads so i'd thought i just post in this thread and share with those who are interested.