Yao Ming Fears His Return Will Disrupt the Rockets

Do you remember the game we played against the Bucks early on in the season? I think it was the third quarter when T-Mac and Yao were making bucket after another to blow the game open...it was an amazing display of dominance, a brief glimpse of what this team can become when both guys -- if even in stretches -- dominate simultaneously.

It was like poetry in motion...

 

The excuse for TMac's early struggles that he was simply deferring to Yao is lame and laughable. He was contemplating early retirement and not 100% ready for the season either physically or mentally or both. It's true he took fewer shots when Yao was dominating, and shot more outside jumpers and drove less to the hoop, which contributed to the decline of his overall FG% and offensive production to some degree. But his 3P FG% and FT% were both downright horrible and those had nothing to do with Yao's presence.

 

if Yao can turn into a monster again this year after injury...

 

I am not worried about how we will play with both Yao and Tracy. As has been pointed out we tried it and already played at a 14-6 pace. We have now seasoned some role players, and everyone is more comfortable on the court.

Most importantly will be that we won't suffer the complete offensive lapse when T-Mac is on the bench. Yao can still be in the game, to be a focal point of our offense. Then when Yao goes out T-Mac will be in, much like now.

Then of course the two playing together just gives us a huge advantage.

I think the key thing to look at will be how much better we will be while one of the stars is resting because their won't be a real let down on offense.

 

I just hope the rockets dont lose a couple games when Yao first comes back cuz of course the media will jump all over that and say the Rockets are better without Yao, just like when they got off to a 7-2 start when he went down.

Of course they give AI and Melo a pass even though the Nuggets are worse now then before they picked up AI. They get time to adjust and integrate AI to the team, but surely Yao will not be given time to be reintegrated after a two and a half to three month layoff.

Then there is Lebron. The cavs are like 8-2 without him during his career, but no one is saying they are better off, even though they are underacheiving this year.

 

yo yao will make this team even better than it already is. might take a couple wks to get used to havin him on the floor again for me. ill be like whos the big asian dude?! someone call security!

 

absoleutly not....but he must defer to t-mac again.....this is macs team but yao can only make us stronger what a team player though....most stars would be worrying about how they are going to get their shots when they come back...yao is truly special and his time will come to be the #1 on this team

 

Agree. Yao's key problem is his turnovers.

 

Dude you are a spaz. Quit being so defensive over nothing. This is the Houston Rockets, not the Yao show. Get used to it.

Tmac deferred to Yao because he was struggling. Nobody is blaming Yao. If Tmac didn't use Yao as a crutch, he might of stepped up his game sooner. He also wanted to get Yao going early. Good for him. If Yao never got hurt who knows how Tmac would be doing now. Drexler stepped it up when Hakeem was hurt for a while in 1995. Great players will do that. Houston is lucky to have them both.

 

Hey Yao, remember the saying, "pick your poison"?, that was meant for both of you and Tmac. So don't fear to get back, you'll be ok and the team.

 

This just in ... genius, T-Mac was hurting and even when he wasnt hurting from his chronic back problems, psychologically he wasnt doing the things he normally did because he never knew when the spasms would occur again. Thus, he would alter and contort his jump shots to try to take pressure off his back. He would decide to lay balls in rather than dunk because he was concerned if the impact would trigger spasms again.

The back problem was the primary reason for lower points scored and a lower shooting percentage.

Not a scorer? C'mon he is a two-time NBA scoring champion.

This is mostly no different in comparison to Jordan's plight early in his career. T-Mac KNOWS how to score but he wants to WIN! So, he will take less shots and create or do whatever it takes.

Now that his back problems are at least mostly fixed, an amazing thing has started happening his number of shots are down or the same before but his percentage is going up. That below 40% is now almost 45%.

All these factors and the results thereof are the end result when a situation as major as a back are showing signs of healing.

The reason T-Mac's shooting numbers have never eclipsed 45-46% was he was on sucky teams (Orlando) or he was learning how to play (in Toronto).

Now, potentially he can shoot less, while his shooting % continues to improve. He can distribute the ball more because he has a better cast of players around him who can feed off him. Imagine that T-Mac coming out and it is already starting to.

So in conclusion, your point about T-Mac is baseless and pointless.

You try playing basketball with a bad back. Better yet, ask Larry Bird how it impacted his game. It cut his career short, he could still play but, his back wouldn't let him.

 

yao ming just needs to stop listening to those idiotic sport announcers who said that the rockets play better without him, and just do what he does best when he comes back.

 

DING! DING! DING! we have a winner!

the only thing I am worried about is yao and the team getting back in that dominant rhythm before the playoffs start. there is no way in hell yao makes the team worse but I am afraid we won't be clicking at a potential championship level come playoff time.

without yao rox are a 1st or 2nd round team...

....with yao we are a conference finals or championship team!

 

You also agree that Yao should be put to the end of bench if he can't solve the TO problem?

Do you two remember that Yao was among top 5 in MVP list before his injury despite this Turnover problem?

 

Yao must've been sick for so long that he is starting to develop this kind of loser mentality. If he think he does no good for the Rockets when returning from the injury, then he doesn't deserve to play for the Rockets. In my option, he should be traded period.

 

As long as we have enough time to get him in shape and in rythym and in sync with tmac and co., we should be unstoppable.

But Yao should know that if this team wants to do the type of things they want to do (conf. or nba championship) we need him. We are close to Dallas/ Phoenix now but we can't win 4 of 7 in a series , but add in the probable league MVP to the mix and we can beat both and win it.

 

He is already the #1 on this team! I do agree with you though that he must and will defere to Tracy McGrady because Mc Grady is the only playmaker that can make Yao Mings game work for the Rockets.

 

The Yao quandary reminds me of the 1990-91 campaign when Olajuwon was out for about a couple of months thanks to a Bill Cartright elbow that crashed his eye socket. The Rockets still kicked the Bulls' asses that game but they would struggle a bit...before eventually going on a good streak, playing well without the Dream. Kenny Smith, Otis Thorpe, Buck Johnson, Sleepy Floyd...and Larry Smith at the five...they proved to be a good squad. They even knocked off a very good Spurs squad a couple of times without the Dream.

Then Hakeem was set to return and Kenny said, "It's like Christmas", something about eagerly anticipating a present. There was that 16 of 17 win streak (of course, the game they lost in that streak, a blowout from the Magic which I was present at, was one that I probably jinxed). They did blow out the Bulls (it was the game where Mad Max got into Jordan's face and Sleepy killed them with late 3s) and knock off the powerful Lakers on a Sunday afternoon during that streak.

But the 2006-07 Rockets...have something that those '91 guys didn't have. And that's a dominant scorer outside of the center position. So this should be interesting. And Olajuwon back then was still just about to enter his prime. Indeed, it'll be really interesting when Yao gets back.

 

When Yao comes back, yes, chemistry will be disrupted. However, I think that JVG will not create a Yao-centred offense because when the offense is more balanced, it forces the opposing defense to be ineffective in the following three scenarios:

1.) Man-to-Man (the most likely option). Tracy can get by almost any player in the league (see: Bruce Bowen). Man-to-Man coverage is ineffective against him due to his passing and ballhandling skills. You can't play a height advantage against Yao, so the only thing players can do to stop him is be physical or double him to force him to pass (and possibly turn it over). And that leads us to...
2.) Double team. You can't double team two players. Doubling T-Mac allows Yao to more easily get the ball and score. Doubling Yao will allow T-Mac to drive into the paint or kick it out to someone (or himself) and take an outside shot. The double will be effective only when Tracy drives into the paint, and that's only if defenders can adjust quickly enough. Even this leaves someone open, and they can take the outside shot. Of course, this is similar to another kind of defense...
3.) Zone. Zone defense is typically weak on the perimeter, something that T-Mac, Battier, Head, and Rafer (depending on if he's got a streak going) will be able to exploit. Zones also have gaps that T-Mac and Bonzi will be able to penetrate. Plus, we have a good passing team that can further pull apart zones.

Having THIS T-Mac and THIS Yao will allow the team to play very similarly to how we did with Hakeem and Drexler (NOT saying this team is anywhere near as good). Althourhg Battier DOES remind f Elie, and... What? I still get emotional whenever I watch the Kiss of Death. I told my Grandmother that I wanted him or Luther to do it in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Kiss of Death Part II.

Yao's presence creates another playmaker offensively for the Rockets. Something that was mentioned in another thread was that Hayes needs to develop a jump shot. If he is able to do that, he's one more person that can score. We won 2 championships not just because Hakeem is the greatest center to ever play the game but also because players like Smith, Elie, Horry, and (sigh) Maxwell were able to effectively score when Clyde and Dream were being doubled.

...Man, y'all's posts are usually really good on here. I hope this one doesn't sound TOO dumb. But oh well, I can't improve if I don't get playing time. Besides, I was T-Mac back on facebook.