Yao is ready for the glue factory. I cant believe this guy couldnt even make it out of his own time restraint regiment. Let alone talking about letting him play back to backs? What was i thinking?
I thought it was super easy. I still can't believe how many people bought into all this crap. And no I'm not proud or happy about it....it freaking pisses me off that this franchise has made the decisions its made over the past couple of seasons....how married it is to Yao Ming. I've suffered through crappy seasons before, but right now i feel like this franchise has zero direction. Their plan is to cross their fingers and hope someone wants to play here one day...so stack up a bunch of assets who fight for playing time and never create a consistent rotation, because they're all potential pieces for a trade you HOPE will happen. Centering all of it around a man who's played unprecedented minutes for a man at his height...a height at which no player in NBA history HASN'T suffered serious injuries from which significantly reduced time on the court. Again..we knew that going in when we drafted him. That doesn't make drafting him the wrong decision...but it does make holding on too long the wrong decision.
Let's not pretend this is a surprise. Here's what we know about the tallest guys who've played in NBA history (I posted this in a different thread the other day). This is what we knew from the moment this guy was drafted. That he may have a fantastic career, but it won't be a long one...and that it will be marked by more and more frequent breakdowns as he ages and as he puts more impact on every joint in his body. NONE OF THIS IS A SURPRISE TO ANYONE...AND IT SHOULD NOT BE A SURPRISE TO THE ROCKETS. There are only 6 guys in the history of the NBA who've played at 7'5" or above. None of them were playing the kind of minutes we've been playing Yao at for years...mostly because none of them were counted on to be THE MAN. It's no accident that every one of these guys had careers marked by lots of missed games and injuries. http://sportige.com/top-10-tallest-...in-nba-history/ 6. Slavko Vranes - 1 season - only played one game..hardly worth mentioning. 5. Chuck Nevitt - 12 seasons - If you add up his career minutes played total you get 18 total games played. He never played more than 43 games in one season, about half an NBA season. 4. Shawn Bradley - 12 seasons - Only after moving to Dallas in 1997 it seemed Bradley was picking up and really getting comfortable with the NBA game, but after a few seasons, like every tall and lanky player, injuries started mounting up on his back and legs and his playing time and availability slowly started diminishing until he eventually retired after 2004-2005 season. (I'LL NOTE TOO, THAT BRADLEY DIDN'T PLAY ANYWHERE CLOSE TO YAO'S WEIGHT) 3. Yao Ming 2. Gheorge Muresan - 6 seasons - the man played 50 games/season @ 21.9 minutes per game over the course of his career. NBA career stats: 6 seasons, 307 games, 21.9 minutes per game 1. Manute Bol - 10 seasons - Like most players on the list, after the first few healthy years Bol started missing large portions of the season due to injuries that eventually ended his career in the middle of the 94-95 season. His final 2 seasons were more of a teacher job for him, mentoring Shawn Bradley and Gheorge Muresan as they developed into legitimate NBA Centers. Manute averaged 18.7 minutes per game and averaged 62 games pers season.
The fact that Yao is heathly doesn't mean much. As you see the guy is injury prone. He makes one bad step and he is out for 3 weeks. I am glad he is healthly but the % of him getting injured again (serious injury) is pretty high.
Yup, It sucks. And we are not even keeping a good enough record to make a run when he returns. Could this be his last season? Does he have another resurgence somewhere in him? Can his body hold up? He is productive, If only he could stay on the court. Can we find a suit of armor for him?
If it is a bone bruise Yao could be playing now, lots of guys play through that kind of stuff. I wonder if the team is trying to get chemistry before bringing him back? They could see how screwed up Yao was in his limited time.....in the first few games. Unfortunately, we have been missing other key players and forcing us to play 2nd string guys as first stringers....and it is killing the team. Losing to Toronto by 10, and Washington too....yeah, the team can not afford to do that.... Oh well....onto NEXT year with a lockout....WOOT ! DD
It's possible the Rockets may be keeping him out of the lineup for Chemistry reasons. I personally think they are tanking or preparing to Trade him. Most likely tanking....they know without AB and the way we are playing, we have very little chance to make the playoffs. DM is a genius
Agreed, I love Yao Ming as a person/player, but never thought I'd say this. We need to start over, the Rockets haven't been relevant since 1997. I am tired of constantly being disappointed about the outcome being based on "if Yao (T-Mac) being healthy, Houston is a contender" crap. I hate tanking but why not, we have nothing else to really gain by just missing the playoffs by 3 or 4 games..or getting eliminated 4-2 in a series vs LA. I know that this team has a chance to turn it around, but if no "Major trade" happens by Feburary, we are mediocre at best. Hopefully NY gets the number 6th pick, or close to it (Top 5 protected?) and then we try to ante up, and trade up in the draft for the 1st or 2nd pick. That way we could come out of the draft with potentially two high picks, and get rid of contracts like Battier, Jeffries, Lowry etc. That would be the quickest way to rebuild with out taking many years to do so. I think we should build around Martin, Budinger, Hill, Scola, and Ish, everyone else can be trade sweetners. The time is now to make a move for the sake of the franchise. I would trade Yao now, but who will want someone that injury prone? I think he retires a Rocket due to the sponsorships, endorsements and Chinese population. He is a global icon in China, like it or not.
I love Yao as a person and as a player. He was so fun to watch. You remember all his great games. Like the one when he carrier the Rockets in DC scoring like 23 points in the 4th while Tracy went out with back spasms. The said thing, it is all past. His days as number one option are GONE. HJust like with Tracy. But Yao can be a bigger force than T-Mac is. Rockets need to move in rebuilding more direction. They are not winning with this group and you play to win, and win big. I know tanking hurts but you look at teams like Chicago, Wizards and you see it is worth. But this is probably the worst year to move on because of those Knicks' draft picks. Sucks. I will say it again, it is time for Yao and the Rockets to move one. I have felt that way since last season.
What does it change? AB is still out for few weeks. We are losing to pathetic teams like WIzards, Toronto. We have no chemistry, no set rotations. Players get older and they suck. Coach is not making the right decision? I don't see how different we will be in December for example. And if we do struggle later on, it will be too late to turn things around.
We are were we at because we are trying to put pieces that allow us to sustain injuries. Remember we are suppose to be 2 deep at each position. Since last year, we stopped building around Yao.........we got players like KM and Lee because they fit DM statistical knowledge. Think about it Yao's game is half court, we are no where near that model. So I disagree we are actually trying to build around Yao. It's the main reason, why we have no identity.
A bruise in a bone as big and dense as Yao's has got to be related to a more serious problem. The charge that Yao took did not look like anything hit his ankle hard enough to bruise the bone. I smell cover up. A season ending injury announcement this early in the season would kill ticket sales. There are holding back the real news. I hope I am wrong though.
It is about three years for me. This has been obvious for so long. This debacle is on Les...."We will keep building around TMac and Yao..."
Nope. I think that went out the window when he got hurt. Could be wrong though. Funny thing is, a day or so before he got hurt is when you heard the talk about him playing back to backs, increasing his minutes, etc. Then he got hurt. Coincidence? Heh, no I dont know but....it is what it is.
