Yao Limited to 24 Minutes this Season

Quote :

Just so we are clear on this one, Rockets center Yao Ming plays 24 minutes a night this season and not a second more?

That’s the word from the brass in Houston, where the prospect of another injury-plagued season for the franchise center has led to this somewhat perplexing move.

We understand the sentiment, preserving the big fellas body until the playoffs.

We just don’t understand how anyone is going to be able to enforce this mandate when Yao is at 23 minutes and 57 seconds with two minutes to play in a crucial, must-win game.

Does anyone really expect the competitor in him to simply abide by this rule and take a seat when his team needs him most?

According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And there’s little to no room for debate:

Quote :

Just so we are clear on this one, Rockets center Yao Ming plays 24 minutes a night this season and not a second more?

That’s the word from the brass in Houston, where the prospect of another injury-plagued season for the franchise center has led to this somewhat perplexing move.

We understand the sentiment, preserving the big fellas body until the playoffs.

We just don’t understand how anyone is going to be able to enforce this mandate when Yao is at 23 minutes and 57 seconds with two minutes to play in a crucial, must-win game.

Does anyone really expect the competitor in him to simply abide by this rule and take a seat when his team needs him most?

According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And there’s little to no room for debate:

Just so we are clear on this one, Rockets center Yao Ming plays 24 minutes a night this season and not a second more?

That’s the word from the brass in Houston, where the prospect of another injury-plagued season for the franchise center has led to this somewhat perplexing move.

We understand the sentiment, preserving the big fellas body until the playoffs.

We just don’t understand how anyone is going to be able to enforce this mandate when Yao is at 23 minutes and 57 seconds with two minutes to play in a crucial, must-win game.

Does anyone really expect the competitor in him to simply abide by this rule and take a seat when his team needs him most?

According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And there’s little to no room for debate:

Quote :

“We’re going to take what we think is a cautious approach to try to make sure he is healthy throughout the playoffs,” he said. “Does anyone know for sure what that best approach is? No. The question then becomes who is best to make an educated case, so given that criteria, you go with our medical staff.

“We have evidence that when he played 35 to 40 minutes he averaged two years ago there was a buildup of stress on his foot that led to it being injured in the playoffs. On some level, we have at least one indication 35 to 40 minutes might be too much. That would lead you to choose to look at having a limit.”

I think it's a good idea to have a minute cap on Yao, similar to Ilgauskas in Cleveland (before Shaq got there). I don't know if 24 minutes is the answer though. I would've let him average 30 per game. Average, not get to 30 and you're done.

How's the team in Houston, though? Can they allow Yao to play about 30 minutes because he's the only guy they got or are they good enough that they can afford to let him play only 24 minutes?

In a tough Western Conference division, I think he needs to play more than 24 minutes. Their team has some pieces, but it got worse when they got fleeced from the Trevor Ariza trade. They weren't a playoff team last year and they got a little worse, so I think they'll need Yao to play more than just 24.

Uhm we fucking suck.

but yeah 24 minutes a game is good. Yao is getting older.

They are trying to prolong his career and I can totally understand that. If they were to make a playoff push, I think they would have to have Yao for more then 24 mins, later in the season.

I'll really get a kick out of this if Yao plays 25 minutes in the first game of the season