This argument always killed me. I've never heard of a bigger waste of being 7'6" than suggesting he should be a perimeter player. Holy crap. Physics got to Yao..the same way it got to every player who ever played in the NBA at 7'5" or taller. They all found themselves with reduced minutes and/or careers ended by 30.
Earl Campbell's career would have gone for 20 more years if Bum would have played him at kicker instead of running back.
So if he would have been a Spur he would of still been playing??? Pop rests his players all D time :-(... Sob
our comrades in china did. a man the size of yao needed at the least three months to not think basketball. And as much as I grew to love the fuhrer, I never really liked his substitution pattern for yao. Jeff Bonaparte did a great job in that department, watching yao's minutes. RIP yao's foot!
Being freakishly tall ruined Yao's career. People that big aren't meant to be running and jumping all the time.
Can't believe I'm getting sucked back into this argument again, given how often this was talked about a few years back, but.... One has to wonder if there's a happy medium here. Yao wasn't just being used a post player. He was a "power" guy. He gained a ton of weight and played physical inside. But what he became more of a finesse post player? More jumpers, fadeaways, and less bulldozing into the paint. Less weight and therefore less stress on his legs and ankles. Sure, he'd be less dominant, but we've seen how the rules have made it so that it's more efficient to use perimeter players anyway. And it may lessen the odds of injuries. Would probably have turned him into more into a Rik Smits type of player. In hindsight, given that the Rockets were absolutely putrid outside Yao/T-Mac, aiming to contend fruitlessly against deeper, more talented teams in the playoffs was most certainly a mistake. If the Rockets had Artest/Battier/Hayes/Landry/Scola type talent to start with T-Mac/Yao, then it would make sense. Contend while you have the short window. But when you have the likes of Head, JHo, Padgett, Jim Jackson, etc. does it really pay to have Yao be a borderline superstar, rather than just a borderline all-star?
Yao broke Yao's foot, Yao was responsible for his own body. Blame yourselves for Yao's injury because he did it for you.
The guy had enough problems rebounding even with his height and position in the paint. If you dragged him out to the perimeter or even just outside the baseline, he would have averaged like 7 or 8 rebounds a game. A 7'5" guy averaging 7 rebounds a game? Is that what you want? We had the likes of Griffin, KT, Hayes, MoT, Bowen playing on the inside with Yao for the majority of his career. In other words, we would have no inside presence at all. none. If you wanna lay the blame at anyone's feet, blame the FO for never getting a half decent PF to play with Yao.
I can't believe people still want to say playing a handful of games for China each year ruined Yao. They tacked on, what, 2% usage on Yao's feet on top of his training and NBA schedule. Guys who are that tall always have problems with their feet. We knew going in that it was likely. He wasn't ruined by anything. He was an asset that came with a ticking time-bomb.
He also played less minutes his first few years. Some of his injuries were accidents. Like when Chuck took a charge and his head banged right below Yao's knee. Another time, I think it was McGee, was on the ground or something and he came down on his leg. In the playoffs Kobe drove directly into Yao and kneed him, not sure if that contributed to his foot injury in that series. Yao was 7'6" you can't put a guy like that on the perimeter, he was too slow to do anything out there, how can we get rebounds, put backs, free throws, when our big man is out around the perimeter like Okur? I think it was the constant running, he played almost the full year for many seasons, NBA and then the Chinese National team. When did he start playing pro? Prolly like 15, 16? Maybe younger? Minutes add up exponentially when you're that heavy/tall. If we could go back in time, I would play Yao starting in Dec. and he wouldn't play more than 25 minutes until the last few weeks of the season.
He didn't play just a few games. He practiced, he trained, he was such a hard worker. He overworked his body, the Chinese team most certainly contributed to his body's deterioration. As did the 38+ minutes a game for 6 seasons.
Ok let's get this straight: Yao Ming has no obligation to play for China, but he does have an obligation to play for the Rockets/NBA. Sure China's his country and he probably loves it more than the Rockets, however China isn't the one who fed his family and allowed him the chance to get all these endorsements, its the NBA. So yeah, when it comes to Yao Ming the NBA gets first priority, unless Yao wants to return the 20M he made annually. Secondly, its not that China's usage of Yao Ming is just 2% or whatever, its that China didn't give him at least one year off to recover his injuries. Almost all of Yao's injuries happened when the season is about to end the playoffs are about to start. And yet, as soon as summer comes around Yao is up and about and suiting up for the Chinese National team. That gives him a recovery time of only around 2-3 months, and that's not enough to let your leg recover 100%. He'd get injured near the playoffs (when we can't tank), recover during the playoffs, play for the china team, enter the season slower than before and then get injured again. This happened 3-5 times by the end all the quickness we've seen from Yao Ming is gone and he's like an immobile tower out there. The thing is, Yao's body was perfect to handle his frame. His proportions were normal, everything was fine its just that he was 7'6 instead of 5'6. If he had been allowed to recover like any other athlete I believe that Yao would still be playing today.
There's nothing proportionally normal about a guy who is 7'6". Surgeons/doctors were talking about this for a very long time with him and with others who played around his height. I remember discussion about it before the man was even drafted. The career trajectories of everyone who played at 7'5" or taller is nearly identical. All are done by their early to mid 30's...and none of those that came before him logged the kind of minutes that he did in the NBA or elsewhere. It was all overwhelmingly and ridiculously foreseeable.
I'm sure it's already been stated, but all those months playing for China in between the NBA season ruined Yao. Nothing else.
