Yao: Possibility of not playing in Olympics is biggest disappointment of career

Pls check Yao's attidude for the Rockets,i believe he loves Rockets more than anybody of Rockets.No doubt about his Rocket's life
The same way no doubt about his chinese heart to country.
China is his parents,and Rockets is his lover in some way
this just means he is such a nice guy with big responsibility
some of you never know what's the chinese loyalty.
In some way! Yao doesn't belong to China only ,same not only Rockets ,but World
We should be pround of this as a Rockets fan

 

If the Olympics weren't in China I would be upset. But think about when we had the Olympics in 96 it was huge for our athletes to compete. Its amplified for him because China doesn't get the Olympics. He is their biggest sports star and now won't play (possibily) the one time they get the Olympics.

 

that would be sad indeed.

 

First, thank you for not pointing out my misspelling of "hear." We have quite a few petty posters here who focus on things other than the arguments presented.

Now to your point. My employer drug tests me. They also checked my credit and looked for any criminal offenses in my past before hiring me. My point is that in many jobs what you do in your personal time is something your employer will be concerned about.

In the past international players thought of being in the NBA as a dream come true and an honor. It took priority over everything because it showed the individual, his country and the world that they were good enough to play in the best league on the planet. There is also the part about being paid an obscene amount of money by the NBA franchise they play that is kinda important.

For Yao to say playing for his national team (that has no chance of getting a medal) is more important than playing for a Championship contending Rockets team is disturbing to me. Maybe I am just an arrogant American but my opinion is if you don't have winning an NBA Championship as your ultimate goal as a basketball player then I think you should not bother signing with an NBA team and focus on your international basketball career.

 

please guys, I'm sure the oppotunity of winning a ring for Houston weighs no less than playing for his national team in the Olympics in Yao's mind. But people usually don't get as much desperate at something for which you have a second chance as at losing the only chance in your life, don't they.

We Chinese fans are also desperately eager to see Houston winning a championship with Yao's contribution. The prospect of Yao as a Chinese winning a championship in the best basketball associaiton in the world is even more fascinating than China National Team winning a eighth place in a global level game. But for this game, which Yao has been preparing for so many years, he will probably not even able to give a try. It should be devastating for anyone in his shoes. Please understand him.

 

If yao will miss the olympics, he'd better had his right shoulder fixed, too.

And we'll get a fresh big man next season~

 

First, don't crack Language, it is not fun. It is your option when you try to "hear" something, grammar wise, let's say Listen.

Thank you for typing so many words, I guess you mean background check. Yes, would you say it loud that NBA teams won't want any players who play for their national team, Would you say it loud? if not, please be silent. There is not a valid argument. Rather, your boss could background check for you but they have absolute no rights to control your personal life unless you work for "devil wears prada", the girl movie's boss.

That's disturbing you that you can't understand others, fine, go home and disturb yourself. If you treat players like money-making machines, please think that way, if you treat them as human beings, EVEN that you don't understand, PLEASE show your respect to be understanding. Again, mention about loyalty, that's the difference between Yao and many average players who might have the same idea as you do. That's why people say that he has a great personality.

In talks with Doctor, Yao's concern is about whether he still can play for Rockets now. In press conference, Yao's concern is to get a quick fix and come back to the team.

If you are not satisfied with those statements, then please disturb yourself more.

 

Good point.

 

I'm surprised with a lot of reaction here. (well not really surprised mrore disapointed that people really can be so narrow minded).

Getting the chance to play in the olympics (which occurs once every 4 years) in his home land is a once in a life time opportunity. I think a lot of people in America do not understand how important the olymp[ics are.

He gets to play in the nba for the next 8 (depending on his health) years, so he has a lot of more chances of trying to win a championship.

I totally agree with Yao, I understand that not being able to compete in the olympics in his home land would be the biggest disapointment of his career. He is not bashing the rockets, he is just stating his opinion, that something that he has been looking forward to for years is taken away from him.

 

Bingo



When a NBA player can't win a championship they will said. We will try next year.

Guess what. There is no next year for a Olympic to play in China for Yao, this is they only chance he have. And he is the face of China.

 

i remember reading something once about how some legends of basketball considered their NCAA championship more meaningful than their NBA rings.

i can somehow understand this. and honestly, it seems that these kids playing in the march madness tourney do get much more emotionally invested than nba players in the playoffs. im not trying to discount any nba player or the nba championship in any way, i am just saying, for a lot of these college players, its the biggest stage they'll ever play on. they'll never play that level of ball again and they get at the most 4 tries at the championship and will never have the opportunity again as long as they live.

i think this is a little similar to the china olympics for yao.

 

playing for his national team has always been a big deal to him....

but you can always say this about yao....he always gives it his all whenever hes out on the court for the rockets

 

Dave_78, you need to look back at the first time the Olympics allowed NBA players to play - in 1992. Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and many more NBA players took pride in playing for the U.S. It was an honor for them to represent the USA.

Outside of basketball, David Beckham makes a good example. For David Beckham, playing for England always supersedes playing for his current team (Real Madrid before, and now LA Galaxy).

It's sad that you don't understand the concept of playing for one's country. It is the highest honor for many players in various sports worldwide.

 

i think it's obvious he's devastated about both the rocket's season and the olympics. if he wants to be more devastated about the olympics then i really don't give a f@#k.

if he comes back too soon for the national team then i'll be pissed, but i'll wait and see how his recovery goes.

 

great, hope you could control the time he comes back

DOCTOR

 

Where were you when Yao was drafted by the Rockets? It was a well known fact that Yao coming to NBA was a way to improve his skill, so he can help CNT in the international competitions, especially the Olympics in Beijing. The Rockets sent several delegates to China to convince them that playing in Houston would help him to achieve that goal, just like the Bucks did with Yi ( even their owner went to HK to convince his parents)

It maybe hard for you to understand, but NBA is just a business, just like your employer, you go to work and get paid. Nothing more and nothing less. But representing one's country is an honor and dream for most of athletes outside of US.

 

wow. To clarify, my take is that the words individualism and collectivism used in an earlier post do NOT refer to economic systems.

Rather, and this is reflected throughout the debates in this thread, these ideas refer to psychological orientations between self and the social world.

Individualism, in cultural psychology, refers to an orientation in which the individual - his or her needs, goals, desires, obligations, and so forth - ultimately take precedent over those around them.

Collectivism refers to an orientation in which the group takes precedent over the individual.

I would strongly suggest that this whole debate over which is more important to Yao - olympics or NBA championship - is fruitless. I would suspect potentially letting down BOTH of group obligations - rockets & china - breaks his heart. Don't look at just at a 10 second sound bite; has he not put everything he has into both groups? It's a situation an individualist would find difficult to comprehend.

 

human beings are selfish, ok of course country is greater than team, i bet arenas is pissed not playin for the usa team too. for yao growin up in china, he obviously has more love for his own country its nationalism come on ppl. yao is frustrated already, we need to encourage him and stop posting threads like trade yao. now thats just selfish.

 

Hi Dave_78. You have very good point and very logical argument. I admire your way of thinking. However... there is something, more than "career", in Yao's, some Chinese's mind... maybe it is "brainwash", but being able to play a game for home country (a game that has no chance of getting a medal), is the highest honor in my mind too