Woj podcast with Yao Ming

[PODCAST]Yao on the Vertical w/ Woj

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-vertical-podcast-with-woj--yao-ming-170810439.html

Enjoy. Listening now.

 

Thank you man. Love listening to Yao! Great personality. Great human being.

 

Dang man, the feels. Yao was too damn selfless; had to play for the motherland. I want that 06 Yao back so bad. I would trade both dwight and harden for that beast again.

 

I really wish we only played him 30mpg or less after the first signs of foot trouble. His first 3 seasons, he only missed 2 games. He played an average of 30.8mpg. That's where he should have stayed. We can blame him playing year round basketball his whole career, but the Riley, JVG, Thib line of coaching has some damning evidence of overworking players into early retirement due to injuries.

The Rockets as an organization failed as well. If only Morey was the GM for Yao's entire career. Those teams were so bad until Morey came along.

 

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man I miss Yao Ming! such a humble, selfless guy. Its a shame that he had so many injuries. he risked his career to play in the Olympics, unfortunately for Rockets fans it didn't end well. Dude deserved better health than what he got.

 

Read his book again recently. Love the stories about him and Stevie's early friendship and how Stevie took him under his wing.

Francis and Yao were so easy to love. And Cat Mobley.

Was fun times being a Rocket fan with those boys rolling.

 

Listen to the podcast. Yao says that he broke the navicular bone in his foot in February '08 and the doctors told him after surgery that he would need 8-12 months to heal. He rehabbed hard and was ready for the Beijing Olympics in August, 6 months later. He said he knew he was risking the rest of his career, but his pride for playing for his homeland (especially playing in China) meant more to him than his NBA career.

We may not like the way it turned out, but that's who the man was. We can't blame the Rockets training staff or coaches for that.

 

Adelam increased his minutes (to 37mpg) when he got here.

 

Yea fun times. But also frustrating watching Francis iso dribble for 23 seconds and turn the ball over. Sounds very familiar

 

My 2nd favorite Rocket all time. Man I miss him, what a great personality and player

 

Yao is the **** man... So glad he was a Rocket. I loved his story about not being afraid of Shaq untill the second time he faced him lol.

 

great listen. For the record I believe that first shot in the Olympics vs the US in 08 was from 3.

 

That was great and inspiring to hear. He is so wise beyond his years.

I loved the part about how he explained that your opponent is what essentially creates you.

And the honesty was extremely refreshing...how he wasn't intimidated by the Shaq on the first matchup because he didn't really know what to expect, but was conpletely nervous on the second matchup. Also, the part about playing for the national team that's been mentioned, and breaking down a different cultural perspective.

 

Yao is a great human being.

 

Thanks for sharing those videos. That takes me back to one of those eras when our superstar was likeable...

 

Just listened to it. Wonderful to hear his humility and graciousness after all these years

 

Enjoyed watching him grow
Enjoyed watching him play
I knew he'd a baller when I saw him on the cover of SI at age 17

Rocket River

 

I can't even listen to this without great sadness... it's great to hear his voice, but the tragedy of his injuries