His issues came from being 7'6 and 315 pounds, playing year round basketball for a dude that big is insanity. If anything the CNT broke him down. Coupled with the fact that anatomically Yao had 'bad' feet, they were small for his height (19s) and he had very high arches which placed immense stress on the navicular bone which he broke repeatedly.
Ironically, before his pre NBA days and playing for the Chinese national team, he didn't have injury issues.
The Chinese govt are to blame, they ran him into the ground, if anything JVG got the best out of him.
That goes to show you what a great warrior Yao Ming is, and how fortunate we were to see him evolve into a Houston Rockets star.
I think JVG may have ran Yao into the ground somewhat. Yao was clearly bigger than most bigmen, so demanding him to guard pick n rolls or having him bang in the post ever play is questionable
Yao propelled basketball to the next stratosphere in China. Which he would not have done if he wasnt pushed to the limit. The Chinese saw one of their own play head to head against Shaq and not miss a beat. I think Chinese would choose short relevant career over long journeyman career. Suck that just when he got hurt he was making the adjustments to be the most dominating player in the world. The immature national media and ghetto ribbing was about to admit eating crow.
IIRC Yao started having health problems only after the tibial plateau fracture from when Tim Thomas dove into his knee when Yao was standing stationary on defense. It was a dirty, ****ty play and Yao was never the same after. Could it be that Yao was prone to foot problems anyway due to his size and weight? Yes. Same thing happened to Big Z
Most South East Asians and South Pacific dudes regardless of height or build have flat feet or very low arches.
You are talking about them "dirty Asians", which Chinese aren't a part of. I kid about the "dirty Asian" part.
Actually the way he extended his career is remarkable, huge massive guys like him have broken legs before they ever see any PT.
Off topic - anyone know why he is not coaching anymore? no offer? or just he doesnt want to coach anymore? Would be interesting to see how his defense philosophy work in the nba nowaday.
