With all due respect, I think Jeff *should* raise hell on behalf of his players. Reebok has a vested interest in getting this right and any progress on that account is what I'm looking for. Yao Ming will make Reebok a whole lot more money if he is playing.
Jeff Vangundy made some solid points. The explaination that Reebok representive gives is that"Yao is wearing the same shoes in the World Basketmall games." But that doesn't mean anything! Nobody is stepping on Yao's toe in those several games! This is just a training camp and Yao is just stepped on. What if it is in the regular season and say Yao is stepped on by Shap or something big like that? Come on, Reebok has got to do something to specially protect yao's toes! The "steel shoe" thing from Yao's agent is an irresponsible comment. No,we don't need steel shoes and they won't work. But how about putting some High-tech material specially for the toe...There is 21 century and we don't just have steel! Tell us what special material is used around Yao's toe! Again, Reebok really needs to change Yao's shoes and come up with a plan. If not, I would imagine their shoe market to suffer miserablly because of Jeff's comment. The Yao Reebok advertisement is "Yao chooses Reebok". But if he hurts his toe once and once again, that advertisement just reminds people that Yao made a bad choice.
Isn't Huizinga the business professor from University of Chicago, one of the members on Team Yao? So much for wishing Team Yao would confront and demand more from Reebok.
Here are some key execs from Reebok. Maybe we can send a few emails or give them a few calls to make sure someone takes care of the problem. Tom Shine Senior Vice President Sports Marketing Reebok International Ltd. 1895 J W Foster Blvd Canton, MA 02021-1099 USA +1.781.401.5000 tom.shine@reebok.com Peter W Burrows Chief Technology Officer peter.burrows@reebok.com Bob Munroe President North America-Sales bob.munroe@reebok.com Ceclia Paglia Chief Marketing Officer ceclia.paglia@reebok.com
No kidding. I found this old article: http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/story?id=1384363 We don't wish to see you have some questionable character on your team, Yao. Stand up for yourself, big man.
Eh, Lebron's and Vince Young's agents are kinda sketchy as well, and they have done just fine. That stuff may just be spread around by Arn Tellem. I wouldn't read too much into it.
Nothing wrong with Reeboks shoes for ballin'. I wear the "Questions" for playing and have no complaints, great shoe. :shrug:
I dunno if this has been posted but Yao says his toe is fine. He's just taking it easy. http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Notes_Yao_says_toe_is_fine-191153-34.html
I agree. Of all the things to talk about we now have a corporation to blame for hampering our team's development. Yao says he's fine. JVG says Yao should demand Reebok "fix the problem". This is more of JVG acting like he's a high school coach (like his father) and challenging Yao to... buck his sponsor over a supposition that Yao says isn't a problem? I'd believe Yao every time over JVG, and if the coach thinks Yao's shirking his responsibility for not calling Reebok out I have no doubt Yao could bury the runt even without being rude. People here insinuating that Yao is putting his health in jeopardy over a corporate sponsorship are deluded, if anything he may be forced to issue a statement about JVG's rant - if that's the right thing to do - because that is what Yao will do period.
Yes blame the shoes. Blame everything and next target would be battier wearing the PEAK shoes. I mean come on, which company would let their STAR atheletes wear shoes that are not up to standards? This would be a suicidal move if companies does that, loosing out potential revenue, loosing out potential stars, youngsters will try and sign another brand. It is not possible. I think Van dummy is just really pissed off about without yao in practice because he is the core to the team's D and O. OR just a question of curiousity, who sponsors VDummy's shoes?
It's just typical JVG stuff. I think this "issue" will fade away by Monday when Yao returns. It will be interesting to see if Reebok chooses to not only refute it, but also go after JVG using his own words. Yao wouldn't have to say anything further and if handled well I think Reebok could get a lot of publicity out of this: the essence of JVG makes him such an easy target.
IIRC, Yao didnt sign with Nike for a reason. Nike had targeted Yao all along. Somehow, in Yao's early career in CBA, Nike China tried to offer Yao a bad endorsement contract for years. That's one main reason Yao later on gave more considerations to other brands because he felt he wasnt treated right. Also, I dont think Yao's toe problem can be solved by switching shoes or adding more protections to the toe area - Shaq also got toe problem. There will be a trade off of comfort, flexibility, and mobility if more protections are added to Yao's shoes. The main reason for Yao's toe problem is Yao always gets step on his feet by his defenders. Yao should be more fierce and physical with those guys who try to step on his feet purposely. Otherwise, those guys will keep coming.
Hopefully Feigen is right and JVG calling out Reebok will cause them to be more proactive toward getting Yao a better product that protects his feet a little better. ============================================== Foot fault Posted by Jonathan Feigen at October 7, 2006 07:23 PM By Monday, when the Rockets practice again and then run through a quick public scrimmage, Yao Ming should be back on the court and look just fine. He never felt pain in the bruised toe that cost him the last two days of training camp. He saw blood welling up in the toe on Wednesday, had it drained and practiced twice before he was rested. But if it's Yao and it's a toe, it's no small matter to the Rockets. Not after last season. So Jeff Van Gundy, knowing that the Rockets had been waiting for Yao's new, revised shoes all week, smacked Reebok for failing to get them to Yao in Austin before the Rockets left town. Van Gundy does not really know if the shoes could have caused the problem. No one does. But he also does not know if they could have prevented them. And that's the point. To Van Gundy, someone should know. Someone should be doing more. Yao might love the shoes he's wearing, but I'm guessing that now that Van Gundy has called them out, Reebok will be much more determined to find out what their shoes can do for Yao. That's probably exactly why he did it. They might even head back to the drawing board to come up with a new pair for Yao to love. For all we don't know, we can assume that after last season, when a small problem became a lost season, someone should have been doing anything conceivable to prevent even a small step in that direction. For now, it's a small problem — except that with Yao, no problem can be called small.
Come on. Dont scare me. Yaos career is not gonna be over. Moreover, every one will be hurt if Shaq steps on ones toes purposely.
