I don't know why some are blaming the Chinese government. China IS his home country. He's only working abroad over here. I bet he would have more pride winning the Olympics for China than a NBA championship. I say tough luck. Trade BOTH Yao and T-Mac!! What kind of team is this?! Just when they are on way to doing serious damage to other teams, they are already damaged!! Seriously though, if there is anyone to blame, I would blame the freaking medical team and the trainers.
I don't necessarily blame anyone for the injury, but the handling of Tracy McGrady's "doesn't need an MRI but ends up missing 3 weeks and later reveals an injury through MRI" was a disaster.
I dont know about being fired, but trade yao and tmac and get some real bball players who can substain a full season.
Good point there. But if you were him, would you rather win the Gold for U.S. in Olympics or a championship for another country's team, even if they paid you more money than the U.S. team? Sure Rockets pay him more than the Chinese, but he brings more Chinese fans to the Rockets, thereby generating more money for the team and more popularity for the team on an international stage. Oh by the way, I'm not Chinese, incase I sound like a Chinese homer.
Blame Alexandar The guy who is so cheap NEVER brings helps to the team!!!! Look at Mavs, how much they paid to help the team!!!
Is Keith Jones a doctor, are trainers doctors. just curious, I always wondered, I looked his bio up on nba.com, doesn't mention any medical training. not blaming this on Keith, just wonder what being a trainer requires
Being an athletic trainer (opposed to a personal trainer) requires a specialized degree & a certain amount of continuing education. They are certified & regulated by a national governing body. But they're not doctors.
[Hijack thread] Would Yao have been as huge a marketing success if he hadn't been in the NBA (real question, non-rhetorical)? The United States is the largest consumer nation with the largest basketball contingency, after all. How many people (minus China) would give a damn about him if he played in Italy or any other soccer nation? I think it's a symbiotic relationship. The Rockets benefit from having Yao, and Yao benefits from having the Rockets. Which one benefits more is hard to gauge. Seperately (in my opinion) they're no where near the international power they are together. I also think his game/aggressiveness wouldn't have improved as much if he didn't play in the NBA. I don't know what kind of practice he does in China, but if I were running it, I'd have him present and that's it (forbid him from running if I have to). Like veteran NBA players that sit on the sidelines at practices. If China does do that and he STILL gets injured, well, good luck to you Yao. [/Hijack thread] uh ... fire adelman ... hire van grumpy ... then fire van grumpy ... then fire Les ... then re-hire adelman ... then win championship ... then fire stern.
The NBA schedule is brutal and inhuman. 5 games in 7 days, 4 games in 5 nights - not including travel. 82 games per season in 5 and half months. It means one game in every other night. That's not including training and practising. And a big man take more toll than a small guard.
It's not fair to blame anyone on Yao's injury now, but historically, big man don't play big minutes due to the weight & stress they carry on their lower body. Yao shouldn't have played more than ~32 minutes a game, especially with the pounding he takes nightly down the post.
yao got injured over 3 weeks ago. i can't imagine that he was playing with a stress fracture that needed surgery for 3 weeks. i think it is much more plausable that our trainer allowed yao to try to push thru the injury when he should have been resting. now that injury has become a stress fracture that requires surgery. just my opinion...
This is ridiculous. Yao always does this. Plays through pain and doens't tell anyone about it. Then we have to pay for his noncommunication. Every frigging year except last year when he went down with the microfracture from a big collision.
