Chinese Basketball Association Appreciation Thread

There's plenty of blame to go around, as any NBA player will tell you 82 games is way too long a season.

 

Yeah, you are right. If he had decided not to play for China, this might be a totally different story. But reality is that he is as committed to play for China as he is for the Rockets. Yao belongs to himself, oh yes, of course. But not in the sense that Yao is both a Rocket player and a Chinese player.

It's been very sad that Yao has been struggling with injuries in his whole career so far. But arguing over who's been overusing Yao is meaningless.

 

Was China bball really that bad?

How much wear and tear is there playing for China? Keep in mind this is a league where pudgy Bonzi Wells was putting up 30+ a nite.

I never thought too much of it because the level of competition/intensity is so much lower. In the NBA, there are back to backs where Yao gets beat up against other 7 footers going hard for 35 minutes a game. I doubt that they had back-to-backs in China and never against NBA quality centers. I am also sure the practices were less frequent (especially for him). The games are shorter and I doubt he played over 25 minutes a game there. How many games did Yao actually play? A long playoff run would have certainly been more taxing. I would think if he couldn't handle summer Chinese bball then he definitely couldn't handle that.

How much more physically demanding was it for him to play in China than what a normal summer would have been like?

If anyone has good knowledge of summer Chinese bball - please respond.

A side benefit was that Yao kept sharp and in shape. He also sat out a couple of summers didn't he?

 

Let's see, the Rockets play him 82+ games per year while China Basketball has him play a dozen or so games per year. Yupp, sounds like China's fault to me!

 

Lmao. I don't know what games you have been watching. When is the last time yao's played 82 games?

 

It doesn't really matter the physicality of the game. He's still using his feet the play the game and that adds wear and tear not only is his feet but for his whole body...

 

Was China bball that bad? REALLY?

Of course it was that bad! If it wasn't that bad, we wouldn't have a scapegoat! This is grounds for war!!

 

I think they only play like less that 40 games a year. Not sure though.

 

The NBA season is already a long one and with the summers playing with the Chinese basketball team he was basically playing year round. Not good for a 7'6 320lb man.

 

I dont think China is completely to blame for this. Pau Gasol is a 7 footer and plays for Spain every off season. Btw, this thread is getting a lot of buzz on 610 am. Keep it up guys lol.

 

Compare their frames?

That does bring up an interesting point, though. Should Yao have bulked up?

 

Those who are calling out China are trying to say that a 7 6" guy is not going to have longevity in his career if his body is never going to rest in the off-season. Between a grueling 82 games season and rough physical play in the playoffs, its hard to for a player to commit to playing for his national team every year let alone a guy with Yao's height and weight. He could do it when he was young but now he is getting old and his body cannot take it anymore.

China was never really commited to let him succeed in the NBA, they wanted to milk him for everything he is worth and now they have themselves a worn down broken player with history of foot problems and injury.

Those looking to shed blame on the NBA or the Rockets in general are completely wrong. The Rockets pay Yao maximum money to play, Team China doesn't. End of story.

I remember the hoops the Rockets had to jump through just to be allowed to draft Yao. The Carroll Dawson and Rudy T flights to China and negotiating with the stubborn Chinese for a player nobody had seen play outside of China. At the time we did everything to their tune because we wanted him for what we thought he could become to this franchise. Now 7 years later, I think China has burned the bridge for any future chance at having their players play in the NBA. Yi is sitting in NJ worth nothing and Yao is a big question mark. No General Manager in their right mind is going to put up with the shananigans of the Chinese not unless it involves another player like Yao but that is a rarity especially in China.

Truly a sad day for a Rockets fan.

 

its pointless to point fingers now........I just hope that Yao will be able to recover like Ilgauskas...sure he was never the same after the devastating injury, but atleast he's servicible........

 

Shaq never played over 65 regular season games each year.

 

China's decision to force Yao to play every summer, in the end, will cost China millions of dollars.

Good job China.

 

The amount of games that Yao plays in the Chinese Basketball league combined with the amount he plays in the NBA doesn't even add up to 82 Yao is the second coming of Bill Walton. I hate to say it but all the hate that went around when McGrady went out now look whats happening to Yao. God don't like ugly.

 

i'm torn because you have to see it from both sides.

CBA side - you knew what you were getting houston. you knew yao would keep playing for us. that was part of the deal all along. maybe you should've played him less minutes. when rudy first came to visit us about yao, that was the only requirement we gave.

Houston side - F U China basketball! we give your country a stage to catapult your best player into super stardom and this is how you repay us - working yao into the ground with offseason MEANINGLESS basketball? you do know the guy is 7'6", right? you do want him to continue to have that stage, right?

i can't be mad at either side. the fact is the rockets chose to still sign yao with the understanding that he would continue to be an ambassador for the chinese by playing for the chinese national team in the off-season.

i do think china was a bit selfish to use the NBA to open doors for them, but in the end, the NBA was fine with it, and so were the rockets.

 

I agree, nothing good can come from a thread like this. It's stupid to think that the CBA is to blame for Yao's foot injuries. It's stupid to think the Rockets playing him "heavy minutes" is to blame. We don't need a thread that tries to blame our Chinese fans for what their country allegedly did. We're all Rocket fans; we all love Yao. This news is hard enough on all of us without having someone run off and try to point fingers.

 

Well hell, pay me 13 million dollars, I would f**k my feet and ankles up, for no reason, right now!..Yao doesnt need his feet anymore, he have already made enough money to sit on his azz for the rest of life