Here's a real shocker... http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jJ0EKki3nMaIhgDU7oJJPEIJ4_XA I love foreign media. The French press mobilizing to smear the Chinese press. Anyways, I'm sure this comes as no surprise, and the Chinese media has said things like this before. But come on, change the "match scheduling?"
Well they are right.....I mean 82 games is a lot more wear and tear on his body than the 20 or so he plays for the CNT.... DD
So they want to shorten the best basketball in the world for the awesome national teams??? They don't want to take responsibility in forcing Yao to play for them year after year.
Well...the Chinese commentator has a point. Yao gets hurt because he is playing too much. The NBA is probably more stressful to Yao's body than his Chinese National Team comittments. Our solution would be for him to not play for China. Their solution is that he plays less here. I do find it funny that the communists are as greedy as we the capitalists pigs are.
Sure they are right, but there is always the money issue to consider. Which league is paying his almost $20,000,000 salary again? Oh, that's right, the one with the 82-game schedule. Why should the NBA have to be the ones that make concessions?
Yep that is a factor, and the Rockets should consider that going forward, I doubt Yao ever sniffs max money again. DD
What a bunch of morons. The NBA was here before Yao, and it will be here after Yao. It's not the NBA's problem, its Yao's. The only way for the NBA to "fix" the problem would be to make a rule that 7'6" chinese players are only allowed to play every other game.
All his injuries have occurred during the NBA season, have they not? Clearly the NBA schedule/competition is more strenuous. The CNT games may have contributed to some extent (though I think that's overblown), but its obvious to me that the rigors of the NBA did the most damage. Does that mean the NBA should change its schedule/rules to accommodate oversized players who can't handle it? No.
How about not making him play year round basketball? His body would GREATLY benefit from rest in the summer.
Yao played all 82 games his first 3 seasons while still playing for the CNT every summer. If he had a break most summers I don't think he would be as injury prone as he is.
True, however the primary question to be asked is this: Where does China want Yao to showcase his skills? In the non-threatening, low-level competition that is the CBA, or in what is considered the greatest league in the world, the NBA? If the answer is the NBA, then all other activities (sans the olympics) should come as secondary. Pardon my niavete, but I thought that China wanted to showcase their top professional athlete. Not hide him from injury to bask in obscurity.
Telling the NBA to shorten its season for Yao is obviously ridiculous, but they're saying this in response to the "widely-held view in the United States that Yao's repeated injuries stemmed from training with China's national team during the NBA off-season." Considering his first few injury years, at 20 matches a season for China's team at a lower intensity and however many low intensity games he'd play for the Shanghai Sharks, it's highly likely his body wouldn't be breaking down so soon.
Whatever....Of Course the NBA caused the injuries but he didn't play an outrageous amount of minutes its just that he is a big boy and couldn't handle the stress of it all. Reality Check time....When he comes back he will not be a superstar anymore but a really key role player thats it nothing more!
Do you think the NBA should change its schedule to accommodate all players? Shortening the season for the benefit of players' health is not a novel suggestion. The only people that get hurt here are the owner$.
