It's more than a little... I know people are really trying to be optimistic, but if this is true I highly doubt Yao will ever be the player he once was. 8 months is a long time to let your body heal, if he isn't at least 'pain free' at this point I imagine that is not a good sign. I have a feeling his mobility will take a hit with this needed surgery...if that's the case he's going to probably still have good offensive game, but he's going to look even worse trying to guard other players. I've said this a lot before, but I'll say it again...we need to get rid of him. It's hard to say...I love Yao, he's a great guy, but looking at the situation rationally, he is too big of risk to invest in...at least in a 'winning basketball' mindset...now, I'm sure Les has some monetary arguments to make which is why he'll probably never be traded.
Sorry man but what makes you consider sharing an arbitrary, fabricated idea with everyone? Probably not a good PR move.
I'm never picking Yao for fantasy ever again. (which means he'll probably go the whole season without injury) yeah.. that's the ticket.
Even if Yao was 100% in the beginning of the season, I would prefer that we kept him fresh for the playoffs. We don't need him to play 32+ minutes a game to make the playoffs.
the least you could do is explain your reasoning....it's bad enough you threw out something like that, pretty much doubling the time period given by the team, but you don't even have a reason it seems, or a legit one. you posted a link to his career stats, but don't explain how that connects to the 2-3 yrs you say it took him to recover? He had the surgery in 2001, came back the next year around december and that was the last time he had a problem with his foot. That year he had a below avg season, averaging only 11 pts and 5.4 rebs....BUT he came back, the following year, and posted a career high of 17.2 pts per game and avg7.5 boards. He also played 81 games at 30 mins/game, which isn't below average for him. So where exactly does it show it took him 2-3 years?? The stats certainly don't show that, maybe his FG % was low the next year, but he raised it again the following year and that was just one stat.
where is all this talk about "pain" coming from?? I hope it's not from the guy who posted he saw him swimming... no offense to the poster, but that's far from a credible statement. It was his observation and assumption. We dont know what Yao was responding too. Soreness, muscle fatigue, muscle tightness, muscle atrophy, and so on could all have Yao grimacing. This is how rumors get started. Yao's got enough to deal with and now fans are going to jump on the "he's still in pain!" bandwagon and make him look like a failure before he even gets a shot to finish rehab.
Here we go again; I told you that I would be shocked if Yao was at training camp. I am seriously wondering if he is coming back at all. I hope he does, but since the injury, I have had this intuition that he is going to retire. I hope I am wrong.
In my opinion, Thomas Hamilton will need 2 sandwiches to become full. In my opinion, Ray Allen will need 2 girls to satisfy his sexual appetite.
Yao needs to learn to move without being too mobile. He needs more coaching from Hall of Famers, such as Olajuwon or Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and learn and master a killer sky hook shot! Yao will be limited next season, so we need to learn to utilize him at certain times, half-court games, etc. No doubt, I miss Yao's presence in the paint, and his scoring! We'll see...
I think Yao is done playing on the All-Star level. Hopefully he can still be above average. To be honest....I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a McGrady like fall. Yea yea I know......Yao is a warrior and Tracy "No can NBA anymore" but at some point it isn't about how hard you work. Sometimes you just CAN'T do it any more. W/ all the injuries and the fact that he's rapidly approaching 30.....Yao might be at that point.
tracy is a perimeter player who's played over a decade in this league and used his athleticism 24/7 to succeed...yao, not so much..
