too bad yao can't do the same with the CNT. smart decision by amare. it would have been dumb for him to play with the fragile condition of his knee.
Under FIFA rules, Amare is guardable! Dont believe it? Check his stats in the international competition you will know!
He wasn't as impressive as LeBron and others but he put up solid numbers and shot something like 70% from the field. I understand what you're trying to get at, though. I realize the rules are very different. Just saying there aren't any imaginable rules out there to contain his type of overpowering explosiveness and athleticism.
You have problem with the choice of words. Yao can but he won't. Have you considered how much endorsement money he will lose in China if he do that? It's a business decision more than anything else.
I think Yao's sense of honor and country is what keeps him playing for China. Didn't Yao actually take some time off from the CNT? He seems to have to play for the important games, though. If it's a business decision, I doubt it's Yao's ambition for more money.
I don't think his presence makes or breaks team USA. His game doesn't translate well to the international game IMO.
what really keeps him playing is the consequence of not playing. if china was like the us where most people think amare is free to do what he did, i doubt yao would play despite his current injury situation. i'm sure he doesn't care about money from china or the us but i'm sure he wants to be able to go back to china after he retires from the nba without people labeling him unpatriotic.
Well I'm taking the opposite tack on this one. Amare is the biggest weenie on the planet. Suck it up and play for your country you big baby! D-Wade has had multiple injuries and he's still playing. Get your head right! http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/sfl-flspheat19sbjun19,0,7520950.story
This is bad news for Team USA. Who are they going to throw the ball to when they need a basket in the post? Dwight Howard is not a go-to guy in the post yet.
Man, everyone is saying how DH12 and Amare don't "mesh" well in the international game, I mean barring China and Spain, the quality of international big men is...lacking. Most of the time, Dwight will find himself being guarded by 6'9 stiffs, which is a recipe for disaster (assuming of course, international teams won't zone around Dwight...which is a bad idea anyways because of the amount of star perimeter players Team USA boasts)...so it's not like a big disaster that Amare isin't coming. That said, China vs USA will be intresting to watch in terms of post play, both sides have talented and versatile bigs. It's too bad Kobe, Lebron and company will probably bust nuts in that matchup.
I don't think the difference is that Americans think Amare is free to back out and Chinese don't think Yao is free to back out. It's that Yao is 100 times more important to the CNT than Amare is to Team USA. Amare's spot will be taken by someone who is more or less his equal, playing with 11 other guys more or less his equal. If Yao doesn't play, the country's Olympic basketball hopes are dashed. If we had only 1 guy that was the difference between being able to compete and not being able to, Americans too would call him unpatriotic if he chose not to play. Anyway, for Yao there seems to be a holy convergence of interests that would coax him to play: national honor, personal fame, reputation, business interest, governmental relations, personal friendships, etc. And, not a whole lot to convince him to sit out, just some internet geeks that don't want their enjoyment of an NBA hobby curtailed.
Team USA's bigs have played awfully small in international play as of late. The are not skilled enough, not smart enough and the rules/defense seem to negate much of their size and athleticism. It's kind of an embarassment.
What, a guy who's completely healthy and no worries about contract or trade doesn't want to patronize his country?
My last post was a bit harsh. I was just a little upset that the U.S. has missed the championship on world stage for too long. I really want to them to kick some axx bad
