http://blogs.jsonline.com/bucks/archive/2008/03/02/bogut-weighs-in-on-yao-situation.aspx Bogut weighs in on Yao situation By Charles F. Gardner Sunday, Mar 2 2008, 11:49 AM Yao Ming's injury has caused reverberations throughout the league, and the Bucks are one of the teams heavily affected by international play, as Tom Enlund's column points out in today's newspaper. Forward Yi Jianlian will play for host China in the Olympics this summer, while Andrew Bogut will play for Australia and Michael Redd for the USA. The 7-foot Bogut was able to take last summer off to let his body recover from several years of non-stop basketball. But he knows he will have little rest this summer due to the Olympic year. "I've said it many times and been criticized for it, that I'd much rather have a gold medal than an NBA championship," Bogut said. "That doesn't mean I don't want an NBA championship. "You've got 19 million people following you (in Australia), not just one state in America. I'm lucky I'm not in a situation like Yao. If he doesn't play, he'll be ostracized over there." It's uncertain if Yao's injury will keep him out of the Olympics or limit his effectiveness, but the Houston Rockets center said last week he intends to return in time to play for China in the Beijing Games. Yao has tried to balance the demands of country and his NBA team, but it could threaten his career. Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, another major international star, suffered an injury while playing for Spain in the 2006 World Championships and missed part of the followng season, when he was with the Memphis Grizzlies. Gasol could go deep in the playoffs this year and would have little time before joining his Spanish team, one of the major contenders in the Olympic basketball competition and the defending world champion. Yao played sparingly for China last summer while he recovered from an injury, although he did participate toward the end of the summer, after his wedding. Redd did not play for the U.S. in the first year of the current Olympic cycle, due to his wedding, but he helped the U.S. qualify for the Olympics last summer in the FIBA Americas tournament in Las Vegas. Bogut said he believes NBA players must be treated differently by their national teams. "You hate to say NBA players should have more time off, but they should have more time off and probably join their (national) teams later on in the (training) camps," he said. "I think now guys are starting to realize, 'I can come in a bit later or I'm not going to play.' "I really want to play for my country, and I expressed that, but it has to work both ways. There's a lot of European teams that don't buy that. It's a tough situation."
if yao EVER chose to not play for the chinese team (maybe a few yrs from now) b/c of his health and that happened to him, i would really feel bad for yao ming.
More like around 28, isn't it? And I thought my "posts per day" amounted to a freaky number! (looked it up when finalsbound posted)
Bogut probably has the highest ratio of talking to the media vs producing on the court in the league right now.....not since Jack Haley, has a stiff endeavored so intently on uploading his thoughts onto the newswires every other day......and at least Haley had the distinction of being on one of the best teams of all-time....
If he ever failed to play it would be the whole Wang incident all over again. When it comes to the CNT they don't care if Yao's legs are broken he'd better play or else.
i wonder if how long china will force him to play for their NT. I mean he pretty much has to play or never go back to china. he doesnt have the option of saying na i dont want to play wit yall this summer im going to take time off. it doesnt work that way with their govt. im sure there would be a lot of negative reprocutions for him and his family if he did that.
Give it a rest. Based on every single news article and interview that we have read and listened to in the past 5 years, the man wants to play for his country and he is determined to play no matter what. So you have first made up a hypothesis which is not going to happen in a thousand years. And then you made yourself get angry over it. It's not good for your health. Why do you want to do that to yourself?
one thing bogut has to realize is that most people from other countries would rather watch their countrymen play for an nba championship. if that wasnt the case then the nba would not be the most watched basketball league in the world. so winning here should be just as important if not more. i can onlyspeak for myself but id rather watch the rox win a shampionship then the usa. not to mention the nba pays these idiots to play here. what the hell do they get from their country. people have invested a lot of money in these guys over here. that should be their first priority otherwise go back to ur country if it means that much to u. what the hell are u doin here?
Is it just me or does Andrew Bogut likes to talk about things not related to himself or his team a lot?
I think you are misinformed. First, Yao wants to play. There is a difference betweeen representing Chinese and playing for the PRC government. Second, the PRC goverment are not as unreasonable as you beleive. Look at Wang Zhizhi who played for Dallas. He totally broke the agreement, refused to play for CNT, applied for US green card(it's not a big deal, but you probably think it is for the PRC government), and he was from the PLA team, which mens he was officially a PLA soldier. Guess what happened after he returned to China with expired passport? He was allowed to play, and he is still on the CNT team and will play for the summer Olympic. I guess you can not just rely on the media to make assumption about anything related to China.
