Charley Rosen: Dr.Tom Winters agrees that Yao is officially a "giant"

It's a very small sample size ya know....

Mutombo and Mark eaton come to mind. Bradley is still out there. Although he might have been cut because he sucks. Manute Bol didn't seem to have an injury plagued career.

So far Yao has shown himself more prone to bone breaks....at least it's not liagments or tendons.....

Bones heal. Liagaments and tendons might now.

 

Mutombo is only 7'2, so I wouldn't count him. Eaton and Bradley are good counter-example, though. Manute's first 7 years were relatively healthy, but he only played more than 20 mpg in two of them.

When I think of players who are similar, physically, to Yao, I think of Eaton, Smits, and Sabonis. Smits's foot problems are well known. Sabonis had a short NBA career, but he entered the league when he was 33 so I guess that's to be expected.

I think most Rockets fans would expect Yao to play at a high level for at least 5 more years. He'd be 33 by then.

 

"Ralph Beard is the 8th best NBA PG ever."-Charley Rosen

We dont need to be MD to know you are an IDIOT.

BTW, Yao's grandfather was 6'8(2.03m).

 

Didn't the initial article say that weak bones are a problem for giants due to improper blood flow to the bones?

Just because the MD in the article is posting potentially bad news about Yao I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. What he is saying makes sense. Lets face it the design of human body has an optimum size to function properly. Just because Yao is well proportioned doesn't mean that everything in his body is functioning optimally. Its like saying that you can just scale up a machine and it would still function the same when the design and tolerences of any device change when the size changes.

 

Well, any big man in the NBA is lucky to hit 35 and still be playing at 80% of who they were. Not many big men over 6'10" play beyond that. Not many NBA players play beyond that big man or not. Tha'ts just the toll of the NBA and the level of peakness you have to be at.

I think Yao can make it to 35, that's 7 or 8 more years. So long as he doesn't have any kind of major knee problems (and a fractured patella is actually not that big of a deal in the long run).

 

Yeah, but no respectable doctor would ever speculate on a potential patients condition without examining them. It's not tha the posting bad news, it's that he's acting so unprofessional in order to get some press.

This is weak at best.

 

Except that he's not posting a diagnosis of Yao just offering a solicited opinion based upon his own experience. Read any advice column and you will see doctors doing that all the time.

 

I know of no known, proven medical facts that sheer size alone is associated with poor blood flow to the bones. Patients with acromegaly are different though, and Yao is not one of them.

 

First of all, yes, Mutombo may be "only" 7'2", but he's also the OLDEST GUY IN THE LEAGUE. For a guy that tall to have been able to last that long says at least something about the durability of lengthy players, even if it's just an anecdote. Deke's height hasn't hurt him in any way, and he's not even as well built as Yao (especially in the lower body, which is most likely much more important). In fact, I can't think of any center 7'2" or more (other than maybe Sabonis) who ever seemed to be in as good of shape as Yao.

Second of all, and maybe most important: Um, WTF? Yao is 26... 26 + 5 = 31... Your math is a little (way) off.

 

I'm not a doctor but my understanding is that acromegaly causes gigantism and that gigantism cause many problems. While acromegaly is the initial cause the problem lies in disproportionate size. Its like saying that someone with a glandular problem might be obese but people might be obese for other reasons besides glandular problems. That doesn't mean that people who are obese because of something other than a glandular problem might not suffer from the same problems cause by obesity as someone with a glandular problem.

Yao's pituitary might be totally fine but that doesn't mean he might not suffer from the same problems as people who are large due to an overactive pituitary. Its not a matter of what makes him so big its a matter that he is that big and you can't just scale up the human body and still expect it work the same.

 

I read an article about Manute Bol a few years ago that says that he has a lot of medical problems.

 

Whoops. For some reason I thought Yao was 23 his rookie year. And I meant 5 more years, not counting this season.

 

Acromegaly is caused by a tumor on pituitary gland. Gigantism is caused by excess production of HGH which may or may not be a result of acromegaly. If Yao's pituitary is fine, then by definition he has neither of these conditions. And really Charley Rosen is the main person at fault here -- I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that whoever this doctor was, he was just proferring a medical opinion based on a cursory glance at the facts. Charley's decision to run with it and declare it as "official" is why he's an idiot and is being impugned accordingly.

Read the Wikipedia article on Yao. It specifically states that Yao's height is purely genetic and is not the result of gigantism or acromegaly. It is also a fallacy to speculate that his genetic size is responsible for whatever bone problems he might have. There are LOTS of NBA players who are far more fragile than Yao is (Bobby Jackson for example) and are not nearly as tall. Before last season Yao had been one of the most durable players in the league. Injuries happen, it's as simple as that. That collision he suffered was guaranteed to cause an injury, and we're lucky it wasn't something worse that could have required arthroscopic surgery. Besides, your attempt to use obesity as a parallel example is erroneous: unlike obesity, height is not a "disease".

Bottom line: all of this is just baseless speculation. There is NO substantive evidence to suggest that Yao's height/size is causing health problems for him.

 

That would be the result of a serious motor accident he was in (drunk taxi driver).

 

Hi bro, plz leave me their email address..............

 

WHY STILL all these debate on this piece of BULLCRAP from Charley Rosen ??

Did you guys read what I translated about what Yao Ming said about Charley Rosen's allegation that he is a Gigantism patient? Did you read what are the symptoms of patients of Gigantism or Acromegaly whatever you called it ??

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2676366&postcount=117

Yao Ming said: "I don't know this guy....Charley Rosen, and I don't give a damn of what they wrote and said. It is all fabricated stories !!!"

And I think Yang Yi used a great title for his article; Yes Yao Ming is a Giant, but NOT a Patient of Gigantism !!

Period. End of discussion.

 

Pituitary disorders can create many symptoms not associated with just 'being large'. The hormones secreted by the pituitary help regulate many important metabolic processes.

 

Yao is normal, he grows up normally, with a good brain and high IQ, he is healthy, noting to be worried.

 

Whew! I thought Yao Ming was changing sports from basketball to football. I wonder what position he would have played with the Giants? Linebacker terrorizing quarterbacks or a quarterback who could see over everybody?

 

That's exactly what I'm saying. Many people seem to be dismissing the doctors viewpoint simply because Charlie Rosen is citing him and that this spells potential bad news for Yao. I'm not saying the doctor is right just that we shouldn't dismiss it because if you think about how the human body functions it makes sense that larger people might be suspect to potential health problems.