I bet if you give Yao enough off time in this country, let him get into our culture and activities, and FREEDOM, he'll not want to go back.
if he does stay he needs to rest alot in the summer so he starts the season fresh. right now he is hitting the rookie wall and getting tired from year-round ball at the same time...i feel sorry for him
I think he will be more than happy to spend summers in Shanghai. He eats better there and life is just more fun there than Houston. yeah, he can't drive there, maybe he can, with the money he made this year. But why does he need to drive there? They have this new "tech" train that goes over 250 mph. However, given his loyalty to his nation and his love to basketball, I think he will find the balance between serving his country, preparing for the next season and enjoying life.
According to this link, http://www.asianbasketball.com , the Asian Championships (Asia Cup?), is held every two years, with the next one scheduled to be held in the summer of 2003. According to this site, China does compete in this tournament, although I does not say if it is actually the Chinese National Team (with Yao) that plays in it.
Follow up to my previous post. Yao Ming did play in the aforementioned Asian Championships that were held in 2001. According to the information I found, winning this tournament is how the CNT obtained their berth in the World Championships, which were held in Indianapolis this year.
Let's come up with a petition signed by all of us - Rockets' fans, submit it to the Chinese gov't to keep Yao here for NBA summer camp. The summer camp with a weight lifting program will be far beneficial in a long-run to all the parties including Yao himself than just winning another Asian Cup. I think China is still a contender w/o him.
like I said above...show me...Im not afraid of admitting I was wrong..with that in mind...at this time,I must give codell props for forcing me to go back and refresh my memory... I was somehow thinking that I had found out previously that YM would be available for the Rox training camp/preseason..and I was right on that aspect...my mistake was jumping before cross checking my memory(big mistake considering how my memory is these days) I was wrong thinking that meant he would not be playing at all this summer...they are holding the Asian Championships(ACs) this summer (starting Aug 1st 2003)...so what that means to me is that zenkle was right...and I apologize for jumping at ya without checking my own facts. but it is a source of solace for me to realize that Yao will be back in the US in plenty of time to rest and be here for the Rockets training camp and for preseason since the ACs will be over by the 3rd week in August.. If you stop and figure out how much time will elapse between the end of the NBA season(actually the end of the 2nd round, which the Rockets will reach this year) and the end of July( which is when he will probably have to go workout with the Chinese NT)....and add that to the time fromm after the ACs and the beginning of training camp...he will get about 3 months of free time to rest and relax... Does anyone not believe that will be enough time to recharge his batteries? I certainly hope so... anyway...Im gonna sit back and enjoy this dose of crow for a while...coutesy of codell....thanx buddy!
