No, but it would have been longer had he not been forced to play for the ****ty national teams in the summer.
I don't think jvg had as much negative impact as Rick did. Running for a guy his size is just dangerous.
JVG's system didn't bring Yao's leg down. It's the running and fast pace offence that Coach Adelman imposed. (Disclaimer:Ｉam not bashing any coach here). I think in soccer or football, we can get stats like the total distance a player ran during a match. I would like to see the differentials of Yao had run under JVG vs Adelman.
Ehhhh, I'm going to have to agree with Hippie on this one. The stress fracture was more likely caused by his 300+ lb frame coming down from rebounds (even though he did only get about 3 inches off the ground, that's a lot of weight) and especially from running up and down the court and his year around play. More importantly, his left foot wasn't always his pivot foot. It depended what side of the block he posted up on and what move he chose to do based on what the defense gave him. Remember this move? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS-6zf-xOYA If you notice, even as he wrestles for position, most of the stress and weight are on his right foot as it his pivot foot in this case
I think that's a very good and legit question. I always love JVG, and thank him that he almost forced Yao to play like a true big man - under the basket. Although Dirk is a better player, I just hate to see 7-footer shooting 3s, and crying for foul 20 feet away from the basket whenever someone breathes on him. I enjoyed watching how Yao was unstoppable when he catches the ball deep down low. But in retrospect, when Yao first entered the league, he was 100 lbs lighter and a lot nimbler. Under Rudy, he played a lot more freely (with lots of lots of mistakes), but he was exposed to all kinds of situations. I am certain many fans here still remember the buzz-beater 3 pointer he made after SF3's kicking out. He made it with such confidence. A few years later, in the allstar game, he shot 2 airballs when the crowd encouraged him to shoot the 3. There are always pros and cons for each move in life. Nobody will know those whatifs. Yes, Yao might still be breaking down by now, even if he remains at 200 some lbs, because he never had any time off in the first few seasons. I think that was the real killer, for his body was not slowly worked into such dramatic transformation, from a workload point of view. He was right thrown into that kind of schedule, 3 years in a row. It's like butterfly effect, anything changed, as insignificant as it might be, it could change everything in life. What if Yao hadn't been taught to be a dominant low post player? Will his body last longer? We don't know. But he most likely wouldn't be as dominant as he was, even just in those very short period of time. I certainly don't want to see Yao end his career just like that. I would love to see him work slowly back into game form, even just as a serviceable role player for a few more years. I think he deserves that.
-------------------------------------------------- agreed. and the medical staff of the rox team, namely Dr.Clanton has a huge part to do with Yao's early career ending, T-Mac too. and all those, coulda woulda shoulda been avoided...
