People talking about what has a chance of actually happening don't get it. It is like he gets a wish from a genie or something, one or the other is guaranteed to happen, and the other is guaranteed not to happen. Obviously he would rather win gold for China.
Your eagerness to show that Yao cares about Rockets is admirable. But what makes you think that you can speak on behalf of "we Chinese" "our Chinese fans" "all of us"??? Your pretentious tone and faulty logic makes your statements sound like a joke. Maybe you are trying to make a joke? American pretending to be Chinese?
Tough question... an event that is played once every 4 years, or one every year. An even that is played in your home country for the first time, perhaps last in your career, or one that is played every year in America. No doubt the olympic gold. BTW, if China wins gold in the Olympics, thats like the Grizzlies winning the chip. A better question would be, would Yao rather play in the NBA finals with the Rockets, or the Olympics for a crappy Chinese team that won't medal?
are you kidding me, if China won the gold medal in the olympics for basketball, the country would treat him like a ruler - like the greatest national hero above mao. He'd probably be appointed emperorer. Heck, if China upset the U.S. even in the earlier round that would be like CHina winning the NBA finals. He'd be a hero just for that. You don't understand how much it means to Chinese if you think an NBA title is more important to yao then a gold medal. But ya know what, the man wants both. He wants to succeed for the CNT and the NBA - because he cares for both. No need to ask him which is more important - he doesn't have to choose. He only has to chase what matters most to him.
Even if Yao wins a gold in the summer, nobody is going to treat him like he greatest national hero. He is a basketball player. That's all about him.
You know nothing about Chinese people. Even if Yao doesn't play in the summer, all of the Chinese people have already treated him like the greatest national hero.
And that's the way I took his meaning in the interview as well... But for the record, I voted that he would prefer the GOLD medal for his country... Why would I vote that way? Because IF I had the chance to win GOLD for the USA vs. Winning the NBA title, I'd choose the medal first. First things first... and, in my opinion, if Yao won the GOLD for China... he would get a bigger hunger for the NBA trophy. First things first... and the Olympics are going to only be in China once in his playing years... I'd want to win it all if the games were in the USA and I played for the USA during my playing career, FIRST... a title in the NBA then would only make the circle complete. I think he is equally devastated at the timing of this injury. Like all of us, he could taste the history of winning both, possibly, this same year. It just plain all-around stinks.
I'm Chinese too,and I don't think that you stand for most of Chinese people. I love Houston Rocket，but I love my country much more. whatever，I hope that our big Yao Will be healthy as quickly as possible,the ring and the championship,anyone of them is not more important than his health。
If Yao can win a Gold in Olympics singlehandedly, I am very very sure he can win the NBA champ with Tmac and the rest! The chance of him winning a NBA champ is 1000X bigger than winning a Olympics Gold.
I'm not sure why more people don't get this. Yeah, of course he has a WAY better chance of winning an NBA title than to even *medal* in the Olympics, much less win the gold. Unless of course the guards on the Chinese national team can actually play now But that's not the point.
This is why I startred this post. To me is is a no brainer. But I was reading in the injury thread about people hopeing/suggesting he try to come back for the playoffs. I figure anything that puts the Olympics at risk is absolutely out. I remember when Yao was playing year round and it was a common opinion that he should stop playing CBA and use the 'off season' to refurbish his NBA strength. I understand why we want that, but guessed that it had to be hard on Yao to walk away from his home town/county fans and such. This injury/surgery/long term/short term/when can he come back situation got thinking about what the expectations of this board were about Yao's point of view. I didn't mean it as any sort of Sophie's Choice (A story about a a woman forced to choose between her children) philosophical question. Really I was just curious how out of touch some of us are.
I think I personally would rather win a Gold Medal, so, I'd go with that also given his national pride.
I am Chinese and this is my first post here I reckon, after diving for so long a time... and for sure winning the NBA title or the ring is my biggest wish this year, and then the tragedy on Yao and the Rockets came so abruptly! Kao Kao Kao(the chinese version of your 4-letter-word) is all I could shout out now. As for the Olympics, I'd hope that team China can be really successful,say top 4 overall, which is the best result that I can imagine. Good luck all!^^
Obviously he will choose China, as he has ZERO chances to win with China, maybe to win with the Rockets is a longshot now, but in the future he might have his chances here, in China... never.
