Official "What They're Saying" Thread

Let's post some articles from sports writers around the country concerning our beloved Yao's year ending injury/Rockets future.

I'll start it off.

Here's one from some know-it-all in San Jose. Warrior country.


http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2008/02/26/yao-goes-down-the-olympics-mcgrady-and-the-warriors-all-in-flux/



Yao goes down: The Olympics, McGrady and the Warriors all in flux
By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am in NBA, Olympics, Warriors.

I can’t think of a single team-sport athlete who could have more world-wide impact with a single news story (and no, it’s not Patty Marleau):

* Yao Ming, stress fracture in his foot, to undergo surgery, out for the season, reportedly.

OH MY.

-What does this mean for Yao’s incredibly important participation for Team China in the Beijing Olympics this summer? I don’t know. But the consequences are global, obviously.

Buzz Ryan is the first guy to bring that up to me–he told me about the injury news about 2 minutes after it broke–and we both concluded that this was a mighty swift decision by the Rockets to shut Yao down for the season.

Teams usually take a few days after the discovery of an injury like a stress fracture to weigh the merits of waiting or surgery. Not the Rockets, apparently–boom, right to surgery for Yao, out for the season.

Add in the Rockets’ blistering 12-game current winning streak and theoretical dreams of competing for the title this season (VERY theoretical, but 12 in a row is 12 in a row) and I can’t remember a good team shutting down their star center this fast.

Does it have to do with getting Yao ready for the Olympics? I mean, there’s no doubt that China runs Yao’s career and negotiates a lot of his Western deals.

In part, that’s why I’ve tossed out a few concerns–shared by many NBA executives–that all of Yao’s commitments to the Chinese national team are wearing him down.

And now: Stress fracture at the worst possible time for the Rockets. Will it also be the worst possible time for China?


Or will he rush into surgery, then rush into preparation for the Olympics and surely the chances of him re-injuring the foot would be massive at that point. (Would the Rockets have any say there? Probably not.)

Fascinating. Sad for Yao. But fascinating.

My guess: Yao rehabilitates the foot in China, stays around the Olympic team during the run-up to the Games as a mysterious question mark, participates in some of the hoopla, possibly lights the torch… but doesn’t play in any games.

Just a guess.

-What does this mean for the rest of Yao’s career? He has had several injuries in his young NBA career and stress fractures are dangerous, persistent things.

Ask Bill Walton. Now there have been some athletes recently (when I think of them, I’ll add them to this entry) who have done much better nursing stress fractures over their careers.

But Yao is huge. He puts a lot of weight and tortion on that foot. A large part of his success is determined by his ability to move gracefully.

This might not turn out well.

In a conference that is loading up for the now (Suns, Spurs, Dallas) and the now-and-future (Lakers, Jazz, Hornets)… the Rockets had a possible “in” with Yao… and now that’s gone for a while.

-What does this mean for the future of the Rockets? Even during the big winning streak, most NBA watchers assumed Tracy McGrady might not be a long-term Rocket. What about now?

I’ve got to believe McGrady, who has chronic back problems, has to be moved, because the Rockets can’t keep two high-salaried injury questions on the roster forever.

Or else the Rockets have to build around McGray and find quicker players to offset the potential long-term loss of Yao.

-How does this affect the Western Conference playoffs this year? Easy. It moves the Warriors right back into a decent slot at 7/8, if they can keep it together over the final 7 weeks.

I never bought into the idea that a 46-win team would be out of the playoffs. It’s just the math. It’s hard for eight teams in one conference to all end up over .600.

Now, it’s about attrition.

Somebody’s going to get hurt. Somebody’s going to slump badly. It all still might happen to the Warriors, too, of course, but look:

* Yao out. Rockets were headed to 50-52 victories, but now could fall to 44-46 and maybe lower.

 

The whole "China is controlling this" theory is probably bullcrap ... but it's worth pondering.

I pondered.

Has anyone else pondered?

The way sports & politics are so screwed up today, I guess anything is possible.

 

I never had a reason to that that Plaschke whatever guy from Around The Horn ... but oooooooooooooooooohhhh he said some evil, evil things about Yao & The Rockets today.

Evil.

Now, I shall hate him.

That hate shall ooze from every tentacle of my being.

 

I forgot the word hate, initially. Sorry. I'm so upset.