No because I think either way the foot would become a problem at some point. He said it was bothering him a lot during the regular season.
Losing to Portland wouldnt have prevented Yao from having foot problems. Yao needed the surgery if he wants any chance of having a stable future.
Would losing to Portland mean Yao would never have a significant foot injury, or simply postpone the same thing to, say, the middle of next season and he would still have to sit out the same period of time? Who knows?
gosh sorry this thread just seems lame to me. but i will gladly trade yao's foot for a taste of the semi finals.
No it would not have been better to lose to Portland. The Portland series win was the only thing that could take the bad taste of heartbreaking playoff moments like losing to Utah in 08, Dallas in 05, Utah in 97
That doesn't sound right... It's not your foot, right? It sounds selfish and quite frankly, disgusting.
Absolutely not. The franchise needed to get the monkey off their back. Plus, how would losing that series prevent his foot problems. All it would have done is postponed the inevitable.
What's the point of this poll? Maybe I'm missing a backstory. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I'd like my franchise player to carry my team throughout the most important part of the NBA: the playoffs. It's a disheartening feeling when you're accustomed to getting those thoughts in the back of your mind that your franchise player might go down at any moment. To answer the OP, my motto is always team success over individual player interest.
To your answer: Of course. Still, I can't help but wonder how much better the team outlook might be if the big fella was healthy. I'm not a Yao-only fan by any stretch and wasn't trying to be a "rocket" scientist with this. Just curious to take a quick snap-poll. I haven't posted much in the GARM this summer but I'm still not over Yao's injury. It sounds silly after all this time but oh well.
