Was Yao *ever* elite?? I hope the big guy returns healthy and effective, but I he's simply not an elite player.
If you wanna go by statistics sure. See the four year spand starting from 2005-2009. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3599/career
Many will want to disagree but Yao's defense and the ability to clog up the paint is the most important asset he has for THIS Rockets team. The Yao-less team of last year can put up their fair share of points, it's just surrendering 100+ every night that killed this team. Our frontline made Andray Blatche look like an All-Star.
Please be good....Please be good. Fingers crossed. I think he'll be able to get back to, or more likely close to, his 20/10. It'll go down some, of course, due to limited mins. Don't like to hear the potential doubt in his head, but then again what was he supposed to say......King Kong ain't got shat on me.
Did you just start watching the Rockets last season? The last game Yao played in, he dominated the Lakers...in LA. When he's on his game, he can't be stopped. There isn't a better center in the league when he's healthy.
Why? He simply stated the truth. He doesn't know if he will return to his all star form again. Nobody does. But he is working harder than ever to make that happen. His statement is the most logical truth and just makes sense. No conspiracy here.
Well he grew up in socialist China, they won't ever concede something detrimental to their country. The fact that he said the Chinese national team needs to move on and he's not the future is quite enough for him to say i thought.
Yao goes, "I need to add a new dimension to my game to compensate for my foot, so I decided to work on my 3-point shot." End of season: 45% from behind the arc, 38 points a game. Rockets win championship. Interview with LeBron: "Dude, I tried, but there is just no way to stop Yao from shooting the 3 all day long even with the triple teams we bring every play before he even touches the ball." Get it done, Yao!
It's hard to say that since I doubt the CNT is as rigorous as the NBA. Not just because it's shorter, but the intensity is a lot less as well. I've never heard of stress fractures being a result of continual strain but rather overuse. Overuse does not mean you need 3 months to recover from an NBA season. It means you need enough time for muscles to recuperate from fatigue...it's like when you work out. You can lift 60lbs a hundred times but at some point, at the 103rd rep or whatever, the muscle fails and you can't lift it anymore. It's not conditioned to take that much. What most likely happened is that Yao went from the regular season into the playoffs and the added intensity of the playoffs fatigued the muscles and when they failed he had a stress fracture. That's the overuse part... It's not just the uptick in playing time, it's the uptick in intensity. And what the Rockets have to do is monitor both very carefully and let it increase only gradually. Let his minutes get up to 35 a game, but when the playoffs come around they should cut back a bit and again let it increase gradually.
I've always wondered how much more demanding CNT duties are over "regular" off season training. Regardless, at this stage of his career, he's done enough. Always thought that the 2008 Olympics should be his CNT finale.
This is just typical Yao talk. He seldom overstates his abilities. If anything, he often understates. He's just saying he can't know how well he can play until he actually plays.
