Yao Ming's Audio Response to the Aldridge Report (1560 The Game)

wow we have a lot of sherlocks here

EVEN If yao never say he wanted Tmac out, what's he gonna say when a reporter asks if Tmac is cool in the locker room?

NO ONE is cool with what's gone down to Tmac this season. Tmac HIMSELF is not cool with it and has said he's not happy with his performance or his time on the court. What is yao an idiot? he's gonna say he's happy with where tmac is in his conditioning, mentality and contribution on the court?

Realize that saying "everything is fine." "we love what tmac is doing" sends a total message that people can quote saying that Yao is fine with what tmac is doing. a lot of you seem to think if yao doesn't say exactly that... then it means he's ADMITTING to having said something completely different.

Yao obviously isn't happy with where this team is or where Tmac is... even if he never said any of that **** about tmac a reporter coming and asking him "you cool with tmac" after trying to blindside him with this whopper... yao is not going to LIE and say everything is cool... he just said what he could say... he never spoke to aldridge and never gave him that quote and he and tmac aren't having some sort of cold war as accused... THEY TALKED YESTERDAY FOOLS

 

Lol, Aldridge is an IDIOT. His career should be over after something like that, because as a writer, especially for NBA.com, you gotta tell the truth.

 

He's a sports writer, though. I thought sports writers are like celebrity gossip writers. They get more hits and attention, if they do trade speculation and rumor spreading.

 

Well, not only that, but the 'high school' that he 'attended' was, from what I remember reading, really nothing more than one of those 'basketball mills'. Considering how his entire adult life has essentially been comprised of being rich, young, and playing basketball, with no real formal education of any kind, he is remarkably well-spoken and mature, even with his apparent poor impulse control when it somes to the words he chooses.

The downside, of course, is that his sense of self-worth, his self-esteem, has always been dictated by what he perceives as peoples' opinions of him.

What he needs to have is some kind of personal epiphany, kind of like what Hakeem had back in the early 90's.

Hopefully we will not have managed to run him out of town by the time it happens.

 

There is definitely something going on in the locker room. Yao completely avoided the last question.

 

I love how the people who think there is a problem between Yao and Tracy spin this to their liking.

I'm sure the locker room hasn't been all smiles, but some of you guys are trying too hard.

Yao is well-known for his dry sense of humor. Yao made fun of the question, but it's still not good enough. Give me a break.

I trust Yao Ming over David Aldridge. That's for damn sure.

 

If T-Mac is injured why couldn't the doctors who examined him find anything?

If T-Mac isn't injured what's up with this two week break?

There's just way too much smoke here. T-Mac's vacations, Artest's statements to the press after the Boston game, reports that T-Mac was having meetings with Morey and Adelman about his effort, the Aldridge report, the NY Post report, Blinebury's reports about discord in the locker room. One or two I could maybe discount. In toto it's just too much to ignore.

 

Like I said, I'm not saying everything has been hunky-dory in the locker room. But I do not believe for one minute that Yao has told anyone he wants TMac off the team.

Feigen's take:

(I want to give it some credence because David is so good. However, we have all seen Yao and McGrady converse often, including recently. They don't call one another to make dinner plans, never have, but they talk. Also, Yao is so loyal to teammates, he never wants any of them out. If he were a GM, he would happily fill a team with Mo Taylor and Moochie Norris and every other old teammate he could get. I would not doubt at all that Yao was angered by some of McGrady's performances this season. But I can't imagine that he wants him out. -- Jonathan)

Feigen Blog

 

Feigen's speculating based on generalities. "Yao's character is such that..." Aldridge has a direct quote from somebody on the inside of the organization.

Sorry, but anyone who's ever had to sit through interview training (how to give one) knows exactly what I'm talking about.

1) Answering a question with a question.
2) Deflecting questions by answering in generalities with specifics.

Both examples of weakness/evasiveness. Again, why didn't Yao just come out and say "Tracy and I are still friends"? Why didn't Yao come out and say "I don't want Tracy out of Houston, we need him to have any success in the playoffs"?

 

Ok Aldridge quotes a source saying "Yao and McGrady don't talk." Yet, they talk all the time. Whoops.

Why does Yao have to answer a question the way YOU want him to if he finds it ridiculous?

To me, Yao's response was: (thinking WTF, where did this question come from?) "Who is this guy? Did he call me (he sure as hell didn't ask me)?"

I will say, again, Yao is very diplomatic and isn't going to tell anyone if he and Tracy have had an argument(s). But Yao would have to be incredibly disloyal to suddenly want McGrady off the team after half a season, when McGrady had to pick up the slack the last two years with Yao out.

That doesn't fit with Yao's character. At all.

But you and some others see it a different way. Fine. I don't.

 

Two things:
1. Aldridge did not say that Yao has been telling people he wants Tracy gone, nor that Yao has gone to management about Tracy. What he had was:
"They don't speak," an extremely plugged-in person tells me. "And Yao wants him out."

Constantly lost on those that did not read the source article is this {DA's words}:

He also downplays the notion that McGrady would be traded this year.

2. Yao absolutely, positively, did NOT deny the report. He denied the quote about them not talking, but side-stepped the one about their relationship/wanting him out.

My personal opinion here is that the "extremely plugged in source" took observations from the outside and put words into Yao's mouth that haven't come out. I think almost everyone in the locker room is frustrated and upset with McGrady, Yao included. I very much doubt anyone has gone to Morey demanding he trade T-Mac. I think everyone does want McGrady to stay on the team, so long as he pitches in with real effort and commitment.

Evan

 

This pretty much sums up what I think.

 

I agree with your opinion. Aldridge just really destroyed his own credibility with the "they don't talk" part (which Yao didn't hesitate to refute at all). I'm sure Yao has been frustrated with McGrady and expressed it to him. Most likely, after one of those losses in which Yao sucked, McGrady must have made the mistake of trying to tell Yao to be more aggressive and dominate inside. Yao, already angry and frustrated, fires back and tells T-Mac to f*** off and get his own act together first before talking. Argument ensues, words are said. Teammates step into the fray backing Yao up. News leaks out. It may have even spilled over to the team flight.

I really don't see the big deal. It's exactly what you'd expect to see in the locker room of a team that has gone through the type of turmoil this team has gone through. All they need to do is pull through it and come together again.

 

That's the most reasonable take on the situation I have read in this thread. In fact, there should be frustrations in locker room after those games, where TMac has been just 30% of himself (100% of his bad part) and Yao has been inconsistent. If they are still singing and dancing altogether as a happy family, I would be much more pi$$ed.

 

That's like saying that a suspect has to answer a question the way a cop wants him to if he wants the cop to think that he's innocent. The answer to that is yes. It's not an issue with Yao answering questions in the way I want him to, whatever that means. It's an issue with Yao answering questions in an evasive manner. Like I said, anybody who's ever been forced to sit through training on how to give an interview is going to catch exactly what I'm talking about.

Go back and look at that text. Yao just found out that David Aldridge wrote an article stating that he wanted McGrady out of Houston and his answer is..."He called me?" WTF?

Also, Aldridge also says that Yao and McGrady are still friendly. His article states that it's not personal. Given that I never took it to mean that they completely ignore each other in the halls. Would it even be possible to play on the same team and not say "Hi" when you walk past each other? I don't think it has to be personal at all but from a dispassionate, professional standpoint the Rockets would probably be better off without McGrady.

Finally, why would it be disloyal to McGrady? McGrady quit on the team, so for the good of the team he should leave.

 

LMFAO some of you guys are damn ridiculous. Your so hell bent on smearing TMAC all over the place that even an audio clip of his teammate denying that the comments ever took place isn't good enough for you.

Maybe he didn't specifically come out and say "I did not say those things" but come on, seriously? The guy speaks mediocre english at best and was clearly surprised by the article in question.

I just love how many of you say "he didn't deny it", "maybe YAO was the source", "he laughed it off so as not to have to admit the truth". Give me a break. It's one thing to be upset with McGrady's recent performance. It's another thing to fall down to the same level as many of those reporters and start spouting off theoretical conclusions.

As far as I am concerned, Tracy McGrady is still a Houston Rocket. I have still enjoyed watching him dominate games and electrify the crowd numerous times over his career as a Rocket. And I will hold on to the belief that he is the man that this team must rally around in order to be one of the elite teams in the NBA. I'm still a fan.

 

he is too soft to lie but he might not have told the whole truth

 

I didn't know "soft" people couldn't lie.

 

I doubt any of this is true.

 

Thanks for posting Raheel, nice work.


What's Yao going to say, even if true :" Yeah, that's what I told a few of my friend's, wish they wouldn't have shared it."