I think people are making too much of what Yao said or what other rumors out there. First of all, the writer who wrote that Yao could be out 2 months early in the season doesn't know what he's talking about. And Morey had to come out the said it was totally false. So get over it! Second, Yao saying he may retired if he's not healed is understandable but i think he meant getting another injury and the frustration that he had to go through it again. And then people start making all kind of assumption like he's saying this because he's probably not healed...blah blah blah...c'mon people, get over it!!! I think you guys are reading too much into this. Yes, Yao is the franchise player and without him, i think Rockets are bound to be a lottery team or at least on the edge. So it's understandable that people are worry at what he said....look at this threads..wow...But my suggestion...don't read too much into it.
You guys are getting too caught up into this. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=5477567&postcount=113
not really. seems like it's been a long time coming. i've gotten so used to yao not playing that sometimes i forget he's even on our team, let alone the best player.
Yao has always been a stand up guy, saying what he thinks, maybe leavened with a joke or two. In this case, it might have served the Rockets better had he made some innocuous comment. Yao's health, as everyone knows, is the number one topic of conversation between a player and his agent when considering the Rockets, at least if that player is top notch. Still, I admire the big fella for his honesty, assuming he's ever quoted correctly and/or translated accurately.
Again, this is Yao just being realistic instead of overly optimistic. He's not really being pessimistic, though, as a lot of people seem to be thinking. He's not saying he thinks he'll be retiring because his foot is going to break again. He's simply stating that if his foot doesn't heal, he won't be able to play basketball... something we all knew already. This seems like a news story to simply have a news story rather than news.
Wow. Surprised to hear this from Yao. Didn't think he would be a quit after the comeback year. Would he dare to retire before Tmac?
I think Yao means more along the lines of after this coming season if he doesnt think his foot can handle another season he will call it quits. in other words i think he will be alright this season, but at the end of the season if his foot is showing signs of decline then he will call it quits and i believe this will happen. if this is his last season, i am fine with that. we get 17 million off our salary and we never have to worry about injuries from him anymore. i like the guy, but i think it will be time to move on after this season. he had a good career. i do think he will have a solid year this year. i just think his joints have taken too much of a beating and this year is going to be the last straw.
Even someone as respected as DD fell for all of this talk. You all must understand that Yao is Oriental and taking in China. Reading between the lines he is slowly establishing an upper hand with the CBA. Yao will not play in the off season again and he is letting them know how things could be. Knowing these things the CBA will leave him alone. It is not his way just tell them directly! Even so let us hope for the best of recovery for Yao Ming and a great come back season with our Rockets.
It is nice to know Yao has kept his humanity and not become something inhuman like a potted plant or an android. That's a real problem with athletes, always losing their humanity I mean.
ugh. i really wish Yao hadn't of said that to the media, not because of the McGrady like proportions of doomsday we will now face here, but it just says where his mindset is after these reports of him telling everyone he sees he can't promise to ever fully heal.
This. I mean think about it, Yao even said it. They guy has foot problems, and after a long 82 game season possibly with playoffs, the guy has to play for the chinese national team or in the olympics. His feet never get rest. It is running the racehorse into the ground without letting it rest and recover. This says it all really I think if yao is allowed to rest each offseason (meaning not play for the chinese national team) and gets at least 2 years of great health and playoff runs it will dispel a lot of the stigma of his heath every year (and also keep him from re injuring it and being forced to retire, lengthening his career and productive years). There is good hope Yao will be just fine after this year. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (who I think had similar foot problems and surgery around 2000 or 2001) has played in the NBA for 12 seasons, and has averaged 74 games a season for the past 8 years. His numbers went down after surgury, bu so did his minutes per game. He was still able to contribute for many years (the dude is still playing).
He's full of jokes because those are typically the lines that make the 10-second soundbytes. As someone who has talked to Yao on a somewhat regular basis and frequently listens to him, trust me - if you ask Yao a question, he will ALWAYS acknowledge the worst-case scenario. That's just who he is. It doesn't mean he's pessimistic, because he's not. Nowhere in this does he say he expects to retire, that his foot is unhealthy, or anything along those lines. He simply acknowledges the possibility, which is completely obvious and true. Yao's honesty should be a refreshing change for us, after dealing with a athletes who talk the way McGrady did following microfracture surgery. This type of reaction is exactly why so many go the Tracy route and mislead everyone... please, please don't overreact, folks.
whether your master plan will be success or not depends on yao's foot. you're tightly tied to yao's health. good luck! btw, the season hasn't started yet so take time to enjoy your master plan. :grin: i am not as pessimistic as you're. if big Z can play after injury, why not yao? whether he can play at the level he did in the past is another question. we just need to wait and see. anyway, the coming season will be the critical point for rox. if yao stays healthy, rox will continue to build around him otherwise, rox needs to head into different direction for sure. why are we so pessimistic when the coming season hasn't started yet?
I just can't understand this for the life of me. What kind of mindset do you want Yao to have - a McGrady, where he's convinced he'll immediately be his former self nine months after microfracture surgery, just because? Did you watch what happened to McGrady in New York, when he finally got the minutes and touches he wanted? Yao's mindset is completely fine. He didn't say he expects to be hurt. He didn't say he is hurt. He didn't say he expects to retire. He simply acknowledged the possibility that something could go wrong. After breaking the foot three times and having radical reconstructive surgery, I'd question his sanity if he didn't understand that possibility. And it may help him ease into that 25-minute role at the start of the season, the type of role so many superstars can't handle coming off injuries because of their egos (again, see McGrady, Tracy). Yao is confident he'll be himself again. But there are no promises, no guarantees. And there's no real gain by lying to himself and the media by saying otherwise. I appreciate his honesty, and don't see a negative impact.
This totally seems pointed towards the CBA. I think he's trying to get out of his national team 'commitment' so that he doesn't have to play year round anymore. Yes, he could retire next year if he doesn't feel like he can play, but I got the feeling that he's setting the stage to be able to say "I can't play this summer because my foot needs to recover before the NBA season. I'm not a young player and the CBA needs to move on without me". Perhaps that sounds like wishful thinking, but I'm really rather ok with Yao retiring after this season. It'd be nice to know about it before the trade deadline though so that Morey can plan accordingly.
