Injuries have little to due with mental toughness. Practically every player is motivated to play. Playing is what they love. We fans love to paint them as guys who just collect a paycheck and care about nothing else but first and foremost they want to play. Some people just don't have as good of genes and will be injured more. Someone said how come Kobe can play so many minutes, and why does shaq not have foot problems with his size. People are made differently. Luck also pays a big role. One injury makes you more subseptible to another and that is especially true with ankles (and knees/backs).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2002/playoffs/news/2002/05/29/shaq_foot_ap/ http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlight/2001-02-09-shaq-arch.htm
I'm a psychiatrist by profession but from from my knowledge of general medicine it's not likely to have been caused by a single incident. Repeated bone stress leads to microfractures in the bone structure. A single incident is likely to aggravate a pre-existing injury.
Yao explained it himself after talking to the doctors. He says it happened over a long period of time. Playing Yao so many minutes this season couldn't have helped the situation.
Maybe we should take a page out of TD's guide to championship NBA. Limit wear and tear on your big man by pacing his minutes during the regular season. This gives you a fresh big man come tournament time. Though might not have worked out this season in the even more stacked than usual WC, where just a few games separates first and eighth seeds. Might have missed the PO's. Sucks, but there are worse fates than being Bill Walton.
Think this guy will have foot problems? He has already had major knee issues: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/sports/ncaabasketball/09asheville.html?ref=ncaabasketball With Yao's dominant physique comes natural risks. It could have been worse.
everyone who bashes yao for being injury prone tends to forget that he never has a full off season of rest even if he is injured. the fact that he's so popular in china and the fact that he's their star over there too doesn't help matters. the thing that bothers me most is that china seems like it would rather risk yao's health and future just to medal in the Olympics which is fine and dandy but... their actual chances of winning are pretty slim... I'm sorry but i wished they realized this fact. they didn't do so well in the tournament this summer did they? i dont remember though..
Let's not kid ourselves: Yao's career path is looking more and more like a Walton than say a Kareem. This latest injury that Yao suffered is his second stress fracture to the same foot and the fourth time in three years that he's had a major injury. If you don't think that's a problem, you are just blind. This injury could be a turning point in Yao's career. If he doesn't come back 100% from this injury, his career will start to decline.
Could we also say that Yao is slowly sinking into Ralph Sampson world as well? Knee problems, foot problems, whatever. I'm only refering to the possibility of his career being cut short by injuries much like what we all saw happen to Ralph as well as Bill.
*sigh* No this was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Ralph was NOT an injury prone player, he was INJURIED BY ANOTHER PLAYER. It wasn't because he had chronic problems!!! If I hear one more false comparison about Ralph, I'm gonna start a new thread to educate and school people!
Man, trust me on this: I guess you will get every part of your body fractured even including some very important and injury-prone part of your body
well shaq weighed more than 300lb and went deeper into the playoff every year. he probably took mroe beating and taxed his lower body more due to his jumping but he's relavtively healthy when he's young.
but there're fans who credit adelman's system for yao's extended minutes. well this injury proves them wrong. the minutes jvg gave yao is best for his long term health.
