Yup, as a Yao Ming fan myself, I think he should stay away from the olympic basketball and rest due to his ankle injury. The following are the reason why:

1) The whole entire Chinese basketball team will rely on Yao Ming (except Yi) to win each and every ball game. That will put too much stress on Yao physically and mentally. Who knows? Maybe he will injure his leg again and has the potential of putting him away from the NBA season again

2) Yao just injured his leg this year, he should get plenty of rest and let the other young rising star aka Yi to take the load.

3) No offense to the Chinese national team, but they will lose anyway with or without Yao Ming. So what is the point of putting him in a situation where he may injure himself again?

4) If the Chinese National team has the potential of getting the Bronze, then maybe Yao should play. But the fact is that it is near impossible due to stronger teams from Greece, Italy, France, USA, Argentina, Russia and even Germany is much stronger China.

5) Yao should concentrate on recovery, and make his mark on the NBA playoff or championship game which imo a better goal for his career than the Olympic. Moreover, Houston Rockets is a strong team with Rick Alderman as Coach. They have a strong championship team imo. And if Yao were to fall due to this olympic game, it will affect his NBA career.

 

He should play if he is even 85% Tom....... Playing for your country is a big thing..... (ask any Australian/ Pakistani/Indian boy if he wants to grow up to play cricket for his country!)

It's a bit different in the US as the big sports in the US are not played to the same degree in the rest of the world, generally speaking. Every kid who grows up in Boston wants to play for the Red Sox. Every New York kid wants to grow up and play for the yankees or Mets etc.

Reprsenting your country at the Olympics is a very big deal to just about every athlete and many would still want to do it even with a broken leg!

Quoting from [Foow]:

He should play if he is even 85% Tom....... Playing for your country is a big thing..... (ask any Australian/ Pakistani/Indian boy if he wants to grow up to play cricket for his country!)

It's a bit different in the US as the big sports in the US are not played to the same degree in the rest of the world, generally speaking. Every kid who grows up in Boston wants to play for the Red Sox. Every New York kid wants to grow up and play for the yankees or Mets etc.

Reprsenting your country at the Olympics is a very big deal to just about every athlete and many would still want to do it even with a broken leg!

That is the old way of thinking! LOL.... imo, playing for a professional teams representing your home country is as much big deal as towards the Olympics.

Moreover, if anything happens again to his leg, he is done for!

Pau Gasol played for his Spainish Team for the FIBA games in Japan, broke his leg at the semi final but his Team won the GOLD without him. Pau came back to US injured, and his Memphis Grizzlies lost big time at the NBA season. It was a good thing that it was just a fracture and he recovered well enough to sign for the Lakers.

Not many players can come back and stay healthy with a broken foot. Yao is a big guy, his foot is stressed more due to his body weight. Unlike Pau, Yao's team mates do not have much fire power nor defensive skills to offer Yao more rest time. Yao will be seen running up and down the court for 40mins straight. Yao will be making most of the offensive strategy the Chinese coach can think of, and at the same time holding the home ground blocking shots and rebounds. It will be a huge mistake.

Quoting from [Thomas1976]:

Yup, as a Yao Ming fan myself, I think he should stay away from the olympic basketball and rest due to his ankle injury. The following are the reason why:

1) The whole entire Chinese basketball team will rely on Yao Ming (except Yi) to win each and every ball game. That will put too much stress on Yao physically and mentally. Who knows? Maybe he will injure his leg again and has the potential of putting him away from the NBA season again

With this reasoning, all the bosses, CEO's may need to avoid coming back to office and joining any meetings with major customers, as they will most probably be relied upon to make each and every critical decision.  That will put too much stress on them physically and mentally.

Quoting from [tomorrowneverknow]:

Quoting from [Thomas1976]:

Yup, as a Yao Ming fan myself, I think he should stay away from the olympic basketball and rest due to his ankle injury. The following are the reason why:

1) The whole entire Chinese basketball team will rely on Yao Ming (except Yi) to win each and every ball game. That will put too much stress on Yao physically and mentally. Who knows? Maybe he will injure his leg again and has the potential of putting him away from the NBA season again

With this reasoning, all the bosses, CEO's may need to avoid coming back to office and joining any meetings with major customers, as they will most probably be relied upon to make each and every critical decision.  That will put too much stress on them physically and mentally.

O(^_^;)?

NBA = Major Customer (Get big deal, big profit)

Olympic = Minor Customer (Get small deal, small profit)

I believe that even CEO does not want to meet small minor customers to waste time to have small profit, right?

Using your analogy, why should Yao waste his energy in an Olympic that will less than a percentage changes of winning even the bronze? Why should a CEO waste his valuable time seeing and meeting every small customers?

Having Yao playing a losing game does not make any logical sense to me!

Anyway, most fans just wanted to see Yao in the court all the time, but failed to see that even a Superstar need some time to rest. Everything is about now, but fail to see what lies ahead in the future...

 

I do agree with you that Yao will very probably need more rest. Coming too soon, too early won't do him any good, nor for us fans of Yao and basketball. And you have given several considerations in support of your ploy that Yao should rest and stay away from the Olympic.

It seems I'm too picky to choose just one of your points only and question its reasoning. I don't think you treat my reasoning right though.

By the way, which team will you pick to win it all this season?

Quoting from [tomorrowneverknow]:

I do agree with you that Yao will very probably need more rest. Coming too soon, too early won't do him any good, nor for us fans of Yao and basketball. And you have given several considerations in support of your ploy that Yao should rest and stay away from the Olympic.

It seems I'm too picky to choose just one of your points only and question its reasoning. I don't think you treat my reasoning right though.

By the way, which team will you pick to win it all this season?

I like New Orleans because CP, David West, T Chandler, and Stojakovic have a great connection together. They deserve to win.

But in reality, the Lakers may have the better chance for the WEST.

While in the EAST, Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics should win it all.........