Yao Ming*Reprinted from Dime #42, on sale now*
After championships are won and lost, the NBA, college and high school basketball lays its foundation in the summer months. With the draft, the AAU circuit and summer camps giving rise to new stars replacing the old — plus the world’s most-watched basketball tournament getting underway in Beijing — we give you this summer’s Players 2 Watch…
One day, Yao Ming played 36 seemingly harmless minutes in front of a national TV audience during a Houston Rockets’ win over the Chicago Bulls. The next day, it was announced that the 7-foot-5 All-Star would miss the rest of season with a stress fracture in his foot. It was at that moment that the whispers began: that Yao could have played out the string for a promising Houston squad with NBA title dreams, but he was – either by his choice or someone else’s – being held out to ensure he’d be healthy for the 2008 Beijing Olympics to play for Team China.
The severity of Yao’s injury is known only by Yao and his doctors, but the fact that it was even suggested he would tank a $13 million-a-year job to protect his body for volunteer work shows just how important these upcoming Olympic Games are for China and its most visible athlete.
Kicking off on August 8, 2008, the Games are Yao’s show. Literally and figuratively, he is the country’s biggest celebrity, and the face of a sport that has grown wildly popular in the Far East. Although China has dominated the FIBA Asia tournament over the years, the national squad hasn’t fared well in competition with the rest of the world; they finished eighth in the ‘04 Olympics and 15th in the ‘06 World Championships.
Since then, the national program has developed NBA talent like Yi Jianlian and ‘07 draftee Sun Yue that will bolster Team China. But ultimately, when the eyes of the planet fix themselves on Beijing, it’ll be Yao Ming who’s expected to capture their attention.
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July 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Damon says:
funny how they think they could win a medal. NEVER…
and about YAO’s injury: of course it looks like he was held out. but he had a stress fracture and was just cleared to play a couple of weeks ago. its not like he played pickup games the whole summer, so the injury obviously was real.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Logan Light says:
I don’t think DIME was questioning the validity of the injury, just that Yao probably could have played through it to get the Rockets a better shot at a title.
We all know the pull that China has over it’s athletes… one call to Yao about the time line for recovery messing with the Olympics would be all that it took for him to shut it down. That’s just kind of odd for a China team that has, at best, an outside shot at gold.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Damon says:
yeah, i was talking about other media questioning the injury.
outside shot at gold? lol
outside shot for the quarterfinals
July 14th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Truth says:
Man I hope this dude Yao breaks his foot in the first game of the olympics!! This f*g is hurt every year the rockets have a legitimate shot at advancing in the post season. I’m tired of dude!! He’s like a model chick who doesn’t give head, have orgasms or get w*t, just pathetic!!!
July 14th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Homeless J says:
haha @ truth, that’s a good analogy.
There should be some Vegas odds (or at least some friendly bets around the dime office) on yao’s olympic performance.
such as: 1:4 odds he runs harder and plays harder for China than he does for the Rockets. 1:1 odds that this leads to him breaking his foot in half. 1:6 odds that the chinese crowd throws a hail of egg rolls at the court in disgust when the chinese team gets eliminated before the semi’s.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Bruce says:
Stupid China-man better get off the dim-sum and tea. Get the China-man some OJ and Milk.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
niggersbecrazy says:
you know, you would all get shot if you were in china.
its called communism retards. COMMUNISM
July 14th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Homeless J says:
Like I’m ever gonna go to china anyway.
They’ve got air there that makes LA smog smell fresh and clean.
plus they’ve got like 11 billion people and not one of them knows how to play point guard effectively. what the hell?
July 15th, 2008 at 1:23 am
off_the_bench says:
china’s a powerhouse in asia because they have tall players, but skill wise, the filipinos are much better one on one players, and the south koreans can definitely shoot the ball better than most of the western shooters.
im banking on the us to win it, and argentina to finish 2nd (rematch from last summer)
July 15th, 2008 at 3:25 am
jim says:
i think it’s good that yao has sat out this season, first proper rest he’s had!!
China’ll get knocked out early…which means he’ll be fresh for the new season!
July 15th, 2008 at 5:55 am
JRUF says:
China’s goal is to medal in basketball this year. They are in their home turf and I would not be surprised if they get calls going their way. USA, ARG, SPA, and Chna in that order.
BTW off the bench, you are dead on with the Filipinos better one on one players… a country filled with 70 million Earl Boykins!