[WaPo] Yao Ming stays involved in basketball in China

I honestly was holding out that he'd come out of retirement once he got enough rest. I remember him in an interview just after he retired looking really uncomfortable about it. He didn't really get to accomplish that much. But it's looking like he's really enjoying the retired life - has a kid, lots of money, opened up a wine business...

 

I miss Yao, but the Rox wasted two years clinging to the false hope he would recover enough to continue playing.

 

Ran out of space for the thread title.

 

I wouldn't mind YAO for 10-15 off the bench, next 3 seasons.

 

Oh my! I just LOVE that picture of him with the little baby elephant. How sweet!

 

Who are the two talents Yao refers to.... hmmmm

 

He probably can still play. Just gotta drop around 20 pounds or so.

 

I really miss Yao. He was a great human being and a fierce competitor. I hope NBA history remembers him fondly for not only his impact as an international icon, but also for his stellar on the court play.

 

Great to hear from the big fella. Incredible ambassador for the game.

 

Ironic that Yao hired Gilbert Arenas and lost that bet because Arenas' injuries. If anyone should have known about how big a risk an injury-prone star player is...

 

Wang Zhelin for one, I definitely he will be at least a lottery pick in a couple years. Maybe the other is Zhou Qi, who put up some obcene (Rubioesque) numbers in top European youth tournaments.

 

Holy crap:

"Yao formed a partnership with NBA China last summer to continue to build upon the incredible influence that the 7-foot-6 center has had on the popularity of the game in his native country.

The sides will collaborate on several development programs in a nation where the NBA estimates that the number of people playing basketball is almost the population of the United States."

 

As you can see in this thread, some Rockets fans are still clinging to the false hope even today. Let it go. Yao Ming is history.

 

Bring back the franchise!

 

That's kina too much..

China's total population 1.3B, US 310Mil

If you take out the age group (40+) and ( 6 and under) in China that leaves about 30-35% because of the age structure, take out 98% of the females, take out the ppl who live in rural areas without access to basketball(hell not even access to enough food). 100mil might look a more reasonable number.

Just some random thoughts though.

 

It's not about the hope, it's about the contract. They held on to Yao because he was under contract for 2 more years after his injury. The team could not get his contract off their salary cap figures and there wasn't a market for trading a severely injured player owed max money. Under these circumstances, there was little choice but to hope for the best on his recovery, even when the chances are slim. It's not like they weren't trying to find a "replacement star" during that time-- went after Bosh and later Melo-- just couldn't pull it off under the circumstances (insufficient cap flexibility, not an attractive destination due to absence of existing (and healthy) star).

 

Whew! Bound to find some talent in there somewhere.

 

Not enough athletic people in China.

 

What else were they to do?

He was under contract... cut him and his salary is still against the cap. Try and trade him but no one was trading for an oft-injured player making max money. Their only choice was to keep making roster moves that, not only would start easing their financial commitments, but to also fit around him and hope his feet would hold up.

It's the easiest thing to say that they should have moved on sooner or they held on too long when it just wasn't even plausible.