Give Me The Rock
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Nels recently posted about the US national team and the possible fantasy impact that the Olympics will have on the players during the regular season. In the comments, reader siukong asked our opinion on Yao Ming and (presumably) Ming’s recent comments that he’ll ready to play for China’s national team come July.
Now Ming’s injury history has been well, well documented. Most recently, it was announced that he had a stress fracture in his left foot on February 26, 2008. The fracture caused him to miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs. He played in only 55 games this year, after playing 48 in 06/07 and 57 in 05/06. In all, Ming has missed 86 games the past three seasons.
With the Olympics beginning in August, Ming has said that he’s currently eying a mid-July return. Specifically, he has said he’d like to be on the court when the Chinese team plays in the Stankovic Cup on July 17. Does he expect to be fully recovered by then? Well, according to the AP:
A day after returning to Beijing, Yao said X-rays and an MRI taken in Houston on Tuesday showed his recovery was on schedule, with the foot about 80 percent healed. The remaining 20 percent usually takes a full year, Yao said.
I only play a doctor on a blog, but that seems like a red flag to me. Not only is Ming’s foot not completely healed, but it likely won’t heal until the end of next season. And playing in full speed competition for a month or more can’t be good for the healing process either.
But Ming wouldn’t play if his foot didn’t feel up to the task, right?
With pressure on Yao to perform, some have questioned whether he would be pushing himself so hard were the Olympics not being held in Beijing. Yao dismissed such speculation, saying that there were “no ‘ifs’ about the Olympics, there are no ‘ifs’ about me.”
“This is the biggest, weightiest opportunity of my life,” Yao said. “Intense pressure goes hand-in-hand with major competitions.”
Um, right. That sounds a little like a guy who might be pushing himself back to the court too early for the sake of his country. Who knows, though. I might be reading too much into the words, “biggest opportunity of my life.”
Now, as Nels pointed out in his post, we don’t really know how international play during the summer affects NBA players, if at all. In fact, US players with history in these games don’t appear to be any worse off for it during the following regular reason. However, in Ming we have a guy who has not been able to stay healthy the past 3 years, who is rushing back to play on a foot that’s 80% healed, and has admitted that the remaining 20% won’t heal for a year.
Maybe it wouldn’t get him convicted in criminal court, but that’s enough evidence to make me seriously consider avoiding Ming in all drafts. Until then, we at least have the summer to watch him play and see how his foot reacts to the grind.
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