You can't count on someone his size to be effective all year long. He is going to have an injury every time he tries to be a full time player.
of course, he hasn't had an injury every time he tried to be a full time player. he does need to stop playing for china and i think him playing injured for china in the olympics may possibly be the last games he will play for them.
How can Yao be depended on if he always gets injured? Isn't this the third season ending injury in a row for him?
3 years ago yao had a bad infection in his toe, had surgery, came back at the very end of the year, and then got hurt. two years ago yao broke his leg but came back and played at the end of the regular season and playoffs. last year, he had a season ending injury. this year, he's out for the year after 3 games in the 2nd round. yao absolutely is one of the most dependable players in the league as far as what you're going to get from him when he's on the court. the injury situation is troubling. i still haven't heard anything that said this was the same bone in his foot he's had problems with before, but obviously him putting too much stress on the foot is an issue. hopefully actually resting it instead of playing in the olympics will help. and this injury wasn't as serious as his other stress fracture in his foot as it isn't supposed to need surgery. but we'll see. but really, what he meant isn't that yao isn't dependable. he meant that he's injury prone. he should have just said it. as far as being overrated, it's a complete joke.
Yao's a warrior. I have no problem with the way he plays, he gives it 110% every single play. He played his heart out for China and I really respect that. I think all the Laker fans here really respect Yao and his game. My only problem with him is durability, seems to me like he can never stay healthy. That isn't completely his fault though, anybody who stands 7'6 and plays the amount of basket he does would get torn down as well. I just hope he decides to rest up this summer instead of going to play over in China, but knowing his pride and love for his country, I doubt that happens.
i remember there being talk that the olympics(especially since yao was playing hurt during them) would be yao's last international duties for the chinese basketball team. hopefully he doesn't have to play for them anymore.
