Call of Duty: Dwyane Wade and The Yao Ming Tragedy

It had almost been too long since a Miami Heat superstar put his foot in his mouth. Lebron James and Chris Bosh had been displaying an unbecoming mature silence of late, and perhaps aware of his slipping on-court contributions, Dwyane Wade made an odd mis-step with a very foolish public statement: That NBAers should be paid to play in the Olympics.

There's so much wrong with this: that it got said in the first place; that Wade isn't fit with the pride that comes from bringing your country the greatest honor you can; that he tried to cloak his selfishness by contrasting it to the plight of broke college students who are actually being taken advantage of...

Lost in the framing of ridiculous context is the single valid point Wade managed to make: "The biggest thing is now you get no rest,"... "So you go to the end of the season, [Team USA] training camp is two weeks later. You're giving up a lot to do it. It's something you want to do. But it's taxing on your body. You're not playing for the dollar. But it would be nice if you would get compensated." This is pretty reasonable, especially for a guy like Wade who hasn't taken a possession off since AAU, but does a guy like him with a $100 million contract, countless endorsements, and even more public appearance checks really need to pilfer his country's basketball program? You're either playing for the dollar or you're not Dwyane. Just be glad this isn't 1941; that'd be much more taxing free labor.

While Wade's statements are sure to rile up tons of misguided debate about the general selfishness and pretentiousness of pro athletes (remember, stupidity sells), the above excerpt calls to mind a very valid point made by Mark Cuban; that it's really the owners who are getting screwed. And even after I spent months ripping the owners for their near-squandering of our NBA season, I'm inclined to agree with him.

It's a touchy topic, especially without a large sample of players having been injured in the Olympics to draw scrutiny to the issue, but the truth about what International play can do to a player can be drawn from the tragic story of Yao Ming, who had his career stolen far too early in the name of his country's pride.

A lot of fans are quick to incorrectly lump Yao in the Greg Oden/Sam Bowie category; a massive body that wasn't built to hold itself and was bound for self-implosion. A fallacy. It doesn't take a Rocket scientist (sorry, couldn't resist) to see what happened with Yao, who played in 82, 82 and 80 games over his first 3 NBA seasons.

Meanwhile, his native China was developing technologically at an astounding rate, discovering basketball, and fucking loving it. Conveniently for their government, this explosion of popularity coincided with (and was undoubtedly helped by) Yao's dominance, and he became the face, heart, arms and legs of their national team. But this wasn't some once-every-four-years-biggest-tournament-in-the-world type shit; Yao would fly back to Beijing the day he hung up his Rockets jersey, every offseason, and begin touring with the Chinese team, essentially prolonging his basketball grind year-round. It's not like he had a choice in the matter...

The effects took hold quickly: Yao would play in 57, 48, and 55 games over the next three years, eventually missing entire seasons before shutting it down for good at the ripe age of 30. It sucked for Yao, but you know who really got the short end of the stick? The Houston Rockets.

Yao might've been cut down way before he was due, but he's still doing fine: he's a multi-millionaire, global basketball ambassador, and nothing short of a hero in China. The Rockets, on the other hand, were robbed of the NBA's best center in his prime. They had a #1 overall pick that they labored for years to get snatched from them, which in the process set their franchise back another decade or so. Forget the millions of dollars they lost, they gave up their equity in a championship foundation. Houston had plenty of reason to act a fool when David Stern shut down their Pau Gasol trade, but the underhanded crippling of Yao Ming was by far the decade's most overlooked NBA disaster. That a league allows its players and owners to be taken advantage of without protecting them against such crooked and self-destructive stupidity (you think Yao wouldn't still be the best player on the Chinese team?) is mindless.

The answer isn't obvious, but the question lingers and has to be addressed. With all the clamor about Wade's ridiculousness, there's got to be something said for this mess. If he goes down fighting for his country, he's not taking the ultimate loss, and at the end of the day, a couple extra dollars in his pocket will mean nothing next to what his absence will for his team and their fans.

To Sad Endings & New Beginnings...

When news broke earlier this week of a stress fracture in Yao Ming's foot ending his season for the zillionth time, reactions throughout the basketball community were, well, subdued. Although this was obviously a tragic setback for a star who put retirement ahead of more rehab, there was an utter lack of surprise; to some extent, we all knew this was coming. Like Greg Oden before him, we'd all seen Yao succumb to his own body too many times to expect he'd get it together.

Yao was different though, in that he had already established himself as a star in this League, and probably would've been fine if the commies running China's national team had bothered to let him rest for a few weeks during the prime of his career. Yao played in 82, 82 and 80 his first three seasons, and was becoming a dominant talent. But the second Houston's seasons ended, he was shipped back to the homeland for a busy international schedule that often had him arriving late for training camp and certainly betrayed the concept of an "offseason". As the constant pounding took its toll (remember, 350 pounds is a lot to carry around), Yao averaged an anemic 58 games over the next four seasons, before shutting it down all of last year, and now facing a similar fate.

It seems far safer to call Yao's career over, relative to Oden's. He's older, has nothing really to prove, owns his own pro team in China, and has already hinted at this being the end. It's also far more difficult; he was a much better player and a noble, gregarious global ambassador for a league that's clearly looking to grow its international influence. If this is the last we see of him - and all signs point to it being that way - what a shitty (albeit predictable) way for it all to end. Keep your head up Yao, hope that "fried chicken and beer" tastes damn good.

Only a few days of mourning passed before Yao's dilemma was sidetracked by the season's first blockbuster(s), which dramatically overhauled the floundering Orlando Magic. Their first deal shipped Vincent Lamar to Phoenix, along with Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat, in exchange for Jason Richardson, Earl Clark and the ghost of Hedo Turkoglu. As though that weren't enough of a dice roll, the Magic then shipped Rashard Lewis to Washington for Gilbert Arenas, setting a new Guinness record for "shitty NBA contracts traded in a single day".

Phoenix, caught in that awkward no-mans-land between contending and rebuilding, now at least has a more functional team. While they shed two of their 90 small forwards, they gained a legitimate centre and probably the only defensive-minded player on their roster. Gortat will allow Channing Frye and Robin Lopez to spend more time at the 4 (where both of them should be more effective), helping to shore up the league's worst-rebounding team. The jury's still out on whether Vince can provide any positive effect, but I can already envision Steve Nash becoming frustrated with him and freezing him out of the offense. In about two weeks. Ultimately, these Suns, (read:Nash) have made offensive contributors out of anyone they've plugged in, so the versatility they gained should outweigh the firepower they lost.

Washington, meanwhile, made a dubious decision. Trading Gilbert was an obvious move; after last season's handgun mishap and John Wall's drafting, he made (Agent) Zero sense for them. What made even less sense (I know it's mathematically impossible, but work with me here) was for them to take on what's very likely, dollar-for-dollar, the worst contract in the NBA in return. Lewis' monster of a deal comes off the books a year later than Gilbert's, forcing a rebuilding team that's losing money even more than easy games into deeper financial commitment. Although Wall will have a much more freedom now, the team as a whole might've just enslaved themselves.

...Which brings us to Orlando; the centrepiece of these blockbusters and the team with, far and away, the most to lose. After losing 5 of 6 and watching Boston and Miami reel off double-digit win streaks, I've heard this makeover get called everything from a panic move to a calculated gamble. The Magic gained a lot of offensive potency, picking up two bonafide scorers and returning Hedo to a city that clearly has some sort of PED-type effect on his game. Vince and Rashard were both having their worst seasons in recent memory, so getting rid of them wasn't hard, but fitting the new pieces together may be harder than it looks... (disclaimer: I'm of the firm belief that the Magic aren't done dealing yet, but let's proceed under the necessary assumption that they're going to try and win a title with this team)

First of all, this was a very expensive move for the Magic. They shed Lewis and Carter's bloated contracts, but also took on those of Arenas, Turkoglu and (to a lesser extent) Richardson, while burying JJ Redick (35$ mil this past offseason) on the bench. Obviously they're a successful team in a competitive market, but they just raised their risk profile considerably.

Defense also becomes a serious achilles heel for this team. Forget that they have Howard in the middle, the Magic have now lost their only potent wing defenders (Pietrus, and previously Matt Barnes), and given up Gortat; an excellent defender himself, and one of the NBA's best backup big men. Not that Carter or Lewis was a great defender, but all this does is increase the reliance on Howard, with more holes to patch, which will likely lead to more help-D fouls and less time on the court for their franchise player.

Orlando now possesses the weapons to be an offensive nightmare, but leaves serious doubts about its ability to succeed in the physical, halfcourt grind of the playoffs. They made it to the Finals two years ago with Dwight drawing coverage and open 3's raining from all angles, but the competition is far tougher this year. Dwight will have a much harder time dominating Boston's deep frontcourt than he did the Cavs' joke of one, and Miami's Superfriends will be much harder to match up with in an up-tempo shootout.

Orlando looks to be on Phoenix's flipside after this trade; they're certainly more talented, but perhaps less functional. In any event, it looked like a move needed to be made, and the front office certainly can't be blamed for a lack of balls. Regardless of whether this team's done shuffling, it'll be a serious adjustment for Stan Van Jeremy, D12, Jameer, hell the rest of the East's contenders. The Magic seriously shook things up here; it's gonna take a while for it to settle and see just what the payoff is. That being said, there's been an epidemic of complacency around the NBA lately when moves clearly need to be made, so Orlando should be applauded for pulling the trigger and at least rolling the dice before the season slid further.