It looks like the biggest controversy brewing in Austin is not about who is going to get playing time during the season.

It’s the shoes. Yao’s shoes, that is.

Coach Jeff Van Gundy went off on Reebok for what he apparently believes is mismanagement of customizing Yao’s shoes to protect his toe from injury. Yao is sitting out the final two days of practices in Austin because of a bruised toe.

However, Reebok product management and one of Yao’s agents, John Huizinga, retaliates that it’s not the shoes. They say Reebok has been doing everything that has been requested of them, and Yao played in the World Championships with the same shoes where he suffered no toe problems.

I don’t know who is right, but it makes for some entertaining reading. Read more about the story in this Houston Chronicle article.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 9:21 am and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.