timm
10-05-2002, 04:14 AM
"Yao will be awesome"......for Rockets, NBA and Basketball in China.
I take my 6 - year old to his School T-Ball practice every Satruday. I chat with all the guys who are on staff there....being a sports journalist many moons ago, and an avid Rockets fan. I have grown close many of the staff there over last month or so since I ran an annual retreat for them (Interestingly getting people to suck up what I serve as a management consultant is financially far more rewarding than what I did when I was covering sports !!!!).
This morning I was chatting with the guy who co-ordinates the total School Sports program. He is an American in his 30s (should be about 6'-9" tall). Since I knew that he had previously played basketball (didn't know where, what level), I wanted to know more about what he thought about Yao.
Because he did not want to be officially quoted, I cannot reveal his name. He played NCAA with a tier 1 college in CA in the late eighties. His dream was to play NBA but couldn't get drafted. He then went international..playing mostly in Asia for nearly a decade. He played both forward positions and sometimes center (though he does not remotely look hulked like Antonio Davis or certainly not like own MoT). He said, he has played with the best in Asia. I suspect if he had not married an ethnic Chinese lady, he would found his way back into NBA.
He retired from professional basketball and been with my son's school since last summer!!!
He has played with many guys from China (via the Club tournaments). He said Wang Zhi Zhi was the biggest force in China untill 2 years ago ( a la Shaq). Since then Yao has emerged as a great guy.
He thinks Yao has height, and is aware of that for him to be successful he must use it to his advantage (not just be a stiff). More important than hieght is that he has offensive skills of a shooting forward (well, he might exagerate a bit here). Many people have these two attributes. These, he said, are necessary but not sufficient.
But most importantly he has 3 other attributes that will make him superstar
First Yao is a learner. He has seen Yao improve by leaps and bounds every summer for last 5-6 years. He believes being a learner will allow Yao to get even better with NBA coaching (both physical and basketball skillwise). He thinks Yao constantly is in search of seeing, experimenting and getting better.
Second, Yao is a true team player. He says most American kids want to get to highlight reels, get an endorsement and then hang around. Yao is the complete opposite. Yao sees himself as a team player first. He will focus on improving his personal skills in those areas which help the team most. He has now become a good passer, not because he was naturally great at it, but worked on it realizing his passing would nullify the impact of double-triple teaming and hence his team would be better off.
Third Yao is disciplined and committed to very high standards Because Yao is never fully satisfied with himself or his team even when his team is winning. He is looking to improve. And he does this by setting his personal example. Once he finds that he needs to something, he is also very disciplied to get it done _ a qualitry that most of the players do not have in the same measure.
He said, "I have seen a lot of guys play basketball. many are now in the NBA. I have seen them grow and play when they were not in the NBA, so I know what their learning curve looked like. He has also seen Yao develop in the last 5 years. He is willing to bet that barring a major injury, Yao will be up there with the best of best impact players.
HE also said that Yao will make a lot of money with a BIllion consumers rooting for him outside of Houston. HE will also give NBA a new push..........in Asia at least.
Finally he ended by saying that Yao will probably struggle in the first year with language and physical nature of NBA (plus travel). Plus the rookie wall might be earlier than others. But he predicts Yao will be a top star within next 2-3 years.
I take my 6 - year old to his School T-Ball practice every Satruday. I chat with all the guys who are on staff there....being a sports journalist many moons ago, and an avid Rockets fan. I have grown close many of the staff there over last month or so since I ran an annual retreat for them (Interestingly getting people to suck up what I serve as a management consultant is financially far more rewarding than what I did when I was covering sports !!!!).
This morning I was chatting with the guy who co-ordinates the total School Sports program. He is an American in his 30s (should be about 6'-9" tall). Since I knew that he had previously played basketball (didn't know where, what level), I wanted to know more about what he thought about Yao.
Because he did not want to be officially quoted, I cannot reveal his name. He played NCAA with a tier 1 college in CA in the late eighties. His dream was to play NBA but couldn't get drafted. He then went international..playing mostly in Asia for nearly a decade. He played both forward positions and sometimes center (though he does not remotely look hulked like Antonio Davis or certainly not like own MoT). He said, he has played with the best in Asia. I suspect if he had not married an ethnic Chinese lady, he would found his way back into NBA.
He retired from professional basketball and been with my son's school since last summer!!!
He has played with many guys from China (via the Club tournaments). He said Wang Zhi Zhi was the biggest force in China untill 2 years ago ( a la Shaq). Since then Yao has emerged as a great guy.
He thinks Yao has height, and is aware of that for him to be successful he must use it to his advantage (not just be a stiff). More important than hieght is that he has offensive skills of a shooting forward (well, he might exagerate a bit here). Many people have these two attributes. These, he said, are necessary but not sufficient.
But most importantly he has 3 other attributes that will make him superstar
First Yao is a learner. He has seen Yao improve by leaps and bounds every summer for last 5-6 years. He believes being a learner will allow Yao to get even better with NBA coaching (both physical and basketball skillwise). He thinks Yao constantly is in search of seeing, experimenting and getting better.
Second, Yao is a true team player. He says most American kids want to get to highlight reels, get an endorsement and then hang around. Yao is the complete opposite. Yao sees himself as a team player first. He will focus on improving his personal skills in those areas which help the team most. He has now become a good passer, not because he was naturally great at it, but worked on it realizing his passing would nullify the impact of double-triple teaming and hence his team would be better off.
Third Yao is disciplined and committed to very high standards Because Yao is never fully satisfied with himself or his team even when his team is winning. He is looking to improve. And he does this by setting his personal example. Once he finds that he needs to something, he is also very disciplied to get it done _ a qualitry that most of the players do not have in the same measure.
He said, "I have seen a lot of guys play basketball. many are now in the NBA. I have seen them grow and play when they were not in the NBA, so I know what their learning curve looked like. He has also seen Yao develop in the last 5 years. He is willing to bet that barring a major injury, Yao will be up there with the best of best impact players.
HE also said that Yao will make a lot of money with a BIllion consumers rooting for him outside of Houston. HE will also give NBA a new push..........in Asia at least.
Finally he ended by saying that Yao will probably struggle in the first year with language and physical nature of NBA (plus travel). Plus the rookie wall might be earlier than others. But he predicts Yao will be a top star within next 2-3 years.