I think his biggest problem will be lack of practice with the rest of the team,but he is intelligent and will catch up soon.Even if he does hit the rookie wall he can get his second wind later and prove to be a big asset.
Conditioning is an issue for Yao Ming. But Aldridge has exagerated. I recalled he interviewed Yao Ming during the WBC. Yao Ming himself thought that food will be most challenging for him. Let us trust Yao Ming's own judgement at this point.
I was under the impression that the Chinese teams practiced more than in Europe and US. Don't know where I got that notion. As long as he's in season, he'll be busting his butt day in and day out whether its a game or practice. 10 minutes a game is probably prefered over practice.
Plus he plays like 10-13 minutes a game. And he should be pumped to be the first pick and get to play against real competition. He can rest next summer. That's what he gets paid the big bucks for...
I don't really think that he was dissing him, just stating that he will be exhausted faster than most rookies, since he is steadily playing games during the off season.
