Official Thread on Yao Ming's Summer Activities 2006

So the Gatorade sponsored TV interview program ended up as a birthday party for Yao Ming, celebrating his 26th birthday in advance !!

Alot of his school mates, team mates (of Shanghai Sharks), including his mentor, head coach of Shanghai Sharks, Li Qiuping, and of course, his buddy, Liu Wei were amongst the special guests.

He also got hugs from pretty MC, Cao Ying and Olympian Gymnastic Gold Medallist Liu Xuan.....

Happy Birthday !!! Yao Ming !!!

 

Anybody interested to know what had been said during those interview ??

 

Actually, in the TV interview, there were so many interesting topics Yao Ming touched upon:-

His wish for the Rockets for the new season
His view on Shane Battier & Vassilis Spanoulis
His review of his first 4 seasons in NBA
His views on Chinese basketball future
His rating of Wang Zhizhi, Wang Shipeng and Chen Jianghua

and many other........

I'm not sure whether I can have sufficient time today to translate these.

 

Most of them are in Chinese.....so do you read and understand Chinese ?

 

The following is only part of the many subjects touched upon on that TV program....

 

Thanks.....

And I've offered this as my birthday present/gift to Yao Ming !!

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2488061&postcount=28

 

Okay.....the very first of the interview.

Not exactly a line-by-line word-by-word translation. I just focus on what Yao Ming said about the new NBA season, and the new players of the Rockets....

http://sports.sohu.com/20060910/n245259534.shtml

1. He said he has been with the Rockets for 4 years now: made the palyoff for 2 years, and missed the play-off the other 2. In the 2 playoffs he was in, the Rockets got eliminated by Round 1. So he vowed that at least this season, it will have to be beyond Round 1.
   
2. In a previous interview with TMAC, TMAC described Yao Ming starting to show his dominance on court. When asked about how he felt about TMAC, Yao Ming said TMAC is cool both in his eyes and the way he plays.
   
3. Yao Ming used to say that he is a true blue collar player; he played hard and lead his national team to Last 16 and was the top scorer of the World Championship. His fans wanted him to do the same for the Rockets in the new season. Yao Ming said he will do whatever the team requires him to do; he said only a robust and tenacious team can survive, and that is the kind of spirit that Jeff Van Gundy has brought to this team, and he thought it is paramount that the new players should be able to gel quickly.
   
4. On Shane Battier and Vassilis Spanoulis, he played against them in the World Championship, and had good impression of both. He said Shane Battier is like a "patch" in the new Rockets systems; he will be able to fix all the loopholes.....and it is not easy to be that kind of utility player. With Battier on the team, Yao Ming felt he and TMAC then have no fears at the back.
   
5. Yao Ming missed Stromile Swift.....He said Stromile Swift is a very talented player; but it is now too late to say anything. He joked that he can only now hope that Stromile Swift will not dunk facials on him in the new season.

 

http://sports.sohu.com/20060913/n245318608.shtml

Unlike what most people thought, Yao Ming did not spent his birthday celebrating with his parents or his girl friend, Ye Li....but his closest buddies, including Liu Wei and his Shanghai Sharks team mates......

They just had dinner together. Most of his friends brought their spouses or girl friends. But Yao Ming came alone without his parent and Ye Li.

This is the very first birthday for Yao Ming to be able to be in Shanghai for the past 6 years.

1. In 2001, Yao Ming spent his birthday with his parents in Shanghai. The Shanghai Sharks were to travel to Taipei to represent China in the Asia Super League, but his coach Li Qiuping just gave Yao Ming a day off to celebrate his birthday at home.
   
2. As far as Yao Ming is concerned, the 2002 birthday could be the worst that he had. He was in very low and bad mood due to the poor results of the World Championship. He spent his birthday in Beijing locking himself up in his apartment (at the National Sports Bureau), with his team mate delivering him Kentucky Fried Chicken as his lunch.
   
3. Yao Ming spent his birthday in 2003 with his national team mates in Harbin while the national team was competing at the Asian Championship. They beat South Korea to lift the championship a few days later.
   
4. His 24th birthday in 2004 was a most memorable one. He had just led China to be in Final 8 at the Athens Olympics. He also made it public his love affairs with his girl friend Ye Li. He spent his birthday together with Ye Li and a couple other close friends including Liu Wei at a summer resort in Sanya, Hainan Island.
   
5. His 25th birthday was again spent on court in Doha, Qatar during the Asian Championship. His birthday present was again another Asian Championship. He was already the absolute leader in the China national team.

 

http://sports.sohu.com/20060913/n245312306.shtml

So according to this article, Yao Ming will leave Shanghai for Houston on September 14, i.e. today.

As NBA is going to be a long and taxing season, so Yao Ming chose to return back to Houston to start preparation for the new season.

He will use the future 2 weeks for rest and rehabilitation to get himself ready for the training camp to start beginning of October.

Unlike what he used to do in the past 4 years, this time, he skipped San Francisco for his routine medical check with his personal doctor, Arthur Ting.

He said he does not think he requires the check-up, as he felt great about his body condition and his left foot. "My left foot has totally recovered. I've played and have come through the baptism of the entire World Championship. How could there be still problems with my foot? Actually after playing my first game in the World Championship with Italy, I knew I am almost back to normal in my rehabilitation. "

His Chinese agent Lu Hao also added: "Yao Ming's left foot has totally recovered. Absolutely free of problems. After he returned from Japan, he had kept up his rehabilitation in Beijing, and he is in great body condition and shape."

Other than recovering totally from his left foot injury, Yao Ming is doing great as far as his body strength and conditioning. Lu Hao said: "At the start of the World Champiuonship, Yao Ming felt exhausted and lack of stamina, as he just came back from his rehabilitation to compete in such high intensity games. He had now get readjusted to be able to sustain such high intensity games."

So with an injure-free left foot, and a completely refreshed body, and experience of 4 NBA seasons, Yao Ming looks forward to the new season with full confidence.

"Last season was purely down to bad luck; we did not make it to the playoff due to so many injuries and sicknesses to the team. This year should be different. We should be able to make a breakthrough.....at least we should be able to advance further than Round 1 of the playoff." Yao Ming vowed.