The truth is that Yao is a sheep. Come on, he's 22 and lives with his mommy!! All his words are sheepish. "I want one day to be as good as Cato?" What is this? NBA is full of guys who grew on the streets and in the projects. The attitudes that these guys have cannot be taught easily. You can't tell Yao to become mean now that he has guaranteed gazillions of $$$, lives in a nice house and his mom is cooking him dumplings. I would put a lot more hope in guys like Amare and Caron that have had real tough times growing up. Their "street" attitutde is what's going to make them great stars.
The key word with Yao is patience. For one, I think that Rudy is doing a good job bringing him along slowly. Yao should get more minutes once he becomes comfortable on the court, which should be around the all-star break. His first season should really be a learning process. Don't expect too much from him early on. Once he figures out the NBA ways, he will be very good.
Were Hakeem and Jordan "street" as well. Kobe, Hill, and Duncan sure dont seem to have much "street" in them. I highly doubt Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki grew up on the "streets". A BIG ASS
You don't understand Asian culture. He's close to his family...so what. My parents live with me and my wife because we choose to live that way. That doesn't make him a wuss. Different culture...so don't knock it.
I noticed that, too. The first thing I thought of was a CC.net contest as to who can come closest to guessing when Cuttino gets his first assist passing to Yao. My entry guess would be the 8:32 mark of Q2 of the second Golden State game - January 4th, 2003.
yeah. Im pretty sure there's a correlation between "street" attitude and becoming a great star... lookit at the rough and tumble neighborhoods that Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan grew up in.
Get real...those fluffs could never have handled Vince Carters old hood. And Vince's Mom forced him to play saxophone in the band. That's one tough kid!
Whatever. It's the 'street' attitude that's made Nowitski what he is, growing up in Germany no less. It's the 'street' attitude that helped team USA sweep the World Basketball Championships (oh wait). As far as I'm concerned, Yao Ming should continue to be the: - polite, devoted, faithful, hard-working, innocent, non-jaded, and passionate basketball player he's proven to be so far.
LOL you guys are pretty funny! like clowns? here to amuse me? how are you guys funny? how the f*ck are you funny? what the f*ck is so funny about you guys?
He's going to be great. He will take up to the playoffs this year. Give him time. Be patient grasshopper!!
are we still complaining about cuttino in this game?? the guy who scored when no one else could (well except francis but even he was struggling to get his shot). the guy who kept hitting free throws and who stole the pass and got the dunk to seal it. yao still struggled today, it's not like he dominated the post and cuttino ignored him. he got some chances, looked a little better but still struggled. STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT CUTTINO NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES, ESPECIALLY WHEN HE JUST HAD A GOOD GAME IN A GAME FILLED WITH CRAPPY PERFORMANCES ON BOTH SIDES!!!
not everybodt plays for the money i agree, Ming comes from a culture where honor is verry importend more than money. i like the polite Ming he doensn't have to be a pathetic person like iverson to be good.
Patience and faith -- some of us need to look up the definitions. That said, everybody has observed at one time or another the lack of Yao's upper body strength. However, as an interim step while he develops it, he should work on hand strength exercises because, from what I have seen, Yao does not hold the ball firmly enough after he snares it. This allows opposing players to slap it away.
Thanks for pointing that out. Respecting your teammates and opponents is an attitude that has nothing to do with competitiveness, ability, and desire. For Yao, it is a cultural tradition, that I personally think is great. I would say that his respect for Cato is going to help the two of them work together. We have already seen Cato say good things about Yao, and we also know that Cato doesn't react well to negative reinforcement.
D D, Totally agree with you. Nothing is instinctive to Yao right now. The NBA game is so much faster and tougher than what he is used to that he's pretty overwhelmed at the moment. That being said, you can just see the wheels turning. He's gonna be a quick study and I don't think he'll back down from anyone. It's just a matter of learning the ropes and understanding the schemes & the non-stop intensity required of the NBA game. He's got the basketball instincts and shooting touch that are hard to teach. He understands "team" and that's a big plus. I'll be more patient with Yao than with Rudy this year Dallas Rocket
Against the mighty Nuggets that wasn't bad. I'd say it damn well borders on a break out game... He'll do better at home tonight after a big bowl of his mom's chunky soup...
