I found this interview at a Taiwan BBS: <a href="http://www.boso.com.tw/cgi-bin/show.exe?acc=91&id=33596&begrec=1"> http://www.boso.com.tw/cgi-bin/show.exe?acc=91&id=33596&begrec=1 </a>
Some points: 1. Yao arrived much earlier at Compaq center because he was so excited on driving. 2. No need to think too much about a loss since a new game will begin soon tomorrow anyway. You got to learn to forget. 3. Yao brag about his mentality. He focuses on nothing but technique stuff when on the court. 4. NBA is much advanced on training than CBA.
Personally, I think he would be much better from a PHYSICAL standpoint (stronger/faster) if he was trained in the states all his life but he would not have developed his all around skills (shooting, passing) and most importantly, the cerebral part of the game of basketball.
To tell you the truth, people here at BYU really don't like him that much. He played only one year here, then he left for his Mormon mission(almost every BYU male student does that). When his mission was over, when just about everyone was feeling great about having their star center back and make a run to the Elite Eight or Final Four that next year, he decided to declare for the NBA draft. That totally destroyed the team building plan for BYU, and BYU's bball program has NEVER FULLY RECOVERED from the loss(can you believe that, that's true). He made a crucial mistake by going to the NBA that early (although he was 21 already, but he was still a freshman in college, and his skill and body were totally not ready). When he is in the NBA, he got pushed around by 6 footers and got dunked on in almost every game. He just wasn't ready, and he lost his confidence in the ordeal. Did I explain enough why people here in BYU don't like him that much?
He might have been corupted by the collage social structure and droped out of School and Basketball, like so many American kids do. His personal strength of character is because he has been educated in China and has TWOdevoted and caring parents, unlike many American kids.
Yao would be so much better than he's right now if he got the US training instead of China training. My guess is that he would be as good as Tim Duncan if not better. He wouldn't have those bad Amercian habits or be like Shawn Bradley because with his character and work ethic, he should be able to become successful everywhere.
