Q: Another season ended, your sixth season at nba finally came to an end. Yao: I was very disappointed. We lost. I don't know how to express my current feelings. Many words. They couldn't be said. Q: What do you want to do most right now? Yao: I want to go home, go to the bed, get sleep and forget what have just happened. But I know it's very difficult. I am very confused right now. After that we will have a long time to think about this season and what we can go after. Q: The Rockets' season ended tonight, but your season actually ended two months ago. How do you comment on your season? Yao: Another season of injury. Only played several games more. But in this season, on the court, my dutis and responsibilities changed quite a lot. Compared to last year under Van Gundy, I needed to do more things. My role changed gradually. Q: How changed? Yao: Under Van Gundy, my duty was very simple. That was score, score and then rebound, rebound. Right now I am learning how to read games, to think over the team as a whole. My duties are more complicated. Q: In another word, this year, you know you can actually do more things? Yao: Yes, because of our current system and our tactics. This year is the year, since I came to nba, my scoring has decreased. But in other areas, I was better. My assist, block and rebound stats were better. The minutes also increased. I felt Van Gundy taught me a lot in those past four years. And right now under coach Adelman, I still have a lot to learn. Q: So you have a feeling next season will be better? Yao: I feel my upper curve is still there. But it won't be so sharp as in the past. Still if I work hard, I still have a lot of room for improvement. Q: Three years of injuries, what did you learn from those? After every injury, you returned to the starting point and start over again. In the process, did you learn about yourself more? Yao: Before that, my career was rather smooth. No major injury. Making progress every year. But in the past three years, it gave me a warning. I will be more careful. Right now, I think next year's goal is no longer playoffs. Sometimes, you don't want to set your goal too high. For me personally, my goal next year is to complete 82 regular season games in good health, and then get past the first round, and then more. Q: In the beginning of this season, the Rockets, including you, were not accustomed to coach Adelman's system. How do you comment on his tactics right now? Yao: Our result showed all that. This year was not easy. Many ups and downs. My and McGrady's injuries. The team result was not good in the beginning, yes, we were not accustomed. But after we understood more and more, and executed the system, we found that this system gave us a lot of advantages. The 22 consecutive wins are the best proof. Who thought that we would have this accomplishment. Then, making the playoffs in the intense West conference. Keeping the home advantage. If not for executing the system, it's very hard for us to do all that. Q: What was the key in this system? Yao: The key was for everyone to attack, to run, to hurt the opponents. Everyone was eagar to do his now job. Q: The pressure on you and McGrady was lower, right? Yao: I clearly felt this way. Just like what he (Adelman) said after coming to Houston, he would lower the pressure on me and McGrady. And I felt that the team became better after lowering our pressure. Q: Could you detail the change in your pressure level? Yao: In the original system, I needed to at the peak every single time. It's obvious that my playing time was shorter than that of this season. It's not to say that the coach didn't want to put me on the court. It's just that I could only play that kind of playing time through that intense level. In that system, it was very intense. This year, as our attack points were more, my pressure was relieved. Hence my playing time increased. Of course I am not saying that one system is better than another, it's just that those two are different. Q: This year the Rockets experienced a lot. You also experienced a lot. From getting angry in the beginning of the season after bad result, to unite the team after injury to McGrady. Did you get a lot from what you learnt in a leadership role of a team? Yao: It's not just me to unite a team, it's from everyone's hard work. And for leading a team, I think I did that a lot in the national team. But in the Rockets, it's not on me solely. I remember in the past, (someone I don't know how to translate) told me what I did in the national team, I needed to do the same in the Rockets. Compared to year past, I really tried to do more because the team was different this year. Van Gundy was a more controllable coach. With him, we didn't need to stand up and say a lot. But right now the atmosphere at the team is more free, so I go ahead. Q: To be a leader, sometimes you cannot avoid say something too furious. Yao: Yeah, some people said I was to wrong to criticize. Actually, I didn't criticize anyone. Only I felt too emotional, so I said some emotional things. But I will never seperate myself from the group. No matter I say anything emotional, it starts from myself. As I believe, for the team to be better, it should start from oneself. Q: You think what changes the team should make next season? Yao: I believe the West will be more intense next season. We must improve ourselves. From that point, I believe in my team. Just look at the improvement made by Landry and Scola. This season we didn't make any trade. But our inside force became better. I believe the team will continue to do so. Q: From now on, you will focus on recovering and preparing for the Olympics? Yao: Yes, we will go back to Houston tomorrow morning. Then I will go to hospital for a regular check on Sunday. If everything goes smooth, I will be able to remove the protective boot. And then I can do some running. After I can run normally, I will be near able to carry out my conditioning training officially. Olympics is my biggest dream. I will try my best.
Thanks for the heads up mate. Yao is really committed to the side. He has the most passion and desire for the team I think.
yao's saying the right things I actually think that Yao did emerge more as a leader this year. Past years rockets couldn't win **** without McGrady. This year Yao led them to wins and the beginning of that 22 game streak was built on Yao's back. Some of my biggest criticisms in the past was lack of leadership on Yao's part and his inability to lead the team to wins. You could see during the season him loosing up under RA as opposed to JVG and the article reflects that. Houston's future right now looks bright as hell, if they can just bring in a couple pieces like a backup 5 and a good 1. A true outside threat would be awesome but that 1 and 5 is where this team needs backup (as was clear in the playoffs)
I am getting tired of Yao basically repeating the same BS every off season in the last 3 years. Please shut up until you are healthy enough to play more than 30 games a season.
YAO will never be the leader of the team...he was supposed to be the #1 option and he can't even do that. Yao is great, but he will never be the leader mostly because he can't perform or carry the team through troubled times like T-MAC did this year and last yr
Love what Yao gives on offense. I'm still concerned with his ability to guard people like Boozer in the playoffs. He either gives them a wide open jumper because he can't close out or they blow right by him.
Please Yao be healthy, T-Mac also, it seems like every year Rockets fall a bit short because of enormous injuries.
do you think deke was responsible for the wins after Yao's injury? did he step up more and become a leader, before he was a cheerleader. Those two had always supported each other, before game 1 of playoffs they hugged
I've seen all 82 games from the last 3 seasons, even when Yao and McGrady were injured and we were dead last in the west.
When were the Rockets "dead last in the west" in the last three years? That might have happened one, or two times ever.
Yao did step it up this year. That first win versus GS where the Rockets went cold in the fourth and lost a huge lead springs to mind. The fourth quarter was basically the Rockets dumping the ball inside to Yao and the Rockets escaped by the skin of their teeth. The game against the Kings right before the All Star break where the Rockets went cold in the fourth and blew a huge lead. Yao had to come off the bench and was basically the only offense the Rockets had in the fourth until Novak hit his game winner. I don't know if he was "leading", but the rest of the team clearly viewed him as the primary option on the offensive end. My view is that everybody else on the team, including T-Mac, should play off of him. The Rockets showed this year that even if Yao's not scoring he still gets so much attention that he can be used as a giant decoy to get the other Rockets easy baskets. That's what Scola talked about when he wrote that "Yao made everything easier".
