Yang Yi's book about Yao

I wonder how old Yao is in the picture taken with his boy's BBall team. They look about 7-9 yrs old to me. He is almost as tall as the coach.

 

hmm...i think he is in the middle of the top row he still looks the same

 

A book from Yang Yi? I'm waiting for Jeff's comments, 3...2...1...

 

who is "Smith"?

 

thanks! please translate more of the book for us, if you can. Say what you will about Yang Yi, but I believe accurately portrays Yao's thoughts for the most part.

 

Larry Smith... filled in as head coach when Rudy went down with cancer last year, and subsequently, the Rockets mucked it up and missed the playoffs.

Smith was obviously more enamored by a physical game, and Yao was more finesse last year... thus he played Cato more, and didn't put the focus on Yao when he was in there.

Apparently, Mr. Mean was a little too mean to Yao.

 

What does that caption on the right and left say of these pictures?

Thanks!

 

Would ya look at the size of that kid's head! It's the size of a planetoid and it has it's own weather system! Looks like an orange on a toothpick!





















don't kill me he filled out nicely

 

Guys, say whatever you want, but after reading the book, I have a feeling that if the team eventually decides to ship SF away, it will break YM's heart, and mine too.

 

That's why both the Rockets management team should make sure that both Ye Li and Boki should be always available.

 

The Larry Smith part seemed cool, here's a brief translation:

http://sports.sohu.com/2004/03/25/65/news219586574.shtml

Larry Smith was one of Rudy T's assistant coaches. When he was younger, he was one of the best rebounders in the NBA; they said that when he touched the ball, he'd never lose it... and was given the nickname "Mr. Greedy" (ED: That's my translation; what is it really?). During those years he'd always be fighting beneat the basket, resulting in a lost tooth. Although he had been with the Rockets for many years, he had always had a truly nasty temper, meaning that few had a good relationship with him. When Rudy and Larry were both with the team, at critical junctures they'd often be good-cop/bad-cop (actually, red face/white face), with Smith being the one to curse out the players. But when Larry was named as sole coach, his emotional behavior really began to really affect the team.

Yao Ming said: "Even while Rudy was here, Larry had cursed me. In one game, right after I turned the ball over, Rudy T. called a time out. Immediately Smith rushed up to me screaming: 'you mo****fu****, hold on to the ball! You mofo, use some hand strength! If not, just get out of here!' He was a good person, but not everyone can get used to that coaching style." (ED: Mofo is my translation of this very popular Chinese curse phrase.)

Now under Smith's tough control, the Rockets went on an extended roadtrip. On 3/17th, they flew to Seattle. This was to be the first of a 5-game road trip, including Seattle, Portland, Warriors, Kings, Clippers. At the time, the Rockets were ahead of the Suns in the race for 8th place by a single game; they hoped to win 2 or 3 of these 5, hoping that this means they'd be tied with the Suns for the stretch run. And they hoped that by the time they returned to Houston, Rudy would stand in front of them and announce that he had returned.

Francis had written "RT" on his shoelaces with a red pen; these are Rudy's initials (ED: less obvious to a Chinese reader), and a lot of players wrote it on their wristbands. Yao Ming said, I didn't write it; us Chinese people keep emotions like this inside. And then, the Rockets boarded their charter flight for Seattle.

The game against the Sonics was Larry Smith's first as head coach. In the second hand, while the Rockets held a lead, he made a huge coaching mistake. The bench players stayed on the court for too long; only after allowing the Sonics had built up confidence/momentum, did Larry Smith put his starters back on the floor. But it was already too late. The Supersonics won by a score of 100-96, chasing the Rockets on their way to Portland. Here, the Rockets lost their second game in a row by a score of 93-84, and the Suns had again tied the Rockets in the standings.

In Seattle, Yao Ming had 8 points and 7 rebounds; in Portland, 11 pts and 9 rbs. He was still getting quite a bit of playing time, but his opportunities on offense had dwindled. Yao Ming analyzed Smith's strategy: 'in his opinion, big guys should be rebounders, should be fighting for their lives under the boards, just like when Smith was younger. But I'm fundamentally a skilled center, and I hoped that the offensive sets would pick up, giving me a chance to be flexible and find my opportunities. But after Smith became coach, my chances of catching the ball on the move became less and less.'

Based on this analysis, the Rockets other center, Kelvin Cato, was really the type of center that Larry Smith liked.

In the season before Yao Ming had arrived, Cato had always been the starter, replaced onlya fter Yao arrived. But he's never been a very overt person, rarely saying anything to the people around him, and prefer to just listen to his music. But after the loss at Portland, Cato changed from his usual demeanor. Even while everyone sat unhappy in the locker room, Cato opened his mouth and aimed at Yao: "For a big guy, why the hell are you so damn soft?! Why don't you just stand underneath the basket? You should've killed them. What're you doing?"

Yao Ming turned and gave him an eye. Cato raised his eye and glanced for a second, and then kept up his complaints: "What the hell is going on... what's the use of bringing you here."

Yao Ming stood up, and some actually thought he wanted to fight... but he wrapped his towel around his shoulders, walked right past Cato into the showers. Cato never looked up.

Right after the Rockets left Portland's Rose Garden, Yao Ming gave me a call, saying: 'Being in a bad mood after losing, this I understand. But when Rudy was here, he's never been this way. The entire team was getting along and doing fine. But now, the harmony and chemistry of the team seems to have been broken."

The next stop was Oakland. Although the Rockets had done very well in the first 3 quarters, because Larry Smith insisted on benching his major starters in the fourth, the Warriors quickly caught back up. At a critical juncture, Yao Ming made the first 3-pointer in his professional careerNBA , helping the Rockets clench the win. After losing 109-108 to the Kings, and winning 108-90 over the Clippers, the Rockets returned to Houston with a 2w/3l record from the road-trip. The second day, they went back to the practice gym... and when they saw Rudy, the players were all very excited.

But Rudy said, I'm sorry, I can't work any longer.

 

Wow, thanks heech.

Two things though, I always thought from listening to Bill and Calvin that Mr. Mean (not Mr. Greedy) was one of the nicest guys around; in fact it was almost always the next thing Bill would say after referring to Larry Smith as Mr. Mean. That part kind of confused me.

Regarding Cato, that also is a surprise to me as I've never heard it before and never really saw any bad vibes manifest themselves on the court.

Whatever the case I hope Yao is much happier now with those surrounding him this year. I get so much joy from watching Yao because he is such a good kid. I enjoy watching his parents at the games when they show them on TV, it is really neat the way they are so reserved in their actions but you can really tell they like this team and want it to do well. Hopefully Yao and the guys can have a long successful season and bring many rings to the city of Houston, the talent and desire appear to be there.

 

Wow, this stuff is really interesting. Thanks for translating it!

 

heech, thanks for the translation.

I obviously have no factual basis for my opinion, but this passage about Cato doesn't pass the smell test.

 

that was a great translation.. people probably get frustrated w/ Yao I know I did in the beginning of the season. I dont think Cato really had a problem w/ Yao just frustrated with the loss..

though very interesting read.. thanks heech.

J

 

The next section in the book's pretty interesting as well.

http://sports.sohu.com/2004/03/25/65/news219586596.shtml

Serial #65:

Since the last time they had seen Rudy, before the trip out West, they had already been separated for a week.

But Rudy didn't say, "I'm back". Instead he said: "I'm really sorry to inform all of you, my doctors tells me that I have to keep working on my health; at the very least, I won't be able to return this season." At this point, GM Dawson walked to his side and said:" Rudy and I are both very content with Smiths' work; he's going to lead you the rest of the way."

Last time Rudy informed the players he was leaving, the players were all sorely disappointed, but at least they held the hope Rudy could return one day. But in the short span of a single week, during the 5-game long trip out West, Larry Smith had already proven his poor coaching abilities, and had compromised the team's original harmonious chemistry, leading a lot of the players to view Rudy's return as salvation. But after hearing Rudy's decision, disappointment began to turn to despair amongst the players... the Rockets still had 12 regular-season games left, with tough matchup following touch matchup. The players didn't believe that Larry Smith could lead them past the Suns, into the playoffs.

Yao Ming, describing the situation, said: "After Rudy's announcement, I looked around at the team. Everyone looked deflated; in my heart, I said... oh no." (ED: And then he makes an analogy to the story of a departed general/hero from the Romance of Three Kingdoms, which I won't bother explaining.)

Rudy didn't fully account for two things:

- first, he didn't realize that a few losses under Larry Smith would quickly turn into a rout, (ED: literally, "defeated soldiers fall like a collapsing mountain.")

- second, after announcing he's formally leaving the coaching position he'd held for 12 years, no one would let him return even after he became health.

Now, it's March 25th, 2003. It almost seemed like the forces were working against the Rockets. Hypothetically, if the Rockets were facing two weaker squads at this point, perhaps the Rockets may have regained confidence and built momentum. But on the 26th and 27th, the Rockets had back-to-back matchups against the Lakers and the 1-seed San Antonio Spurs. These great teams, just by extending their hands, pushed the Rockets into the deep abyss.

These two games became Yao Ming's deepest emotional valleys since his rough early season matchups.

The game with the Lakers was Yao Ming's second matchup with Shaq. Round 2 had been talked up ferociously by the media. But Shaq vastly out-classed Yao: he personally pulled down 39 points, dunking a total of 9 times over Yao. Yao was like a small lonely tree in the middle of a ferocious rainstorm, chopped down by an axe wielded by Shaq aimed at his own head time and time again. Yao shot 13 times, but only made 3 baskets, ending up with 6 points and 10 rebounds. The Lakers won 96-93. A day later, the Rockets lost 98-85 to the Spurs; Yao only played 16 minutes, making 1 of 9 for 2 pts. For the entire fourth quarter, Yao and Francis were left on the bench.

If we include the last game of the road trip against the Clippers, Yao had played a total of 66 minutes in 3 games, scoring 16 points, shooting 7 of 28.

As you can imagine, pressure and criticism from the outside world came pouring in. But the reporters didn't find one core detail: the night of the Laker loss, Yao had very resentfully said: "Smith has changed many of Rudy T's original plays, many of which were designed specifically for my abilities. Rudy knew that I was a skilled center, and allowed me to use my mobility to have more opportunities. But Larry Smith just cleared out the basket, and told me to fight one-on-one with the opposing center. I'm not used to that Cato style of playing ball; even if he curses me for not working hard, but that style of play just isn't my style. Letting me go head-to-head with Shaq... did you see how horribly I was destroyed?"

Smith made several coaching mistakes in these two games. Against the Lakers, the Rockets were down 3 points with 10 seconds left. This was identical to the situation they faced the last time the Lakers were in Houston. But the difference is: last game, Rudy T had designed a play to get Francis open for a three-pointer, sending the game into over time. Larry Smith also called a timeout, but after the players had surrounded him... he held onto the playbook and whiteboard, but couldn't find any words to say! Finally, it was two other assistant coaches that drew out a play, but it was easily countered by the Lakers experienced head coach Phil Jackson. With the Spurs, Smith had given up resisting early on.

A reporter asked Smith: Why has Yao Ming's time on the court decreased so much? Smith said a lot of good things about Yao in front of the reporter, saying that Yao's a well-rounded center, but he hadn't been playing well lately. I took these words and relayed them to Yao; he grunted and said: "He just has no confidence in me."

Yao Ming was just a rookie, and no matter how bad he felt, he'd never say his thoughts in front of the others. But Smith also ignored Francis's feelings; and Francis isn't some rookie, he's the leader of the squad. In the 4th quarter against the Spurs, with the Rockets down by 20 against the Spurs, Francis and Yao sat on the bench together.

Francis patted Yao Ming, and asked: "He's sitting us... you feel a little upset?"

Yao didn't voice his sadness: "I'm... I'm ok."

Francis raised an eyebrow: "I'm very uncomfortable. All the time I've played in the NBA, I've never lost this much face."

Francis couldn't hold back his frustration, and he soon exploded. In the locker room after the game, everyone showered and packed up to return to Houston. The reporters hadn't entered yet; Smith slammed the door behind him, and began to scream and curse at every player. He had lost control a little, and he cursed every single player... and he certainly didn't forget Yao Ming. Yao Ming had already showered, but afterworsd he took a seat... listening quietly to Smith's criticisms. Yao Ming said: "Thinking back about the feelings I had at the time... it was almost comical."

When Smith had began to scream at Francis, the Franchise jumped up from his seat, pointed at Smith and began to scream back: "You only know how to point the finger at other people! This was all created by you! Yao Ming was playing just fine before, all of us were performing just fine... but you ruined it all! From now on, all of you guys just listen to me, don't listen to this guy's garbage." Someone covered Francis' mouth, someone pulled the two of them apart. Yao Ming, in the middle of this chaos, opened the locker room door to find that there were a few San Antonio reporters trying to listen in.

This was the 72nd game of the season, meaning that there were only 10 games left. At this point, the Rockets and Suns were still fighting for 8th place, and constantly changing position. After losing this game, the Suns gained a half-game lead over the Rockets... but they still had to face the Lakers, Mavs, and Spurs... they were in an even more precarious position than the Rockets.

But Yao Ming shook his head: "I'm afraid we might be finished."