Yang Yi predicted Yao is going to average 18/9 per game this season before the season started, as of now, he is right on target.
I should say it is also according to Yang Yi's report, but not in this book, since it happened much later. I think Steve Francis is a great person. When Yao hosted a fund-raising event for curing SARS in China, Francis and Iverson were also the ones who donoted most in NBA.
Here is another chapter translated by me if you guys are interested in it. Money-related. *************************************** Chapter 28, Houston won the lottery To be honest, it doesn’t matter that if I could be No. 1 pick or not. I know that Duncan, Iverson, Webber and O’Neal were all No.1 peak, but none of them could be compared with Jordan, never. And Jordan was only No. 3 pick. No matter how one will be, it has nothing to do with his pick number. – Yao Ming It was the morning of May 20th, 2002. Yao Ming just woke up right before he received the phone call from our friend Jia Yu, who shouted at the other side of phone line, “Buddy, you has to go to Houston, now game is over for New York and Chicago!!”. Yao knew the pick order will be made today but never thought Houston Rockets could make it (note: Rox had only 8.9% chance while Golden state and Chicage had 23% each following their season’s winning record) When Yao was sleeping that night, the lucky draw was going to be made in Rm 303 of NBA entertainment building, located in New Jersey. Representatives from 13 NBA teams that couldn’t make playoffs were waiting outside the room. Houston Rockets sent their franchise PG Francis, who sat right beside Clause, the GM of Chicago Bulls , and West, the GM of Memphis Grizzles. This made Francis a little uncomfortable there. Following their winning record of the season, Rockets only had 8.9% chance to get No. 1 pick while Chicago and Golden States had the chance close to 23%. But when the vice president of NBA opened the red envelope for No.1 pick, people saw clearly the blue logo of Rockets. Francis got very excited, “So many people looked back at me”, he said, “It seems that they all wanted to kick my ass off.” Clause stretched his hand to congraduate Rockets’ win though reluctantly, he must have said in his heart, now I have to say good bye to Yao Ming forever. I called Yao later that day, and he tole me half jokingly, “Sometimes you have to trust your fate. How your future is gonna be, how far you could go, all these are simpled determined by a simple lucky draw.” As a matter of fact, when Houston got this No.1 pick, Yao’s future is determined. If Chicago had gotten this, they would probably have traded it with New York (for Houston or Sprewell). On the other hand, if GS had gotten it, they would have chosen Jay Williams from Duke University, simple because they need a better PG. But for Houston, they must select Yao, as it is their tradition to have great centers. Francis also said, “We don’t want to find another PG”. ….. (omitted some paragraphs here, nothing new from what you have known) Shanghai got the promises from Houston for various benefits from this deal. But, according to the tradition of NBA when they are trying to get an international player, Yao needs to buy out his contract with Shanghai. There is no certain rule for how much one should pay for that, but traditionally it should be between $2m to $3m. Even so, Yao’s family felt dizzling when they heard the number proposed by Shanghai. I knew this first in the evening of June 18th, when Yao told me over the phone that Shanghai’s suggested price was pretty high. I asked, “How much do they need?” “You name it, two chances for you” “3 million?” “try again” “5 million?” I hesitated “wrong answer” “I give up, tell me, man” “**million” (note: original text put asterisks here, nobody knows how much ) This number scared me indeed. I can’t put it here, but it roughly amounts to all the incomes from Yao’s first several NBA seaons. Yao continued, “If I remember correctly, it took only 30RMB(note, $4) to get me into sports school (note, stated-owned sports school, when you don’t need to pay to be educated as a player) ”. “So I will treat you from now on, since you are such a poor guy”, I told him jokinly. “Then I will take every chance to eat all these **million back from you”, he replied. What I could imagine is his look when he held the phone in his room. This kid never worried about money before, and he never cared about money. But right at that moment, he became to realize something. The negotiation between Yao’s family and Shanghai were going on, sometimes it was even at a stage that the number is so high, Yao’s family don’t want to continue and let Yao stay away from NBA. But Shanghai’s decision maker didn’t have a ball to make Yao’s family to make that step, because, if Yao doesn’t go to NBA due to this, nobody could take the responsibility for that. At that time, Yao stopped training due to the hurt on his back. His mom and dad told him to keep his phone on always in order to get any updated news from Shanghai. On June 23th, when his family made an announcement on the new conference in Shanghai that a deal was made, Yao was playing game in his room. I stood right behind him and asked, “It’s done? How much?”, he didn’t turn back, just made a gesture, “*million”. “My mom told me, if you put too much cold water into a bottle, the bottle will crush. She has not special feelings right now, except cold. They both have been devoted to Shanghai basketball for over 30 years, they put all their lives onto basketball. they have me as a son, and I brought the first national championship to Shanghai, but right now……”, Yao said when looking outside the window. At the same moment, 1,600 kilometers far away, in Shanghai, a reporter asked his mom, who doesn’t speak a lot usually, “Why are you not happy?” And the old lady kept silent for a while and replied, “you feel I am not happy?”
Damn, everyone wants to exploit Yao, even the Shanghai team to which he brought a championship. This lesson must've been a factor in him suing Coke last year for exploiting his image and putting him on their cans in China without having an endorsement deal with him (for the grand amount of ONE Chinese yuan, about 12 cents, simply as a matter of principle.) From all the evidence I've ever seen, words like "honor" and "loyalty" and "integrity" really do hold meaning for Yao, so for anyone who worries he might leave the Rockets after his rookie contract expires, you should rest easy. Unless the Rockets screw Yao first somehow, Yao will not screw the Rockets.
Well I am about a month late on this post, but I just tied into this topic. Nice work by all involved. Back to page one, about Larry Smith being a hard ass and Calvin and Bill saying he was a good guy. I do recall shortly after Rudy went out somebody asking Steve about Mr. Mean's toughness. "Oh yea, he kind of gets in your ass!" May not be an exact quote, but I do remember the "in " part, noticing it was not " on". I figured he was a real tough guy, and just what the Rockets needed. Oh well, I would have traded the Yao pick, so what do I know. Somebody a while back made a comment about Rudy and Larry doing a good cop/bad cop routine. That actually makes a lot of sense. Just a complete guess, but I guess that Larry Smith really is a good guy. He was just doing his job. Unfortunately he just couldn't shift gears and find the middle ground when he was put in charge. Shame, I basically like the guy.
I'm glad somebody posted this. Let's remember that Yang-Yi is not exactly an objective reporter here. I don't totally doubt his veracity and appreciate the insider info, but what's posted above amounts to a total assasination of Smith's coaching ability. Nobody was confusing Smith with John Wooden last year, but Yang Yi would have you believe that Smith, and only Smith, was the cause of the Rockets late season woes.
Hmm, where there's smoke, there usually is fire... It's impossible for me to be certain either way, but then again, it's very difficult to ascertain a motive for Yang Yi to put such a spin on the matter if there wasn't a grain of truth in it. But truly, we can debate til the cows come home and we would not be able to get an objective answer about this. Truly, unless there is a rational reason to doubt the veracity of the information, I say let's run with it. The only reason I'm even responding to this is that the persistent doubts about Yang Yi's credibility are starting to discourage the ppl who can translate to do so. And certainly, I'd like to continue to have the pleasure of reading these translations...
Without question, and I do believe Yang Yi for the most part. I don't believe he's fabricating anything, but just reporting from a severely slanted point of view. It just seems that Yi is actively castigating Smith in every passage. I'd like to hear Smith's take on the situation too. But as you remarked, I do want to continue to read these translations because I also find it fascinating.
Just where do you come up the conclusion that this Yang Yi dude has no credibility? I mean, do you read Chinese or have you caught him either, right before, in the act of, or after the fact that he has lied in his articles? If you are saying he may be slightly biased, last time I checked, that's called a PoV. Last time I checked, writers from every team has some. But unless you can actually come up with PROOF he has actually lied, then YOU ARE THE ONE full of hot air... not him.
Who are you talking? Read my posts again, please. Carefully. Then take a deep breath. Now relax and unclench your teeth. Carry on.
Rockets organization really should try to find out what happened to the Nike contract. What was that single clause which ticked Yao off.
Where is the translation for Yao's arrival in Houston? is there a chapter for that? can't find it on that yaoming******** site.
Severely slanted implies lying. You don't purposely severely slant something unless you are selling tabloids or unless you're Republican. At worst here is Yang Yi's words vs. Mr. Mean's words, yet you somehow find Yang Yi's words severely slanted although you don't know the background information on him.
It is completely logical to take Yang Yi's words with a grain of salt. After all, he and Yao are close friends, yes? One would assume that a "close friend" would try to present Yao in the best possible light--and there's your slant/bias/spin/whatnot. I love Yao and I'm also enjoying this biography a great deal, but to suggest that every word Yang Yi writes in this book is the gospel truth would be incredibly naive.
I agree with ttboy.. I love reading the articles it truly is fascinating and makes you understand a person more and how they think. I feel kind of sorry for Yao.. so much pressure to succeed. with all the investment in him as a player (time, money, country negotiations) and if he was a failure the shame it would bring on him and his family. I know everyone tries to exploit everyone else.. but Yao seems to get it to the Nth degree its just sad. however, Yang is still Yao's friend I dont think he would lie but people are people and have their own point of views.. so what im saying is I love reading everything please continue to translate. J
