What was the "trigger" that brought Dream & Yao together?

Scheduling. Not everything that went wrong last year is on JVG.

 

Well, I think Hakeem was simply interested in the novelty of it. He probably misses the game and working with young players in the summertime is a way for him to stay involved with it. Yao is an intriguing prospect for Hakeem for several reasons: He's incredibly tall, he's very close to dominating, he's Chinese, and he plays for the Rockets. He's easily the most interesting person in the NBA that Hakeem could work with.

Honestly, I think Yao mostly agreed to it as a tribute to the fans of Houston. He can't be unaware that fans have wanted to see these two meet on a basketball court since he was drafted. I doubt Yao's expectations were much for a short little session, but no doubt he's heard way too many stories about Hakeem and plays under his shadow, so it was probably a point of interest for him to be able to fill out that shadow with a real person instead of just a legend.

 

EXACTLY. This is the 4th summer for Yao Ming since joining NBA, and the only summer that he does not have too heavy national team commitment, as China automatically qualifies for 2008 Olympics as the host country.

He had to play in Asian Championship (to qualify for 2004 Olympics) in 2003; then in the summer of 2004, he had to play in both Athens Olympics and Asian Games in Doha. He had to recuperate/rehabilitate to play again for Asian Championship in 2005 to qualify for 2006 World Championship. Last summer, he had again to recuperate/rehabilitate to compete for 2006 World Championship.

I don't believe sh!!!!!!!!!!!t in that conspiracy theory of JVG disallowed Yao Ming to train/work with Hakeem "the Dream" Olajuwon.

 

No no, didn't you know JVG was responsible for everything from playoff losses to the high cost of beers at the Toyota center and the general decline of western society...

 

I wonder if the Rockets paid Dream for his consulting gig, like a guest slot on a talk show.

I admit that news of Dream teaching Okafur last year did piss me off a little.

 

Reservations at Yao's restaurant.

 

Read this article from last year : http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4093612.html

He states he wanted to teach him, but obligations to China prevented him from doing so. He added "maybe next year". Which is this year...

 

it was love.

 

Again, Rockets needed a photo op to take the fans off of the tragic Game 7 loss and the brash coaching decision.

I dont consider 1 afternoon a 'training session'.

I wouldnt send my child to a basketball day camp and expect a lot of progress, much less a professional.

 

Yao has been a Dream fan for years. I remember seeing an interview with Yao in 2000 when it was rumored he might come to the NBA where he said Dream was his favorite player.

Yao isn't just doing this as a favor to the fans.

 

wrong Sabonis was Yaos favorite player.

 

Especially since Dream outplayed Ewing ever since the 1983 NCAA Finals.

I am curious though if Dream and Ewing get along and if they had any dealings with each other when Ewing was working for the Rox. Or for that matter if Dream and Mutumbo get along.

 

Maybe he has two. I clearly remember seeing an interview with Yao done by Ahmad Rashad of all people where he said Olajuwon was his favorite player. Maybe he meant American player not being aware that Dream is from Nigeria.

 

The fact that Yao wasn't beasting people on the court. Hakeem came to game 7 and saw it first-hand that Yao was letting Okur and Jared Collins defend him successfully at a high rate, ONE ON F***ING ONE!!!! He couldn't bear to watch this go on any longer.

 

I heard that last year, Yao had plane tickets to fly to Amman, Jordan, where Hakeem lives, and train with him, but JVG secretly unplugged his alarm clock and forced him to miss the flight.

 

Hakeem has spent much of his time overseas in Jordan and doing business deals here, so he can't exactly be a regular fixture at Rockets games. Unlike other athletes, the guy actually does something beyond his sport after leaving that sport. Hakeem was in attendance with Moses Malone at Yao's 1st game vs. Shaq back in 2003. When his jersey was retired in 2002, he was blown away when Les announced he wanted to erect a statue dedicated to Hakeem at the Toyota Center when it opened. I remember Hakeem saying something like that is the ultimate compliment or something.

I think this is/was a non-issue.

 

I'm guessing most hard feelings between Dream and Alexander are probably in the past now. I'm guessing it was a mixture of scheduling and Dream not wanting to impose on JVG, Ewing and Thibodeau.

This situation reminds of me of when Rudy T stepped down from the Lakers and JVG said he would welcome Rudy sitting in on the lockerroom or bench. Rudy declined saying that he didn't want to impose and give the impression he was undercutting JVG's authority. I suspect its not that JVG or Alexander refusing to allow Dream to coach Yao but Dream not wanting to appear to undercut them.

 

A close friend of mine is friends with Rocket equipment staffers and they say that Yao's personal fitness coach Falsone made the connection. Falsone was Olajawons trainer before he worked for the team and stays in touch with him even today. They tried to do it last summer when Yao returned from China but Hakeem was already leaving. But they agreed to make it hapen as soon as this season was over.

My connection said Olajawan, Falsone and Yao came to the arena from a workout at a high school track and were stretching and running before the basketball session.

I think it was great and from the interviews it seems that both enjoyed it. Falsone told the equipment person that they would try to do it again if they could but nothing was planned.

I hope he can make it happen again so Yao can get to that MVP superstar level like Hakeem was at.