Yao talked about his rookie season in a loooong interview

Yao has national pride and wants to represent his country, thus he should.

But as time goes on, he's going to destroy his competion in all the Asian/Shanghai competitions.

It would be like Tim Duncan going back to college and playing those kids. Too easy.

 

sbyang, how long did it take you to translate the whole damn thing? That was incredible...

now let's see how long will it take Colin Pine to do it...

 

That trasnlation was so well organized the thought that shyang was really Colin Pine crossed my mind.

 

I loved the part about Cat getting on him. Cat does seem to always give 100%, but not always 100% of his brain.

 

you have a very valid point. yao will not get better playing for in China. however, you're forgetting he's under contract w/ the Chinese gov't to go back and play for the NT every summer. yao's not "a$$ing off" to China because he's not dedicated to the NBA. he only does so because he's contractually obligated to China. if he didnt have this burden, i'm sure he'd be at Westside every week.

 

I appreciate the thanks everyone. It took me about an hour and a half, alot longer than I thought it would. But I wanted to be clear and not just translate it word for word, some of the meaning would have been lost.

As far as Yao not playing summer league, I think it's all right because he might be at the point where his improvements are going to come from working out his body. I think his court sense, feel and skills aren't gonna get much better by competing in summer league vs. the national tournaments. What he needs to do is improve his stamina and strength, it sounds like he's doing that. The main things he'll be missing are the chance to get to know his teammates better, and to improve his english Then again, I doubt Francis and Mobley would be playing in summer leagues.

One last thought, when was the last time an all star starter played in summer league? I doubt it's Duncan cause he won the championship his second year, maybe you'd have to go back to Grant Hill.

P.S.
I'm not Colin Pine, wouldn't mind trying his job though, sounds like fun.

 

I second Yun's comment about the so called "Yao only fan" stuff. In addition, I'd just take this opportunity to say that I enjoy many of Newgirl's thoughtful postings since she joined this board.

 

Stop talking about newgirl.
We are talking about Yao, not newgirl. She does not deserve the focus......
...well, unless she can post one of her pictures....

 

I wouldn't be so sure. Yao sounded like he really wanted not only representing his team but also want to help the youngsters there. I think its cool that he really wants to help out his nation.

 

I don't see anyone labelling sbyang a "Yao only fan".

It's ironic that KG and Shaq are bashed for not wanting to play for their national team but Yao is bashed for wanting to play for his.

You can't have it both ways.

 

This is for Sydmill and everyone else who seem to believe that Yao went to play for the Chinese national team and passed on the NBA summer camp on his own will...News Bulletin!!! Yao playing on the national team was one of the conditions for China "letting" Yao enter the NBA draft. That's why Wang Zhizhi got in so much trouble. You have to understand that other countries aren't like U.S. Tienenmen Square ring a bell? That was only 14 years ago. When China tells one of its citizen to do something, he had better or bad things happen.

 

Just remind you wiredog, don't bring politics to this forum.....

 

No politics, please!!!

 

you have no idea how much china changed in those 14 years...

Wang ZhiZhi was in the Red Army, his situation was different from Yao's...

 

"I: Did you feel like a rookie?

Y: Well I'm not going to be next year anyway. "

is 18ppg out of reach?

 

There's a very simple reason for that. KG and Shaq would be playing for the US National team and Yao would be playing for the Chinese National team. Our own vested interests are always more important.

 

A good point indeed. Yao's game is pretty developed, it's his strength/conditioning that need work, and he's doing that. Training camp is the important thing. With a new coach coming in this year it's even more important.

Last year already seems like a long time ago, I don't remember, but isn't it next year there's some NT committment that's going to likely run into training camp? The Asian games are every four years, am I right? I hope not, because by my calculations that gives Yao two full training camps in his first 5 years in the NBA. That's rough, and it will be hard on the Rockets too.

 

Thanks Sbyang for your hard work. Being able to translate Chinese dialects into functional English will surley be a valuable commodity for you in the future as the worlds #1 economic power increases it's commerce with the world's fastest growing economic power.

Yao Ming is proving himself to be the ideal combination of humility and ambition, and of physical skills and thoughtfulness. We in Houston are as proud to be the vehicle for his ascension on to the world stage as his Chinese bretheren are of his origin. At 7' 5" there is plenty of Yao for both of us.

But BBS members , make no mistake, there are certainly political ramifications to Yao's career. For American's, Yao puts a face and a personality on a culture that for us has been shrouded in the propaganda of the Cold War. Until Yao, most Americans thought of the Chinese people as mindless worker bees toiling for their autocratic masters.

For the Chinese Yao is the vanguard of their assimilation into the world economy. He talks to the Chinese people about 'marketing' , the quest of personal wealth as an ethical pusuit and saying that evey person has their own point of view to express. My friends , not to long ago these would have been too radical ideas to express in a Chinese publication, possibly even landing him in a re-education camp.

No wonder the kid feels the pressure, he has one billion , two hundred and eighty million people watching him. But it's just basketball.

Jeep

 

True. Remember that piece on World Explorer? The new word in China is a Stalinism-Capitalism. Or a mesh between the two. We're talking economically.

Some say that it's a transitional phase. Some say that's what it may evolve to.
Some say that it may never be a capitalistic-democracy but rather combination of new and old which fits their economic structure best.

No one is sure. But it's interesting, that's for sure.

 

A closer translation will be "noob"