Hook shot!! From Chinese reporter's interview of Rudy at WBC. He also talked about how he will not limit Yao stay outside or only close to the basket, and other usual stuff like how he's confident Yao will be successful ... http://sports.sohu.com/44/31/sports_news164903144.shtml Edit: Sorry, corrected the link now.
Here's part of it. Finish it later! "Meeting Yao is like Eating Peking Duck for the First Time" Exclusive with Rudy Tomjanovich Southern Sports http://sports.sohu.com/44/31/sports_news164903144.shtml 9/3/2002 "Even though anything can happen in the futre, I'm still very confident that Yao will become an outstanding player, maybe one of the best, maybe history-making." When the Chinese NT plays in Indianapolis, there is always an American sitting silently among the crowd and watching the team, constantly taking out a pen to jot down some notes. During the breaks, he would also be surrounded by passionate fans for autographs and pictures. He is Rudy Tomjanovich, the field-marshal for the Houston Rockets, and Yao Ming's future coach. The place for our interview is a restaurant called P.Fchanges, whose restaurant window says Chinese food, and looks like it's doing good business, with a bunch of blonde, blue-eyed foreigners (i.e. Americans) squeezing past each other to wait for empty seats. Rudy smiled and said "This is a franchise which also has restaurants in Houston." He said emphatically "I like Chinese food very much. I also like Chinese people!" The first time meeting Yao Ming --- Just like the first time eating Peking Duck. Even though before the draft, Ruday never thought that he'd one day have Yao on his team, but nonetheless the first time he say Yao was to him like the having Peking Duck for the first time, he almost wanted to cry (out loud). Our conversation never left Yao Ming. I told him a couple of anecdotes from my past interviews with Yao, and he laughed "This is what I like about Yao, in the NBA, there are some young players, if they all of a sudden become famous, they don't know what to do with themselves, and then surrounded and manipulated by others, gradually lose sight of themselves, becoming arrogant. But Yao will not. From what I've seen, he is a very simple unadulterated young man." Journalists have told him that Yao's mother initially wanted Yao to become a university student, but after Yao fell in love with basketball, he took a totally different path. Coach Rudy said "The most important thing is: I can tell that Yao is a young man that enjoys basketball 100%, you've got to understand that even though there are many tall players, they don't play ball because they love it, but because their height forced this sport on them." He also talked about how when Yao came to the States for his physical, during an interview he said "I don't do this just for Chinese fans, but also for fans here." ------ I've gotta go run some errands. Continue translation later!
Lil will finish the translation later. But one thing you guys should listen: Rudy was defending Wang Fei! Of course, we don't always believe what Rudy says about people. He has nothing but good things to say. Oh, wait, he did say something bad. He said those superstars who refused to play for the US are @*#&$. (my free paraphrase )
I'm sure that Rudy T. loves how Yao shoots from outside. This spells trouble for me. It would be nice to see some of the Rocket big men (i.e. Yao and E.G.) actually work the low box.
Actually, I agree with Rudy's approach. He doesn't want Ming to overreact to his "lack of strength" problem. Of course, Ming will hit the weight room and get stronger. But overemphasis of his weaknesses could be detrimental to the development of his strengths, which is speed and agility. Rudy wants him to get his bread-and-butter moves down first. One of it is an unstoppable hook shot, maybe plus a quick turnaround J. I don't think they want to make Ming into a banger and waste all his finesse skills. All he needs is to be strong enough to hold his own and withstand the pounding of NBA games.
2nd half of translation (see above for 1st half) .. .. .. ---------------- Rudy obviously knows this restaurant extremely well, cuz he readily recommended several excellent dishes. When an entree named "let-it-wrap" came, I immediately connected it to Peking Duck, cuz the two dishes are basically eaten the same way. Mentioning this globally famous Chinese dish, and Rudy is all praises. He says the first time he had it, he almost cried (out loud) because it was so delicious. This type of feeling is just like his feelings for Yao Ming. The first time he saw Yao at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Yao was not yet 20 years old, but though clearly raw, he exuded a "special confidence". The most surprising for Rudy was that during the course of the game, Yao Ming wasn't clumsy like regular tall players, and when he gets the ball under the basket, and people double team him, he doesn't stupidly take it in anyway, but scans perceptively all over for his teammates. Unfortunately that time, Yao got into foul trouble and had to leave, so Rudy couldn't check his technique carefully. Afterwards, Rudy saw the tape of Yao stuffing Gary Payton and Vince Carter. All this gave him the impression that "this kid is gonna be an NBA player someday!" But he said "But I never thought he would one day be on MY team!" What I Want Him to Learn Most --- Use the Hook Shot More Yao doesn't have to be that worried about not being built enough. He should be concentrating on his movement... I don't care at all how many shots or rebounds a player gets, that's not important. [so long as he's moving w/o the ball properly]. From the exhibition game in Vancouver until now, Rudy has met Yao 4 times, and has introduced the rest of the coaching staff to Yao. Rudy wishes him to know that he [Rudy] is a trustworthy coach. He introduced to reporters that "Besides New York and San Franciso, Houston is where the most metropolitan area with the most ethnic Chinese. [think he left out LA?] Furthermore, this is a very quiet city, Spring-time year round, excellent public transportation. Houstonians are honest/simple, friendly folks." Speaking about Yao Ming, Rudy gets extremely excited. This 32-year Rocket veteran has extraordinary passion for this team, and the "gem" that Yao Ming represents has given he many hopes for his team. "Yes, we are a young team, but I like this kind of team, because I can watch them mature little by little. I know that, given time, these guys will grow up." And going after several years without seeing Yao has made Rudy even happier in Yao's present accomplishments. "He must have be improving a little bit every day, every year, and that's why when I see him I get so excited." The Rockets most famous player is certainly Olajuwan, the "Dream Shake" center who is also one of Yao's most admired players. When comparing the two, Rudy says almost with certainty: "From the beginning, they have one thing in common, and that is being very smart, they know how to use their brain to play ball." Reminiscing, Rudy said that Olajuwan was different from other people in that even though he was tall, he was also agile, and Yao is also like that. "This potential separates them from other players. But no two players are the same. Yao Ming will become no one except himself, but since he arrived, the one thing I want him to learn most --- is the hook shot." Since the start of national team training in Canada, Rudy has not missed a single game, and has begun to frequently discuss Yao's performance with reporters: "I heard that after the Canada match, because Yao had a hard time in the struggle, he [Yao] vowed to get stronger. But during the actual competition, when Yao was moving without the ball, he was always getting pushed and tugged on. This sort of thing simply isn't permitted in the NBA, and would be whistled for fouls. They played that game like football, not basketball. In the current games, Yao Ming doesn't have to worry so much about not being strong enough, he can totally use his movement. Of course, there are some older veterans in the NBA that really know how to use their physical advantages." Reporters have told him that after the Germany-China match, there were numerous criticisms of Yao in the American press. Rudy said that in that first game, Yao's only problem was foul trouble. But the media these days seem to have without exception failed to correctly portrayed the reality (missed the mark). They either aim too high, or too low. "I really don't care how many shots a player takes in a game, or how many rebounds he grabs, those things are important." There have been Houston reporters who said that "Rudy decided to let Yao play his first year well away from the basket, and then work him gradually closer to the basket." Rudy rejected this claim, saying that "We have many concepts and ideas on the best way to use Yao, but I won't restrict his position. Not only under the basket, from the foul line, to anywhere in the interior, he can traverse any zone [if necessary], I won't limited his position. About the Dream Team --- Rudy's Heartbroken With Yugoslavian origins, but born and raised in the US, he felt sad about Yugoslavia's screw-up in their match. "They got too proud after their first game, and started saying to everyone how they're gunning for the US squad... Nowadays, you can't underestimate any team." The Chinese NT coach Wang Fei has drawn a lot of flak and doubt for his coaching decisions and X's and O's. Rudy doesn't feel that's right either: "Drawing fire for putting in younger players during the 3rd Period? OK, I usually do the same thing during practices. But for competitions, it wasn't successful. Each player has their specialties and circumstances, which I'm sure no one understands better than the head coach." For this, Rudy reminisced his early days of coaching, every day local stations would show call-in programs with 80% of the calls coming in complaining how crappy Rudy's coaching is. At the time, he was really concerned about these things, and spent all day in misery. But with time and experience, he figured out that "I stopped getting affected by people saying this or that, but just try my hardest to do whatever I was doing, I don't care about the results." And he dedicated this thought to Coach Wang Fei: "When you're doing well, people don't talk about it, but when you screw up, people always talk about it." Rudy is not only a experienced coach, but he also coached Dream Team II. Speaking about this year's "Dream Team 5", he's heart-broken: "These big-shot players don't want to play. They don't treat it as an honor. This year's Dream Team is the weakest ever. Maybe the WC will give them all a lesson, because the standards of basketball is rising constantly in other countries. Eventually it'll dawn on them, when people say that "this is a member of the team that lost..." And being an ethnic Yugoslavian [is there such a thing?] born and raised in the US, he felt bad for the Yugos defeat to Spain: "They got overconfident after their first match, boasting that they'll challenge the US team, but failed to realise that you can underestimate anyone these days." Finally, speaking about Yao Ming's future expectations, Rudy said "Even though anything is possible, but I'm still extremely confident that Yao Ming will become an excellent player, maybe one of the best, making one who will rewrite history." After the meal, as I bid Rudy goodbye, many fans came up to him to say hello, and to get autographs. One fan holding up a Turkish flag came up and said "Good luck to Yao". As the sun shone on the word "Chinese" on P.Fchanges's shop window, Rudy Tomjanovich gave a brilliant smile in return. From staff reporter Xiao-He Yi with Rudy Tomjanovich -------------- Done! Enjoy! Not much new information, but it does give us a bit of insight into what's going on in Rudy's head these days... Obviously not "I want $90million" Rashard Lewis!
. . . and Toronto and San Francisco . . . those are the places where you can find better Chinese food than Houston . . . but . . . shhhhh . . . don't tell Ming, or he'll bolt after his rookie contract is up. Great translation Lil. Thanks a lot.
What kills me about this is that some Chinese reporter halfway across the globe can get this type of insight from Rudy, but the Chronicle can't do squat but throw stuff like Blinebury's weekly piss-fest at us or the usual play-by-play-via-boxscore. Looks like Mo Tay and Cat are here to stay.
The players like Rudy because he cares about them. Rudy does change his offense to the type of players he has. Many coaches try to force their players to a preconceived plan. I am with Rudy all the way, except for one thing. He tends to love certain types of over the hill players.
Indeed, that is what Rudy T. said, at least according to the reporter. I guess Rudy tried to sell Houston to the Chinese fans. In the end, I think Yao Ming will get used to Houston's hot, humid and long summer. Shanghai can be hot and humid in summer as well, though not as long as Houston. Plus, he can always take his summer break in California as did Wang Zhizhi.
I've been to all three places and the food is not much better if better at all. Houston has great places to eat. You just have to know where to go.
Totally off the subject, but P. F. Chang's is easily my favorite chain restaurant. Definitely more of an Asian fusian type restaurant with influances not just from the various regions in China, but also from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere. I love the little no name hole-in-the-walls, but I've never had a better soup than P.F. Chang's Pin Rice noodle soup. That place rocks! I've had great Chinese food in San Fran and Vancouver and even in some small cities in between, but I've had Chinese food in Houston that was every bit as good---if not better. There's a reason that Houston makes 80% of the egg rolls sold in U.S. grocery stores (as well as many of the ones served in restaurants throughout the nation). We also make the majority of the fortune cookies. We don't have to take a backseat to ANY city in North America when it comes to Chinese (or any Asian) cuisine. That's just another misconception that people love to make about Houston
Talk about chinese food...... I am chinese and I go back to Hong Kong on a yearly basis and that's were the best chinese food is. In the North America, I've eaten in Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, LA and Houston. I'm original from San Francisco so I know the places to go to have great food (I live in Houston now). LA is not bad, but Vancouver has one of the best chinese restaurants. I would go back just to eat there! The exchange rate helps a lot too!!!! As for great chinese food in Houston, there are a few and it keeps growing. They are heavily concentrated on Beliaire and Beltway 8 area. But you have to know which one is good (not all are good in that area).
