Here is the latest Yao interview from some newspaper reporter: http://sports.sina.com.cn/s/2004-04-17/0210219951s.shtml Q: Regular season is over, what do you feel about your sophomore year? A: My deepest impression this season is our ups and downs. We are always in a winning streak or a losing streak. That makes us feel really good sometimes, feel really bad sometimes. I feel we should be more consistant in the future. Q:Talk about losing streak, that 6 game losing streak at the end of regular season.. A: That one showed our psychlogical instablity. At that time I felt we were terrible. Everyone of us thought we were already in playoff, but actually we were not. When Utah and Denvor were trailing us by 1.5 games, we thought we had something, but actually not. Q: You just said you got nothing, but you made the playoff. A: Playoff doesn't mean anything. It only gives you a chance to get higher honor, but means nothing by ifself. Q Is that the reason you felt bad after Jazz game although you were already in playoff? A:We didn't play well in that game, including me. Everyone was sleep walking. Maybe we were too relaxed after we qualified for playoff. I felt we couldn't play like that, we still have playoff games. We didn't play like a playoff team during that period. Q: Now talk about your opponent in playoff, Lakers. How do you feel your play against Shaq? In the last game you only scored 6 points. A:It's only one game. I played him 4 times this year, scored 86 points, average 21.5. I think not many centers in NBA can do that. Q:Some people feel the reason Shaq outplayed you in that game is because you didn't have support from PF. What will happen if you have a better PF? A: There is no if on basketball court. If you say if, if I have 20 pounds more muscle, then I'll be the strongest center. But is it possible? So all I have to do is try my best in practice. Q:Somebody compared you against Shaq with you against Wang Zhi Zhi before, do you think it's comparable? A: There are some similarity. I'm an underdog, a challenger. But it's different too. When I played against Wang, I was a newbie, a real newbie. I couldn't do anything except I'm tall. And nobody really pay a lot attention to me at that time. But now, everytime I play against Shaq, we draw so much attention. Everybody is hyped up, that gave me a lot pressure. Q:Any other difference? A: Maybe there is. I might need 5 years to catch up with Wang at that time, but against Shaq, I might need 5 years to wait him getting old.(laugh) Q:You said you didn't want to play Lakers. Is it because of Shaq? A: Yes. Q:Are you afraid of him? Ao you think I'm that kind of person? Q:Then what's the reason? A:That's because of you. Everytime I play against him, the media is hyped up although it's just a normal game. Q:Now let's talk about how you feel about media. Do you still feel media pay too much attention to you? A:In fact I don't refuse interviews, you know that. But sometimes you need some space. I remember once before the game, I was surrounded by reporters. Suddenly one reporter asked me how I felt about what JVG just wrote on the white board. I said I would like to answer your question. But I have been surrounded by you since I entered locker room. I didn't even have a chance to look at white board. Q:Now back to the game. Talk about your oppponents. Your stats against Shaq doesn't look bad, but sometimes your scoring and rebounds are not that good against no name centers. For example, Seattle's Jerome James said he taught you a lesson when you were a rookie. But in this season, he made you uncomfortable as well. A:I think it's because he's a big center. Theree are very few 7'1 and above players in NBA, so I was not getting used to it. Another reason is, player like James only has one goal only:defense,defense and more defense. He doesn't have to worry about anything else, his only purpose is to push me out. Agianst those big name centers, I'll have more chance. Because they need to do other things as well, sometimes they can't do it all. Q:On the court, what else is hard to deal with besides opponents? A(laugh):You are trying to get me fined. I'll have to take out 5000 dollars before I answer this one. Q: That has to be the referees if you say so. A:Well, Refs are human, they make mistakes too. Usually they are tough to Rockies, not that tough to veterans, and kind of afraid of stars. But I feel I should look at my own problems. Q: Now talk about your friend. A lot people say that once you become better and better, you'll replace Francis as the man on the team. Will that affect your relationship with him? A:True friends are not that easy to broken. Do you feel we have problems? Q:Last question. What do you expect from you first playoff? A:I think we won't get eliminated quickly. I feel I should report to Chinese national team later than Del Harris.(Laughing hard)
stupid media..hyping up Shaq-Yao games! I really like Yao's interviews because of his witty remarks thanks alot Choujie it's really appreciated
Good translation in general. Just want to point out a couple of mistakes that can lead people to misunderstand Yao. What Yao said was that to get into playoff means nothing. Your translation made it like that Yao does not care about PO. Also Yao mentioned that he thinks that Dallas will finish postseason play earlier than the Rockets. The article also has some very nice words about JVG. JVG rarely praises a player. He did mention it to the reporters that Yao is only a sophomore.
Thanks for the translation! Great read. I wonder if Yao will answer with more candor to American reporters when his English gets better.
Two great responses by the big fella. I love his sense of humor. In a lot of ways, Yao is the perfect person to bridge the Asian athelete with the NBA, just like Jackie Robinson was the perfect person to break the color barrier in baseball.
Yao really think he is the man now? he should show some respect to SF. As for J. James, Yao should realize it's becoz he played too soft. Just look at how Shaq plays again him.
what the hell do you mean show some respect to SF? When has he never shown respect? He always shows respect...troll.
Read the Q&A. When being asked of being the man of the team, Yao just accepted it while it's quite arguable. You think this is respect, troll?
A SOF calling other real Rox fans 'troll'? It's good that yao is building up the mentality that this is His Team. What do you want? Another five-year SF lottery franchise?
I'm a YOF. You build mentality by playing hard against your opponents, not by assuming to be "the man". It's lucky this is on Chinese media.
Is this what your talking about? I think he meant real friends are not easily broken (meaning Steve and him are true friends and if he does become the man on the team it won't mess up Francis and Yao's friendship. Then he asks the reporter if he thinks Francis and Yao have problems. I think thats quite respectful. What do you want him to say? He never actually said he will become the leader of the squad, he basically said him and Steve will stay friends, whatever the situation maybe
he didn't deny it either. as long as SF would not think this as an offense, i have no problem with it. hopefully SF will not see this Q&A.
No matter what happens I'm glad that Yao and the rest of the players are getting the chance to play against probably the strongest team at the highest level of professional basketball. It will be a huge learning experience for them. I hope that they will put everything out on the floor in the series.
Are you blind? Everybody knows that JVG force Yao to be the man in the team. If he still cannot carry the team yet, he will have to working harder the following seasons. But his role of being the 1st option of the team was set on stone in JVG's system. If Yao don't accept that role, then he's not accepting his part of responsibility. Nice to see that him finally start to face the reality with a straight face.
when did JVG force Yao to be the man? show me some evidence. don't just talk about 'everyone knows'. that will not give you any credibility.
