Yao knows how to strike a pose with media -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ric Bucher ESPN the Magazine The Houston Rockets had just ground out a victory over the Warriors and Yao Ming was agitated. "Excuse me," he said to a visitor in perfectly enunciated English, "but I must find my shoes." Two strides across the locker room and he intercepted equipment manager Jay Namoc. "Did you take my shoes?" Namoc smiled. "Of course." Cameras and microphones have followed Yao Ming since he landed in Houston last October. Yao is acclimating to the NBA incredibly fast but there are aspects that don't come naturally to him. Having someone retrieve and pack his hoop shoes for him is one. Worrying about defending his selection as the No. 1 pick, statistically, is another. Getting a swelled head from having every camera and notebook within a 100-mile radius follow his every move is a third. "He's not like an American player," teammate Stevie Francis said. "All these cameras following him around, he could care less about them." And yet Yao hasn't let that affect how he deals with the attention. He has been unfailingly patient and funny and humble answering the same questions over and over. Imagine doing that without snarling or at least an eye-roll now and then, particularly after a night of being pounded by Arvydas Sabonis or Erick Dampier or Predrag Drobnjak. He made a fool out of Charles Barkley, who said he'd kiss Kenny Smith's ass if Yao scored 19 points in a game this season. Less than a week later, Yao put up 20 on 9-for-9 shooting and Charles was soon puckering up to a rented donkey. Two games after that, Yao had 30 against Shawn Bradley. That took Barkley down another peg, since he also said Yao would never compare to Bradley. Even the most gracious player might've needled Barkley. Not Yao. "You have to understand the NBA season is 82 games long and the NBA game is very complicated," he said. "Playing well in one or two games doesn't mean that I'm completely adjusted. As the season goes on, it will get more and more difficult. Once we get closer to the end of the season, I'll be able to tell you how I've adjusted." For someone 7-foot-5 under such intense media scrutiny, Yao has proved to be a master of deception. Barkley made the mistake of thinking that because Yao doesn't try to score every time he touches the ball, as you might expect from a No. 1 pick, that he can't. Yao simply -- and refreshingly -- believes the game isn't meant to be played that way. After proving Charles wrong about his scoring and any comparison to Bradley in quick order, Yao has returned to the same judicious shot selection he had before. If anyone has reason to demand more shots, it would be the league leader in field-goal percentage (66.7) and points scored per shot (1.71). Whether it's unawareness of the U.S. preoccupation with statistics as a player's measure or how he was taught the game in Shanghai, the next time Yao forces a shot or holds the ball too long will be the first time. His scoring average is an efficient 9.3 points per game. The more he lets NBA fans see of him, the more they will realize he is the answer to everything critics find wrong with the league today. Yao has been just as understated about his grasp of the English language. When asked what he was thankful for in light of the Thanksgiving holiday, he said, "My interpreter, Colin (Pine.)" The reality, though, is that Yao understands almost everything that is said and can speak in complete sentences. Asked about his English, he said, "The most important word I've learned is 'traffic.' " When I sat down to take notes at courtside as Yao warmed up to face the Warriors -- we first met in China last spring -- he skipped a ball into my lap. "That's for not saying hello to me," he said. "He's been studying English since he was 14," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He knows a lot more than he lets on." The more he lets NBA fans see of him, the more they will realize he is the answer to everything critics find wrong with the league today. He's accommodating to fans and media alike. He doesn't give any more importance to himself or the game than they deserve. He isn't letting his fame distract him from the task at hand. He's a team player to a fault -- that anyone else is even being talked about as Rookie of the Year, at least at this point, is a joke. And he's the hardest worker the Rockets have. "He's the first one in the gym, last one out," Francis said. "Always." As he pulled on his sweatpants after the Rockets' first game, he asked, "Is it time to go to the bus yet?" "Bus?" said Pine, his interpreter. "You've got a press conference." Turning to Yao's advisers, he shook his head in disbelief. Add Colin to the list who have found Yao, in so many ways, delightfully too good to be true. And Ones Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke plans to stay on top of the team -- literally. He's adding a penthouse to the Pepsi Center to live in when he visits Denver. ... Hold up on talk about LeBron James trying out for the 2004 Olympic team. The committee hasn't even determined if it will have a tryout, and the pecking order for perimeter players is so long even Steve Francis and Mike Bibby are on the bubble. ... If a Pacer big man goes to Greece with the team, it's more likely to be Brad Miller than Jermaine O'Neal, who was one of several players whose comportment at the World Championships didn't impress USA Basketball officials. Put Baron Davis and Andre Miller (Paul Pierce was noted last week) on that list as well. One source said the atmosphere around this past summer's team reminded him of the 1996 Worlds squad that included Shawn Kemp, Larry Johnson and Derrick Coleman. For those who don't remember or can't guess by those names, that's not a flattering comparison. ... The Nuggets are weaning Nene Hilario from his interpreter, Joe Santos. Unlike Yao, Nene still speaks almost exclusively in Portuguese. General manager Kiki Vandeweghe believes the faster Hilario learns English, the quicker he'll develop chemistry with his teammates, acclimate to American life and have a shot at endorsements.
