Thanks for the read! It's hilarious! Stevie and Yao seem to have real good chemistry between them. OK! Time for translation! Pardon my English though ... "The Man" Francis watching over Yao Ming Suggesting Yao buy a jeep Yao Ming is the tallest player on the Houston Rockets, but the real "man" on the team is Steve Francis, who is only 1.91m tall. "The man" has been nicely taking Yao under his wings. Actually there wouldn't be Yao in Houston if it wasn't Steve Francis who won the 1st overall pick at the draft lottery, which in turn landed Yao on the Rockets. Despite being "the man" on the team, Steve is actually pretty young. Francis was born in 1977, and this season would only be his fourth, but he's consistently been the leader of the team on scoring, rebounds, and assists. No one can actually replace him as the leader. On the court, Francis is "the man"; however, he is no different from a kid off the court. After a practice on the 25th, while singing a rap in the locker room, Francis walked over and stood in front of Yao and the reporter, saying, "Hey! Are you from Beijing?" Francis pointed at my (the reporter's) right wrist and asked, "Is that a wrist-lace (wristband?) for Buddhism on your wrist? Yao, your left wrist has a red band on, is it from your girlfriend?" Yao laughed, saying, "If there's a rule that you put on one wrist-lace for one girlfriend, I guess you need to put more than 10 on your wrist, right?" Having received the "praises" from Yao, "the man" left happily. 5 minutes later, after finishing with his shower, Francis found Yao for a chat. F: "Yao, when will your car arrive?" Y: "Maybe after 2 months." F: "Why don't you buy a jeep? Many of us are driving jeeps." Y: "Hmm ... I want to know what kind of car Shawn Bradley (center of the Dallas Mavericks, 2.29m tall) is driving. Have you seen it?" While Francis was shaking his head puzzling, Yao followed his previous quesiton with a comment, "Well, but I really like your car. Your Hammer is great!" Once again, Francis was praised like never before, on the broad grin. (actual translation: laughing so hard that his lips are touching his ears ... what a description in the Chinese version!) Francis just was so happy that he couldn't help but say, "I really like Yao. I knew that we would select him no. 1 as soon as I won the lottery. I like playing basketball with him. He is 7"6'. If he wants the ball inside no one would refuse to pass him the ball. But the important thing is that he also knows how to pass the ball well ... ... And his personality ... it is very impotant in the NBA. You have to be decisive." Francis indeed was decisive, when he refused to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies after being selected no. 2 overall in the 1999 draft. Eventually he ignited the huge 11-player trade between the Rockets, Grizzlies, and Magic, leading him to play in Houston. Despite being a young and spunky player, his reputation is for real. Although the Rockets lost to the 76er's the other night, Francis scored a game high 28 points, along with his 7 rebounds and 6 assists. "He is really put into good use!" Yao said, "Whenever we have a mismatch/switch on the opponent's defense, we certainly pass him the ball and let him do the work." I think that the Yao acquisition really brings Rockets' players a lot of publicity in China. I mean there wouldn't be any specific article on a Rockets player in China in the past. Not that they weren't good enough, but the Rockets weren't really popular there. But the Yao acquisition really changes all that. It is good to see Stevie getting credit for as "the man". NICE! REALLY NICE!
As Pole said, I think the reference to Hammer is really a Hummer, Rocketability. Unless Steve actually owns one of the "old" AMG Hammers... Thanks for the translation. I love stuff like this that you can't get anywhere else. Well, except sina.com anyway...
Troy Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooos, Where are you. We all miss you....but we may soon forget you as well...
I think this is hilarious, it's the first time I've seen someone portray Francis' draft in a semi-positive light...
It took me a freakin long time to find that Hammer/Hummer thingy on the web (translation from Chinese to English) ... hehehe ... and I got it worng. But it's ok as long as you guys understood.
The reporter, Yang Yi is from Beijng Youth Daily. He traveled with Yao Ming this time to Houston. In another article, he said that he would stay in the States for 41 days and writes at least 2 articles a day. Stay tuned.
