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Yao Ming Vows to Become A Better Leader

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by pryuen, Jul 29, 2006.

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pryuen Contributing Member

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Originally, I want to post this to the Official Yao Ming's 2006 Summer Activities thread.

But I guess this warrants a separate discussion thread.

What do you guys think ?

Can Yao Ming become a better leader for the Houston Rockets ?

http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2006-07-27/12102363194.shtml

Reporter Wang Meng reports from Beijing

It had been raining non-stop these few days in Beijing; suddenly this summer in Beijing started to become cool and chilly. The early morning rain and wind brought shiver to pedestrians walking by.

It was such kind of a morning on July 26 that both Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi showed up in the backyard of the National Sports Bureau. And (on the other side of the globe), the national team was struggling painfully in Spain.

Wang Zhizhi was to go to the hospital for further medical inspection, and Yao Ming was to go the stadium for his training. They were both busy for their own reasons, but it was closely related. The medical inspection results (of Wang Zhizhi) had been released; At least 4 weeks of rest would be required for Wang. All of a sudden, the highly anticipated hope of a Yao-Wang duo combination (at the World Championship) of all the Chinese basketball fans just evaporated into the air, and the hope of the Chinese national team just reconverged and once again loaded onto the shoulders of Yao Ming.

It was like dejavu of time and space; here Yao Ming stood in the drizzling rain of a 2006 summer morning, but all of a sudden he felt he was back into that 2004 summer. It seemed like once again he would have to be on the road again alone (as he has to shoulder the whole national team on his own).

Ever since he became famous, rich and the spine of the national team, suddenly, he could no longer find the usual pleasures in basketball games. Back in 2000, he was just so care-free and naive, and had not much of these worries and pressure. Quoting his own words: "I gain if we played well; it is normal that we played bad."

In Sydney (i.e. Sydney Olympics 2000), he did enjoyed and had a great time then. In the last few days of the Olympics, as there were no games, he just went to watch some shows (or movies ?), played pool (snooker ?), exchanged souvenir badges/pins with athletes of other countries, or went shopping with the limited personal allowances/subsidy he had. It was easy and full of leisure.

2 years later (in Indianapolis), Yao Ming could no longer have such leisurely and carefree time. Each game turned into a challenge, and Yao Ming could only try to find in those challenges pleasures that were hard to get.

(After entering NBA), in numerous occasions, US reporters had repeatedly asked Yao Ming the same question: "Which one you crave for more ? World Champion or the NBA Championship ?" Having responded to this question so many times, now his answer had been pretty sarcastic: "You mean the Olympic champion ? It is going to be really really tough."

Yao Ming was still not the "absolute" leader of the national team back then (in Indianapolis) in 2002. Therefore, after those heavy defeats in Indianapolis, he could only vent out his anguish and frustration by pounding on a table, or poured bottles of mineral water fiercely all over his head, that people could not really distinguish whether those were purely water or tears on his face.

Then came 2004. He stood out from the team and claimed himself: "I am a wolf !!" At that time, he was reading a book called "The Wolf Totem". Yao Ming was sort of impressed with the teamwork and demeanor of a wolf pack. He had reiterated this in multiple occasions; "A basketball team is very much like a wolf pack. There should be very clear-cut division of labor, and everyone has his own role and gives his best and all to compete. Should not care too much about (personal) loss, but just tumble and fight for victory." At that time, he had become the absolute leader on his team, and he carried the Chinese national team on his shoulders to enter the Final 8 in the Olympics.

So it is now 2006. Yao Ming originally thought it could be relatively easier this time round. At least, in the beginning, he really thought so; the news of the imminent return and reinstatement of Wang Zhizhi had at one point made him an elated person.

The Houston Rockets were battered in the 2006 season, but Yao Ming often thought of Wang Zhizhi's return to China. (For some reason), Yao Ming knew of the exact dates of Wang Zhizhi's return to China. On April 9, after a match in Sacramento, Yao Ming suddenly whispered into the ears of Chinese reporters: "Wang Zhizhi will return soon."

Then after 2 days, Yao Ming broke his foot in Utah, and everything originally well planned was completely disrupted.

So on this morning of July 26, it was not even 9 o'clock, but Yao Ming already showed up in the basketball court of National Sports Bureau. Since coming back to Beijing (on July 1), Yao Ming had spent almost every single day this way on the basketball court. Of course, this is now a little bit different. He had monopolized the 2 basketball courts there ever since the national team went abroad on the road for their second European tour (of exhibition games/tournaments); but now, since the China women national team had returned to Beijing, the basketball stadium had become more lively. Other than the heavy "huff and puff" of Yao Ming, the court is now mingled with the laugthers and singing of the young girls (on the women national team).

Not sure whether this was the reason, but Yao Ming looked like he is in better mood.

Yet, the training had not changed or been deferred. Yao Ming still trained from 9 to 2 in the afternoon without much breaks in between. He stayed on the basketball for almost 2 hours, and then went into the gymnasium with Anthony Falsone, his personal trainer. There was no one in the gymnasium other than the 2 of them. Without turning on the light, Yao Ming started again huffing and puffing on his weightlifting and other strength exercise with lights beaming through the windows of the gymnasium.

When Yao Ming came out of the gymnasium, his second jersey was already all wet with sweat from neck to waist. Yao Ming looked he was in good mood, cracked a few jokes with his friends, and then returned to the basketball court.

Yao Ming had stated claerly that he had almost completed his rehabilitation; at least he can start playing more physical in team practices. The doctors had previously pledged that Yao Ming must not start playing physical before August 1, but it seems now Yao Ming had rehabilitated ahead of schedule.

Yao Ming explained that the reason that he can't start playing physical now is simple; it is because the national team is currently out on the road (in Europe). If they are now here in China, then he could have started team practices together with them. If he can resume his team practice, then he doesn't see it a big issue of playing against the US national team in Guangzhou on August 7. But he emphasized that even he does not see much problem in playing, he thought he would not be playing big minutes in that game.

So from rehabilitating on his own to rejoining the team practice, Yao Ming had taken a further step in the challenge of this 2006 summer.

But at this moment, Wang Zhizhi is injured, so is Liu Wei and Wang Shipeng; Li Nan is still recuperating from his surgery. So compared with 2004, the national team led by Yao Ming seemed more depleted and emaciated.

But in any event, Yao Ming is ready. Ever since the start of the regular season of 2005/2006 of the Houston Rockets, he has known (and psychologically prepared) that he has to carry the China national team onto his shoulders once again in this summer in Japan.

Yao Ming often recalled his sudden eruption in the second half of the previous NBA season, and he immediately associated it with the national team. He said what he had gone through in the Houston Rockets will be advantageous to him in the future in the national team. It was in those period that had helped him to understand how to become a leader, in particularly, a leader for a weak team.

He said "Although I had acted as a leader before, it was so much different. The competition here (in NBA) is so much intense. I'm not saying the competition come from my team mates, but it comes from our opponents. When I was at the Shanghai Sharks, being a leader was simple, because at that time, our only competition was Bayi Rockets. All I needed to do at that time was actually simple: just scored and grabbed rebounds. So my experience as a leader under intense competition is not yet sufficient. There were a couple of matches during the CBA Finals, or in the Athens Olympics. But then, I was sometimes good in some matches, and then at other times, not so good (a leader)."

He continued: "So all these training (and experience of last season with the Houston Rockets) will be very helpful for me in the World Championship. All the partipating teams in the World Championship are very strong. We must strive to lead in every game, but then it will be almost impossible to maintain those leads; a 10-point lead could just evaporate in a wink of the eyes; in reality most of the time, we will be playing a catch-up game. Moreover, we must admit we are a relatively weak team. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, I have to learn to become a better leader for a weak team. Even if our team is not to be considered weak, we are just on par with very few teams (in the World Championship). I must start to undertand and learn how to lead such team to win."

So the train of thoughts of Yao Ming just kept launching back and forth in time and space. He is doing serious thinking (about his role and his team) and he is reserving his energy.

So in the afternoon, when Yao Ming completed his training, the rain has yet stopped. When he returned to Tiantan Apartment, compared with the morning, he was (physically) much closer to Wang Zhizhi: one in Room 423, the other in Room 424.
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#1 pryuen, Jul 29, 2006

seth66 Member

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pryuen said:

Originally, I want to post this to the Official Yao Ming's 2006 Summer Activities thread.

But I guess this warrants a separate discussion thread.

What do you guys think ?

Can Yao Ming become a better leader for the Houston Rockets ?
Click to expand...

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....

#2 seth66, Jul 29, 2006
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seth66 said:

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....
Click to expand...

Nah, he just needs to play like he did before he broke his foot. If he starts the season at 25/10, he could easily be scoring in the range of 28-30/12 by the playoffs.

#3 bejezuz, Jul 29, 2006
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I would guess he is a big time leader on the Chinese team, but here in the US the language barrier was limiting his leadership abilities. By this I mean giving direct detailed instructions during the course of the game on the floor (etc). Now that his English is getting stronger I can really see him coaching on the floor - he is obviously a very intelligent individual. All of this is in addition to having played several years in the NBA gaining confidence with how things work in the US as opposed to the international game.

We saw Yao make a huge step foward after the allstar break last season ~ this will continue with the addition of his team leadership skills. I am curious as to how Tracy will react to this - because I feel that the Rockets will be Yao's team next seaon with Tracy playing the 'second fiddle' (i.e.) Pippin to Jordan role.

--KC

#4 KingCheetah, Jul 29, 2006
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seth66 said:

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....
Click to expand...

LOL. I thought we had seen the last of the most tired, simplistic, knee-jerk argument Yao has ever enountered. I guess some things never go out of style.

#5 m_cable, Jul 29, 2006
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m_cable said:

LOL. I thought we had seen the last of the most tired, simplistic, knee-jerk argument Yao has ever enountered. I guess some things never go out of style.
Click to expand...

Why not ignore it and post one of your solid GARM posts instead?

#6 KingCheetah, Jul 29, 2006
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m_cable said:

LOL. I thought we had seen the last of the most tired, simplistic, knee-jerk argument Yao has ever enountered. I guess some things never go out of style.
Click to expand...

Well said. I think he must have written that post in 2003 but didn't click the button to submit it until tonight.

#7 RocketForever, Jul 29, 2006

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seth66 said:

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....
Click to expand...

this sounds like the cliché, "Houston, we have a problem." Annoying, never goes away.

#8 daRox, Jul 29, 2006
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Thank you Pryuen for this report. Possibly music to my ears! The rockets will take the next big step when this happens.

#9 Yetti, Jul 29, 2006
pryuen Contributing Member

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seth66 said:

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....
Click to expand...

Seth66

I guess you need to read Yao Ming's interpretation of aggressiveness.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2387473&postcount=1

"Everybody frequently criticizes me that I did not show sufficient aggressiveness on court. But let me ask you this: what is aggressivenss ?? (Do I have to play) like Shaquille O'Neal who just constantly attack down the low posts physically to be called aggressive ? Is the Shaq way the only way or the best way to play centre ?"

To be able to catch a ball and hit 9 out of 10 from a stationary position or just miss 2 free throws out of 45 is something that Shaquille O'Neal could just dream of and never can realize in life. But as far as Yao Ming is concerned, it is just a piece of cake. Yao Ming appreciates O'Neal but he chooses not to imitate him. As regards to aggressiveness, Yao Ming has his own way of interpretation. "From purely basketball technique perspective, I have my own characteristics: I can shoot, I can turnaround, I can pass, I can attack and score with either left or right hand. Now that I am much stronger, I can also play a much fiercer and more physical game down at the low post body-clashing with my opponents. But I still think that it is paramount that I can hit those mid to long range jumpers, as they can help to break down the interior defense."

As far as Yao Ming is concerned, aggressiveness is not necessarily have to do with intensive body clashing or playing with brute force. Aggressiveness to him is all about strategy. But aggressiveness is not something that can be done in days but accumulated over the years through battling on the court to turn that aggressiveness into a kind of genuine incisive weapon.
Click to expand...

And to rebuke your claim that Yao Ming has to be more aggressive, let me quote Yao Ming's own word, when he responded to similiar questions from reporters/doubters challenging him that he is not yet aggressive enough on court:-

"Do you still doubt and challenge the "aggressiveness" of an elite member of the 20/10 Club ?"

#10 pryuen, Jul 29, 2006
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Yet, the training had not changed or been deferred. Yao Ming still trained from 9 to 2 in the afternoon without much breaks in between. He stayed on the basketball for almost 2 hours, and then went into the gymnasium with Anthony Falsone, his personal trainer. There was no one in the gymnasium other than the 2 of them. Without turning on the light, Yao Ming started again huffing and puffing on his weightlifting and other strength exercise with lights beaming through the windows of the gymnasium.
Click to expand...

Did anyone else feel a fierce sense of pride when they read this paragraph? This just makes me wanna work harder in what ever I do.

I looked up the book that Yao was reading. If anyone is interested, here is a review of the best seller. It will also be made into a movie supervised by Peter Jackson, maker of Lord of the Rings. Supposed to be the biggest budgeted movie ever made in China.

http://www.newsgd.com/culture/art/200412100074.htm

http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/film/131468.htm

#11 pearlon, Jul 29, 2006
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Hopefully the World Championships will show us that he's still the "new" Yao and that the injury hasn't affected anything. Good to know that he was ahead of schedule on the recovery.

#12 Cannonball, Jul 30, 2006
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pryuen said:

Originally, I want to post this to the Official Yao Ming's 2006 Summer Activities thread.

But I guess this warrants a separate discussion thread.

What do you guys think ?

Can Yao Ming become a better leader for the Houston Rockets ?
Click to expand...

it all depends on whether he has solved his stamina problem. Last season he got rest during injury, so it's still an unproven issue.

#13 linzhihao, Jul 30, 2006

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I've defended Yao so many times arguing with other posters in other message boards. I can say that it has been well worth the battle. This man is inspiring to my life. Although I have no personal connections to him, his humbled soul has taken him to new heights. He has matured in the basketball court, as well as in life.

He is a much different man from the one I remember in 2002. Of course, he still has that same attitude, which I can imagine him thinking everyday, "I must remain humble." That my friends, is the reason to his success, in my opinion.

#14 savethepigs, Jul 30, 2006
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KingCheetah said:

I am curious as to how Tracy will react to this - because I feel that the Rockets will be Yao's team next seaon with Tracy playing the 'second fiddle' (i.e.) Pippin to Jordan role.

--KC
Click to expand...

I have a hunch that TMac needs to be No.1 in the team to play super. otherwise he will lose all his magic talent.
Besides, Yao's improvement has always been gradually, so I don't see he will take over the team entirely in next season. But I think it's a good thing for both Yao and Rockets.

#15 linzhihao, Jul 30, 2006
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that was a nice read, i think it inspires me as well. but think about this, his stats are as of this moment 22/10 with him being more assertive in games. his performance does have to deal with his aggressiveness at times, but his has more than enough bball IQ to play within himself and still post up phenominal stats. still cant stop saying this but i really cant wait till this season unfolds.

#16 c1utchfan925, Jul 30, 2006
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savethepigs said:

I've defended Yao so many times arguing with other posters in other message boards. I can say that it has been well worth the battle. This man is inspiring to my life. Although I have no personal connections to him, his humbled soul has taken him to new heights. He has matured in the basketball court, as well as in life.

He is a much different man from the one I remember in 2002. Of course, he still has that same attitude, which I can imagine him thinking everyday, "I must remain humble." That my friends, is the reason to his success, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I have the same feeling. In fact, it's Yao who brought me into the NBA/basket ball sport. I used to be a soccer fan, but this summer, when I was watching the world cup final, I wished I could have had a Yao's game instead.

#17 linzhihao, Jul 30, 2006
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seth66 said:

first of all, he needs to be more aggressive....
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he was so aggressive that he injured himself.

#18 thetennisyao, Jul 30, 2006

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linzhihao said:

I have the same feeling. In fact, it's Yao who brought me into the NBA/basket ball sport. I used to be a soccer fan, but this summer, when I was watching the world cup final, I wished I could have had a Yao's game instead.
Click to expand...

same here dude!!!

#19 thetennisyao, Jul 30, 2006
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so much for Yao easing himself into game shape in the WC. he's going to go all out, and the competition is going to know it. they're going to double and triple him and play him very physically and grab him like a bunch of girls. i have to admit that i'm more than just a bit concerned about Yao's foot as it still has a way to go to reach previous bone density and these other countries don't care at all and may even provoke a premature injury.

#20 akuma, Jul 30, 2006

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