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An interesting article appeared today about a camp in Beijing that had some promising 7-footers participating. Even Orlando’s Dwight Howard was impressed.
Raymond in China and myself translated another article for us a from a few days ago. Coco Yi Xiaohe interviewed Yao’s trainer Anthony Falsone, and here is a synopsis.
Perhaps he is the person Yao Ming likes most, and also the one he most fears. Most likely, it’s because he is the guy who put 50 pounds (22.7 Kilograms) on Yao Ming over the past 4 years while still maintaining his 6% body fat. Perhaps he is most feared because he didn’t let Yao Ming off the hook even during a rare vacation.
Yao Ming and Liu Wei (Yao Ming’s best buddy and point guard of the Chinese national team) had to jog and sprint to exhaustion on those beautiful beaches of Hainan Island last summer when Yao Ming spent his 24th birthday at Sanya in September right after the Asian Championships before returning to Houston.
He was so proud of this achievement, and so happy that he had the chance to work with one of the most hardworking and self-motivating players in NBA. His name is Anthony Falsone.
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We’ve got a monster translation from Raymond, our correspondent in China, from a piece on Yao on Sina.com. Listed below are some of the highlights of the article. Thanks for the 3 hours you put into this translation, Raymond!
1. The Toyota Center is forlorn and empty these days during the off season. In the parking lot, only 2 cars are parked there everyday. One is Yao Ming’s BMW, and the other is an SUV that belongs to Rockets assistant coach Tom Thibodeau.
2. Currently, Yao Ming is the only Rockets player that comes to Toyota Center to train. The cast on his left foot was discarded almost 3 weeks ago. He can walk without crutches and drive, but just cannot run quickly. Yao Ming decided to end his own vacation. He had taken rest for over a month since he had broken his foot in Utah on April 10. Every day his life was just confined to his bedroom, dining room, toilet and Warcraft. So a little over a week ago, he decided that this kind of “everyday is Sunday” life should be over.
I was ecstatic to read early this morning in a Houston Chronicle article that former Rocket Mike James, now a free agent, would love to sign with Houston this off-season! I was hoping James would want to come back. Now the Rockets have a chance to make up for the shocking move of trading away an offensive weapon they really could have used last season.
If you have been reading this blog for the past 9 months, you certainly have read my countless entries about how I thought the Rockets traded away a valuable asset. And with Tracy McGrady‘s health being sketchy probably for the rest of his career, the Rockets need to find more offensive firepower because T-Mac is always one tweak of the back from being out of the lineup.
James is one of the most sought after free agents this off-season after having an outstanding season, averaging 20.3 points and 5.8 assists per game, and was fourth in the league in 3-point shooting (44.2%). Check out his log of games this past season, and you’ll see he had scored 30 or more points in 14 games this season. James is not a one-dimensional player like everyone thinks he is; he also dished 10 or more assists in 10 games on a poor Toronto team.
And don’t think that the Rockets already have a point guard in Rafer Alston and can’t afford to have both of them. James is more of a scorer than a PG, and it was a mistake by the Rockets to try to turn him into a pure point guard — similar to how Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni admitted it was a mistake to try to make Leandro Barbosa a point guard. Even James thinks he can play alongside Alston:
“I definitely could see myself on the court with Rafer. I think I could help him out a lot. And could you see me, Rafer, Juwan (Howard), Yao and Tracy on the court together? Teams could not double off anyone.
“Everybody talks about my point-guard play, says I’m not a pass-first player. I’m not. I’m a make-the-play player. Whatever it takes to make the play, that’s what I’m going to do. Whether it’s scoring or passing, I’m going to make the play.”
So Houston, don’t do what the Houston Texans did in passing up a difference maker (Vince Young) who badly wants to play for you. If his pricetag isn’t too outlandish, do the right thing and sign James.
The Houston Chronicle has an excellent article on Yao’s desire to get back to work, even when injured. The article also talks about his desire to play in the World Championships for the Chinese National Team later this summer.
The Lakers’ big 31-point loss to the Suns in last night’s Game 7 reminded me of the Rockets’ lackluster 40-point Game 7 loss last season to the Mavericks almost one year to the day (May 7th). There was so much hype and buildup for both games, and they turned out to be duds where the Rockets/Lakers couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Rocket fans all knew how Laker fans felt having their world collapse around them, especially myself who witnessed and suffered last year’s debacle in person.
What’s sad for both the Lakers and Rockets is that they had a chance to win their first-round series in Game 6, but couldn’t get the job done.
You can bet the Lakers are going to make some good (and bad) moves in the offseason in reaction to the embarrassment. If they overreact and trade their point guard — Smush Parker (1-of-6 from 3-point territory) — like the Rockets traded away Mike James last season, then I wouldn’t mind the Rockets picking up Parker to give Rafer Alston some competition at point guard.