Yao Ming: I have to admit I also eat McDonalds’s, less here in China but more in USA. As far as we are concerned, McDonalds are considered high heat energy food. So right after our training, if there are high heat energy food like McDonald’s, then it is helpful to your body.

Reporter (Satelitte TV from Hunan): Mr. Yao Ming, I would like to ask you a question on behalf of the mass TV audience. What is the happiest moment or rewards for you ever since you became a professional basketball player?

Yao Ming: First I have to thank my team’s (i.e. Team Yao) full support at the back, especially their great contribution in my commercial development. When we choose our sponsor, of course, it has to be a well-known enterprise, with good reputation and goodwill, including social responsibility. McDonald’s is doing alot in this area, giving alot of help to the poor children. I am privileged to have the opportunity to cooperate with McDonalds.

Reporter: We heard that you went to double-check your foot. How is the result of the inspection?

Yao Ming: I don’t know where you got the source of this “news”. I had not arranged any medical check today. I finished my training in the morning, took a 1-hour rest, and then I am here for this activity.

Reporter: How is your foot now ?

Yao Ming: My foot is recovering well. Now it is all about strength and conditioning training and shooting practice. Still not much with ball training, nothing special. Just go over the same training routines day after day. In fact, it is pretty dull and monotonous, but it is mainly for enhancing my body condition.

Reporter (from CCTV Sports-Online and Olympic China): Mr. Yao Ming we have 3 questions for you.

First, you mentioned earlier that you will only compete in the World Championship when you’re 95% rehabilitated. Our TV audience would like to know what is your current body condition? What percentage do you think you are now?

Second, these few years, everybody thinks you have gotten much stronger compared to the past, in particularly your upper body. You also are more comprehensive in your basketball skills, technique and tactics. What do you think you have achieved in the NBA? And how do Chinese basketball men can learn and benefit from it?

Third, our “Olympic China” is a program made especially for overseas broadcasting to promote the 2008 Olympics. Our audience would like to know what target you have set for the 2008 Olympics? And what is your Olympic complex?

Yao Ming: My foot is about 80% rehabilitated. As a basketball player, in most siutations, you can only restore to 80% to 85% without real action on court. The rest will need actual competition and physical encounters on court. I think competition and team practice with the national team can bring me back to 95% and above.

As for the second question, the NBA provides me with a more challenging platform. This is extremely important (for a basketball player). In my humble opinion, once he loses his target, men can become sloppy and sluggish. In the NBA, I play amongst many many extraordinarily outstanding players. That gives me the drive and motivation to surpass them or (at least) to be equally as good as they are. That is why I can maintain a good work ethic and attitude.

As to your third question, I crave to become the national flag bearer once again. For two reasons. On one hand, this has to be the biggest motivational force for me, nothing bigger. Secondly, ever since China started to participate in the Olympics since 1984, the national flag bearer has always been from the men’s basketball national team.

Reporter: Yao Ming, Ni Hao. I come from Shanghai, your hometown. Everybody knows that you and Liu Xiang are the pride of the Shanghainese people. Now Liu Xiang has broken the world record. I just want to ask if you have set any goal or ultimate target for your professional career to manifest the pride bestowed on you by the Shanghainese people?

Yao Ming: You surely are a Shanghainese, as your Putonghua is not much different to Shanghainese. Well, I met Liu Xiang this morning. He is an extremely outstanding athlete. I can’t comment much on that result (i.e. the 110M hurdle World record) as we are in different sports. But obviously in any case, it is extremely great result to be able to break a world record, and it is extremely not easy as it is unimaginative for Chinese track and field sports. As for myself, I don’t think there is any world records in basketball. I don’t think I can break the scoring records of Michael Jordan. Maybe I can lead the national team to have a breakthrough in the 2008 Olympics.

Reporter (from Shanghai Eastern Daily): I trusted that you also followed closely over the Internet the results of the national team in Europe. There are alot of controversial reports about the national team, and of course, those heavy defeats. What is your personal appraisal of the national team?

2. When asked how he spent Chinese Valentine’s Day on July 31st, (July 7th of the Chinese Lunar Calendar), Yao Ming did not even know that July 31st was July 7th in the lunar calendar. He said he did know about the ancient folklore about Lunar July 7th, and he had not spent it together with his girlfriend, nor sent her any gift, nor receive any SMS message. Then he was told that there will be a second lunar July 7th coming up soon (Note: because this year it has 2 leap months of July in the Chinese lunar calendar). Yao Ming was all puzzled.

3. When asked what kind of advice he would give to young Chinese players who dream to play in the NBA, Yao Ming said players need to set small targets, and then one step at a time, realize the set target one-by-one through sheer hard work. He said it is no use to set too lofty targets that are too distant and unrealistic. Too lofty targets will only add unnecessary load and pressure to oneself.

4. For himself, he never dreamed about playing in the NBA when he was young. His dream as a young 14-year old was to have his first pair of leather player boots for basketball games, because prior to then, he could only afford to wear canvas sneakers. Then someone told him if he could make it to the junior national team, then he could own his own pair of leather sneakers. Then he started to play as hard as he could, and realized his own dream of making the junior national team. Then he set his next target for making the senior national team, and then the CBA championship. He realized he might have the potential to play in the NBA when he was 18 years old, and he had confidence by the time he was 20 years old that he could play in NBA.

5. A fan wanted his advice, as he likes playing basketball, but he was too short, only 1.7M. Yao Ming said he should focus on speed and opt for playing guard, not center or forward like himself who relies on height, weight and power. He used Earl Boykins as an example to illustrate that height is not absolutely mandatory for NBA survival.

6. When asked which NBA players impressed him most in terms of combination of speed and skills/techniques, Yao Ming said that there are just too many to pick on. But if he has to really pick, he said he was well impressed by Allen Iverson and Shawn Marion. He described how Shawn Marion, after grabbing a defensive rebound, passed to his point guard, and then sprinted past 3 or 4 players from behind for an easy lay-up, leaving his defenders at least 10 meters behind.

7. When asked whether he had improved on his speed, he thought he had improved a great deal in NBA through practice and training.

8. When asked about his goal for the 2008 Olympics, he said he targets the Final 8. He said it is unrealistic to set too high a goal, and there are still two more years to go, everything is uncertain and alot of things can happen. He said he did not anticipate four surgeries within the past year. He said the pressure is going to be suffocating for him, and it is going to be very very difficult, but it is important that his teammates keep up their fighting spirits.

9. When asked how the Chinese national team can improve on their fighting spirit, Yao Ming thought they should be given more opportunity to play with stronger teams. When they can compete with stronger players within the same age group, maybe they could be motivated to work harder and make improvement, just like he himself originally had dreamed about a pair of leather sneakers, but worked hard to rise from the ranks from the junior team to the senior national team, and then to the NBA.

10. Yao Ming thought there is a wide gap between himself and the rest of his national team mates in terms of mental state and skills level. He thought he needs to communicate and transfer to his teammates stuff that he learned from NBA, but it will take a long, long time. He said he, Wang Zhizhi and Jonas Kazlauskas (Chinese national team coach) are but three drops of water into the ocean.

11. When asked which is the most unforgetable event for him, Yao Ming mentioned two occasions: the win over Serbia & Montenegro in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the CBA Championship over the Bayi Rockets. He remembered he got drunk that night of the CBA Championship. He said he seldom drinks and never smokes, but that night he got drunk and he even smoked a cigar. He said he was no good at drinking. He got drunk that night when he mixed red wine, white wine and beer.

12. When asked about his left ear, Yao Ming said he could not hear clearly. He could hear only about 30% with his left ear, but it was all noise. He said his left ear did not create alot of problems for him, as Jeff Van Gundy speaks very loud, and it is only important to be able to listen to Jeff Van Gundy’s instructions. He said his left ear brought him difficulties in the early part of his NBA career, as then his English listening comprehension ability was not as good, and coupled with his listening problem, he just got the game plan/tactics totally mixed up. But now it doesn’t pose many problems, as his English proficiency has vastly improved. He said he can read and speak alot more fluently, but he still can’t master writing in English.

13. When asked how he can keep up his work ethic and work so persistently hard, he said he just enjoys playing basketball and training, just like others who might like playing computer games, or listening to music, or reading books. He said the most enjoyable moment was to be able to sit down on the bench after a hard day’s training.

14. When asked whether he felt Jeff Van Gundy is not the suitable coach for Houston Rockets, or whether he agreed to trading Tracy McGrady away for a good power forward and a back-up forward, Yao Ming just brushed aside the questions quoting Del Harris and Jonas Kazlauskas in the 2004 Olympics and the 2005 Asian Championship as examples. He said the Houston Rockets are very similar to the Chinese national team. They kept losing and therefore fans and critics started to bash and diss the coach. But once they start winning (like beating Serbia Montenegro in the 2004 Olympics or beating South Korea by more than 40 points in the Asian Championship), then all compalints and criticisms will die down.

15. When asked about his impression on the new players the Houston Rockets acquired this summer, Yao Ming said he is very happy about Shane Battier joining the Rockets. He is the type of team-oriented player that the Rockets need. He may not have superior individual skills, but his contribution to the team should not be underestimated. Yao King said he learned about that when he played against Battier. He even joked that he felt that Shane Battier could be a communist party member, willing to go to whereever position-wise he’s needed.

16. When asked the difference between Chinese basketball players with other country’s players or NBA players, Yao Ming said the gap is currently huge, both physical and mental. He criticized the lack of self confidence and fighting spirit of his teammates. He said once falling behind by 10 points, most of the players just give up. He said he does not think China is really that bad in basketball. If every player can improve in confidence and fighting spirit, he think the gap between China and the European teams will be much narrower. Maybe just a 10 to 15 point gap.