The Best Center Is Made in China
华盛顿邮报：姚明姚明摒弃天性柔弱
By Mike Wise
Sunday, December 10, 2006; Page E01
In New Yorklast month to play the Knicks, Yao Ming spoke with Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United Nations. When Jeff Van Gundy walked by, the 7-foot-6 center introduced the coach of the Houston Rockets to the diplomat.
"Jeff," Yao said, "this is the guy who's going to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear arms."
The assembled mass broke up laughing, and the best healthy big man in the game kept unloading one-liners.
Yao Ming, the most bashful, 7-foot thing you had ever seen five years ago, now mumbles under his breath and gets the laughs -- just like Shaq.
If you were at Verizon Center last night and saw Yao suction hope out of the arena every time the Wizards got close -- scoring 23 in the fourth quarter alone, hitting every pressurized fallaway jump shot he needed including the clinching basket with 11.1 seconds left -- you were a part of the NBA zeitgeist this season. The year of Yao.
The outsourcing of the most important position in basketball is now complete.
From China has come a better, more skilled and bigger pivot than anything we have to offer at the moment. Except for postseason hardware, Yao is a finished product. Dominant, clutch, self-effacing -- "Maybe one day I'll be good," he said, smiling -- Yao is part of a healthy and rejuvenated Rockets team with real championship potential.
We could go on for hours about the death of the center in the United States, how all these 6-foot-10-and-over kids wanted to cross-over every cat who challenged them in an AAU game.
We could talk about how they lost the desire to play inside because the sneaker companies don't make commercials about low-post footwork, power dribbles and breaking your defender down by craftily sealing him away from the basket.
We could trace the NBA decline after Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson to a number of factors, including a high-octane, guard-oriented league that does not referee accomplished pivots the right way -- mostly because the officials are too worried about missing calls for Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. They know that's what makes their bosses happy. "If he's guarded legally, Yao is going to score," Van Gundy said. That's a between-the-lines lament that his big guy is refereed wrongly, and it's a fair point.
We could denigrate American big men all day, but it takes away from what we should celebrate: the rapid development and maturity of a foreigner who has worked hard enough and dominated enough to be considered a most valuable player candidate.
I was there five years ago in Chicago when they brought Yao in for a public workout at Loyola University. Pat Riley and Don Nelson and everybody who was anybody as an NBA coach or general manager showed up that afternoon. About 500 media members made a half-moon around the court where he was working out. Yao was trotted out and shuttled around as if he were a circus act, everybody gauging his slightest movement and facial expression as a sign of whether he was qualified to play in the league: "Come see the tall Chinese man put the ball in the basket and try to convince NBA personnel that he is not soft."
Yao dumped in a plethora of jump shots from all angles that afternoon, more than any young center in recent memory had probably made in a season. I was amazed at how consistently he used the glass, banking in 20-footers like Tim Duncan. (Duncan has challenged Shaq as the greatest big man of his era, but is really a power forward playing out of position). But most people that day wanted to talk about was how Yao was gangly and slow and raw. That day someone surmised that Yao would be dunked through the rim by Shaq. I forget who.
Today, he is averaging almost 25 points and 10 rebounds per game. At a time when most big men chip paint off the rim from 15 feet away, Yao is shooting 85 percent from the free throw line. He made 11 of 12 in the final minutes last night. The emotion that his critics said he needed to show more often cost him a $1,000 fine last week. Yao went overboard, believe that?
Last month, Yao had a monster game against O'Neal and the Heat. His line of 34 points and 14 rebounds eclipsed Shaq's 15 and 10. Four days later, he ate up Ben Wallace, dropping 20 and 12 on the four-time defensive player of the year.
"Before we give him the mantle as the best center in the NBA, let's relax a little bit," Charles Barkley said afterward. I'm with Charles on this one.
You can say Yao is playing the best basketball of any big man in the world. You can't hand him the trophy yet, not until he at least competes for a championship and goes enough playoff rounds to prove his mettle at the end of a long, grueling season.
That's when big men, ruthlessly pounded on because NBA officials still judge them by their size and not their abilities, truly set themselves apart.
But he's getting close at just 26, six years after he began playing organized basketball. Why people compare Shaq and Yao, based on that fact alone, puzzles Van Gundy. "Shaq was dominant from Day 1," he said. "Yao? first game he didn't score. They come from two different backgrounds, two different starting points, but unfortunately the same expectation."
Yao was asked if he remembered that day in Chicago last night, how it felt to be on display at just 22. "Yes, I remember, I was very young and very nervous," he said in almost perfect English. "I wanted to get it over with. I just remember all the coaches and everybody and media around. "He spoke while sitting down in the locker room, a humongous man engulfing a small chair and blocking out his cubicle. His shyness from his first few years was gone. During Van Gundy's first year in Houston, he railed at his team and found a target in Yao. "See Yao?" he said to his team, looking across the locker room. "Is he an intimidating presence sitting there with his legs crossed?" Yao asked his interpreter for a Chinese translation. When it was relayed to him, he busted up laughing -- as did the Rockets' locker room.
"Humor is a good way to relax, even then I used much of it," he said.
The player whose coach took aim at his non-aggressive nature then was nowhere to be found last night. Yao Ming took over the game. He yanked it away from the Wizards the way he's yanking away the mantle from Shaquille O'Neal. Bless Dwight Howard and the rest, there's nothing any American center can do about it.
华盛顿邮报：姚明摈弃柔弱天性 最佳中锋中国造
美国当地时间12月10日，在姚明(姚明新闻,姚明说吧)拿下38分帮助火箭(火箭新闻,火箭说吧)客场击败华盛顿奇才后，《华盛顿邮报》专栏作家麦克-怀斯撰文“最佳中锋中国制造”，评 述姚明本赛季的提高和进步。
姚明，5年前你从未看到过的7尺男儿，现在已经应付一切日如，总能让身边的人为其幽默感而发笑，就像沙克一样。
如果你昨晚置身奇才主场，看到每次奇才将差距缩近，就被姚明毁灭一切希望，你不代表像很多人一样相信，今年将是“姚之年”。
他第四节 拿下23分，每次在压力之下总能射中后仰跳投，包括终场前11.1秒的制胜投篮。
篮球(篮球新闻,篮球说吧)中最为重要的位置的“外购”现在已经完成了，从中国，已经来了一位更加优秀、技术更好、作用更大的中锋，比我们现有的都要好。除 了在季后赛的成绩有待证明之外，姚明已经是“成品”：统治力、关键、不爱出风头。“也许有一天我会好的。”他说着，嘴角含着微笑。
美国的中锋已经“死亡”了，这是一个我们讨论了很久的话题，球员失去了在内线打球的欲望，在尤因、奥拉居旺和大卫-罗宾逊之后，中锋已 经一落千丈，这是一个后卫为王的联盟，裁判也将哨声偏向了科比(科比新闻,科比说吧)和韦德这样的后卫。“如果姚明被合法防守，他将太容易得分。”火箭主教 练范甘迪(范甘迪新闻,范甘迪说吧)说。这是主教练对姚明所受不公平哨的抱怨，但是也也是非常公平的一个观点。
我们可以整天埋怨美国中锋的堕落，但是我们却有些忽视了一个事实：一位外国人的飞速发展和成熟，他非常勤奋，极具统治力，足够成为最 佳价值球员的候选人。
五年前，姚明在芝加哥洛约拉大学参加公开训练，我也在那儿。莱利、老尼尔森和几乎所有NBA(NBA新闻,NBA说吧)教练和总经理都在，500家媒体记者将球场围了 个水泄不通。我当时惊奇他投篮打板的能力，像邓肯(邓肯新闻,邓肯说吧)一样中投，但是当天下午绝大多数人都在讨论姚明的缓慢和不经雕琢。
今天，姚明场均25分10个篮板左右，在这个中锋已经满足于离篮15尺之外投球的联盟，姚明罚球线命中率高达85%，昨晚他12罚11中。在他的批 评家一直认为他该加强的方面，他上周因此被罚了1000美元，姚明挑衅对手，相信吗？
上月，姚明面对奥尼尔和热火(热火新闻,热火说吧)就像“魔鬼”一样，34分14个篮板让沙克的15分14板黯然无光，四天后，他吞没了本-华莱士(本-华莱士新闻,本-华莱士说吧)，在这位四届年度最 佳防守球员头上砍下20分12个篮板。
巴克利说过，“在我们将他钦定为联盟最佳中锋之前，让我们放松点，别着急。”我同意他的观点。在我们的面前，姚明打出了全世界最佳中 锋的水平，但是我们还不能将最佳中锋的大奖颁给他，至少要等到他向一次总冠军发起冲击，在季后赛走得很远之后。赛季很长而且很辛苦， 姚明该在整个赛季证明自己的价值。
但是姚明才26岁，他打有组织性的篮球才6年。为什么人们总是从年龄的角度来对比沙克和姚明呢？范甘迪也感到奇怪，“沙克从第一天就展现 了控制力，姚明呢？第一场比赛他都没有得分，他们来自不同的背景，起点不同，但是不幸的是，对他们的期望值相同。”
有人昨晚问姚明，是不是仍然记得当年在芝加哥的那次训练，22岁的他被人评头论足。“是的，我记得，我当时很年轻，也很紧张。”姚明用 几乎完美的英语回答，“我想一切早点过去，我只是记得，当时教练、记者和其他人太多了。”
他坐在更衣室的椅子上说，前几年的羞涩已经没有了。
在范甘迪执教火箭的第一年，他一次在更衣室发脾气，想找个目标撒气，让大家在场上更有侵略性，姚明成为目标。“看看姚。”他在更衣室 对球队说，“他翘着腿坐在那儿，谁会觉得他让人害怕呢？”姚明问翻译，翻译将中文意思告诉他，姚明笑了，火箭更衣室一片笑声。
“幽默是轻松的一种很好的方式，在那以后我用得很多。”姚明说。
但是昨晚，这位因为不够有侵略性而被教练当作反面教材的球员，已经摈弃了自己的这些天性。姚明接管了比赛，他将奇才的胜利夺走，就像 他将奥尼尔的头衔夺走一样。保佑德怀特-霍华德和其他人吧，没有美国中锋可以做到这一点。
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