Yao Ming suspects things will work out well with Rick Adelman
coaching the Houston Rockets. The star center says Adelman's
up-tempo game reminds him of the way the Chinese national team
plays.
Attending a Special Olympics event Wednesday in his hometown of
Shanghai, Yao said he had several conversations in Houston with the
former Sacramento Kings coach.
"Our exchanges were very good," Yao said. "I'm pretty familiar
with his style. It's pretty much like the national team's."
Hoping to end the team's recent history of postseason flops,
Houston hired Adelman in May to replace Jeff Van Gundy, Yao's first
and only other coach in the NBA.
Adelman, favors a fast-paced, high-scoring offense in contrast
to Van Gundy's more methodical, defensive approach.
"It's a whole new situation, and I expect big things of next
season," Yao said.
Yao felt an emotional impact with Van Gundy's departure. It was
Van Gundy who had pushed hard to acquire Yao from his former team,
the Shanghai Sharks.
"I spent four years with him so naturally the impact on me is
relatively bigger," Yao said.
Earlier, Yao joined more than 1,000 athletes and volunteers at a
suburban community center in creating tiles for a ceramic wall to
promote the Special Olympics, which Shanghai is hosting from Oct.
2-11.
Yao was cheered when he entered the auditorium. He bantered on
stage with a host before discussing the Special Olympics project
with a ceramics specialist and an intellectually disabled
athlete.
Yao also congratulated China's latest entrants to the NBA, Yi
Jianlian and Sun Yue, who were drafted last week by Milwaukee and
the Los Angeles Lakers. Yao urged Yi to concentrate on his game and
let Yi's representatives handle attempts to work out a trade from
the Bucks.
"The most important thing is to play well," Yao said. "A
player's value is how he performs on the court."
(China Daily via AP July 5, 2007)