Basketball superstar Yao Ming is worried that China's recent
shaky performances will cost it its lofty ambitions at next year's
Beijing Olympic Games.
"The rivals of our recent warm-ups are not big teams," said the
Houston Rockets star center. "But we still failed to play our game
throughout the matches.
"This is the biggest problem right now for the national
team."
Hopes are high that Coach Jonas Kazlauskas's team will achieve a
podium finish at the Beijing Olympics, or at least a better place
than the country's previous best of eighth.
But Yao is anything but upbeat about the team's prospects.
"At the Beijing Olympics, we will have totally different teams
to play and all the matches are played successively," he said.
"We have to perform our best in a consistent way if we have to
win and advance. If we lose some matches due to lack of
concentration, we might have no chance at all."
The NBA All-Star joined the national team earlier this month and
together with Milwaukee Bucks' new Chinese marquee Yi Jianlian led
it to an unconvincing 5-1 record against two Australian clubs.
The players squandered big leads during the matches and
continued to struggle to score points, especially when Yao was
benched.
"Sometimes we can play very good game, but sometimes we could
not," Yao said.
"It means we have to take more systematic trainings in the
following time."
But the 226cm giant also pointed out some positives, singling
out fellow big man Yi, the 2007 NBA No 6 draft pick, as strong
backup inside the paint.
"He showed how good basketball he could play. I am sure he will
give something more to the team after playing in the NBA
season.
"We will have bigger advantage in the paint in the next year
after Yi makes further progress from the world's best league."
Yao plans to fly to the US on October 3 to join Houston's
preseason training camp, but he admits his behind in preparations
for the NBA season.
"We have flown to different places to compete since I got
married," he said.
"I was short of systematic trainings. I am not 100 percent fit
and I am so much worried (about the preparation for the NBA new
season).
Coming into his sixth NBA season, which tips off on October 30,
under new coach Rick Adelman, a more mature Yao refuses to detail
the club's target.
"I think I should not say too much. Action speaks louder than
words. Like we were highly expected last season but did not reach
it. In the new season, we will come out even stronger and step
further in the playoffs."
(China Daily September 27, 2007)