English Original
At just 24 years old, Yao Ming is already one of the most popular and respected players in the NBA. But Yao's road to professional basketball wasn't clear-cut until just a few years before he joined the league. In this excerpt from his new book, "Yao: A Life in Two Worlds", Yao recounts the winding and often humorous road he took from China to the NBA. Here's how Yao and others remember his journey to sports stardom.
I left China for the first time in 1997 to go to the Nike camp in Paris. That’s where I met my first NBA star, Tim Hardaway, who was one of the camp counselors. He looked like the rest of us—two hands, two legs, one head—but he was quicker than anybody I’d ever seen, especially the way he dribbled the ball. His footwork, his hands—all quick. He would challenge everyone to play one-on-one until he was too tired to move. I don’t remember who the best player in camp was because I didn’t know what good basketball was then. There were eighty-five players at the camp, and I wore number 85. I wasn’t worried about how good Hardaway was because at that time I was just thinking I’d play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). I didn’t think I’d see anyone like Hardaway again.
YAO ZHI YUAN (Yao Ming's father): The trip to Paris made a big impression on Yao Ming. He was there for only six days, but he learned a lot—not just about basketball, but maybe about himself and his place in the world of basketball. He found out there are a lot of great players outside of China and how good a player could be. He knew for the first time where he stood among the best young players in the world. He thought, “I’m not that good, but I’m not that bad.” When he went to Paris, he learned what was possible. There was no way to really know that until he left China. Then when he went to the U.S., it was more about learning how to improve his game and reach the level he’d seen in Paris.
The winter after I went to Paris, I broke my left foot. This was near the end of my last season with the Shanghai Sharks’ junior team. I jumped for a rebound and landed on somebody else’s foot. I sprained my ankle on that play, too. I think if I hadn’t gotten hurt, they would’ve brought me up to the Sharks before the season ended.
Instead, I finally joined the Sharks the next season, didn’t get hurt, and averaged 10 points and 8.3 rebounds. I didn’t win Rookie of the Year, just like in the NBA—but the CBA didn’t have a Rookie of the Year award at that time. Now they do. They also have moved the CBA All-Star Game from after the season to the middle of the season, just like in the NBA. The two leagues are looking more and more alike.
The next year, I broke the same foot again, this time in a pre-season game in December. Someone stepped on my left foot just before I tried to move. I didn’t play until the end of the season, the last twelve games. When Houston first saw X-rays of my feet, they saw that my left foot had been broken a couple of times and were worried I might have serious problems and not be able to play. They had their team doctor fly to Beijing and check me out.
The doctor said I was OK, but I can tell you I haven’t jumped the same since the second break. Not that I could jump high before then. The first time I tried to dunk, I was thirteen years old and about 6-2. I didn’t miss by a little, I missed by a lot. Dunking wasn’t that important in China, so I didn’t worry about it. A couple of years later I tried again and still couldn’t do it. Then one day when I was fifteen, about six months after I’d last tried, I was walking across the court to put a ball away after a junior Sharks practice and decided to try. I surprised myself. I did it. I was about 6-8 then. The Chinese always say, “You don’t want to think about it, you just do it. That’s how you become strong.” But when I tried again the next day, I missed.
It was after that season, playing for the junior national team, that I dunked in a game for the first time. I had fallen down near our basket, and the other team went on a fast break but missed the layup. Someone threw me the ball, and I was all alone. I remember I jumped really, really high. My head was at the rim.
The next time I dunked was playing for the Sharks in my second game as a rookie. We were down by 10 with a minute left and won! I scored 7 points, including a dunk while being fouled. A guard drove and passed the ball to me, and I made it even though someone bumped me.
I know I can’t jump very well, but I feel lost at the start of a game when I don’t jump for the tipoff. I’m almost always the tallest player on the court, so it feels strange to watch someone smaller jump center. I’ve had time to get used to it; even before I joined the Rockets, there were times I didn’t jump center. When both Wang Zhi Zhi and I were on the national team, he would jump for tipoffs because he can jump much quicker and higher than I can. He even won the CBA dunk contest during his last year playing in China. In my rookie year with the Rockets, our power forward, Eddie Griffin, jumped center, except for the first time I played Shaquille O’Neal. Eddie started to line up to jump when Stevie pushed me in the middle and told me to do it. That meant a lot. It showed he had confidence in me. It was almost like a movie the way he did it, waiting until the last second and then pushing me in there. Very dramatic.
中文翻译
年仅24岁的姚明已经是NBA最受欢迎和最受尊敬的球员之一。但姚明的职业篮球之路直到他加入联盟前几年才变得清晰。在这篇摘自他的新书《姚：两个世界的生活》的节选中，姚明讲述了他从中国到NBA的曲折且常常充满幽默的旅程。以下是姚明和其他人对他成为体育明星之路的回忆。
1997年，我第一次离开中国，前往巴黎参加耐克训练营。在那里，我遇到了我的第一位NBA球星蒂姆·哈达威，他是训练营的辅导员之一。他看起来和我们其他人一样——两只手，两条腿，一个脑袋——但他比我见过的任何人都要快，尤其是他运球的方式。他的脚步，他的手——都很快。他会挑战每个人和他一对一，直到他累得动不了。我不记得营地里谁是最好的球员，因为那时我不知道什么是好的篮球。营里有85名球员，我穿85号。我并不担心哈达威有多厉害，因为那时我只想着在中国篮球协会（CBA）打球。我以为我再也不会见到像哈达威那样的人了。
姚志源（姚明父亲）： 巴黎之行给姚明留下了深刻的印象。他只在那里待了六天，但学到了很多——不仅仅是关于篮球，也许还有关于他自己以及他在篮球世界中的位置。他发现中国之外有很多优秀的球员，一个球员可以达到多高的水平。他第一次知道了自己在世界顶尖年轻球员中的位置。他想，“我不是那么好，但也不是那么差。”当他去巴黎时，他知道了什么是可能的。在他离开中国之前，他根本无法真正了解这一点。然后当他去美国时，更多的是学习如何提高自己的球技，达到他在巴黎看到的水平。
我去巴黎后的那个冬天，我的左脚骨折了。那是在我上海青年队的最后一个赛季接近尾声的时候。我跳起来抢篮板，却踩在了别人的脚上。那次我也扭伤了脚踝。我想，如果我没有受伤，他们应该会在赛季结束前就把我提拔到鲨鱼一队。
结果，我在下一个赛季终于加入了鲨鱼队，没有受伤，场均得到10分和8.3个篮板。我没有赢得年度最佳新秀奖，就像在NBA一样——但那时CBA还没有年度最佳新秀奖。现在他们有了。他们还将CBA全明星赛从赛季后移到了赛季中，就像NBA一样。这两个联赛看起来越来越像了。
第二年，我的同一只脚又骨折了，这次是在12月的一场季前赛中。就在我试图移动之前，有人踩了我的左脚。我一直到赛季末，最后十二场比赛才上场打球。当休斯顿队第一次看到我脚的X光片时，他们发现我的左脚骨折过几次，担心我可能有严重问题，无法打球。他们让队医飞到北京给我检查。
医生说我没问题，但我可以告诉你，自从第二次骨折后，我的弹跳就不一样了。并不是说我以前能跳得很高。我第一次尝试扣篮是在13岁，身高大约1米88。我不是差一点，而是差很多。扣篮在中国没那么重要，所以我不担心。几年后我又试了一次，还是做不到。然后在我15岁的一天，大约是我上次尝试的六个月后，我在青年队训练后走过球场准备把球收好时，决定再试一次。我让自己都感到惊讶。我做到了。那时我大约2米03。中国人常说：“不要多想，只管去做。这样你才会变得强大。”但第二天我再试时，没成功。
那个赛季之后，我在国家青年队打球时，第一次在比赛中扣篮。我在我们篮筐附近摔倒了，对方球队发动快攻但上篮没进。有人把球传给我，我周围空无一人。我记得我跳得真的，真的很高。我的头都到了篮筐边。
我第二次扣篮是在作为新秀为鲨鱼队打的第二场比赛中。我们在还剩一分钟时落后10分，但最终赢了！我得了7分，包括一次被犯规时的扣篮。一名后卫突破后将球传给我，尽管有人撞我，我还是把球扣进了。
我知道我跳得不是很好，但在一场比赛开始时，如果我不去跳球，我会感到失落。我几乎总是球场上最高的球员，所以看着一个比我矮的人去跳球感觉很奇怪。我已经有时间去适应了；甚至在我加入火箭队之前，也有过我不去跳球的时候。当我和王治郅都在国家队时，他会去跳球，因为他跳得比我快得多，也高得多。他甚至在他在中国的最后一年赢得了CBA扣篮大赛。我在火箭队的新秀年，我们的大前锋埃迪·格里芬负责跳球，除了我第一次对阵沙奎尔·奥尼尔那场。埃迪开始排队准备跳球时，斯蒂夫把我推到中间，让我去跳。这意义重大。这表明他对我有信心。他的做法几乎像电影一样，等到最后一秒然后把我推上去。非常有戏剧性。