Since Yao Ming is in China, he hasn’t had the chance to talk to Ron Artest yet. Regardless, I liked Artest’s response to Yao’s quotes yesterday (some provided below). Artest seems like a mature dude (see the Chronicle article here for the story), as represented in this statement:
“This is Tracy (McGrady) and Yao’s team, you know. I’m not going to take it personal. I understand what Yao said, but I’m still ghetto. That’s not going to change. I’m never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don’t think he’s ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture.
“Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he’ll understand what I’m about. But really, he doesn’t have to talk to me, because to me, I’m going (to Houston).”
There might have been some who thought Yao wasn’t excited about Artest coming to the Rockets. Here are some of Yao’s quotes from yesterday, then directly below I provide my perspectives on each:
“For some reason, I like (Artest). Because in the games we play against him, I hate him.
This is a compliment, not only because he uses the word ‘like’ in the first part, but also because he thinks Artest is a formidable opponent. It’s kind of like if Manu Ginobili became a Rocket — I ‘hate’ Ginobili, but he’s a helluva player I wouldn’t mind having on my side. Same with Larry Bird — I ‘hated’ him when he played, but man, he was awesome. ‘Hating’ an opponent is actually a sign of respect, IMHO.
“When I text messaged with Luis (Scola), we talked about team chemistry. That’s only what worries us.
“We worry about the new attitude to the team. We are adding talent to the team and we need that, but building team chemistry is important. This is not bad. I don’t mean he is not welcome to Houston. But a new player always needs some time.
“Also, he was the biggest part of a team in Sacramento. He was a star player. We need more chemistry and more communication.”
“There’s worry.”
I think Yao’s use of the word ‘worry’ may not be translating well to Americans. Yao is a natural worry wart, but not to the point that it tears him to shreds inside. That’s why he works so hard because he feels like he’s never good enough. I think the phrase that he might have been thinking to use that Americans would better understand is “we’ll be working hard to integrate.”
The part that was really interesting to me that had nothing to do with Artest was when Yao said, “We need more chemistry and communication.” This is more of an indicator of what Yao thought was a weakness last season, which is surprising since they won 22 games in a row and had a pretty decent year. So maybe something is awry in the locker room already that we don’t know about?
I’m guessing it may be the relatively laid-back attitude the coaching staff might have compared to the micromanagement of the Jeff Van Gundy era. Yao may feel more comfortable in an environment where the coaches control everything, like under JVG or previous coaches he’s had in China.
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