Slam Article On Yao and Steve

Im typing this straight out of the Magazine so bare with me her folks.

Clutch if this is illegal in anyway please cloose this theard.

The Houston Rockets locker room is small by NBA standards, a concrete square retrofitted with carpet and lockers. Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley the Rockets starting backcourt, have two seats in front of the door, and as the team's de facto spokesmen- though Franchise is 26 and CAt is 27- they've usually drawn the bulkof the media attention. But a significant Asain media contingent has settled into Houston this season, here to follow, pick through and dissect the rookie season of Yao Ming, the 22-year old, 7-5 center from Shanghai, CHina who's taken America by storm.

 

oops.. continued from 'storm'

oops.. continued from 'storm'

While the other Rockets sit around in various states of dress, the Asain media wait respectfully in the hallway. For now, at least.

When talk in the locker room somehow turns to actors' poor career choices, Mobley leaps to his feet to point out that julia Roberts once appeared in Mary Reilly, and that Leonardo DiCaprio followed up Titanic with the Beach. "Come on," Cat exclaims. "after Titanic, you go and do the Beach? What is that? Can anyone tell me?

In one corner, Yao sits with a blank face. Though his English has improved rapidly since he came to Houston in October, Yao doesn't often let on when he understands whats going on; the language barrier not only keeps people form bothering him pregame, but also lets him listen and learn at his own rate. Pretty much everything he has said to any member of the mediathis season has come through his American translator, Colin Pine.

Yao picks up an empty water bottle and tightens the cap. He stands, transfers the bottle to his right hand, does a slick 180 from the locker and stops cold, facing up to a trash can in the backof the room. He bends his knees and releases a lovely high-arching jumper. Just then a ballboy rounds the corner and swats the bottle to the ground, the yells, "You just got blocked by a midget!"

It's not clear if Yao understands, but he calmly walkes over, picks up the bottle and walks back to his original spot. he jacks up another shot that bangs off the lipof the can and clatters loudly to the floor. His head down, Yao walks over, picks up the bottle and drops it into the can. Softly in language everyone in the room can understand, Yao mutters, "****!"

From 30,000 feet up in the air, the great state of Texas is just as wide and long and grand as everything you've read about would suggest: tremendous fields bisected by dirt roads and country lanes. The city of Houston defines urban sprawl, retail strips and tumbling out past the interstateswith malls sprinkled throughout. With the Rockets grounded for repairs the last few years, Houston reidents had turned elsewhere mainly ot baseball and expansion football.

While Yao Ming was making strides and winning a fan base of 1.3 billion on th eother side of the Pacific, the Rockets were reloading, and Rudy was there. As Houston's coach since '92, Rudy has presided over the Rockets' renaissance, overseeing two championchip teams and the team's offense as it evolved from paint'based to perimeter-oriented and, now. to something with a little more balance.

The offense became a backcourt dream in the summer of '99, when the Rockets swung a deal to get the rookie Francis for salary cap filler from the Vancouver Grizzlies.. Steve teamed up with Mobley, and the electric duo set Houston's backcourt in stone for the next decade. Steve's rookie averages were remarkable (18, 6.6 assists, 5.3 boards), and he has stepped up his scoring each season since.

Francis missed alot of time last seasonwith headaches caused by a myterious inner ear condition, eventually diagnosed as Meniere's Disease. After changing his diet and visiting more specialists than Grant Hill, he's been able to control the illness this season, while playing well enough to get voted as a starter in the '03 All-Start game.

ALL Continue the story if you guys think it's worth it.

 

Continued.........

" I' still playing the same, just with more experience," Steve says. I think I'm shooting the ball alot better, as far as threes and from the field. "I think I'm shooting the ball a lot better, as far as threes and from the field. I think it's just basically being a leader. B]I'm definetely the leader of the team [/B]. The way you do that is by displaying that, by being at practice everday, all day."

AS he says that, Steve looks around the gym, realizing it's totally empty. He was the first Rocket to arrive, five long hours ago when practace offcially started. He is the last one here. He is leading. "this is what iv'e always wanted," he says, strapping an ice bag onto eachof his knees and sitting beside the court. "Always wanted to be a leader. My rookie year I wanted to be the leader on this team,and its justtaken four years to evolve. We have to believe in ourselves and believe we can win. That's all that's left right now."

"We have the second-youngest team in the League," Rudy T had said minutes earlier. "Nobody talks about that. Denver and Memphis, we're just like them. Young teams never win. I'm not using that as an excuse. We've got to keep it somewhere in the middle, so when we're winning it's not way up here and when we're losing it's not way down there

Steve thinks the Rockets consistency will come, eventually. "It took Cat a while to find his groove this year," steve says. "he missed eight games early with an injury and once he gets that groove back, we'll be sitting real pretty." Until then, Francis has taken Yao under his wing, ordering him clothes, teaching him English, even planning a trip to China next summer. "As a team, us improving comes with watching and being around the game and learning...and with the Lakers playing down, the West is wide open. A team like us, if we can get hot, come March or April, we can get going. You never know."

With that, Steve stands up and sort of limps on the court, his custom X Beams unlaced. He hobbles to the free throw line and motions for a ball.. Since I'm the only other person in the gym, I run one down and fire a pass to the Franchise.

Swish.

Im just posting section after section, unless you guys want me to wait and just type the whole thing up which well take untill tommorow....