Yao has grown into one of NBA's biggest stars
By JONATHAN FEIGEN (CRI/Houston Chronicle)
Updated: 2005-10-07 14:11

"There were two girls playing in Sacramento this year, Chinese girls (Miao Lijie and Sui Feifei of the WNBA's Monarchs)," Yao said. "I saw the coach in Sacramento (John Whisenant) said their biggest problem with them is if they make a mistake on the court, they want to say 'sorry' to everybody. Maybe it is hard to understand for you guys, but I understand that. The culture is different. I was like that, but I changed a little bit, but not totally changed.

"We always say we have to learn from mistakes. That's why Chinese people make mistakes and keep thinking, thinking."

Yao would seem to have more reasons to reflect on his ability than most. But rather than reacting to pressure or expectations, Yao is conscientious because that is his personality, Van Gundy said.

But Yao knows he is expected to dominate. The Rockets can cite his improvements in transition defense or against the constant pick-and-rolls he sees. He was third in the NBA in field-goal percentage.

But subtle improvements don't work for giants.

"Everybody wants a guy to make improvements by leaps and bounds, and that's not usually how it happens in the NBA," Van Gundy said. "Yao's improvement has been incremental. Yao's made solid progress throughout his time in the league.
The numbers say it. When you watch him says it. He's done fine.

"Where is he at? He's a very fine player."

Better at the post

Though he can't quite bear to consider his potential, Yao clearly believes he has considerable room to grow. He once was happy just to be in the NBA. But he has played well enough to know he can do much more.

"When the Rockets drafted me as the No. 1 pick (in 2002), I didn't know what level I should be, how many points, how many rebounds I should average," Yao said. "That year, I really didn't put a lot of pressure on myself. I thought maybe I could score seven, eight points, maybe get five, six rebounds. That's not really pushing myself too hard. Then I watched people around me, like checking every year what they did. OK, I didn't touch that level yet.