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Chapter 598 - 259. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to Yao Ming’s house during the regular season!

Chapter 598: 259. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to Yao Ming’s house during the regular season!

He was indeed significantly thinner, with his cheeks visibly hollowed out.

Before the start of last season’s playoffs, the Rockets submitted Yao Ming’s physical measurement report to the league, showing his weight at 145 kilograms, setting a new personal record.

As for his performance, it was brutally dominant, with an average of 25 points and 10 rebounds over 7 games. Of the 101 interior players registered for last season’s playoffs, only Yao Ming and Duncan could achieve an average of 25+10 in a series.

And it’s not just about averaging 25+10, at least two-thirds of the teams couldn’t produce an interior player who could score 25+10 in a single playoff game.

However, the lady Zhuang Riji Yue, who has slimmed down to 137 kilograms, please tone down your smile a bit, you have to understand that you are still one of the ’heaviest’ players in the league.

During the interview with Zhang Yang, Jordan, and Yao Ming, Yao Ming couldn’t stop laughing as if he had a fit of the giggles, with a humorously low threshold for laughter, bursting into laughter mid-sentence, making Zhang Yang want to find a hole to crawl into from embarrassment.

But on reflection, one can understand. Who knows how much internal turmoil Yao Ming suffered during those years with the Rockets. Regardless of whether he wanted to or not, he had to help create the pretense of ’contending for the championship’ when facing the domestic media. He had to be careful with his words in front of the American press, where shouting about competing for the championship was not allowed due to the risk of embarrassment, yet he couldn’t outright say that his team was just an average first-round team aiming to make the playoffs every year; to top it off, he had to carry a team that had nothing but two core players to reach the playoffs... It’s a wonder he didn’t suffer a nervous breakdown.

Having successfully escaped Houston, he joined a team that could still win 50 games and make it to the second round without him... No wonder he would burst into laughter at the thought, even years later.

After the interview, Zhang Yang and Yao Ming said their goodbyes, preparing to return to the hotel.

Yao Ming said, "Yangyang, come over to my place for dinner tonight. You haven’t been to my new home yet. My sister-in-law is cooking tonight; I just asked her to go buy groceries."

Zhang Yang humbly accepted the offer and said, "Great, Big Yao, send me your address. I’ll stop by the hotel first since I have something to take care of, and I’ll come to your place in the evening."

After parting ways, Zhang Yang took a taxi to the mall to buy a gift to celebrate Yao Ming’s housewarming. He, Zhang San, was no longer the underage teen who first visited Yao Ming’s house two years ago; he had to handle social obligations properly.

He also bought a necklace for his mother, a luxury excavator toy set for his younger brother, and a new model electric shaver for his father. He always bought gifts for his family whenever he went out... Zhang Chen opened the bookshelf, looking at an entire shelf of electric shavers, and fell into silence.

By evening, Zhang Yang visited Yao Ming’s new home.

Yao Ming, without any pretense, accepted the gift that Zhang Yang brought, ready to return the favor on his next visit to Zhang Yang’s new home.

Over dinner and after, they chatted for a long time, mainly about changing teams and moving to new homes, as discussed by Yao Ming.

Some topics were related to the national team. Yao Ming informed Zhang Yang about the general situation of the national team, summarizing it in one sentence—the outlook for next year’s Olympics is not optimistic.

In his words, Yao Ming’s sentiment for the perimeter players of the Chinese men’s basketball team from his youth was evident, as well as his anticipation for playing alongside Zhang Yang at the Olympic Games.

Yao Ming gave Zhang Yang an overview of the development history of the Chinese men’s basketball team.

The history of the team’s development is truly peculiar. In the 1970s emerged the first world-class prodigy, named Zhang Weiping. In China’s first participation in a major competition, he led the team to its first Asian Championship title, followed by two more victories, creating an unprecedented three-peat in the Asian Championships and laid the foundation for the subsequent five-peat.

The first Asian Games triumph for the Chinese men’s team was also under his leadership. In eight years with the team, he secured four Asian championships, earning the title of Asia’s number one.

During this time, at the peak of his career at 28, Zhang Weiping averaged 25 points per game in the World Championship, becoming the first person of Asian descent to perform at a world-class level on an international stage.

At the age of 30, Zhang Weiping chose to retire early, leaving behind a legacy of spending his entire national team career at its peak.

Starting with Zhang Weiping, the Chinese men’s basketball team began a golden era for its interior players that lasted over a decade. In the ’70s and ’80s, they dominated Asia with a continuous stream of interior talents, but the perimeter was a persistent issue. Each time at the world championships, the perimeter would be overpowered by European and American teams.

’The LDAP’ painfully reflected on this and since the ’80s started focusing on nurturing perimeter players. Subsequently, in the ’90s, the Chinese team saw the rise of genius perimeter players led by Hu Weidong, entering a golden era for perimeter players.

However, during those years, the cultivation of interior players was neglected. In the ’90s, the interior lineup could no longer compete with other nations. Thus, the focus shifted back to interior players, leading to the emergence of Wang Zhizhi, Battelle, Yao Ming, Tang Zhengdong, and Yi Jianlian. Yet, as the 21st century dawned, the perimeter lineup struggled once again...

Zhang Yang hadn’t really focused on this aspect before, but after Yao Ming’s explanation, he felt quite conflicted. Even though they had taken a roundabout way, the Basketball Association back then could still nurture talents. The current Association, despite seeming to perform well, was merely living off the legacy left by the leadership from the ’80s and ’90s. Even Yi Jianlian was a player unearthed by the previous generation.

When Zhang Yang heard an inebriated Yao Ming express his ultimate dream of combining the interior player training of the ’70s with the perimeter training of the ’80s and leading the Chinese men’s basketball team to glory...

Although the decline of Chinese basketball did not start with Yao Ming, but rather when the older generation of the Basketball Association leadership retired and the influx of new talent failed to continue, Yao Ming didn’t manage to achieve much either. An important reason was that Yao Ming was only in his thirties when he took over, and any new regulations he proposed were mostly disregarded. He had to constantly make compromises with various clubs and regional basketball associations... It wasn’t that ’no orders could leave the Forbidden City,’ but it wasn’t much better.