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" (written by Yao Ming with Ric Bucher), 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. <<我的世界我的夢>> 'A Life in Two Worlds' 作者： 姚明 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. 1997年我第一次出國，去耐克的巴黎訓練營。蒂姆·哈達威是我見到的第一個美國球員，他後來成爲NBA的明星。他看上去和我們其他人都一樣———兩隻手、兩條腿，一個腦袋，只是，他好快，尤其是運球的時候，他的步伐和手都很快。他會挑戰每個人和他一對一，直到他累得打不動爲止。我不記得他是不是營地最好的球員了，因爲那時我不知道籃球打成什麼樣纔算好。營地有85個球員，我的編號是第85，你自己想那意味着什麼吧。那時候我不擔心蒂姆·哈達威有多好，因爲我想的是在CBA打球，反正以後不會再碰到蒂姆·哈達威那樣的人。 Yao at a recent book signing at the NBA Store in New York. (Jennifer Pottheiser NBAE/Getty Images) Buy a copy of the bookYAO 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. 姚志源（姚明父親）:巴黎之行給他留下了最深刻的印象。他只去了6天，但學了很多。
不是關於籃球的，而是關於自己，以及自己在籃球世界的位置。他發現，中國之外還有許多優秀球員，而且他們打到了那樣高的水平。他第一次知道自己和世界上最好的年輕球員相比位置怎樣。他想，“我是比上不足，比下有餘。”去了巴黎，他知道了什麼是可能的，踏出國門前是不可能知道的。他在巴黎發現了籃球的境界，去美國的時候，他做得更多的就是改進自己以達到在巴黎看到的水準。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. 巴黎之行後的那個冬天，我崴斷了左腳。那時我在東方青年隊的最後一個賽季就要結束了，我跳起來搶籃板，但踩在別人的腳上，那一次我還扭傷了踝骨。我想，要不是受傷的話，那個賽季結束前我就會進大鯊魚隊了。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. 第二年，我傷了同一只腳，在12月的季前賽中。我正要移動，有人踩了我的左腳。直到賽季末我纔打球，打最後的12場比賽。休斯頓火箭隊第一次對我的腳作X光時，他們看到我的左腳斷過2次，擔心我有嚴重問題不能打球。他們的隊醫飛來北京，對我進行檢查。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. 醫生說沒問題。但我可以說，第二次受傷之後，我再也不像過去那樣彈跳了。並不是說以前我跳得更高，我13歲第一次試着灌籃，那時我1米88。我不是差一點點，而是差一大截。 在中國灌籃不是那麼重要，所以不必擔心。兩年後我再試，還是辦不到。15歲的一天，大概是上一次試過灌籃之後的大約6個月，青年隊的一次訓練後，我走過球場，準備把球收好，忽然我決定再試一下，我自己也大吃一驚，成功了!那時我只有2米03。中國人總是說:“不要多想，放手去幹———這樣你就會變得強大。”第二天我再試，沒有成功。
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. 那個賽季後，在國家青年隊打球，我第一次在比賽中灌籃。我在籃下摔倒，對手快速進攻，但是單手跳投沒中，球傳到我這裏，無人防守。我記得我跳起來，真的很高，我的頭就在籃框邊。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. 第二次灌籃，是在大鯊魚隊作爲新人的第二場比賽。我們在剩下1分鐘的時候還落後10分，但最後獲勝了。我得了7分，包括被判犯規罰下的第一次灌籃。後衛突破，將球給我，儘管有人在撞我，我還是將球灌入。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. 雖然我不能再跳，一場比賽開始時我不跳着出場會覺得失落。我幾乎總是場上最高的球員，看個頭小得多的球員跳入場中覺得很奇怪。我有時間慢慢去適應———即使在加入火箭隊之前，我也有不跳着出場的時候。王治郅和我都在國家隊的時候，他會跳入場，因爲他比我跳得高得多。我在火箭隊的新人年，我們的大前鋒埃迪·格里芬跳入場中。埃迪格排隊準備跳的時候，斯蒂夫會把我推到中間，讓我也做。這對我意味着許多，說明他對我有信心。 他的做法幾乎像部電影，等到最後一秒鐘推我出場。非常有戲劇性。 I first thought I might be good enough to play in the NBA when I was eighteen years old and came back to China after two months of playing in the U.S. I never expected to play as well as I did. As a junior player, I had played against players in China who were two and three years older, and when I joined the Sharks senior team at seventeen, the players were as much as five and six years older than me. I struggled because they were so much stronger and had been playing much longer. In the U.S., I finally played against players around my age, and it made a big difference. 我第一次想到自己可以躋身NBA是在1998年，那時我18歲，在美國打了兩個月球回到國內。我從未想到我能打得那麼好。知道爲什麼嗎?那以前，我在中國打球的對手都比我大得多，在青年隊時對手大我兩三歲，在17歲進入大鯊魚隊時對手大我五六歲。這讓我打得很費力，因爲他們長得比我壯，球齡比我長。在美國，我終於跟自己同齡的人打球了，感覺很不一樣。 Yao earned respect from Tyson Chandler during amateur basketball camps. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)The trip started in Indianapolis with a Nike camp. Then (Chinese national team and Shanghai Sharks teammate) Liu Wei and I went to Dallas to join an AAU team called High Five. That team traveled all over the country playing in tournaments. That was when you could take players from anywhere and put them on one team. Now it’s different, I guess: you have to live within 100 miles of your team’s home city. Dallas is where I first met Teyo Johnson, who is now a tight end for the Oakland Raiders. Teyo and I have been friends ever since. 美國之行是從位於印第安納波利斯的耐克訓練營開始的。而後，劉煒和我前往達拉斯加入了AAU（美國業餘體育聯合會）的一支叫HighFive的球隊。這支球隊在全美四處巡迴，參加錦標賽。在巡迴比賽時，球隊可以從任何地方挑選球員到他們隊裏。現在不同了，球隊只能從其所在城市100英里範圍內挑選球員。我在達拉斯第一次見到泰約·約翰遜，他現在是奧克蘭突擊者隊的邊鋒，我們從那時起就一直是朋友。 TEYO JOHNSON (tight end for the Oakland Raiders): I flew on a red-eye into Dallas. When I got to the hotel and gave my name, the girl at the front desk said, “Oh, you’re with the big Chinese dude.” I thought, “What, I’ve joined a team of foreign-exchange students?” I went up to the room and knocked, but when no one answered, I stuck my key in the slot. Just then Yao Ming answered the door. In his underwear. Tighty-whities. And all I could see was up to his chin in the doorway. He and Liu Wei were sacked out. He let me in and went back to bed. They had a cot set up for me. I called my mom right away and whispered, “There’s this 7-6 dude in my room, and he’s Chinese!” She said, “Yeah, the Mongolians and Huns can be really big.” I didn’t know what to think until we went to practice the next day. That’s where I found out—this dude could play. 泰約·約翰遜:（姚明訓練營隊友）我搭乘紅眼航班來到達拉斯。到了酒店，報上我的名字，前臺的小姐說，“噢，你跟那個大個子的中國帥哥住一起。”我的心咯噔了一下，“什麼，我參加了外國交換學生的球隊?”我走到客房，敲門沒人迴應，我就用鑰匙開門。這時，姚明給我開了門，他穿着內衣，是白色緊身的。在門口我只能看見他的下巴。他和劉煒已經睡下了。他讓我進門後，就回到了牀上。他們爲我鋪好了一張小牀。我馬上打電話給我媽，小聲說，“有個7英尺6的傢伙在我房間，他是中國人!”我媽說，“哦，中國人可真能長個 兒啊。”第二天練習的時候，在球場上我發現———這傢伙還真是厲害。I played everywhere in those two months. After Dallas we went to Stetson University in Florida; AAU summer leagues or tournaments in Orlando, San Diego, Phoenix, and Augusta, Georgia; and Michael Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara. We didn’t know where we were or where we were going most of the time. At Stetson I worked out every day with Lee Scruggs, the center who played at Georgetown. He’s playing now in the NBDL, the NBA’s minor league. The coach working with us was Tates Locke. He had just become a scout for the Blazers, after many years as a college coach. 在那兩個月裏，我到處打球———達拉斯之後去了佛羅里達的斯泰森大學;印第安那波里斯的耐克營;奧蘭多、聖地亞哥、菲尼克斯、奧古斯塔、佐治亞的AAU（美國業餘體育聯合會）夏季聯賽或錦標賽，聖塔巴巴拉的邁克爾·喬丹營。大多數時候不知道自己身處何處，要去哪裏。在斯泰森我每天和喬治敦的中鋒李·斯克拉格斯一起訓練，他現在在NBDL（美國籃球發展聯盟）打球，是NBA的次級聯賽。我們的教練是塔茲·洛克，在做了多年大學教練後，他那時剛開始給開拓者隊做球探。I played with High Five for the last time in San Diego. We stayed in dormitories at United States International University. The High Five camp was in a big building right next to the campus. On the other side of the highway there was a military base with fighter jets; we could see them landing and taking off every morning as we walked from the university to the High Five gym. I played against Tyson Chandler for the first time in San Diego. He was only fifteen years old, and people were already saying he could play in the NBA. He dunked on me and he played very well, but I played good defense, and I had a good jumper already then. I was three years older, but after that I thought, “Some day I could be good enough to play in the NBA, too.” 在聖地亞哥，我爲High Five隊打最後一次球。我們住在美國國際大學，就在HighFive夏令營所在的高大建築物隔壁。隔着高速公路的對面是個軍事基地，每天早上從大學走到High Five體育館的路上，我們都看到戰鬥機起降。在聖地亞哥我第一次和泰森·錢德勒打球。他只有15歲，人們已經說他能打NBA。他對着我灌籃，球打得非常好，但我防守很好，跳投也已經很不錯。我比他大3歲，從那以後我就想，“也許有一天我也能夠打入NBA。”TEYO JOHNSON: We lost that game by one point. I thought Yao destroyed Tyson. He threw one of his shots back to half-court near the end of that game. Yao was hitting his jumper, too. Even then he could shoot and I could tell how athletic he was. I knew he’d get tougher and that’s all he really needed. 泰約·約翰遜:（姚明訓練營隊友）我們以一分之差輸掉了比賽。我想，是姚明擊敗了泰森。在比賽快結束時，姚明把泰森的幾次投籃扔回了半場。姚明也截住了他的跳投。我可以看出他的運動素質多棒。我知道他還需要長得再結實些，他所有欠缺的就是這點。TYSON CHANDLER (forward and center for the Chicago Bulls): The first time I saw him, I thought, “That’s an amazing man.” I was always the biggest guy around, but he towered over me—a big dude with a soft touch who could pass the ball. I hadn’t played with any foreigners at that time. Being on the court with this huge man, someone who didn’t know English and came all the way from China, was just a crazy experience for me, so it had to be a crazy experience for him. 泰森·錢德勒（芝加哥公牛隊的前鋒和中鋒）:第一次見到他時，我想，“這人真了不得。”此前，我總是場上最高的，但他還要高我一截，這個大傢伙接球很輕，你可以放心把球傳給他。此前，我沒和外國球員同場打過球。這個大個子，不懂英語，又是不遠萬里從中國而來，和他同場打球，對我來說是種瘋狂的體驗，對他來說，也一定是這樣的。
整場比賽，姚明毫不留情地一次次攔下泰約的跳投。然後我上場，對着他灌籃，向他尖叫。噢，天哪———我聽不懂他在說些什麼，但後面他攔下球后就會擊掌，示意把球傳給他。他擋住了每一個對手的進攻，將投籃截住。對手們毫無辦法。The whole game he was just knocking down his jump shot, showing no emotion. Then I came down, dunked on him, and screamed at him. Amunicate, but we connected. We’ve been boys ever since. I didn’t see him again for years, but I’d call him every six months or so and set up a three-way conference call with a translator. He called me from China the day I was drafted by the Raiders to congratulate me, and when I saw him at his second All-Star Game, he gave me his jersey. The way I see it, we’re friends for life. 我們無法交流，但很要好。從那時我們成了朋友。幾年沒見到他了，但我大約半年給他打個電話，請一個翻譯，和他開三邊會議。我被招入突擊者隊的當天，他從中國打來電話祝賀。他在全明星隊的第二場比賽我見到他時，他把球衣送給了我。在我看來，我們是一生的朋友。
After San Diego, I went to Jordan’s camp and worked as a counselor, but we played every night. In the trophy case in my home in Shanghai, I have two pictures of me with Jordan. One is the picture he took with everybody who worked or played at the camp. The other is of me walking off the court and Jordan patting me on the back. I’m smiling, but I look very skinny. One reason is that I had only $200 for the whole two-month trip. Liu Wei took something like $150 with him. The first two weeks, we didn’t need to pay for anything; Li Yaomin, the Sharks GM, took care of us. But after the Nike Camp in Indianapolis, he went back to China and took all his money with him. We were two young Chinese kids without any money, playing in places like Augusta, Georgia, and Orlando. 在聖地亞哥之後，我去了喬丹訓練營，但我們還是每晚打球。我在上海家中的獎盃陳列櫃中有兩張我同喬丹的合影。一張是他同營地每個球員及工作人員的集體照，另一張中，我正往場外走，他拍了拍我的背，我在笑，但看上去很瘦。一個原因是整整2個月我只有200美元可用，劉煒大概帶了150塊。前兩週，我們什麼都不用付錢，大鯊魚的總經理李耀民照顧我們。但在印第安納波利斯的耐克訓練營之後，他回國了，把他的錢都帶走了。我們兩個中國小孩沒有錢，完全自己管自己，繼續在奧古斯塔、喬治亞、奧蘭多等地打球。So for two weeks, Liu Wei and I ate nothing but 99-cent double cheeseburgers and the free breakfast they had in our motel lobby every morning. We made sure to get there very early. 因此，在兩個星期裏，我和劉煒只能吃99美分一個的雙層乾酪漢堡包，劉煒每天吃一個，我吃兩個，以及旅館裏每天供應的免費早餐，我們每天都要很早跑去吃。 Liu Wei and Yao lived off of cheeseburgers and hotel breakfasts during their stay in the U.S. (Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images)When another coach from China came over to check on us, he said, “You look skinny.”“Of course,” I said. 另一位教練從中國過來看我們的時候，對我說:“你看上去皮包骨頭。”“當然了。”我說。LIU WEI: Actually, Yao Ming ate two cheeseburgers every day while I had one. Since I was injured and couldn’t play, we decided he needed more food than I did. 劉煒（國家隊隊員）:其實，姚明每天吃2只乾酪漢堡包，我只吃1個。我受傷了不能打球，所以我們決定，讓他多吃一點。I guess Li Yaomin didn’t know that in America a player has to pay for his own food. Maybe he thought it was like in China, where there’s always a free buffet for the players at every hotel or the team pays for everything. I’m hoping that’s what he thought. The High Five coach, Rle Nichols, lent us each $100 after we used up our own money. Rle is 5-6 and I couldn’t speak English then, so we called him “Little Coach” in Chinese. I don’t know where he is now, but I still owe him $100. 我猜李耀民不知道在美國球員自己付飯錢，也許他以爲像中國一樣，每個酒店都有免費自助餐給球員，或者球隊會包攬所有費用。我希望他是那樣想的。我們的錢用完後，HighFive的教練里爾·尼克斯借給我們每人100元。里爾只有5英尺6（1米68），那時我不會英文，就叫他“小教練”。我不知道他現在在哪裏，我得還給他100元。After Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara, Nike took me to Portland to relax. They let Liu Wei come with me. We went to a batting cage and I tried to hit a baseball. Out of ten swings, I hit the ball maybe once. Maybe. They also took us to Jet Ski on the Willamette River. I liked it, but that was pretty scary—maybe the scariest thing I’ve ever done. 到聖塔巴巴拉的喬丹營後，我去波特蘭跟耐克籤合同，並休息一下，他們讓劉煒和我一起去。我們去擊球練習場打棒球，10次揮杆我只打着1次。他們還帶我們去威拉米特河玩水上摩托，我很喜歡，但很驚險———也許是我做過的最驚險的事情。
TEYO JOHNSON: He had me flown up to Portland, too, to hang out with him. Nike was going after him hard then already. He showed no fear Jet Skiing that I could see. When I was riding on the back he’d gun it, take a sharp turn, and fling me off the back. He got a kick out of doing that. 泰約·約翰遜（姚明訓練營隊友）:姚明讓我也一起飛到了波特蘭，去跟他一塊玩。耐克那時就很看重他。他玩起水上摩托來毫無懼色，在我看來是這樣———當我緊追其後時，他 加大油門，來個急拐彎，一下把我甩得遠遠的。他這樣做得到了極大的樂趣。LIU WEI: When we went to the batting cage, he took more than ten swings and didn’t come close to hitting the ball, not even once. The best part of the Jet Skiing was when Yao Ming fell off and couldn’t climb back on. He finally had to grab the back of my machine, and I towed him back to the dock. 劉煒（國家隊隊員）:我們去棒球練習場，他打了十幾杆，1杆都沒打着，差得遠。水上摩托最好玩的樂子，就是當姚明從自己的摩托上摔下爬不回去的時候。最後他抓住我的摩托後部，我把他拖回碼頭。When we finally flew back to Shanghai, there was a lot of media waiting at the gate. I’d been away two months, and I hadn’t had a haircut the whole time. My hair was so long, I thought I looked like Dr. J or Ben Wallace. And even though we ate better in San Diego and Portland, I was still really skinny. Big hair, skinny body. When I saw myself on TV, I thought, “That’s me?”
