Yao Comfortable With 'Too Many Choices'

Yao comfortable with 'too many choices'
from Yao Central

Following Houston's standing army's rout of the Dallas JV squad, Yao Ming, speaking to Chron's own Jonathan Feigen, reassured everyone of his smooth transition to the Adelman offense:

"I felt very comfortable where I was getting on the court and shooting the ball from the paint or out to the perimeter; I felt full confidence," Yao said. "It's very simple and very easy for me. Now, they can't just focus on me. I can shoot the ball. I can make a decision. I can pass to the open man. I can set a screen and roll to the basket. I have too many things I can do. I have too many choices."

Love it. Love Yao being a playmaker and making things happen inside and out. It makes it almost impossible to double-team him. A beautiful thing to watch really. And when he starts getting the timing down it should be even better. With his own admitted surge in confidence and comfort in his new role, Yao continues to make his presence more dominating to his opponents:

"It's been a while since I've seen that much meat on anybody on the basketball court," said Mavericks center Darvin Ham, who sat out the last two seasons. "What impresses me the most is he is not passive anymore. He takes it right at you and punishes you. He is bringing the fight to the post. If Houston continues to play through him, they will be a very tough team to beat. I was thoroughly impressed by how much he has improved."

Hate to say anyone is "just" Darvin Ham, but at 6-7 he's almost a foot shorter than Yao at the center spot, and he hasn't played pro ball in two years. Still, the guy's shattered backboards in NCAA tournaments and a compliment is a compliment. Nice, for an Division and Texas rival. In fact, Jason Terry had this to say:

"I'm out there and I see Mike James and Steve Francis ... and I thought, 'Oh my God, is (Hakeem) Olajuwon going to come back, too.' "

Kind of makes you think all these niceties are just covering for an underlying smugness that says we're getting Kobe.

Mike James was the Player of the Game, finishing with 17 pts on 6-9 FGs. Yao Ming Mania has pics of the game.