Yao Lends Ear Tto New System

AUSTIN — For all the changes rushing toward Rockets center Yao Ming in his first practice of the season Friday, his first adjustment came before the first beads of sweat dripped to the floor.
There would be time to get accustomed to the new offense, get to know new teammates and coaches.

First, however, he needed to brush up on lip reading.

"After Jeff Van Gundy, his voice is much lower than Jeff," Yao, who is almost deaf in his left ear, said of Rockets coach Rick Adelman. "That's another challenge for my ear. Everybody knows I have a bad ear. I think our trainer did not tell him that. I need to stay closer to our new coach."
After that, however, Yao seemed to have little difficulty, despite missing the first three practices of the Rockets' training camp.

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