Yi and Milwaukee Good Fit

Yi Jianlian didn't squirm, but looked as if he was aching to, like a child trying to mind his manners until the service is over.

He obliged the many demands placed on him and when they finally played the game watched by more people than had ever seen an NBA game, the first meeting of Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming anywhere, he seemed unflappable, easily showing his plentiful gifts.

But the night was about more than Yi's sweet jump shot and Yao's unstoppable jump hook. This was a night shining the spotlight back on China's finest. And while Yi seemed so uncomfortable in the preceding days, shootaround, pre-game and post-game examinations, answering with short bursts that could fit in the engraving of a ring, Yao handled it all like the well-schooled veteran of such occasions he is.

Yao was always graceful with the demands on him. He always had a sense of the scrutiny of him here and the demands on him back home. He always knew that to unfathomable numbers he was the representative of China and its still-new openness to the world.

From the beginning, even when he was shadowed by his American translator Colin Pine, he knew how to charm his way around the tough spots, mixing humor, insight and intelligence in just the right portions, without sacrificing his dignity.

When he traveled the NBA as a rookie, bringing media inspection with each stop, he handled the duties artfully. When he was asked what he knew about Detroit, he offered that it was the home of Rudy Tomjanovich and where "Robocop" was filmed. Indianapolis? Home of the race. Orlando? Disneyworld, of course.

When asked if he had a chance to see the sights of New York or Washington, he said he wished he had the time.

When asked to pose with fools standing on chairs or next to ladders, he politely passed, having more to offer than to be treated as a prop or a sight gag.

Even when Shaquille O'Neal enraged the American Chinese community with his mocking, slur version of Chinese, Yao said he understood why others would be offended but that he wasn't, then added that Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. His answer, classic Yao, earned O'Neal's everlasting respect. When they met weeks later, O'Neal spoke to him in rehearsed, polite Mandarin.

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source : hoopsworld.com