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Monumental pressure was placed on Ming, not only to live up to his top selection, but also because he was the first superstar professional athlete from China. He was expected to bring credit to China in two ways, through athletic achievement and as a model citizen. He had to be both, or he would let down his hundreds of millions of fans back in China. Not to mention those fans in Houston, or the rest of America.
But let's not worry about the bar getting set too high for Ming. His height gave him great advantages. He would soon rank among the best players in the league, and unlike certain superstars (Kobe Bryant's rape trial comes to mind), Ming's behavior would be exemplary. After all, he still lived with his parents, who had moved to Houston.
In Houston, Ming had another ace in the hole: interpreter Colin Pine. Pine, an American and an obliging fellow, had pursued an obsession with Chinese language and culture. He landed a great gig as interpreter for Ming. He became Ming's constant companion. Of course, he was with him for practices, games, press conferences, and commercials. But he also attempted to assimilate Ming into American culture. Thus, we have Yao at Best Buy, Yao at the video game arcade, and Yao at the Lincoln Memorial.
How I felt about it. What we don't have is Yao by himself, without his worshipful team-paid companion. Yao is too polite to tell Colin, especially with the cameras rolling, that he is just an interpreter and not his Best Friend Forever.
Ming lives in a magnificent mansion, is driven around in a limo, but to a degree, he is a prisoner. His time is not his own. After one year in the NBA, he would have enough money to go back to China and live comfortably for life without ever having to do anything more stressful than take long naps on the couch.
Instead, he spends his American life yanked around where the NBA, the Houston Rockets, his parents, or Colin Pine wants him. Other NBA players, most memorably Wilt Chamberlin or Magic Johnson, might score with a different gorgeous groupie every night. Not so with Ming, whose ever-present chaperone appears to have no interest in women. But while he's missing out on a lot of fun, at least he won't have to pay for child support. Or visit the doctor as much. Or his lawyer.
As a documentary, The Year of the Yao focuses too much on Colin Pine. That is because he is the gatekeeper to Ming, who can't speak for himself. In his first season, his English wasn't good enough. The alternative is to shed the footage of Yao at Best Buy and Yao at team practice, and instead give us more of Yao the player. Because as a person, Yao is a nice guy. But nice guys are boring.
There is game footage of Yao, particularly when up against the NBA's
best center (and player), Shaquille O'Neal. We learn that Ming can't
guard O'Neal very well, but then, who can? What we see most of,
though, is two-second highlight reel clips of Ming hitting shots.
We can get that from Sportscenter.