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跻身NBA是在1998年，那时我18岁，在美国打了两个月球回到国内。我从未想到我能打得那么好。知道为什么吗?那以前，我在中国打球的对手都比我大得多，在青年队时对手大我两三岁，在17岁进入大鲨鱼队时对手大我五六岁。这让我打得很费力，因为他们长得比我壮，球龄比我长。在美国，我终于跟自己同龄的人打球了，感觉很不一样。
　　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.
　　美国之行是从位于印第安纳波利斯的耐克训练营开始的。而后，刘炜和我前往达拉斯加入了AAU（美国业余体育联合会）的一支叫HighFive的球队。这支球队在全美四处巡回，参加锦标赛。在巡回比赛时，球队可以从任何地方挑选球员到他们队里。现在不同了，球队只能从其所在城市100英里范围内挑选球员。我在达拉斯第一次见到泰约·约翰逊，他现在是奥克兰突击者队的边锋，我们从那时起就一直是朋友。
　　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.
　　泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我搭乘红眼航班来到达拉斯。到了酒店，报上我的名字，前台的小姐说，“噢，你跟那个大个子的中国帅哥住一起。”我的心咯噔了一下，“什么，我参加了外国交换学生的球队?”我走到客房，敲门没人回应，我就用钥匙开门。这时，姚明给我开了门，他穿着内衣，是白色紧身的。在门口我只能看见他的下巴。他和刘炜已经睡下了。他让我进门后，就回到了床上。他们为我铺好了一张小床。我马上打电话给我妈，小声说，“有个7英尺6的家伙在我房间，他是中国人!”我妈说，“哦，中国人可真能长个
儿啊。”第二天练习的时候，在球场上我发现———这家伙还真是厉害。
　　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.
　　在那两个月里，我到处打球———达拉斯之后去了佛罗里达的斯泰森大学;印第安那波里斯的耐克营;奥兰多、圣地亚哥、菲尼克斯、奥古斯塔、佐治亚的AAU（美国业余体育联合会）夏季联赛或锦标赛，圣塔巴巴拉的迈克尔·乔丹营。大多数时候不知道自己身处何处，要去哪里。在斯泰森我每天和乔治敦的中锋李·斯克拉格斯一起训练，他现在在NBDL（美国篮球发展联盟）打球，是NBA的次级联赛。我们的教练是塔兹·洛克，在做了多年大学教练后，他那时刚开始给开拓者队做球探。
　　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.”
　　在圣地亚哥，我为High Five队打最后一次球。我们住在美国国际大学，就在HighFive夏令营所在的高大建筑物隔壁。隔着高速公路的对面是个军事基地，每天早上从大学走到High Five体育馆的路上，我们都看到战斗机起降。在圣地亚哥我第一次和泰森·钱德勒打球。他只有15岁，人们已经说他能打NBA。他对着我灌篮，球打得非常好，但我防守很好，跳投也已经很不错。我比他大3岁，从那以后我就想，“也许有一天我也能够打入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.
　　泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我们以一分之差输掉了比赛。我想，是姚明击败了泰森。在比赛快结束时，姚明把泰森的几次投篮扔回了半场。姚明也截住了他的跳投。我可以看出他的运动素质多棒。我知道他还需要长得再结实些，他所有欠缺的就是这点。
　　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·钱德勒（芝加哥公牛队的前锋和中锋）:第一次见到他时，我想，“这人真了不得。”此前，我总是场上最高的，但他还要高我一截，这个大家伙接球很轻，你可以放心把球传给他。此前，我没和外国球员同场打过球。这个大个子，不懂英语，又是不远万里从中国而来，和他同场打球，对我来说是种疯狂的体验，对他来说，也一定是这样的。
　　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. Awww, man, I didn’t know what he was saying, but the next time down he clapped his hands, called for the ball, backed everybody down, and threw it down. Nobody could do anything about it.
　　整场比赛，姚明毫不留情地一次次拦下泰约的跳投。然后我上场，对着他灌篮，向他尖叫。噢，天哪———我听不懂他在说些什么，但后面他拦下球后就会击掌，示意把球传给他。他挡住了每一个对手的进攻，将投篮截住。对手们毫无办法。