I think I am upsetting the coach.

To me, first and foremost, basketball is a fun sport. It is a hobby, an interest. And second, it is a profession. I feel that I am very fortunate that I can find a professional job that I really, really love.

No matter whether you are new or an old team member, you need time to adjust to one another.

Moving to the US was quite a transition for me, to say the least! There were, and still are so many new things to get used to: the language, food, culture, even the style of basketball is different here!

Westerners respect privacy, and they are very competitive in terms of work and personalities. My teammates in China and I can talk about everything. But with my Houston Rockets teammates, even though we're friends, we cannot ask each other about everything.

Putting our ecosystem in great peril is certainly not a part of Chinese culture that I know.

All of the Chinese people, the Asian people say, "Oh Yao Ming, you are all the Chinese, all of Asia's hopes." That's a lot of pressure. I'm just a basketball player.