Under their breath, though, there’s more than a whiff of denigration: what kind of dominant big man doesn’t dunk the ball with malice, they ask? Or put his imprint on games by demanding the ball more often? Or, in so many words, tell the Chinese government to step the eff off so his achy-breaky feet can heal properly?

In the end, part of what the author is saying (and it’s a little difficult to see exactly what he’s getting at) is that Yao subverts the cliches that basketball has tried to put on him. He’s asked to be a “dominant center,” which is really just code for “Shaq, Dwight Howard, or Hakeem”: dunk the ball and block shots. Instead, he subverts that assumption by taking fadeaways, sky hooks, and lay ups. The media (and his nation) want him to be the face of China, which is really just code for being political. Instead, he’s just the face of Yao. Basketball fans and writers try to force their pre-conceived notions of what a 7’ 6" Chinese center should be, and Yao responds by just doing his thing and proving everyone wrong. The key, however, is that he ends up being what the media wants him to be (he’s a dominant center, he really is the face of China), but he does it by inverting our expectations.

this one just really confused me.