I'm sure some of you have seen this picture on nbadraft.net. If you think that Yao is skinny now (he's not, really), take a look at this picture. In a couple of years we'll be able to look back on this picture and say, "Yao, that's skinny!" His legs were still big even back then, although. Oh, and he was about 7' 4" 1/2 around this time frame. Notice the highschoolers around him... http://augustachronicle.com/stories/071498/spo_LS3600-3.001.shtml
Look at his jersey... It says, "High Five" Not the number. It's spelled out. Then read the excerpt... "Ming, a 7-foot-5, 252-pound player from Shanghai, China, is playing with the San Diego-based High Five America team at the third annual Nike Peach Jam Invitational." Playing in tournaments like the Peach Jam will help Ming, who turns 18 in September, decide what he wants to do after next season. He also plays for a Pro Club team called the Shanghai Sharks and their season runs from November to March. He has played the game since age 9." And... "Ming played well against Riverside and also made a good showing against many of the same players last week at Nike's All-American camp in Indianapolis." All-American tourneys are for teenagers (highschool prospects). Then, read the date on the article...1998. Do the math. I wanted to make sure myself, so I checked these things before posting. At least we know that Yao's birthday is next month; guess he'll be 22 soon. Maybe we should send him a b-day card!
just so some of ya'll know, yao committed to the university of houston cougars in 98 before his government said "no". So he really wanted to be in houston all along
wow i did not know that. It must be becasue of hakeem. But wow thats great that he like it here that much.
Not sure about the UH thing, but here's a snip about Hakeem's influence on Yao, at 19, in 2000. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2000/0915/sp-3yao.html
For what it's worth, I heard there is a 14 year old guard over in China that is gonna be the real deal. os
Rockbox, That was back when Clyde Drexler was the coach at UH. Yao wanted in the NBA, and Drexler was just retiring and had all the connections. That was the first time I heard of Yao, years before most people. That's why I was so amazed when we won the lottery. I knew then that IT IS FATE!!!!!!!!! Great things are coming! But imagine how upset UH fans must be; they could have had Yao, some 7ft African guy, that high schooler All-American that couldn't play since he was in high school for 5 years, George Williams, and I think someone else that was good. And all they ended up with was Williams. That would've made one heck of a team.
here a list of top recruiting classes from that year http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketba/skm/clark14.htm "Houston received a commitment from 7’5 Yao Ming from Shanghai, China, who made a name for himself with his shot blocking ability on the summer camp circuit, but whether the Chinese government will let him leave home to attend college in the USA is still a question. 4. HOUSTON (25 Points) George Williams 6’8 99 WF Sugar Land (Elkins) TX Antonio Falu 6’4 99 PG Houston (Waltrip) TX Chris Andersen 6’11 JC C Blinn (JC) TX Yao Ming 7’5 99 C Shanghai, China" Both george williams and falu were consensus top 30 players in high school. Anderson was a juco all-american and played last year for the phoenix suns. Ming of course was the top pick in the draft. Houston also got commitments that year from cedric taylor, a juco all-american and a top 100 player coming out of high and lesage a 7 ft nigerian recruit. Williams was the only one from that group that made it into school. imagine the possiblities otherwise
Yao's too good to be ruined by any coach. If he did go to UH, people would say "You should be happy Yao didn't stay in China, no one would know him and Wang Fei would've ruined him!"
I know this is not the correct thread but to anybody who saw him play i am curious if in those 13 points did he post then shoot the hook or do a finger roll or did he all get his shots from jumpers. I only saw him play once back when he is still a teen ager he is impressive for his size but he loves to shoot those jumpers even when he is posting and he rarely throw those hooks which will be great because of his size.
that's weird that this has never been mentioned before, about Ming committing to UH when he was 17, you'd think the media would have made a big deal about him ending up here after all that time............it is destiny
MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!! MIng loves Houston all along !!!!!!!!
Like others, I'm surprised that the whole UH connection hasn't been picked up by the media yet. Do we know why he ended up not becoming a Cougar after all?
