Shane Battier Rides On Yao Ming's Popularity in China

No more injury,thks....

 

Well, that's a nice chunk of change, Battier ought to send Yao a thank-you note for being so damn popular!

I hope he at least tested the shoes out a bit before his eyes filled with dollar signs. I'm not saying these are poor-quality shoes, but I'd want to make sure they're pretty damn comfortable if I'm locked into wearing them every night for the rest of my career.

EDIT: Whoops, only two years. Yeah, for 4 mill. I think I could do that.

 

Heh. Battier starting power forward in the All-star game. Book it.

 

LOL. I hadn't even thought about that, but it's pretty sick. I think there is an outside shot of it happening. Hell, didn't David Wesley end up in like 7th or 8th spot in ASG voting for Guards last year? Battier has a decent amount of fans that like him regardless of the team he is on due to his good guy image. When you factor in the Chinese votes, he could very well come close, although I still wouldn't bet on him making the ASG. If he does something to really endure himself to the Chinese fans, could the Rockets have 3 starters in the same year? Oh my, the pissing and moaning we'd have to listen to from the rest of the league because their beloved favorites didn't make it.

 

It's going to happen if and only if he puts up better fantasy stats this season than he did with the Grizz. My guess is he probably can do it by exploiting Yao's popularity with opposing defenders. Battier is smart, he knows how to sponge off the stars.

 

I have to ask how much of this actually has to do with Battier's reputation and demeanor. You don't see Rafer Alston, for instance, signing any type of shoe contract in China. Would it be safe to say that the deal came about because Battier's style of play and attitude resonates more naturally with the Chinese audience in addition to the fact that he is a teammate of Yao's?

That having been said, who on the planet would guess that after Shaq, Damon Jones would be the only other current foreign NBA player to have a Chinese marketing contract? I can't figure that one out.

 

Actually, they signed Damon Jones first, and then Shaq.
Spain basketball team is also sponsored by Li Ning.

I guess Damon was just one of the current NBA players they could afford at that time. His name does not matter too much as far as the influence on the Chinese market by "the first NBA player signed with Chinese shoe company" is concerned.

 

There are a lot of myths about Yao.

One of them is that Yao gets the most votes to the ASG because of the Chinese votes. As we now know, if you tally up all the paper votes cast at games, Yao would still be the starting center in years past.

In this site, at least, we shouldn't perpetuate Yao myths.

We know Yao isn't soft.

We know Yao is a legitimate all-star.

 

Thank you for nothing, captain obvious. Could you show me where in my post I perpetuated the myth that Yao wasn't a legitimate all-star or only got voted in because he was Chinese? For you to deny that there aren't a lot of Chinese people voting for Yao and his teammates, regardless of how people in America vote, would be stupid. Again, I challenge you to show me where I stated that Yao only got voted in because he was Chinese. Thank you, come again.

 

You didn't say it, but you strongly insinuated it. You achieved the effect of saying it, but have plausible deniability because you didn't actually say it. Nice job. You should be a politician. And this is not a compliment. People do not appreciate it when others talk like that.

 

calm down SirCharlesFan. he was just pointing out that the chinese vote isn't as huge as you were implying by pointing out that battier could make the all-star team b/c of how many of them will vote for yao's teammates (presumably while voting for yao). the only two teammates to go to the all-star game with yao are francis and mcgrady, both of whom had all-star type seasons and were famous independent of yao (though i'm sure it helped nonetheless). now if cuttino had made a team then we could think yao might be able to get battier in, but i don't think cat ever came close and neither will shane.


edit: and you should calm down as well compucomp. in fact, everyone just calm down.

 

I'm not trying to start a war.

...but every single year we hear stuff about Yao and Chinese voters. Every year ...without fail. ...and every year, it is wrong.

...and I guarentee we'll hear it again this year from the same batch of tired national sports writers.

So you implied Batteir MIGHT get voted to the ASG because of Yao's Chinese fans. Simply suggesting this perpetuates a myth which is mostly untrue.

That said, we saw a few months ago that the #1 selling jersey in China was TMac's ...not Yao's. So that's a paradox, huh? Yao isn't the most popular player in China yet Yao's teammate is? [head explodes]

No biggy. I don't feel the need to drag on this point any further so I'll just let it go at this point. Nothing to see here ladies and gents. Move along.

 

Don't argue guys. This is good news that we should cheer about. Look on the bright side, this will give us an advantage when we fight for free agents with the other teams in the future. Well ... possible multi-millions endorsement contracts in China ... it's kinda enticing to say the least.

KG ... are you reading this news?

 

Well Yao did say Battier was like a communist in his play; that had to help a bit. Then again, Damon Jones and Battier are polar opposites, so who knows what's going on?

 

An outside shot of Battier making the all-star game = Yao is only an all star because of Chinese people voting. Okay. David Wesley got the 8th most votes of any Guard in the West last year, more than Sam Cassell and Mike Bibby. I guess David Wesley is a lot more well known in the States than I thought he was. I even acknowledged in my original post that we'd have to listen to the "pissing and moaning" of other fans like they do when Yao makes it (because of the common misperception so timely pointed out by krosfyah).

 

How to be a megastar in a minute. Special thanks to CD & J. West.

 

How come the first word I think of when I see this picture if "Fuc|<"?

 

you do know where all the other brand name and 'comfortable' shoes are made in?