When I visited China in 2009, and I went to several different cities including Beijing, Tianjing, Shanghai, etc. The nba advertisements were everywhere and it was clear that basketball is China's national sport. The thing I noticed was the Rockets were not among the same standings of popularity as the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Chicago, and this was when Yao and Tmac were still on the team. And now that Yao is no longer with us, I beginning to think the Rockets no longer have a entire nation behind them. http://www.nba.com/global/news/big_things_china_2012_02_03.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1 This was a recent article about basketball in China and I was disappointed to hear that the Wizards are now the established team of China??? Is the Houston Chinese community to blame for this? Back then I use to at least think the people in China would vote in our players for the allstar game but I believe we have lost the majority of our fans in China.
You know foreign countries will just bandwagon a team if they're not true NBA fans. Same with people here in Germany d!ckridin the Mavs cause of Dirk. ->No Chinese player for Rockets=no bandwagon fans, only the true fans left. ->Foreign player signs with random team=fan base in his country goes up 1000%
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/02/nba-still-rising-in-china/ NBA STILL RISING IN CHINAFebruary 2, 2012 · 11:36AM HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The global game it is. Anyone needing proof that the NBA is indeed still a big thing in China, even without Yao Ming in uniform, needs only take a peek at the TV ratings. The TV numbers have increased 39 percent over last season, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick that was confirmed by the league. Merchandise revenue in China has also quadrupled over the past three seasons, per the report, though no specific numbers were released. The ever-popular Yao retired in July, a victim of repeated injuries. But the NBA still has a presence in China with former Nuggets Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith working in the Chinese Basketball Association this season http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/magazine/NBA-in-China.html The N.B.A. Is Missing Its Shots in China (wow)
Well come on obviously.. They become basketball fans and look up to their countries best player and follow him. If the NBA sucked and your favorite players went to other leagues you would probably follow them to.
there's no NBA team outside North America, so therefore people who are casually watching are fans for whatever reason. What's wrong with German fans rooting for Dirk? Cause you don't like Dirk? What about Argentinian fans rooting for Scola? or Spanish fans rooting for Rubio? Do you really care if China doesn't root for the Rockets? I think it's more important that Houston roots for the Rockets! Listen to what Rudy says at the beginning. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aeySkrDtrkY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm Australian and whilst I like Bogut & Kyrie Irving Rockets have always been and always will be my team.
You muss be kiddin don‘t you？ Our soccer team sucks！ Trust me，at this moment，Rockets are still one of the top 3 teams in my country,besides Heat,Lakers,and maybe Marvericks(because of Yi).
I remembered the time when Yao was voted for the All Star game even if he was injured. It ain't no mystery where the majority of those votes came from. Makes you wonder that If Yi Jian Lian was nominated for the All Star game for no apparent reason, I can bet he can get the starting position by a land slide. :grin:
