Chron:Big man already growing in stature

By MICKEY HERSKOWITZ
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
The first player chosen in the last NBA draft reported for work Sunday, filling with relief and joy the hearts of the Rockets.

He drew a nice crowd to his first news conference at Compaq Center, but the media and true basketball junkies do not usually ignore the top pick in the draft.

He is 22 years old, listed at 7-6 in the media guide, and has thick black hair, cropped short, and Groucho Marx eyebrows. If he plays as good as he looks, we must brace ourselves for references to the new Ming dynasty. Observing him at the podium the Rockets had provided, he came across as a poised young man, smiling easily, casual, comfortable, a little amused by whatever was going on.

He wore his shirt collar outside his sport coat, and his neck was without the heavy gold chain so many NBA players favor. Whether or not he fulfills all the great expectations others have for him, Yao Ming was an instant hit Sunday, even though he limited himself to roughly a sentence and a half in English.

If a slight language barrier exists, it should be noted Yao's English is far superior to the Chinese of most members of the Houston media.

When asked if he could say a few words, he gave the request a manly effort. He arched his eyebrows and grinned, then said: "Let us try. So, I see a lot of people at the airport. They taking a lot of picture, and I am so busy. Everybody want picture, and I have only one guy ... "

At this point, he consulted with his translator, Colin Pine, and finished his statement with an apology: "I am sorry about it (not being able to pose for everyone)."

"He says," elaborated Pine, "that he is just one person and can only be in one place at a time."

The Rockets on occasion may have expected this and much more from the player taken as No. 1, but no one in the organization considers Yao a gamble. This is not your typical 7-6 rookie from Shanghai. He has been playing against the best international talent since he was 18 and more than held his own. (Incidentally, Yao may have grown an inch on the overseas flight. Most of us had been referring to him as 7-5.)

But the adjustment to the NBA game and the culture and the monotony has caused many a hotshot prospect to fall on his posterior. The challenge for the Rockets and their fans is to allow Yao time to establish his identity while enjoying the freshness, even the innocence, he brings to the team and the city.

There is no deal that needs to be struck with the devil. The Rockets may have all sorts of fine marketing plans, but they may soon discover very little stagecraft is needed.

"All of our guys are impressed with him," says general manager Carroll Dawson, referring to Yao's introduction to his new teammates. "The media is going to love this guy. The fans will love him. He endears himself to you very quickly. He has a passion for the game. He has a great personality.

"I've never seen anybody his size who is that athletic. Hakeem Olajuwon was about seven feet and the greatest athlete I ever saw. I wouldn't compare him to Hakeem, who was close to a finished product when we got him. But Yao Ming is six inches taller."

His mother and father were in the audience when he met the press Sunday, and the shrewd observer figured out quickly where he got his height. The apple did not fall far from the tree, but it was a long drop. His father, Yao Zhi Yuan, is 6-7, and his mom, Fang Feng Di, is an arresting woman at 6-3. Both played for Chinese national teams.

The Rockets have shown signs of restraint and will resist overhyping their new attraction. You expect to see his likeness and dimensions on billboards and media covers because, after all, he is the Next Big Thing. But when you turn the machinery loose, there is a risk of overkill. It is a huge advantage, of course, that Yao won't fully understand how much pressure is on him.

Yaomania may already have taken on a life of its own, one that defies any effort by the Rockets to orchestrate it. But we can anticipate the movement may need an anthem or a cheer, and we happen to have one, sung to the words and melody of Wild Thing, a song released by the Troggs in the 1960s and made popular anew by the baseball movie Major League.

"Yao Ming. You make my heart sing. You make everything -- groo-vy."

Now that ought to make him feel welcome.

This jewel of the Orient could hardly be in better hands than those of Rudy Tomjanovich, a coach known for his patience and common sense.

"My coaches are going to have to help me, too," says Rudy, "because I'm anxious. I want this to work, and I want it to happen fast."

Meanwhile, we wait for each day's sign that Yao is adapting to his new universe. He hasn't yet cashed any of his bonus money, but when Dawson was in China, Yao confided one of his goals was to buy a car. His transportation in Shanghai was a bicycle.

"What I saw over there was mostly Volkswagens," said Dawson. "He may or may not want something fancier. But if he buys a VW, I can tell you this: He'll have to drive it from the back seat."

 

THE FUTURE IS YAO
Big 'buzz' is back
Chinese star's arrival fuels franchise's excitement
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle



Bush Intercontinental Airport's Terminal A began to fill Sunday with fans in Rockets gear. They were there to share a triumph as if the team were returning. And in a sense, there was a victory to celebrate.

There were banners and placards in English and Chinese. Fans wore shirts created just for the occasion. In the front row, as close as security allowed, Yao Ming's mother, Fang Fengdi, waited for her son. Colin Pine, the interpreter Yao had never met but who, in a few minutes, would have his life changed as dramatically as Yao's, nervously straightened his tie.

There was, Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said, a "buzz" in town he remembered fondly from the championship days.

"In some ways, it's like standing in The Summit after the seventh game of the first championship," Rockets general counsel Michael Goldberg said. "We just won the game. We just won the first championship. Everybody's screaming. There was just a feeling of ... satisfaction.

"You work so hard for something. To have it done -- it's such a good feeling."

The crowd grew -- as the Rockets hope will be the case when Yao begins playing games for them -- while unaware travelers wondered what brought the masses and inspired them to crane their necks to stare in one direction.

Then, even before her 7-foot-5 son could be spotted towering over Dawson and coach Rudy Tomjanovich, Fang rushed toward the gate to greet Yao. She didn't need to see him. Mothers know. A few steps later, he would come into view, ducking to fit beneath the hallway ceiling.

The crowd roared. Yao smiled and waved. Tomjanovich beamed, as he would for most of the next three hours.

Though more restrained by personal style and jet lag, Yao seemed to share the feeling.

"I know I made everybody wait a long time," Yao said beneath one of the red "Welcome to Houston" banners placed in the airport and Compaq Center. "I hope everybody will think it was worth the wait.

"I hope that my hard work, I can meet everybody's expectations."

At the airport, Yao signed autographs and posed for pictures. He thanked the crowd for greeting him and later, in his only comments in English, apologized for not being able to fill every request for photos.

At Compaq Center, he met his teammates, even joking about how he would fit in Cuttino Mobley's convertible. Yao reacted in shock at broadcaster Calvin Murphy's fit-for-upholstery blue suit. Mobley introduced Yao to the Compaq Center crowd before he and fellow guard Steve Francis presented him with his No. 11 uniform. Yao watched a half of the Rockets' preseason game against the Orlando Magic before he was taken to begin the physical examinations given to rookies.

But even though Yao had yet to wear that enormous, new striped shirt otherwise known as his Rockets jersey, there was a sense something special, even historic, had begun.

"Yao Ming is bigger than Michael Jordan in China," said David Chen, who came to Bush Intercontinental to see Yao for himself. "Michael Jordan is a great basketball player, but you have the Emmitt Smiths and Jerry Rices of football and Mario Lemeiux of hockey. Yao Ming is China. He's the one thing. He is a national representative.

"I came to see a Chinese guy who could play in the NBA. We had Wang Zhi Zhi and Mengke Bateer, and they're decent. But this is different."

Said Houston City Councilman Gordan Quan: "We saw how much Hakeem Olajuwon did for understanding about the Nigerian and Muslim communities. I think Yao Ming can do the same thing for the Asian community. But there is an excitement in the city that I think permeates every community.

"We talk so much about diversity. Thirty years ago, we had less than 10,000 Asian Americans in this city. To think that our first draft pick is from Asia and is accepted for his talents. We're looking at him as a basketball player who has abilities to help this team. And I think to me that epitomizes the whole community -- people all over the world bringing their talents to this city. He is a symbol of what's going on every day in this city."

For Chinese Americans, Yao is also a symbol of how much has changed.

"We ignored that whole country for so many years," Quan said. "With diplomatic relations the way they were, they were our enemy. Now, one of their own is our team leader. What a reversal. No doubt about it."

The Rockets had a similar outlook. It had taken magic in the NBA draft lottery to even get the chance to draft Yao, months of negotiations to win his release from the Shanghai Sharks and China Basketball Associations, and patience to wait out his duties with the Chinese national team.

"The excitement I'm feeling, even at my age, is tremendous," Dawson said. "It's a great day for the franchise. I think there's a lot of great days to come."

As the crowd moved toward the airport exits, 14-year-old Andre Perez slid up next to Dawson and leaned in to catch his eye.

"Now," Perez said, "I'm happy."

There were hundreds of fans around him, and a franchise waiting, who knew just how he felt.

 

Yao's arrival has Rockets buzzing
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Yao Ming finally stepped across the Compaq Center court Sunday and inspired his first Houston standing ovation.

It hardly mattered that he wore stylish earth tones instead of the screaming Rockets colors and stripes he was handed. He was here, finally here. For now, that was enough.

"After waiting a long time," he said, "it's like opening a door and having a breath of fresh air."

Hours earlier, Rockets guard Steve Francis said Yao would get to "smell the Compaq Center for the first time," not knowing that to Yao, and the legions that had awaited his arrival, even the old building would smell fresher.

But a team still able to draw only 7,989 for Sunday's game felt a palpable jolt of enthusiasm around town and even before he was ready to help on the court, things seemed better.

"It's a good thing," Francis said. "There is a buzz created around town. To keep it, we have to win. We have to play good basketball. But it is here now."

Yao sat on the Rockets bench between Terence Morris and Kelvin Cato for the first half of the Rockets' 101-96 win over the Magic. And left the building with a sense that he had already left the Rockets -- or at least their mood -- better than he found it.

"All the positive things I think are contagious," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "It gets a spirit going. It gets a positive flow going. We saw it a few years ago, when this city was overflowing with it. Positive energy is something you can feel."

With his first half day of airport greetings, limousine rides and arena press conferences complete, he began the business of basketball with a trip to the doctor's office for X-rays to begin his mandatory physical examination.

Yao will attend practice and team's annual golf outing today. But with his physical incomplete, he will not work out today, and might not on Tuesday. The Rockets play their last two preseason games Wednesday and Thursday, but there are no plans yet about when Yao will be in uniform.

"I think it's a day-to-day thing," Tomjanovich said. "We'll see how he feels and how much we can get in. Physically, we have to see how he feels when he wakes up tomorrow. Nobody's ever done this before that I know of. It's not going to be easy. There are so many things that need to be learned.

"But there is just something about this man, that I feel he will adjust well."

But as much as he must now deal with the unique circumstances of grooming Yao, the first International league player ever taken with the first pick of the draft, Tomjanovich had no complaints. He said he could not compare Yao to anyone, least of all Hakeem Olajuwon, but then found himself unable to talk about his newest player without mentioning about his greatest.

"My feeling about him are very strong," Tomjanovich said. "I feel he will be a good NBA player. He has a chance to be a great player. There's a lot of talent there.

"Everybody's different. This guy is going to be special, just as Dream was. Let's see what develops. Let's see what he becomes. There's a whole new world ahead of this guy.

"I've had the opportunity to coach some of the greatest players ever, but to also be entrusted with the development of the first great Asian player is a privilege."

But a typical China Basketball Association season is 34 games, and Yao has been competing and training with the Chinese National Team for the past six months. He not only has missed the first three weeks of the preseason, but also he enters a league and awaits a meeting with Shaquille O'Neal, who has repeatedly threatened to test his mettle.

"Every problem has to be faced," Yao said of facing O'Neal Nov. 17. "That's going to be a very important game for me. I'm not going to be looking at it as a normal game. I'm going to look at it as a more important game."

Though Yao did not seem to struggle with the attention on Sunday, the scrutiny he will face could become suffocating. Tomjanovich, however, said he was determined not to also burden him with expectations.

"The only thing I can do is control my expectations," Tomjanovich said. "There's a process. This is the toughest basketball league in the world. It takes months and months for young guys to feel comfortable in a new league. This league is not that easy to walk into. It's never that easy for new players on a team, and those players are veterans.

"He's talented, He's a young player. It's going to be exciting. Nothing is given. He's going to have to prove it. But he's got some great qualities inside. I feel privileged for me, the Houston Rockets and our fans to have the opportunity to be with a young player with that kind of potential, and to be in the process.

"We have to understand that even the players who played in the U.S. and have been here and gone through summer league and have been in their towns working out with their guys -- it's a big jump to the NBA. I'm sure he's going to have to make adjustments, too."

Those will come. The first step began on Sunday. The next steps, Yao said, will come not in a sports jacket, but in practice gear.

"I can't wait," he said. "I can't wait to get into camp and play."