Chron: China basketball officials give Rockets thumbs-up on Yao

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1450091
June 12, 2002, 12:38PM


China basketball officials give Rockets thumbs-up on Yao
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

BEIJING, China -- The Rockets successfully negotiated a major hurdle in the courting of Chinese sensation Yao Ming today, earning the confidence and encouragement of Chinese Basketball Association commissioner Xin Lancheng.

While no one is either offering or signing contracts just yet, clearly the message the Rockets received from the Chinese basketball authorities was a resounding thumbs-up to pursue the potential superstar center.

After a 90-minute meeting with the commissioner and watching Yao practice and train for three hours, the Rockets see no significant roadblock or unreasonable request from Chinese basketball authorities in their quest to help Yao realize his NBA dream.

"It was a very good meeting," Rockets general counsel Michael Goldberg said. "I'm hopeful that with another meeting or two we'll be able to have everything resolved. We talked out a lot of things."

The Chinese government remains a pivotal factor in Yao's landing in Houston. But after great progress was made with both Yao's Shanghai Sharks team executives and China's version of NBA commissioner David Stern, it is not unreasonable to expect to see Yao in a Rockets uniform in the 2002-2003 season.

"The commissioner wanted to understand where we were coming from in terms of our needs and desires for Yao Ming,"Goldberg said. "We wanted to make sure we understood the needs and desires of the Chinese national team. It went well."

It went well enough that the Rockets leave today after four days in China with what by some accounts was an understanding to reach an understanding.

"At one point I was sitting there thinking, 'we've come halfway around the world to do this and it's been great,'" Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said.

Dawson and Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich had the added benefit Wednesday of receiving permission to watch a Chinese national team practice, in advance of this summer's FIBA World Championships of basketball in Indianapolis.

After the three-hour workout, Tomjanovich and Dawson met with Yao for more than 20 minutes, answering a wide range of questions.

The Rockets' basketball brain trust walked away more impressed than ever with Yao's skills and also his off-court savvy, personality, command of English and enthusiasm about the Rockets.

"He's a big son of a gun," Tomjanovich said. "The guy showed solid shooting, passing, athleticism. And he had a great personality; he really opened up after a while. He asked about players on our team. He asked about things we did with (Hakeem Olajuwon). I gave him a media guide and he asked some questions about how things would have been different (coming into the NBA) if he went through four years of college.

"Then we actually went out on the floor a little bit and we talked about a couple of (basketball) things. I'm excited, sure. It was great."

Goldberg, who was complimented by China's executives for respecting and adhering to Chinese protocol during the Rockets' trip here, did offer some words of caution.

"It was good, but it's going to be a long process," Goldberg said. "I would expect we're going to have several follow-up meetings."

Still, having not known what to expect before arriving in China, the Rockets leave with strong indications from the most powerful basketball executive in China that he will do whatever is possible to get Ming into a Rockets uniform.

"I didn't know what to expect when we got here," Tomjanovich said. "But I'm real encouraged and excited."


Chris

 

Yup! Awesome news indeed!

Chris