sfgate.com article (Yao)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/22/SP243139.DTL



Looks like Yao is the real thing
Yao has makings of big-time talent

Scott Ostler, Chronicle Staff Writer   Thursday, August 22, 2002


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I RAN into the NBA's great anti-Shaq hope Wednesday, and it's way early to make a definitive judgment on Yao Ming, but based on early information:

Eat your hearts out, Warriors' fans.

The player the Warriors could have drafted -- had the front office only shown basic telekinetic control over Ping-Pong balls -- is in the Bay Area.

Yao's Chinese national team will be soundly thrashed by the U.S. team tonight in an exhibition game in Oakland, but young Mr. Yao is likely to show enough to make you run home and chump-slap your Mike Dunleavy bobblehead doll.

For starters, Yao is actual size. As in: "Sweet Buddha, that fellow is large!"

He is a true 7-foot-5, and about 296 pounds, lean but without that Shawn Bradley will-work-for-food look. And when Yao walks and runs, it appears as if all of his various body parts are receiving instructions from the same control panel.

Yao won't be the biggest guy ever to play in the NBA, but he has the potential to develop into the first 7-5-and-up man who can actually play basketball.

The road will be rocky. One rumor is that Shaq has a big Yao doll in his driveway and he runs over it several times a day in his SUV, for practice.

The media wasn't allowed to watch the Chinese actually work out Wednesday, since the team's chalkboard sessions often include diagrams of sensitive nuclear secrets. The fans tonight might be asked to wear blindfolds.

The Chinese are so laughingly secretive, you'd think they were an NBA team or something.

But we media folk were allowed to talk to the big guy after practice, and we heard stories about him.

Like how last week, against the Canadian national team, Yao had a perfect shooting night, with 17 points on 6-for-6 from the floor, 5-for-5 from the line, plus five rebounds and five blocks. And the Canadian big men pounded on Yao as if he had bad-mouthed Celine Dion.

Yao's future NBA coach, Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets, has been very impressed with his rookie-to-be. Rudy T went to China to "recruit" Yao and is following him around now from city to city like a very polite stalker. It's not like Rudy hangs with Yao, but he's there to give the occasional wave from across the lobby, the "we're-still-with-you-big-guy" thumbs-up.

Yao knows he has a lot to learn. He said Wednesday he's probably "two or three years" away from really adapting to the NBA.

It might be even longer than that before the 21-year-old Yao, with a wispy hint of a mustache, is able to grow NBA-quality facial hair.

And personal electronics? Forget it. When the Chinese team walked into the Warriors' practice gym in Oakland, not one player had a cell phone or stereo headphones. It was so retro! Where's Bob Cousy?

And the Chinese team, world-power-wise, is still a work in progress. "The Chinese team is one of the best in Asia," one official in the party said, and everyone gulped and smiled politely.

The huge question is, will Yao rise to the level of his NBA competition?

He's already strong enough to play inside, and he has a smooth mid-range jumper. But there's probably no gamble in the NBA like drafting a huge man, especially a foreign player. A few, like Vlade Divac (7-1) and Arvydas Sabonis (7-3) turned out to be effective, if not dominating, centers.

But Yao is less internationally tested, more of an X factor.

I'm told that the fans in Houston are almost unanimously of the mind that Yao as the No. 1 pick was a gamble they desperately wanted their team to take.

Had Yao been drafted by the Warriors, there would be a sizable faction of fans crying "Mistake!" And there would be reports of Yao going out on the town with Raiders.

So maybe it's just as well the Warriors wound up with Dunleavy. But Yao does seem like a solid, well-grounded (figuratively) fellow. He is said to be a bright guy with a good sense of humor. He is learning English quickly, although in group interviews he prefers working with an interpreter.

Yao said Wednesday, yes, he is eager to prove he belongs and can compete in the NBA. He is a big fan of former Rockets superstar Hakeem Olajuwon. If opponents want to double Yao and pound on him, as the Canadians did, "The more the better."

And he threw a little English at us. His favorite American food? "Steak." What he hopes to buy when the NBA cash starts rolling in? "Car."

And when the interview was over: "Thank you."

I told you he has a lot to learn.
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USA vs. China

-- WHAT: Exhibition game between the American and Chinese teams that will compete in the 2002 FIBA World Basketball Championships, beginning Aug. 29 in Indianapolis

-- WHEN: 7 p.m. today

-- WHERE: Arena in Oakland

-- WHO: American team consists of 12 NBA players and alternate Nick Collison of Kansas; the Chinese roster includes Yao Ming, the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NBA Draft

-- TV: None

-- RADIO: KNBR (680 AM)

-- TICKETS: Still available, including some for as low as $15. Call (888) 479-4667 or visit www.tickets.com.

E-mail Scott Ostler at sostler@sfchronicle.com.