Even better than billed Though he has hit the wall somewhat of late, Yao Ming has been All-Star-worthy By Sam Smith Tribune pro basketball reporter January 25, 2003, 9:42 PM CST Not long ago, the 7-foot-5-inch NBA objet d'art of the year sat with some friends and journalists from China in a restaurant near a U.S. airport. His eyes reflected the weariness of the last few months as he focused on a jet from China's national airline streaking toward the sky. "What are you thinking?" someone wondered. "I wish," Yao Ming offered somewhat wistfully, "I was on it." Perhaps the biggest question surrounding the biggest new story in the NBA this season is not whether Yao Ming will become a star and a great center. He will. The question may be whether it's in the NBA or back in China. "You have to understand," Yao said the other day when he was asked about his adjustment to the United States, "I'll always miss my home." Yao makes his first Chicago appearance of the season Sunday, a little more than six months after a special workout here for NBA executives. Though agile and coordinated, he came across as slow and weak above the waist. Some NBA players who attended said they couldn't wait to dunk on him. Everyone was wrong, even Yao's supporters. They had advised everyone to wait a year or two. It didn't take that long. Yao is a star, a rookie starter on the All-Star team next month on merit as much as popularity. Perhaps he is not a force quite yet, but he is a rare rookie of impact who has elevated his lottery-selection team into playoff contention. He's averaging 12.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks a game and is shooting 51.5 percent for the season. But Chicago is not likely to see his best Sunday. His rock-hard square jaw has sagged some, and it's more than just a typical case of a rookie hitting the wall. No one in the NBA has endured more attention and non-stop basketball in the last two years than Yao, who played in the Chinese league and the world and Asian championships before coming here. In January, he's averaging 10.6 points and 8.8 rebounds and shooting 38.9 percent. "He's handled everything amazingly well," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said, "but he's really in the middle of that wall now. "He's doing OK by NBA standards, but he's not shooting like he was. His shot is flatter." Yao even showed a rare display of frustration last week in Dallas when he was repeatedly asked about being tired. With uncharacteristic annoyance, he said he'd answered that question three times already. But the questions keep coming because of the way Yao has overtaken the NBA. He racked up 30 points and 16 rebounds against the Mavericks when they were streaking; 29 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks against the hot Pacers; 27 points and 18 rebounds against Tim Duncan and the Spurs; and 17 points and 15 rebounds against the Kings. Later he became one of the few humans to control Shaquille O'Neal. Yao's game against the Lakers earlier this month was one of the highlights of the season as he rose to the occasion and blocked O'Neal's first three shots. "He's the best young player I've ever seen," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "I told [Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban [before the June draft] if he ever wanted to win a whole bunch of championships, he needed to find a way to get him." Yao has been a revelation off the court as well as on, a gracious, bright young man who's proving to be an excellent ambassador for China. Arriving in Houston, Yao asked reporters how they recognized him. "You didn't know what I looked like," he deadpanned. When it was learned that O'Neal had turned down a Yao dinner invitation in Houston last week after O'Neal's self-proclaimed "idiot prankster" remarks in mock Chinese, Yao expressed relief, saying, "I don't think my refrigerator is big enough." End of controversy. After he sprained his knee a few weeks back, he came out of the trainer's room at the Rockets' practice facility with a pronounced limp. With the hush palpable, Yao broke out laughing. Yao may not have many opponents laughing, but he has America smiling. His marketing is handled by a team from the University of Chicago business school, and soon he may be as familiar as Michael Jordan. Yao doesn't say a word in the Apple computer TV commercial he shot with Vern Troyer, "Mini Me," but you can't help but smile. "There's something special about the guy," Tomjanovich said. "When you're around him you just feel comfortable. His sense of humor, his warmth, his people skills. "He's got a relationship with everyone on the team—equipment guys, players. There's a pureness about him. He's the kind of guy who hugs. The guy loves to laugh. "I was asking him one day about the stuff his [Chinese] team ran against the zone. He said to call his mom, that she knew all that stuff, that she'd make a good assistant for us." Mom is 6-4 and dad is 6-7. They played for China's national teams. Yao was sent to a basketball school at 12. He went to a Nike camp in Paris at 16 and joined the national team at 18. He wasn't an immediate sensation, and teammates viewed him as inferior to Wang Zhi Zhi, now a little-used reserve with the Clippers. But Yao demonstrated consistent enthusiasm and passion for the game. He was a hard worker and studied the moves of highly regarded centers Hakeem Olajuwon and Arvydas Sabonis. Though depicted as another ineffective giant in the mold of Shawn Bradley, Gheorge Muresan or Manute Bol, Yao displayed a sophisticated floor game and great passing ability. And then there's that size. "There aren't too many guys who made me feel short," said 7-1 David Robinson. "He made me feel short and small." Just like Yao's critics. He hasn't backed down to anyone and learned quickly about the NBA. He blocked a shot by Theo Ratliff and then got a technical foul for taunting, after which Ratliff observed, "They're teaching him too much down there." It is considered insulting to dunk in China, so Yao had to be coaxed into doing so. Meanwhile, he has become a strong post-up player, taking a bump and establishing deeper position. Houston only runs a few plays for him, but he's remarkably adept for a big man, catching the ball and finishing on a screen roll. He has shown a few Olajuwon-like Dream Shake moves and some nasty pump fakes that have defenders flopping all over him. Defensively he has trouble with screens at times as teams have taken to running against him. Yao has tired, admittedly, of the attention more than the basketball. He has said his happiest moments are when he goes home to his family and his mother's cooking. Though Yao misses China, other teams fear he's here for good. "Guys like him who achieve what he has achieved want to show their skills against the best, not against someone they can dominate" Nelson said. "And remember, he's making $2.5 million on the way to $15 million. He can buy a place for mom and dad and his girlfriend. I'm afraid we'll be seeing him for a long time." Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune
