http://www.asianbasketball.com/leagues/content.asp?id=19738&evt=CBA&yr=2000 Yao Ming To NBA Draft, or Not to Draft? 28/12/2000 12:00:06 PM Glen Watson Three-time Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league Player-of-the-Week Yao Ming isn't having a Merry Christmas despite his first-place team's undefeated record after 11 games this season. Reports indicating Yao, who was recently on the cover of ESPN's magazine, had permission from the Shanghai East Sharks to take part in the 2001 NBA Draft have been shot down by a team official. "Have we allowed Yao Ming to enter the NBA draft? No, absolutely not," Sharks president Li Yaomin told the Shenyang Evening newspaper. "We have never said we would let him go." The team president went on to say that any NBA team interested in Yao would have to negotiate with the Sharks, who would be hesitant to give up a player like Yao without someone to replace him. Even his coach, Li Qiuping, is playing down Yao's skills these days. "Yao definitely plays better than before, his experience and superb skills helped our team achieve a lot in the first phase of the CBA league," Li told Sports Weekly. "But in my view, Yao is not as perfect as some reports make him out to be. He has his own weaknesses. He is not yet strong enough and he has to build his strength, especially if he wants to be successful in the NBA in the future." The 7-foot-6 (2.25m) Yao averaged 34 points, 27.5 rebounds and 7 blocks last week to earn his third MVP honors in five weeks. Last Saturday, the 20-year-old scored 40 points and contributed 31 rebounds as the Shanghai Sharks edged Beijing Vanguard Aoshen 97-94 in Beijing. He also scored 28 points and grabbed 24 rebounds as the Sharks trounced the visiting Liaoning Hunters 101-90 earlier this week. Meanwhile, last week's MVP Wang Zhizhi and forward Liu Yudong have helped their 5-time defending champion Bayi Rockets shoot back into second place in the standings. Wang scored 32 points while Liu had 49 points and 12 rebounds in a 134-113 victory against the visiting Vanguard Aoshen. Wang also had 49 points in a game last week. In other news, Vanguard's key guard Ma Jian has reportedly been fired by his team, which lost 95-85 to the Liaoning Hunters this week without him. Ma has reportedly been quite tired after guarding Yao and Batere last week and the birth of his new son. He has told the media that he expects to return to Vanguard once the coach calms down a bit. [This message has been edited by countingcrow (edited January 01, 2001).]
