In a sea of scowling faces, trash talking voices, and menacing tatoos stands a quite and humble young giant. Not only giant in stature, but also in integrity and unselfessness. Will he be the most important basketball player since MJ, i hope so. No I don't think he will be the most important player for his skills but rather his mannerisims and attitudes on and off the court. Yao has already proven he can hang in the NBA. He has also taken the intense media scrutiny in stride. But what is most impressive is his overall attitude towards the game and life. It's a breath of fresh air. Yao is not out simple for stats and in your face dunks. He just wants to become the best all around basketball player he can be. I doubt you'll ever see a tatoo on his arm or a scowl on his face. He seems more interested pleasing his teammates than him self. For instance he was more concerned that Francis liked his (Yoa's) new knickname than if he liked it himself. All of this makes him the perfect poster boy for the NBA, and if David Stern was smart he would stuff him into a cloning machine right away. Yes it will be hard for Yao to change the general attitude of the NBA. Lets face it this league will be heavily influenced by the streets forever. Despite this, Yao's positivity can slowly change some of the negative stereotypes currently afficting the league. While you won't see his poster on the back of many innercity doors, Yao can become a role model for many young players. He can show them the values of teamwork, the satisfaction of actions rather than words, and to be humble in victory. Hopefully his influence will one day be seen in the NBA, because lord knows I'm tired of seeing 18, and 19 year old brats celebrating dunks and taunting when their getting there hides tanned. And maybe one day smiling for photographs will become the norm rather than the exception.
