Of all the potential first-round draft picks in NBA history, there never has been one like Yao Ming. He's 7-foot-5, but he thinks it's unsportsmanlike to dunk.
He wants an NBA career as much as any American who leaves school early, but when he was approached to defect last year to enter the draft, he refused out of loyalty to his country.
Yao is the most talented basketball player produced by China's state-run sports schools, which should come as no surprise because his parents were national icons in the sport. Now the prodigy bears the weight of great historical and cultural expectations as he attempts the delicate coupling of China's communist system with the NBA's unbridled capitalism.
There's no question Yao easily is the best big man in this year's draft. No one is expecting the next coming of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Shaquille O'Neal. But Rle (pronounced AR-lee) Nichols, who coached Yao four years ago on a tour of the U.S. high school all-star circuit, said Yao's skills are "way ahead" of the last true giant to make it, 7-6 Shawn Bradley.
Nichols said Yao responded well to the competition faced by the Nike-sponsored High-Five America team. In one game, he went against center Tyson Chandler, who was drafted straight out of high school by the Chicago Bulls with the second pick last year.
"Yao Ming took one of Chandler's stuffs and stuck it about 15 rows in the stands," Nichols said. "At that time, he didn't have a low-post game, but his turnaround jumper was not bad. His hands are very good, and he really takes care of the defense because he's a very good shot-blocker."
There was just one cultural clash between Nichols and Yao. "'I had to force him to dunk," Nichols said. "I'd make him run if he didn't. He said, 'That's not respectful.'"
Laughing at the mention of Yao's reluctance to dunk, a person closely associated with him said: "That's right. He still agonizes over the issue. He's a very clean player who rarely retaliates to hard fouls. I think he should be more assertive, but he's definitely playing a tougher game because he's such a prominent target in China."
As a likely top-two pick in the June 26 NBA draft, Yao's play has been thoroughly analyzed by all 13 teams entered in the May 19 draft lottery. Yao was to be under the microscope again Wednesday in his only predraft workout in front of a bevy of executives, scouts and media at Loyola University in Chicago. Former Knick coach Jeff Van Gundy was expected to run the workout but was replaced by former Warrior coach P.J. Carlesimo.
