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...Last May Houston--a city with 104,000 Asian residents--was awarded the first pick in the draft, and Chinese officials decided it was time to negotiate Yao's release. (The NBA may schedule Rockets preseason games in Beijing and Shanghai next year; the Rockets paid Yao's Chinese professional team a $350,000 transfer fee, and Yao will give at least 50% of his salary to various Chinese sporting bodies while continuing to play for the Chinese national team in international competitions like the Olympics.) When Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson finally met the future of his franchise...
National-team commitments kept Yao in China until nine days before the NBA's season opener. When he finally arrived in Houston in late October, Yao had little idea what his teammates were doing on the court. "In the first practice, we could see that he had a lot of skill," says Rockets forward Maurice Taylor, "but he was lost. Brand-new system, brand-new rules--he was a rookie, plain and simple...
...parents are also helping. Unlike most other rookies, who must simultaneously cope with the rigors of the NBA's nonstop schedule and the novelty of living alone for the first time, Yao, an only child, shares a four-bedroom Houston manse with his mom, dad and Pine. ("I do have my own bedroom," jokes Pine, 29, a former U.S. government document translator.) "The fact that my parents are here," says Yao, "has made my adjustment to American life much easier, although, really, there hasn't been anything that difficult to get adjusted...
Before Yao arrived in Houston, the Rockets--a young, inconsistent team fighting for a play-off spot--ranked 18th out of 29 teams in road attendance. Now they're seventh. Yao has packed the house in cities with large Chinese-American communities, like Oakland and Seattle, but he's attracting people of all origins everywhere, and they're coming not just to gawk. "There's something about the guy," says Tomjanovich. "He's got a warmness about him, a sense of humor." Yao is already one of the league's better quotes. Asked whether he can speak English better than...
...early last month, the remarks were repeated, and Yao was asked for a response. Tongue in cheek, he said that Chinese was a hard language to learn. (To defuse any controversy, Yao had also sent Shaq a Christmas card, not a typical Chinese gesture.) Before the two played in Houston later in January, Shaq apologized, using the Mandarin dui bu qi. Yao invited Shaq to his home for dinner, and though O'Neal declined because of a family commitment, he congratulated Yao on his All-Star selection. Yao joked that he was relieved O'Neal couldn't come for dinner...