Word: yao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...seems the bar for Yao was set low, it's because the modern NBA has seen a parade of giants from exotic corners of the world, and few have made the grade. A small number, like Lithuania's 7-ft. 3-in. Arvydas Sabonis, have made effective use of their height; most, like reedy 7-ft. 7-in. Sudanese Manute Bol and wobbly 7-ft. 7-in. Romanian Gheorghe Muresan, have stuck out like Giacometti statues in a gladiator ring. "Unlike Bol and Muresan," says Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, "this guy is strong. And he's got great touch...
That's because, unlike many earlier imports, Yao grew up playing basketball. His 6ft. 3-in. mother, Fang Fengdi, a high-ranking official in the Chinese sports-research institute, was on the national team, as was his 6-ft. 7-in. father, Yao Zhiyuan, an engineer with the Shanghai harbor administration. "He's been taught well," says Pete Newell, who runs the respected Big Man Camp for college and professional giants in Honolulu. "He's very, very sound fundamentally." Still, no one, not even Yao, can explain why he suddenly started playing like an All-Star. "I don't know...
...Yao's 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...
Remove the language barrier, and Yao is your standard 22-year-old jock. He loves pizza, ribs, wings and Frappuccinos--in addition to his mother's soup and dumplings. He wears a bracelet from his basketball-playing girlfriend in China. He spends much of his free time sleeping and the rest jumping between gratuitously violent computer games and gratuitously violent action flicks. (A recent night in with Yao: watching The Bourne Identity on DVD while playing Counter-Strike. "He sat in the corner with his computer," says Pine, "and said, 'Just tell me when there's a fight.'") In Shanghai...
...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...