The Big Smooth

By Chris Tao

When asked about what number he would wear on his Houston Rockets uniform, Yao Ming said eleven. He arrived at the decision based on feng shui and what it said about the smooth contour of the number eleven. Yao indeed hoped his transition would be as smooth as his number and his game.

With half of his rookie season gone, the transition has been rocky, yet smooth. Things went awry at times, but he was there to defuse the situation and smooth things out.

After a rough and less-than-impressive pre-draft workout in Chicago, scouts, coaches, and players were chiding him. He was tired all right. Anyone would have been tired after a sixteen hour flight from Shanghai. He couldn't sleep because he felt the pressure of a single make-or-break workout. In Chicago, many people flocked to see him workout against 7'3" center Chris Christofferson. A combination of fatigue and anxiety conquered Yao. He had a few encouraging plays, but against that kind of competition, he should have owned Christofferson. But he didn't. In fact, he even got blocked by Christofferson. After the workout, a gloating Quentin Richardson vowed that he and his Clippers teammates would bet on the first Clippers player to dunk on Yao. As things turned out, Q didn't even show up for the first game between the Clippers and Rockets. So much for that.

Yao's first game turned out to be a disaster. He was held scoreless by the Indiana Pacers. His breakout game was a memorable one in which he scored 20 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field. A Shaq-less Lakers squad was no match for Yao, who dominated the paint. A few games later, Stephon Marbury's crossover dribble tripped Yao and sent him to the floor and the ensuing earthquake that followed. The Phoenix bench, led by fellow rookie big man Amare Stoudemire, was seen laughing hysterically. Yao, being the class act that he is, took the punishment in stride.

His big impact game came against the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks, called Yao a stiff and unworthy of being picked number one. Oh how wrong he was. Yao, still coming off the bench at the time, started playing midway through the second quarter. The Mavericks, with no defensive presence to stop Yao, were ravaged by Yao's play. He embarrassed his counterpart at center, Shawn Bradley, at both ends of the floor. Yao finished with 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field. Most importantly, Yao made TNT analyst Charles Barkley live up to his bet with Kenny Smith by kissing a donkey's posterior.

His next big game came against the Indiana Pacers. Yao scored 28 points against Brad Miller and Jermaine O'Neal. Aside from being clocked by Brad Miller, Yao faked his way for two like the Dream. On the left side of the paint, he spun to the baseline, but ran out of room. He didn't see any of his teammates open, so he made something out of nothing. He shimmied and shaked his way for two points, fooling defensive star Ron Artest, Brad Miller, and Jermaine O'Neal. ESPN analyst Bill Walton was the first to compare that move with the Dream Shake. The Dream Shake was retired Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon's signature move. He fooled the best of the big men with the move. Guys like Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson. Now Yao was doing it. Call it the
Dream Shake II. The Shanghai Shake. The Yao Yoke. Whatever you want to call it. It didn't surprise me though. When the NBA started to televise its games in China, Hakeem Olajuwon was winning the first of his two NBA championship titles. Yao was undoubtedly watching and emulating. What also didn't surprise me was the physical play by the Bad Boy Pacers. They tried to punish Yao at every point of the game. The thug known as Brad Miller was trying to guard Yao physically, when he, Yao, and
Jermaine O'Neal went up to get a post-entry pass. Yao caught it and was fouled by another physical player, Ron Artest. Miller landed on O'Neal's leg.

The matchup millions of people around the world wanted to see was Shaq versus Yao. Old versus new. Diesel versus Dynasty. Mean versus lean. Biggest versus big. Tall versus taller. All the storylines and hyperbole aside, it was a game for the ages. Garnering the second greatest basketball television audience of all time, the game lived up to the hype. In the beginning of the game, Yao blocked Shaq's first three shots and scored six quick points. When Yao faded down the stretch, Shaq was starting to heat up. Shaq dunked in Yao's grill on two occasions. But Yao didn't let it get to him. Francis prolonged the game into overtime and in overtime, a trapped Francis found an open Yao next to the basket for an easy, game-clinching dunk. With this game, Yao measured himself up to Shaq and Shaq found himself a worthy opponent.

During All-Star Weekend, the media attention was on Yao. The greatest attention was on Michael Jordan because it was his last All-Star game, but Yao was next in line. Every time he was seen by reporters, they swamped him with questions. The actual All-Star game was uneventful for Yao except for a spectacular alley-oop at the beginning of the game. Starting for Shaq, Yao played minimal minutes compared to Shaq. Just three minutes into the game, Rockets teammate Steve Francis found Yao open underneath and threw a lob pass and Yao dunked it in. Yao was passive and even lobbed one pass for Shaq which didn't connect. Yao honored Jordan by wearing North Carolina light blue shoes.

As for his rising popularity in the world, he has shown signs of the ability to become a world icon, much like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods have become. Yao has already appeared in an Apple commercial with Verne Troyer, the dwarfish personality who plays Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies. He has also been in a Visa commercial that employs a pun on his name - "Yo Yao". Yao signed a deal with Sorrent Wireless to create a game for cell phones. He has also signed deals with China Unicom (a Chinese telephone company) and Gatorade (a sports drink maker). His marketing potential is not limited to helping himself, as he helped Chinese-owned Yanjing Beer become the exclusive import alcoholic beverage of the Compaq Center, the arena where Yao's Rockets play. Yao has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated's February 10 cover, ESPN the Magazine, and Time Magazine. The biggest story of the summer for the Big Three in shoes (Nike, Reebok, and Adidas) will be Yao Ming and LeBron James. Any company that gets both Yao and LeBron will undoubtedly rule for the next ten to fifteen years. Yao's shoe contract with sneaker giant Nike is set to expire this summer. Yao's free agency will set off a storm in which he will be courted by Nike and Adidas. Both are hoping to sign Yao and capitalize on the big Chinese market that will open up because of the signing.

Recently, analysts have been quick to point out that Yao will not be getting this kind of attention forever, because the spotlight can only shine so much on an unsuccessful player. The Rockets as a team have been mysterious, bringing out their best against the elite and falling flat on their faces against bad teams. That mystery has been brought on by Yao's inconsistency (which is to be expected because he is a rookie) and the selfish play of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

Unless they fix the team , the road doesn't look so smooth. But if they start playing well and get deep into the playoffs, the Dynasty and Franchise look to have a great future ahead of them. A smooth ride.