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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Yao Ming: The Next Asian Superstar?
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:38:56 AM)
he sweetest moment for Asian men in American sports came on June 26, 2002 at Madison Square Garden. The Houston Rockets had just spent their number one overall draft pick on 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming over 6-2 Duke guard Jay Williams. The largely black crowd of draft prospects and their contingents had reason to be displeased. For the past quarter century black athletes had dominated pro basketball and they saw Yao as a subversive force, an alien threat. Even Charles Barkley -- Yao's basketball idol -- sniped at Houston's choice and hinted at bad consequences.
David or Goliath?
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In the global sports scene blacks have come to represent all-around athletic prowess. Asian athletes, on the other hand, have been painted as disciplined and skilled but lacking power and size, able to excel only in sports no one cares about. For an Asian to get the top pick in a black-dominated sport was heresy.
To appreciate what Yao represents to Asian American men requires a quick trip down memory lane. And we do mean quick. The lane is short and sparsely populated.
In the beginning there was Sammy Lee, the first Asian American to win Olympic gold. He did it with 10-meter platform diving at the 1948 London games and again in 1952 at the Helsinki games. Not exactly a marquee sport, but inspiring nevertheless in a time when Asian Americans hardly knew what to call themselves.
Then came Michael Chang whose 1989 French Open championship has passed into tennis legend. Cramping and down two sets to Ivan Lendl in the round of 16, the 17-year-old phenom dared to discombobulate the Ice Man with moonballs and an underhanded serve. The ploy worked. The proof that Chang's nerves and speed were real came in the classic 5-set finals victory against Stefan Edberg. But Chang's recent ignomious descent into tennis twilight raises the suspicion that he simply lacks the size and power to stay in the power game.
It wasn't until Hideo Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995 that an Asian athlete was able to inspire sustained frenzy in one of the big-three sports. Nomo's martian windup and delivery proved so effective that he set Dodgers strikeout records, made the All-Stars and inspired Nomomania.
By 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki joined the Mariners, Asian imports taking Rookie of the Year honors had practically become a Major League tradition. But none had done it with Ichiro's flair or sunglasses. It wasn't enough that he led the game in hitting and basestealing, he seemed determined to make it look easy. Sex appeal had finally come to the image of the Asian male athlete.
But the image still lacked something in many AA minds. Sure, for a leadoff hitter Ichiro hit his share of home runs, but he was known for speed and finesse, not power. Having chafed so long under stereotypes denying them size and strength, AA men longed for a star who could knock those assumptions back into the last millennium.
Eyes turned longingly to football as the obvious arena for the ultimate stereotype smasher -- and saw only Dat Nguyen of the Dallas Cowboys. As a promising linebacker, Nguyen doesn't enjoy the cache of a star offensive back. And at 5-11 and 240 pounds, Nguyen isn't exactly in the 99th percentile in terms of size and power among football players.
Asian American eyes were drawn to basketball by a trio of giants known collectively as "The Great Wall". They were very big for the Chinese national team. First to make his NBA debut was Wang Zhizhi (7-1, 220 pounds) in April 2001. As a center for the Dallas Mavericks he has averaged 5.5 points per 10.6 minutes of playing time per game. A respectable stat for any rookie but disappointing for those who had hoped for an instant Asian star. Then came Mengke Bateer (6-11, 290 pounds) in February of 2002. Despite 15.1 minutes of play per game as a center for the Denver Nuggets, he too disappointed some with an average 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Enter the Dragon. At a height variously described as 7-5 or 7-6, Yao Ming, 22, is at once the tallest and youngest of the trio. In the past two years his weight shot up from 255 to 295 pound -- and he's still growing. His gifts extend beyond size, however. He moves a foot shorter. Born to a pair of former stars for the Chinese national teams, his court instincts and skills are practically dyed-in-the-wool.
And yet Yao isn't a lock to defy the darker prognostications of his prospects as a Rocket. He was regularly outplayed by Wang Zhizhi when both were playing in China. Even with Yao, Wang and Mengke, the Chinese national team routinely lost to second-tier powers like France and Lithuania. Yao has never gone up against the likes of Shaquille O'Neal. The adjustment to life in the U.S. will be long and difficult. In short, Yao Ming is ideally positioned to become the biggest disappointment in the history of Asians in American sports.
Is Yao Ming the next Asian superstar? Or is he more likely to reinforce the image of Asian men as also-rans in power sports?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Chinese American fan of the NBA,
From what I read, Wang Zhizhi is still in California somewhere hiding and training for the World Championships to meet his fellow national teammates there, Yao and Bateer during a U.S. vs China exhibition match in Oakland. His working out with NBA players, doing some shooting drills and some weight lifting. You know, the NBA requirements kind of things.
The Golden State Warrior players have already stated that they want Wang to be their teammates. If he does go to the Warriors, he will likely be a starting forward or center; the Warriors have a poor perimeter and passing game. But negotiations is harder than anyone thinks. If Wang gets minutes, he will score 15-25 points easily. At some point, he scored 18 points in 8 minutes. But then the coach took him out. If the coach don't see potential in that young man, coaches from other teams will. I love the Mavs, but the coach and owner is too concerned of giving minutes to the white players like Raef Lafrentz who has signed a 70 million dollar deal for 8 years, who happened to have played one lucky game against Shaq last season.
The Mavericks have made one big mistake!
I tell you that. Because of that, Wang has to get out of the Mavs; they're going to get eliminated again. You can count them out! Deep in Wang Zhizhi's heart, he does not want to return to the Mavericks. He will be happier in the Bay area where there are more Asians and ball players who would appreciate his presence. It is quite obvious that the Mavericks players try to avoid passing to Wang. They try to not make it obvious, but it is noticeable when they play. You'd see Wang open all the time and they tend to pass to a less open player. You don't see that in other teams. Everyone knows well he can shoot the ball. The other players don't want be surpassed in terms points scored when he has had less minutes. That would just make them look bad.
HAKEEM IS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE SWEPT SHAQ 4-0 in a championship match. REMEMBER THE UTAH JAZZ OF 1998? THEY swept him along with KOBE as well. So those of you who think Shaq is invincible, you are mistaken. He got beaten by an aging John Stockton and Karl Malone. If there's a will, there's a way. He won't dare foul Yao. No way! Yao shoots 80%+ of his free throws and he knows that. And with the new instant replay rule, he will hesitate trying to elbow him like what he did to Dikembe Mutombo in the 2000 NBA finals.
Peace to everyone again.
Ray
Friday, August 09, 2002 at 12:53:59 (PDT)
Kerry,
I have seen those leagues play. Actually, there is one Filipino who is a prospect by the name of Rayamundo, a small forward at 6 foot 6 inches. Two years ago, they wanted to draft a 5 foot 10 Filipino point guard who scouts claim can move like a bullet, but some unfortunate negotiation problem occured that unabled him to play. By the way you put words together, it's obvious that you don't keep in track of world basketball. They are currently looking vigorously at a Chinese point guard by the name of QINGPENG ZHANG, a 6'1 CBA player who can dribble, pass, and shoot with ease. Remember that name. He will play in the NBA when he reaches the required age.
It's obvious you have no knowledge of the current scouting events.
Have you even heard of TONY PARKER of the San Antonio Spurs? He's from France, standing at 6 foot 1. The NBA will draft a foreigner under 6 foot 6.
If they are not trying to draft foreign players, then how come scouts are taking a peak at them? UMMM. They surely did not just go there to eat rice or drink sake.
An NBA analyst stated that the Philippines is likely to be the next breeding ground for point, forward NBA players; they follow the NBA rule book law by law, by law. So if you're going to disagree with him, a professional NBA analyst, that's you're fair game.
Kerry, go visit the Philippines with some of your friends who think that could play basketball and go to the streets where they play alot of basketball all day. You'll find that many of them will beat them anytime and anywhere. They'll pass out before they can even finish the game.
The PBA and MBA are leagues where some of the time is played in an arena with no air conditioning. With that kind of heat of sometimes 100+ inside and humidity of over 50%, it takes alot out of your body. Put any NBA player in the Philippines and they'll soon run out of gas faster than you can say chow! Put a PBA or MBA player in an NBA arena, he will run all day like Christmas. Sure, you might say he's weak, but with the proper nutrition and weight training he will get stronger. You probably don't even know that there are foreign players, European and Americans that play ball in the MBA,PBA,and CBA.
So if you're going to judge Asians as people who can play with only Asians, make it a sensible disagreement. The PBA,CBA, and MBA have even signed former NBA players and former NBA prospects ( The CBA of being the most).
The NBA and even college ball have grown accustomed to many luxuries with top of the class arenas, locker rooms, and all the other stuff that they sometimes forget the game.
I follow Basketball in particular. So if there's anything negative about Asian-Americans or foreign players (Asians and Europeans) in particular that you may state, I will always have a counter.
No disrespect, but it's people like you that can't except change. You can't accept that one day an Asian superstar will arise and break all these stereotyping.
It's sickening how people view tall Asian-Americans " A Freak of Nature." People always look back or something. I've noticed that everytime a 6 foot 7 Asian-American walks by, everyone looks at him weird or something.
Accept that there will always be tall and short people. Short Americans are common you know. Look in the West. I'm even taller than some of them by three inches or more and I stand at 5 foot 8.
I am somewhat hesitant to reveal the secret of some American ways to grow taller, which I don't use because I am happy the way I am. It is not only degrading to one's honor, but also so unnatural. I know because many of my White American friends have told me about them. It might get me into trouble. So, I don't want to go there.
All together there are more tall Asians worldwide than Caucasians and Blacks. Hey! There are many more of us. They are just harder to find these days because they are all scattered around.
During the Qin Dynasty, warriors were required to be 6 foot and above(With the same measurements as we know them today). That shows that there were already alot of six footers years and years back in China when the average height of Europeans was 5 foot 1 and below. So those movies about the Knights being tall and musculine, being the epiphany of a man is completely ridiculous compared to the real thing.
It's natural to see relatively tall Asians because they have reached the 6 foot mark years and years back before even the Europeans did. If you don't agree, look at how tall Abraham Licoln is compared to his troops. He stood 6 foot 4, looking like a giant. If you still don't agree, enter and look at the Ancient European castles, and you'll find out that you won't even fit in the rooms. Historians will agree because it is a fact.
The descendants of these ancient Chinese warriors have been spread out in the Northern provinces and some in the South. They passed on the genes to their descendants which equals= giants and tall Asians as we know them today. As I already told you about the secluded Northern provinces. Tall people tend to marry tall people over there. It's only natural to see these towering Asian Basketball Centers as we see them today. And some don't even like and play basketball or know what Basketball is. This is all without the proper nutrition, folks. Imagine if the economy of China was as rich as the U.S.
North Koreans also tend to be tall as well. Look at how near it is to the Northern border of China. But you can't even enter North Korea so you won't even know that. North Koreans have a hard time to migrate and sometimes forbidden so little of them are here in the states. Those you see are from South Korea and they do tend to be taller than average as well. 6 foot+ tall South Koreans are common, although some are below.
Japanese and Japanese-Americans are shorter because they still live by there ancestral heritage, eventhough they have a first class economy. At least most of them. They eat sushi (raw fish, alot of rice which is filled with carbohydrates that won't assist with height increase anyway. But they are healthier than the average American of any race. That's the upside to the ancestral roots. But even with their diets, some do grow tall and very big.
With the popularity increase of Japanese college football, many NFL scouts are intrigued. Among them is Amaya, a Japanese wide reciever who currently plays with the Redskin's preseason and a regular in NFL Europe along with his other Japanese colleages. As you all know, there are already Asian players in the NFL.
Some Filipinos are descendants of Southern Chinese, which is why they have never developed alot of those genes. And because they moved thousands of years back before even the earliest Chinese Civilization was developed about 5,000 years ago. Those who reach the six foot mark have better nutrition and access to meat and diary products. If somehow their diet changes with their economy, there will be alot more Filipinos who stand 6 foot 4. It's also very poor. Still, that's why Filipinos are stuck with the Southern Chinese image. Is it because alot of them did come from Southern China? What a coincidence, ain't it? You've also got to take into account that most Chinese who migrate to America are from the South, therefore, those from the North provinces remained hidden til now with their exposure to the NBA.
If the descendants of these Ancient warriors continued to live in a prosperous nation, 8 foot Centers would not be hard to find. But, I think that's a little too tall for anyone's blood.
A couple of years ago, dozens of NBA teams had their eyes on Michael Ri, a 7 foot 10 1/2 North Korean Center who named himself after his idol, Micheal Jordan. Scouts claimed that he would do three point drills and not miss for 15 full minutes. He was fast and could blocks shots from many feet away. The NBA commission had approved his entrance, but the North Korean government would not because of the "Trading with the Enemy" law that forbids the North Korean government and its citizens to do business with non-allied nations.
You see that the NBA has always had their eyes on Asian National players since the Atlanta Hawks tried to get one, but failed. It's just those people who are ignorant to be believe that Asians even play basketball.
If you try to argue, Kerry, please put more facts and history behind them. Read more articles and watch more games or study history or something; your arguments are based solely on prejudism and ignorance.
Put economy, history, population, current events, and other meaningful attributes that could make your arguments sensible. Then I will listen.
Anyway,
Peace to you and everyone.
Ray
Friday, August 09, 2002 at 09:38:22 (PDT)
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