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Yao Ming

Yao Ming (Chinese: 姚明; pinyin: Yao Ming) (born September 12, 1980, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese professional basketball player and one of the premier centers in the National Basketball Association. He is the only son of his 6'10" (2.08 m) father Yao Zhiyuan and his 6'2" (1.88 m) mother Fang Fengdi. Both Yao and Fang were Chinese national team basketball players. At 7'6" (2.29 m)[1][2], he plays center for the Houston Rockets in the NBA. He was selected by Houston as the 1st overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and signed with them on October 21, 2002. Yao's height Yao is 7'6" tall (2.29 m).[2] When Yao initially came into the league, the NBA mistakenly listed him at only 7'5" (2.26 m) without shoes on in his draft bio, but Yao actually measured at 7'5¾" (2.275 m) (this is before he grew an additional inch).[3] Yao is currently the tallest player in the NBA, with Shawn Bradley retiring in 2005. Yao Ming is genetically tall, as evidenced by his normally proportioned body. He does not have pituitary gigantism or acromegaly, a condition afflicting his fellow countryman and basketball hopeful Sun Ming Ming.[citation needed]. CBA career Having been a veteran of one international competition for several years, he played in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and was a teammate of Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer on the Chinese National Team where they became known as “The Walking Great Wall”, but it was his MVP selection that put him in the minds of NBA scouts. However, after the CBA assured him that he would not get released from their league if he entered the draft, Yao chose not to enter the 2001 NBA Draft. This proved to be a good decision, as he played even better in 2001–02, scoring 32 points and grabbing 19 rebounds per game with a 72% field goal percentage, second in the league in both points and rebounds per game. He led his team, the Shanghai Sharks, to a CBA title over the most dominant team at the time, the Bayi Rockets and, more importantly, won a sportsmanship award. He averaged almost 40 points a game in the playoffs, including one game where he was perfect from the field, making all 21 of his field goal attempts. Leaving the CBA after just 5 years and 122 games, Yao left holding four records in the CBA — most dunks in a career, most blocks in a career, most blocks in a season, and most blocks in a game. All four records still stand today. Yao played with the Chinese national team at the FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis before the 2002 NBA Draft He made the all-tournament team, after playing against stars such as Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, and Manu Ginobili. 2003-04 season During the NBA's offseason in 2003, Yao spent a great deal of time helping to raise money and awareness of SARS in his home country. Among his efforts was a telethon he hosted, which raised $300,000 to help stop the disease. Before the start of Yao's sophomore season, the Rockets' head coach Rudy Tomjanovich had resigned due to health issues and long time New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy was brought in. Van Gundy ran a slower offense with a higher emphasis on Yao. As a result, Yao averaged 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game (both team highs), and scored a career-high 41 points against the Atlanta Hawks in February. He was voted the starting center of the 2004 NBA All-Star game for the second year in a row (once again ahead of Shaquille O'Neal). His improvement was showcased by his 16 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes in his second All-Star game. Yao was also instrumental in helping the Rockets claim the seventh seed in the 2003–04 playoffs. Despite his efforts, the team was eliminated by the Lakers in the first round, as the Rockets only won one game. Yao's averages in his first playoff series were 15 points and 7.4 rebounds a game. 2004 Olympics During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Yao carried the Chinese flag during the opening ceremony, fulfilling his lifelong dream. He then famously vowed to abstain from shaving his beard for half a year unless the Chinese national basketball team made it into the quarter-finals. After several sub-par games in which China lost 58–83, 57–82, and 52–89 against Spain, Argentina and Italy respectively, they came back with a miraculous 67–66 win over reigning world champions Serbia and Montenegro; Yao carried the team with 27 points, and hit two free throws with less than a minute left that proved to be the winning margin. China thus made to the quarter-final. He was selected to the All-Olympics team with his dominating performance, averaging 20.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 55.9% from the field. 2004-05 season In 2004-05, his third season in the NBA, Yao had another impressive year, leading the Rockets along with offseason acquisition Tracy McGrady to their second straight playoff appearance. On March 11, 2005, Yao logged an impressive double-double game against the Phoenix Suns in which he scored 27 points, grabbed 22 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots. However, the Rockets were eliminated in the first round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks in 7 games, during which Yao averaged 21.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game, including three 30+ point games. He was voted as a Western Conference All-Star in February after shattering the record for most All-Star votes with 2,558,278, breaking Michael Jordan's previous record. This was aided by the fact that Shaquille O'Neal had been traded to the Eastern Conference's Miami Heat during the offseason, but it is also a testament to Yao's rise to one of the NBA's elite. Yao's rise to stardom in the NBA can partially be credited to former NBA superstar center Patrick Ewing, who was hired by Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy to aid Yao's development as a center. In 2005, Yao became the subject of a documentary film, The Year of the Yao, which focuses on his NBA rookie year and his first year living in the United States, his parents and Colin Pine. 2005-06 season Although players his size have historically been unreliable, Yao had been very durable during his first three seasons in the NBA. He missed only two games in three years up till 2005, but twenty-two games into his fourth season Yao was forced onto the inactive list for an extended period for the first time in his career due to an acute case of osteomyelitis in the big toe on his left foot. The toe had been giving him trouble since its nail had fallen off in the preseason, and Yao blamed Danny Fortson for aggravating it in a game against the Sonics in Seattle. On December 18, 2005, with the rest of the team staying in Los Angeles to play the Lakers, Yao returned to Houston to have surgery performed on the toe. He was placed on the inactive list and missed a total of 21 games, returning to the lineup on January 30. After the injury, Yao became noticeably more active and aggressive, and this new found agility allowed him to be more aggressive in the low block on the offensive end while avoiding foul trouble on defense. With his increased time on the court, along with his teammate Tracy McGrady's absence because of a chronic back problem, Yao became the primary option for the Rockets at the offensive end. In the 25 games after the All-Star break, Yao averaged 25.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.7% from the field and 87.8% at the free throw line. His final averages in 57 games were 22.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. This was the first time that Yao had ended the season with a "20/10" average, and his performance when McGrady was out silenced many critics. However, before the season ended, he suffered another major injury in a game against the Utah Jazz on April 10, 2006 - an accidental collision with opposing center Mehmet Okur left him with a broken bone in his left foot. The injury required fully 6 months of rest, which left some in doubt as to whether he would play in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. However, Yao made rapid progress, and he carried the Chinese national team to the knockout stage of the World Championships, but was then defeated by Greece in the first knockout round. In the 2006 NBA All-Star game balloting, Yao again led all NBA players with 2,342,738 votes, and therefore started for the fourth straight time of his career. 2006-07 season As of March 31, 2007, Yao Ming is averaging 24.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 1.9 BPG. A recent editorial from the Washington Times dubbed him the best center in the NBA[citation needed] and he had been widely mentioned as a leading MVP candidate prior to his most recent injury. On December 23, Yao fractured his right tibia. He was medically cleared to play on March 4. On March 5, Yao Ming, after missing 32 games, returned to the Houston Rockets' starting lineup in a matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While clearly rusty, Yao nonetheless had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Three games later, in a win against the Orlando Magic, he scored 37 points and had 4 blocks. NBA career highlights     * 5-time NBA All-Star: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007     * 2-time All-NBA:         * Third Team: 2004, 2006     * TSN NBA Rookie of the Year: 2003     * NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2003     * NBA Western Conference's Player of the Month: November 2006 Scouting report Yao plays the center position. As of 2007, the lifetime averages of the five-time All-Star and three-time member of the All-NBA Third Teams are 18.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.[4] His exceptional height of 7-6, combined with a natural touch for the mid-range shot, enables him to shoot over most defenders, contributing to his high field goal percentage of .524. In contrast to other big men, Yao is also an excellent foul shooter (.819), which makes him a bad target for late-game fouling tactics like the Hack-a-Shaq. He is also capable of carrying the scoring load, as he led all scorers in points-per-game during the 2006 World Basketball Championships, while also bringing an undertalented team into the elimination round. Yao has an accurate jump shot as far as 20 feet (6.1 m) (he even made one 3 pointer in his rookie season and several in his CBA career) but he scores primarily within 10-12 feet (3.0 to 3.7 m) of the basket through an assortment of hook shots, turn arounds, and slam dunks. However, for a longer time, Yao was criticised for not being durable (31.5 minutes per game is not considered elite) and from not being aggressive enough on offense (12.3 field goal attempts per game is considered low),[4] and defense, leading to calls he was "soft". However this perception was changed in the 2005-06 NBA season, where Yao was often the scoring option on the injury-depleted Rockets team; with star Tracy McGrady out for the season, Yao carried the Rockets after the All-Star break, leading the team with 26 points and 12 rebounds per game. [edit] Trivia     * Yao Ming wears size 18 shoes.[citation needed]     * Yao has lost 60% of the hearing in his left ear.     * In early 2007, an internet hoax reported that Yao was dating 5'2" (1.57 m) American actress Nia Long. Yao dismissed it as "ridiculous", given the height difference. His long-term girlfriend, Ye Li, a center for the Chinese women's national basketball team, is 6'3" (190 cm).[5]     * In August of 2006, at an environmental conference, Yao swore to never again eat the Chinese delicacy shark fin soup. [6]     * Yao Ming is an avid player of World of Warcraft. 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