Think of the most influential basketball players of the past two decades. A number of obvious names come to mind. Kobe Bryant. Shaquille O'Neill. Magic Johnson. The incomparable Michael Jordan. However, in years to come, one name may loom larger than any of them: Yao Ming.
Prior to his alleged retirement this week, Yao had a relatively unimpressive career compared to the three mentioned above. He had a few good seasons in the NBA, followed by a period where injuries pursued him, limiting his later success. His retirement this week, at the age of 30 is relatively young in a sport where pros often continue well into their thirties. The Houston Rockets didn't exactly burn up the courts during his tenure, repeated playoff appearances failing to generate more. On the court, he was more notable for his physical attributes (at 7'6" he was the tallest player in the NBA) than for being exceptionally skilful. And yet, Yao will be remembered as a trailblazer for both basketball and Chinese sportsmen.
Consider Chinese sports at the moment. In the 2008 Olympics, the team took 51 gold medals, the best score for the tournament. However, most of these were for more obscure sports, and the country's attempts to break into the top ranks have yet to become entrenched. Only Liu Xiang, who managed the Big Three in hurdling (World Record, World Champion and Olympic Gold), has really established himself as a Chinese athletic superstar. Now consider team sports. China isn't in the world's top 50 football teams. Baseball struggles against the fact that it was banned for much of modern Chinese history. Rugby and cricket, while growing in popularity, are still outsider activities in the extreme. And yet, in basketball, China has been improving consistently over the past ten years, and would expect to reach at least the quarter-finals in both the Olympics and the FIBA World Championships as a matter of course. Domestically, the sport has exploded. Much of the credit can be laid at the door of Yao Ming.
Yao was very much the right man at the right time. His tenure at the Shanghai Sharks coincided with a period where China was rapidly growing economically, and where a lot of the restrictions on the movement of Chinese abroad were disappearing. As a result, it could be argued that his move to the Houston Rockets was a happy coincidence for him, and that any sufficiently good Chinese player at the time might have been drafted. However, it was Yao that Fate chose for greatness.
When the Rockets drafted Yao in 2002, it was the first time a Chinese sportsman had the opportunity to ply his trade in the NBA. Compared to the NBA, the Chinese Basketball Association was just another second-rate league. While basketball wasn't exactly unknown in the country, it lagged far behind football and table-tennis, which were by some margin the biggest sports. Meanwhile, the NBA was still drawing its players almost exclusively from the United States, with a smattering of Europeans and others. The fact was that the rest of the world lacked the grassroots infrastructure to bring promising talent to the level the NBA demanded. However, a seven and a half foot tall player was unlikely to go unnoticed. Yao Ming was the first pick in the 2002 draft.
For Yao, this would catapult him to global stardom, and superstardom in his home country. He was a sporting icon in a country that was rapidly developing a middle class, with growing amounts of disposable income. Merchandising and sponsorship deals have meant that Yao has consistently been China's top earning celebrity. Meanwhile, basketball has exploded in China. By some estimates nearly a quarter of the population, some three hundred million people, now play the game. With Chinese football in the doldrums and racked by a series of matchfixing allegations, basketball is becoming an increasingly lucrative activity. The CBA has now got a number ot top-class teams, and now imports players. Most of these are ex-NBA, but there are also a small number brought in from farther afield.
On the other hand, plenty of Chinese players now play for the NBA. This has had a mixed effect. While it continues to raise the profile of basketball in China, it also cements the status of the NBA as the world's premier basketball league. None of China's teams have nearly the same financial clout as the NBA, and while NBA players do compete in China, most of them are past their prime. While the revenue from basketball in China may soon outstrip that in America, much of that is from Chinese fans of the NBA. The CBA is professional, but it still isn't financially sound. Yao had to buy his old club, the Shanghai Sharks, to prevent them from going under.
If Yao's success has only brought limited dividends to the CBA, the same cannot be said for the national team. Following the decision to allow professionals to play on America's Olympic Dream team and in the FIBA World Championships, the USA dominated international basketball. However, in recent years that dominance has waned. Teams like Greece, Lithuania, Argentina and Puerto Rico can now make a fight of things with the USA. China has also made inroads. (In both the last Olympics the Chinese team, which on both occasions featured Yao, made it to the quarter-finals). Together with Mengke Bateer and Wang Zhizhi, both of whom are around 7' tall, Yao led the most intimidating front row in Sydney, and has been at the helm of consistently stronger Chinese teams since.
More than that, Yao was, and remains, China's top sportsman. Forbes ranks him as China's highest earning celebrity. His exploits as the first Chinese sportsman to make it big abroad in recent times have set the trend for other sports. Major League Baseball has spent the past few years trawling China for a potential Yao Ming. While on the one hand baseball has taken root across the Pacific Rim, it also has to contend with the fact that it has been frowned upon in China, having being banned from 1949 till 1973.
An article on CNN recently lamented the fact that Yao Ming failed to deliver on initial promises as a player. This misses Yao's true legacy. As a player, he was one of a cohort of people who helped the NBA move into the most profitable market in the world. As a Chinese player, he is largely responsible for making basketball the biggest sport in the biggest potential playing field.
After reaching 6' at age 15, Greg Bowler's subsequent growth has been outward
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