Courting the stars of the future

Former NBA allstar center Yao Ming instructs a group of youngsters at the NBA Yao School on June 21. To help develop young Chinese players, the NBA has brought in topnotch coaches and trainers, and has also established a joint coaching program with the Chinese Basketball Association. WANG YING / XINHUA

As he walked to the courtside seats with his wife and young daughter, Yao Ming stole the show from the stars of the NBA's Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets at their pre-season game in Shanghai on Sunday.

Despite not making a speech or waving to the audience, the retired "Chinese Giant", who was awarded the nickname not only because of his height - 2.26 meters - but also his successful playing career, still received thunderous cheers and applause, a fitting indication of how much Chinese basketball fans love and miss him.

"Yao is the pride of China," said Zhang Jiayang, a member of the welcoming audience. "He was the first Chinese superstar in the NBA. I don't know when we will see the next Yao Ming.

"If only Yao Ming was on the team! That's what I was thinking when I watched the national men's basketball team suffer humiliating losses at the Asian Games," said the 26-year-old basketball fan from Shanghai. "It used to be exciting to watch the team play because Yao could always lead the team to win a game."

Yao is greatly missed, not only in the NBA but also in the Chinese national men's basketball team, which has recently floundered in a sea of losses, including finishing fifth at the recent Asiad in Incheon, South Korea, the team's worst result at the Asian Games in 40 years.

However, superstars such as Yao and Michael Jordan are "scarce resources that we may come by once in 100 years", said Zhang Qing, CEO of Key Solution Consulting Company, which specializes in sports consultancy.

"Instead of waiting a long time for a superstar to emerge and improve the national basketball team's performance, a better solution would be to improve on-campus basketball education and also the professional talent-training system to raise the overall level," he said.

"And once we do well in on-campus basketball education, maybe we will have a better chance to see the next Yao Ming stand out."

Sports undervalued

The Chinese Basketball Association estimates that more than 300 million people play basketball in China. That's roughly equivalent to the population of the United States, according to Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner.

However, it seems that China hasn't found a way to grow a strong group of players from the game's huge fan base and its reserves of talent.

Among the problems facing the Chinese basketball talent-training system are the facts that physical education is undervalued on campus, and that sports tournaments between schools are underdeveloped, according to Zhang Qing, who worked as a consultant for the CBA from 2005 to 2009.