After Stern announced that Yao Ming would be the No. 1 pick, why were there bursts of boos at the draft?

In fact, the Rockets' love for Yao Ming can be traced back to the 1998 Nike training camp. However, Yao Ming from China defeated the inside player Tyson Chandler. Yao Ming's performance was criticized by the Rockets' then general manager. Sen saw it in his eyes and knew that Chandler was eventually selected with the second overall pick. Therefore, after the Rockets drew the No. 1 pick in 2002, Dawson immediately announced that the team would use the No. 1 pick to select Yao Ming. This started the indissoluble bond between the Rockets and Yao Ming.

However, because the Internet was not developed at the time, fans from the United States did not know much about Yao Ming. In addition, Yao Ming was from China, and it was difficult for American fans to accept that a foreign player was selected as the No. 1 pick. Therefore, Dawson's move The selection was met with disapproval from many fans, and Dawson even received death threats. At the draft, when David Stern announced that the Rockets had picked Yao Ming, there were bursts of boos at the scene. Although Yao Ming later proved to be the most successful draft pick after Olajuwon, it was not surprising that Yao Ming was booed at the time.

Many people must be aware of the most famous incident of Barkley kissing a donkey’s butt, but Yao Ming only scored 2 points and 1 block in his debut with the Rockets. Barkley bluntly said that if Yao Ming could get it in one game At 19 minutes he would kiss Kenny Smith's ass, and finally Yao Ming succeeded in slapping him in the face. In the end, Kenny Smith was replaced by a donkey because he didn't want Barkley to kiss his ass.

Although Yao Ming only had a short eight-year career in the NBA, Yao Ming's NBA journey was undoubtedly successful. He closely integrated Chinese elements with the NBA and spread Chinese basketball overseas. In the end, Yao Ming was successfully selected into the Hall of Fame with his influence and status, which was regarded as an affirmation and praise for Yao Ming.

At the 2002 Men's Basketball World Championships in Indianapolis, the "Dream Five" American men's basketball player wearing No. 7 jersey jumped high in front of his opponent Yao Ming. He tried to dunk on the head of the then NBA No. 1 pick, but what was waiting for him was a big shot from China's Yao Ming in front of him!

And this American player was Jay Williams, who was expected to win the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the best college player in the United States. He was also ranked second behind Yao Ming that year. show!

In the eyes of the American media and industry insiders, Jay Williams had a glorious past before entering the NBA (College Basketball Player of the Year selected by the Associated Press, "ESPN Magazine's Player of the Year and the winner of CBS Player of the Year) will help him become the best candidate for the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NBA Draft!

However, Dawson, the general manager of the Houston Rockets who held the No. 1 pick at the time, unexpectedly selected Yao Ming, a yellow-skinned player from China! This caused quite a stir at the time!

You know, before Yao Ming, no Asian player had ever been able to obtain such a high draft pick, let alone be selected as the number one pick and be trained as the leader of the team.

It was precisely because of their contempt for Asian players that when NBA President Stern announced that Yao Ming had become the number one pick, bursts of boos broke out at the scene! Not only that, after Yao Ming entered the NBA, Barkley openly despised Yao Ming on the show, claiming that Yao Ming could not score 19 points in a game! Otherwise, he would kiss Kenny Smith's ass, but in the end Kenny Smith chose to let the donkey take his place!

However, Yao Ming proved with his strength that his selection as the No. 1 pick in 2002 was not due to factors other than basketball. He averaged 19 points per game in his 8-year career. 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

On February 23, 2004, he faced the Hawks at home and defeated the opponent 123-121. He scored a career-high 41 points and had 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks!

Let me ask, how could such a No. 1 pick, Barkley and those who had booed at the draft, not be slapped in the face? In the end, Yao Ming was also successfully elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, becoming one of the important figures influencing the development of world basketball!

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Yao Ming was not well-known in the United States at the time

American fans were more familiar with Jay Williams, who was selected with the second overall pick, than Yao Ming, because Jay Williams was The undisputed best college player in the United States that year, won the Naismith and Wooden Awards, and was selected as the College Basketball Player of the Year by the Associated Press. The Associated Press named him an All-American two years in a row, and by his junior year he was universally recognized. He was also a reserve player for the United States team in the 2002 Men's World Basketball Championship. With so many honors and awards, Jay Williams enjoys a high level of popularity among the fan base.

On the other hand, in an era when information was relatively lagging behind Yao Ming, everyone knew nothing about him except that he was a big man from China. Even a professional like Barkley Basketball commentators are not optimistic about Yao Ming's performance, so it's no wonder the fans booed.

Few foreign players have succeeded before Yao Ming.

In addition to their low popularity, the previous performance of foreign players in the NBA has also become the main reason for fans to boo. Before Yao Ming, most foreign players appeared as role players for the team. Foreign players such as Kukoc and Schrempf were not the real core of the team. The Rockets selected Yao Ming with the No. 1 pick and they must use him as the core. Players are trained, but Yao Ming has no successful cases before, so this is the main reason why fans boo him.

Yao Ming's physical fitness is average

Before entering the league, Yao Ming, as a local Chinese player, was naturally not as strong as American players. Instead, he was known for being tall and thin. At that time, the NBA was still a center. , the muscular sticks of the insiders are lined up one after another. Yao Ming's thin body is difficult to be accepted by fans who are used to seeing powerful insiders such as O'Neal and Malone.

Although the fans booed, Yao Ming scored 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in his rookie season after joining the NBA, although he did not win the Rookie of the Year award. , but also showed very good abilities. Among them, the scene where Barkley kissed a donkey's butt because he belittled Yao Ming is a classic among classics.

Hello everyone, I am Zhang Xiaobei. I am very happy to share my knowledge on the topic of Yao Ming's draft.

This started when Yao Ming participated in pre-draft workouts. At that time, four teams were initially particularly interested in Yao Ming, namely the Warriors, Bulls, SuperSonics (the predecessor of the Thunder) and the Knicks. .

But because Yao Ming had to participate in national team training and other tasks, it was impossible to spare so much time for trial training with each team, so Bill Duffy contacted him and thought of a way to see if he could You can't arrange it in one place and invite interested team scouts to come over. Initially, this didn't happen.

Bill Duffy reported the situation to David Stern. David Stern had been committed to opening up foreign markets. He was very interested and agreed to Bill Duffy’s request and in his Under the initiative, an invitation was sent to the league's 29 teams for a centralized trial training of Yao Ming. The trial location was arranged in Chicago.

28 of these 29 teams signed up to participate in this trial. The only one who did not participate was the Lakers. The reason is very simple. The Lakers have O'Neal.

This is actually special treatment for Yao Ming.

Furthermore, on the day of the draft, Yao Ming actually did not appear at the draft, because whether Yao Ming could play in the NBA was not finalized until the early morning of the draft. There were many issues to discuss before, such as with the Basketball Team. Negotiate about the national team competition, the breakup fee with the Shanghai Sharks, etc.

In other words, before this, no one dared to say whether Yao Ming could play in the NBA. It was even said that Houston general manager Dawson told the Basketball Association at the time that if the team ranked in the top three of the draft, If they can't get the release documents from FIBA, they will trade the No. 1 pick.

This has a great impact on Yao Ming's draft prospects. A very simple reason is that if Houston trades the No. 1 pick, it is equivalent to directly telling the other 28 teams that Yao Ming cannot play in the NBA. The end result is likely that no one will waste their draft picks on Yao Ming.

Although the release documents were finally obtained, it was already too late for Yao Ming to fly to Madison Square Garden.

The fact that the top pick in the draft cannot appear at the draft, coupled with the misleading of some foreign media, will make people in the United States have certain opinions about Yao Ming.

There is also the issue of race. This is actually a big problem in American society, and there is a huge prejudice against the Chinese people.

This can be seen from a very simple example. For example, when we watch disaster movies made in the United States, such as "2012", one of the scenes mentions Chinese workers. I was very surprised when I saw it. Angry.

The story is that the world has ended, but Chinese workers are still thinking about working and earning US dollars... What is reflected here is China in the eyes of Westerners.

...The role China plays in this movie is those workers.

The value of workers is to build escape tools and then die.

Of course, this is a movie, but movies are often artistic recreations of reality, which can reflect the most essential face.

Take this "I Can't Breathe" incident as an example. The death of a black man triggered a large number of black demonstrations. In the NBA circle, Irving also organized a refusal to resume the game.

So what happens to us yellow people who encounter this kind of situation?

Could there be such a big movement?

So when Yao Ming, a yellow-skinned Chinese, becomes the number one pick in the NBA draft, and when this result becomes a reality, the visual and cognitive impact on the American public can be imagined.

Why Yao Ming can enter the Hall of Fame - remember, this is the Basketball Hall of Fame, not just the NBA Hall of Fame. I don’t need to say more about this reason.

And the so-called booing is not difficult to understand.

As the first Asian No. 1 pick in the NBA, Yao Ming did receive too much attention at the beginning. However, because the Internet was not very developed at the time, American fans and even the team managers at the time were not very familiar with Yao Ming. Although Olajuwon had been elected as the No. 1 pick before this, he was born in Nigeria and had already gone to college in the United States and made a name for himself.

The reason why the Rockets chose Yao Ming as the No. 1 pick was mainly because Dawson, the team manager at the time, loved Yao Ming very much. As early as the 1998 Nike training camp, Dawson witnessed Yao Ming defeating the Rockets. Great performance from Chandler. Therefore, in 2002, Dawson immediately selected Yao Ming with the No. 1 pick. Unfortunately, his choice was opposed by many fans at the time, so it was not surprising that there were boos at the draft.

However, in the following season, Yao Ming won the hearts of Rockets fans with his performance. Although he only scored 2 points and 1 block in the first game, he rebounded from the bottom and not only exchanged high scores with O'Neal in the game against the Lakers, but also made the big-mouthed Oakley perform a good show of kissing the donkey's butt.

Although Yao Ming did not play in the NBA for a long time, in recognition of his contribution, the league eventually elected him to the NBA Hall of Fame.

Before Yao Ming, how many people in Asia could make a name for themselves in the NBA? It can be said that in the eyes of Americans, Asians have natural flaws in playing basketball. In the eyes of Americans, it is incredible for an Asian to become the number one pick. But before entering the NBA, Yao Ming's performance in the CBA was eye-catching. He led the Shanghai Sharks to win the 2002 championship. That year, Yao Ming's regular season statistics were a terrifying 32.4 points, 19 rebounds and 4.8 blocks. , and what’s even more terrifying is that his shooting percentage is as high as 72. It can be said that Yao Ming alone supported the Shanghai Sharks. In the playoffs, Yao Ming's data showed a blowout growth. In several games against Bayi for the championship, Yao Ming averaged 43 points and 21 rebounds per game. He is the O'Neal of the East.

So everyone, do you think Yao Ming like this cannot stand in the NBA? Is there any problem with the Rockets taking him with the first pick? And that year was not a big year for the draft. Yao Ming's ability was outstanding among all the rookies.

However, Easterners have left an inherent impression on foreign countries that they are "weak". Although Yao Ming is recognized by the Rockets, the American people and NBA players have never seen you play, so they will not easily recognize you. Therefore, when Stern read out Yao Ming's name in the draft, there were bursts of boos from the audience.

After Yao Ming entered the NBA, the disdain for Yao Ming from various stars can also be seen in foreign countries' impression of Orientals. Barkley said that Yao Ming will not score more than 20 points. Many teams competing against the Rockets will target Yao Ming and make Yao Ming look ugly. Fortunately, Yao Ming himself has certain abilities, and he has gradually made his name in the NBA.

In the 2002 offseason, the Rockets miraculously won the No. 1 pick, and they used the No. 1 pick to select Yao Ming, a big man from the East. But when the Rockets drafted Yao Ming, there was a lot of noise. What happened?

In fact, even before Yao Ming entered the NBA, the Rockets were paying close attention to his game. After all, he is a player with a height of 2.26 meters and has flexible footsteps. He is in the world basketball world. It is a rare talent. At the Nike training camp in 1998, Yao Ming relied on his own strength to defeat Chandler, who was the most popular player at the time. Dawson, the general manager of the Rockets, was at the scene at the time. Therefore, he believed that Yao Ming was a player with great potential.

So when the Rockets won the No. 1 pick in 2002 and Yao Ming chose to enter the NBA, the Rockets chose Yao Ming without hesitation. The reason why they booed at that time was because the fans were not familiar with Yao Ming and did not understand his dominance in the CBA. In addition, Yao Ming is a player from China. Therefore, it is inevitable that the fans at the scene will have some xenophobic sentiments. It is worth noting that after the Rockets' general manager selected Yao Ming, he was even sent a death threat letter, which is enough to show that the fans were unfriendly to Yao Ming at that time.

Yao Ming made his career debut under tremendous pressure, but the result was not satisfactory. He only scored two points and one block in the game. His presence on the court is very weak, which makes more fans think that Yao Ming cannot gain a foothold in the NBA. Barkley even bluntly said that Yao Ming will not be famous in the NBA. If he could score more than 19 points this season, he would be willing to kiss the butt of his partner Kenny Smith. However, Yao Ming ultimately used his own strength to disgrace Barkley and win against the Lakers. scored more than 20 points. However, Smith did not want Barkley to kiss his butt, so he chose to use a donkey instead. This is also the famous Barkley kissing donkey incident in the NBA.

Although Yao Ming did not become a great player during his eight years in the NBA, he was selected as an All-Star in eight years. He has been selected to the best second team and the best third team all year round. In addition, he has played a huge role in promoting the NBA, so his career is still very successful.

Yao Ming was also elected to the Hall of Fame after retiring, making American fans realize that big men from the East can also cause turmoil in the NBA.

Years later, it turns out that he was booing his naive self, haha

Yao Ming is an iconic figure in China’s sports world. He entered the NBA as the number one pick and brought the expectations of the Chinese people. Despite the pressure, he worked hard alone in a foreign country, and finally won everyone's recognition and was selected into the Hall of Fame.

After Yao Ming was selected by the Rockets when he landed in the NBA, no one believed that a Chinese, a yellow man, could achieve much in the NBA. Going to Yao Ming and then kissing the donkey's butt. Facts have proved that Yao Ming quickly became the core of the Rockets with his super high emotional intelligence and exquisite skills. Eventually, he and Tracy McGrady became the Rockets' dual core. Although the Rockets' record was not ideal, Yao Ming's status has always been unshakable.

He was once a recruitment target of Kobe Bryant and continuously blocked O'Neal. Whether it's shooting, footwork, or defense, Pop has said he wants to coach Yao Ming. These can prove what kind of existence Yao Ming is in the NBA.

As for the boos at the draft venue, it depends on China's status in the world at that time and the image of the Chinese in the eyes of the world. No one thought that Yao Ming would have such an achievement. Due to Yao Ming's emergence, China has become the largest market for the NBA. Now that he has become the chairman of the Basketball Association, Yao Ming will continue to work hard for Chinese basketball. I hope that under his leadership, Chinese basketball will become more and more popular. The better.