Yao Ming
Club: Houston Rockets, NBA
Height: 226 cm / 7-5
Weight: 134 kg / 296 lbs
Birthday: September 12, 1980
Birthplace: Shanghai, China
Position: Center
Personal
Full name is Yao Ming, with Yao his surname and Ming his given name ... both of his parents played for China's National Teams, as his father Yao Zhi Yuan stands 6-foot-7 and his mother Fang Feng Di stands 6-foot-3 ... becomes the first-ever number one pick to come from an international basketball league ... measures in as the tallest and second-heaviest player ever taken with the first overall selections in the NBA Draft ... will become the third Chinese player in NBA history upon entering the NBA, following fellow Chinese National Team members Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer ... joined the Youth Sports School at age nine and received formal training in basketball for the first time ... was then selected to the Shanghai Youth Team at age 14 ... has played against elite international talent since being named to the Chinese National Team at age 18 ... scored 10.5 points per game with team-leading averages of 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots in the 2000 Olympic Games ... also led China with a field goal percentage of .639 in the Olympics ... averaged 13.4 points on .724 shooting with 10.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots in the 2001 Asian Basketball Championship for Men, helping China capture the title and an accompanying berth in the 2002 World Championship ... stands as the fifth number one overall pick in franchise history ... nicknamed "The Little Giant" ... enjoys playing computer games ... studied at the Shanghai Physical & Sport Technic Education Institute ... is an honorary student at the Shanghai Foreign Language Institute.
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Wang Zhizhi
Birthday: 7/08/77
Height: 7-1/2.16m
Weight: 284 ibs./128.8 kg
Career Highlights
Became the first Chinese player ever to play in a regular season NBA game when he logged eight minutes (six points, three rebounds) vs. Atlanta on April 5, 2001
Joined the Miami Heat in 2003
Signed contract with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2002
Became a player of the Mavericks on April 4, 2001
Averaged a team-high 13.5 points and more than five rebounds per game in only 26.8 mpg during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia
In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game
Prior to joining the Mavericks, led the Bayi Shuanglu Rockets to their sixth straight Chinese Basketball Association Championship in 2000-01
Personal
Prior to joining the Mavericks, led Rockets to their sixth straight Chinese Basketball Assosciation championship in 2000-01
Both of his parents were basketball players
Wears the number 16 because he hopes it will bring him good luck; wore number 14 for Bayi and wears number 15 for the Chinese National Team
Menk Barteer
Club: Huntsville Flight, USA-NBDL
Height: 211 cm / 6-11
Weight: 131 kg / 290 lbs
Birthday: November 20, 1975
Birthplace: Inner Mongolia
Position: Center
Career Highlights
2002: Averaged 22.0 ppg, 12.8 rpg and 2.3 apg in 42.2 mpg in 21 contests for the Beijing Ducks （Shot .493 (180-365) from the field and .346 (37-107) from three-point range） Earned MVP honors at the 2002 Chinese Basketball Association All-Star game with a 21-point performance.
2001: Helped lead China to a Silver Medal at the World University Games and the ABC Championship. Led the Beijing Ducks to the semifinals of the CBA League.
1993: Joined the Chinese National Basketball Team as an 18-year-old.
1992: Played for the Chinese National Junior Team. Was the starting center for the ABC Junior Championships.
Personal
Name is pronounced (MENK) (ba-TUR)
Established the Bateer Basketball Foundation in February of 2002 for Chinese fans to donate money to build a school the Basketball Hope Charity School - in his home town of Hangjing County, Erdos Prairie of Inner Mongolia.
The second player from China to play in the NBA, following Wang Zhizhi.
(China.org.cn January 26, 2005)
