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| Birth Name(s) : Yao Ming |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Athlete |
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Full Yao Ming Biography
Yao Ming (Chinese: 姚明; pinyin: Yáo Míng) (born September 12, 1980, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese professional basketball player and is considered one of the best centers in the National Basketball Association (NBA) today. He is also among the tallest of players in the NBA standing at a height of 7'6" (2.29 m). He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) for five years, and now 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 Ming first went overseas to go to a 1997 Nike camp in Paris, and then went to America the next year to play on an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team called High Five.
Yao was prevented from going to the senior Sharks team because he broke his foot while on the junior team. When he joined the team a year later, he averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds a game in his rookie season. The next year, he broke his foot again, which Yao says decreased his jumping ability by 4 to 6 inches.
Yao Ming’s first meeting with Shaquille O'Neal garnered large media attention over the fact that O’Neal had previously said "Tell Yao Ming, ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh", which many considered racist. In the game, Yao Ming scored six points and blocked O’Neal twice in the opening minutes, as well as having the game-winning dunk with 10 seconds left in overtime. Yao finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds; O’Neal scored 31 points and 13 rebounds. Yao finished his rookie season averaging 13.5ppg and 8.2rpg.
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. After Van Gundy focused the offense on Yao, averaged career highs in points and rebounds a game, and had a career-high 41 points and 7 assists in a triple-overtime win against the Atlanta Hawks in February 2004. He was also voted to be the starting center in the 2004 NBA All-Star Game for the second straight year. He played in the playoffs for the first time, as the Rockets claimed the seventh seed in the Western Conference. However, eventual NBA finalists Lakers eliminated Houston in the first round, as the Rockets only won one game.
Yao had 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. 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 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
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 a full 6 months of rest.
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.
The Rockets made the playoffs for the first time since 2005, playing with home court advantage against the Utah Jazz in the first round. However, although Yao averaged 25.1 points, after winning the first two games, the Rockets lost four of five games, and were eliminated in Game 7 at home. After the series, Yao said “I didn't do my job”. During the offseason Yao has worked with Hakeem Olajuwon
Yao’s injury at the end of the 2005-06 NBA season required a full six months of rest, which left some in doubt as to whether Yao would play in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. However, he recovered before the start of the tournament, 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.
Yao Ming is married to Ye Li, a Chinese women's basketball player, whom he met when he was seventeen. Ye first rejected Yao, but finally accepted him after he gave her team pins from the 2000 Olympics. The Chinese media reported on June 25, 2007 that Yao Ming would marry Ye Li in August in a private ceremony in Shanghai. The wedding was set on August 5, laying to rest weeks of media speculation about the national hero's wedding date. Yao settled on an exclusive guest list that did not include any Chinese basketball officials, teammates or coaches. Yao married Ye on August 6, 2007.
Yao has participated in several charity events during his career. During the NBA's offseason in 2003, Yao hosted a telethon, which raised $300,000 to help stop the spread of SARS. In 2006, Yao Ming promised never to eat shark fin soup again, in order to raise awareness of wildlife protection. He has also participated in the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program. On September 14 2007, he competed in a charity basketball match to raise money for a Chinese children's charity. He was joined by fellow basketball player Steve Nash and the two led opposite teams. Hong Kong born movie star, Jackie Chan also appeared to start of the game. The game was won by Yao's team, 101-92. |
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