"Our top pick is here!" Ewing said with a grin as he pulled Yao Ming over.
The friendly-faced Gorilla gave no hint that he had once been the iron-blooded powerhouse who dominated the Knicks.
"Patrick, Yao is in your hands."
"Don't worry, Kobe. Give me three years, and I'll give you a star center!" Ewing felt that he was not being conservative at all—if anything, he was being somewhat arrogant.
The media had already revealed that this year's top pick had been personally chosen by Stern. If not for Yao Ming's background, there was no way he could have won the NBA's first overall pick.
The NBA had seen towering big men like Yao Ming before. A typical example in recent years was the lanky Shawn Bradley, and now he could only manage a starting job while playing fewer than twenty-five minutes per game.
Even white athletes' physical conditioning could not support giants like that in the NBA's high-intensity basketball games. Not to mention Asians, who were now widely regarded around the world as physically inferior.
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, most people in the world held prejudices against Chinese people. Many believed that "Sick Man of East Asia" was not an insult, but an accurate description of Asians.
Such discrimination only gradually began to fade after the Beijing Olympic Games.
Countless great Chinese athletes had fought one after another to bring glory to their country, ultimately changing those perceptions.
But at present, the overwhelming majority of NBA commentators were extremely pessimistic about Yao Ming.
Barkley declared, "This big guy might see his career end after just one season."
That was still assuming Yao Ming had not falsified his age. It was common knowledge that Chinese athletes liked to alter their ages. If Yao Ming had done so, then