By Dave McMenamin, NBA.com
Posted Dec 16 2008 7:37AM
Yes, it's good to know Yao Ming.
Just ask 10-year league veteran Bonzi Wells, a one-time teammate of Yao's. He couldn't find an NBA team interested in his services this season, so he decided to go East -- as in Far East -- to sign with Shanxi Zhongyu in the Chinese Basketball Association. Wells' signing underscores a fringe benefit of being a teammate of Yao. Not only do you get the All-Star big man on your side, you get to appeal to a whole new rabid fan base in China and the employment opportunities that come with that.
Five current Houston players have shoe deals with Chinese sneaker companies (Shane Battier and Ron Artest with Peak; Luis Scola and Steve Francis with Anta; Chuck Hayes with Li Ning). And two former Rockets -- Kirk Snyder and Mike Harris -- have parlayed their exposure playing alongside Yao into gigs in the Chinese Basketball Association, just like Wells.
"I thank Yao every night," Battier said on Saturday with a toothy smile. "He's afforded all of us a lot of opportunities. We're very lucky to play with a guy who is so visible worldwide. In China, they know the Rockets. You go over there, they know every person on the roster, every player that Yao's ever played with and it's nice. It's nice."
Wells' move represents one final drip from the spigot that was flowing full force this summer, funneling established, American-born NBA players overseas. Double-digit NBA scorers like Josh Childress (Olympiacos, Greece), Jannero Pargo (Dynamo Moscow, Russia) and Earl Boykins (Virtus Bologna, Italy) all took their games international, as did California prep sensation Brandon Jennings, who chose to play for Lottomatica Roma in Italy rather than hack it in the NCAA.
"Bonzi's kind of crazy, you never know with him," said Brad Miller, his former teammate in Sacramento. "He just wants to play ball I guess. I'm sure he'll have a good time over there. He's still good enough to be an NBA player. [Stuff] happens sometimes in this league as you get older. I think this is an opportunity for him to play for a little bit. I'm sure he'll try to get back over here next year."
It's easy to forget that Wells, who struggled with his weight and his production in his last two seasons with the Kings, Rockets and Hornets, had a seven-season stretch from 2000-01 to 2005-06 in which he averaged 13.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Wells hit his apex as a pro with a torrid six-game series in the first round of the 2005-06 Playoffs against the Spurs, pumping in 23.2 points per game on 60.9 percent shooting (62.5 percent from three) to go with 12.0 rebounds per game for the Kings.
Wells is the third former Rocket to make the leap to the Chinese Basketball Association, but don't expect the league to become overrun with NBA journeymen just yet. The CBA only allows two players per team to be born outside of Asia.
"I think he's going to be the best [player in the Chinese Basketball Association] because before him Kirk Snyder and Mike Harris also played in China on two different clubs and they are dominating players in the CBA," said Shen Zhiyu of the popular Chinese publication Titan Sports. "I think Bonzi Wells is even better than both of them."
Said Yao: "I think Bonzi is a good player. He helped us out a lot last year with what he brings."
Yao got it all wrong. He was the one who helped Wells out.
As the Lakers Turn
 Not even a 20-3 record can make Derek Fisher happy. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images |
The Lakers are off to a 20-3 start and have the best record in the Western Conference. So, everything is happy in Laker Land, right?
Not exactly.
Team captain Derek Fisher called a players-only meeting in the afternoon prior to Los Angeles' game with Sacramento on Friday night to address slippage in the team's play that has left everybody a little "edgy," as Kobe Bryant put it.
"We're doing some decent things out there," Fisher said. "It's not all doom and gloom. It's very early in what will be a very long season and it's difficult to hold it at such a high level every night, all season long. But there are some things that you can hold there every night and that's just the right mentality, the right attitude towards playing as a team. So those are the basic things we don't want to let slide. Regardless of the X's and O's, how many points a team is scoring or whatever; it's important to us that when you look out there and we're watching from the bench, whoever is in the game, that we look like a team, we look like we're playing together, we look like we're playing hard."
Head coach Phil Jackson apparently thought some shake-up was necessary as well. He replaced Vladimir Radmanovic with Luke Walton in the starting lineup in order to "get the ball moving from side to side better." Walton has done his part with 16 assists in his three starts.
"It was the right time to do it, I think," Pau Gasol, the Lakers' most consistent player this season, said of the closed-door meeting. "The message was if you want to play to win a championship, you have to do certain things every single game."
Coaching Any Way He Can
Most head coaches make themselves scarce before the game, huddling in their coach's office to go over last-minute preparation and not taking the court until it's time for tipoff. New Timberwolves head coach Kevin McHale was seen on the court in slacks and a sweater before Minnesota played in Los Angeles on Sunday, holding a bottle of Diet Pepsi in one hand and instructing Wolves forward Ryan Gomes on the fine art of the pivot.
Minnesota assistant Ed Pinckney told me that the team has had the chance for only one real practice since McHale took over for Randy Wittman. McHale and the coaching staff take one or two points of emphasis that they want to change and introduce them to the team during walk-through practices on game days. Pinckney cautioned that they don't want to put too much out there for the players to have to focus on while they have a game immediately on the horizon.
"It's hard," McHale said. "You got an hour walk-through [practice] because you have a game that night but you probably got four hours of stuff you want to go over."
The Wolves, 0-4 under McHale, return home this week, when they will have the opportunity for several practices.
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