the year of the yao (movie)

[Guest]

Yao is 7-6
Yao is Chinese
Yao is the first pick in 2002, and he is playing very wel
Yao is the all star
Yao led the all time single season all star vote
Yao led the rockets to playoff (dont say t-mac can do it by himself, what happened in orlando?)
Yao is the second best center in NBA
...
that's why he's so popular

[Indy]

The thing is Yao's like a Chinese national hero - and since China has the world's largest population, it will be viewed by LOTS of people. Make a movie about Manute Bol and you'll have difficulties drawing a living soul to the movie theaters. Besides, him being even taller than Yao(?), there's no way you could fit him on screen

You clearly don't know Manute Bol's story. I would pay triple to see a good movie about Manute Bol's history.

[Joycean Summons]

Yao led the rockets to playoff (dont say t-mac can do it by himself, what happened in orlando?)

Just because he helped well doesn't mean that he LED them. Yao would never have gotten them into the play-offs without T-Mac either

[Guest]

Just because he helped well doesn't mean that he LED them. Yao would never have gotten them into the play-offs without T-Mac either

last year, when t-mac wasn't here, they went to playoff too, that's why i am saying yao LED them.

[Drex]

Well, Jackal, every movie is hyped. It's called promotion

last year, when t-mac wasn't here, they went to playoff too, that's why i am saying yao LED them.

You know, there was some players...have you ever heard of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley??

[J@3]

Actually Manute Bol's story would be a billion times more interesting than Yao's, and he doesn't have the irritating Asian bandwagon fans to go with it. Seriously, how many people actually followed Houston before Yao was drafted

[Indy]

Actually Manute Bol's story would be a billion times more interesting than Yao's, and he doesn't have the irritating Asian bandwagon fans to go with it. Seriously, how many people actually followed Houston before Yao was drafted

exactly. And Manute's story is a hell of a lot more inspiring too.

[Amphatoast]

hahaha that crossover was sick.. nothing real special, but the fall by yao was

[Dogg]

hahaha that crossover was sick.. nothing real special, but the fall by yao was

yeah, the fall of the yao

[Fresh8]

is the movie only being released in America???

[Drex]

Actually Manute Bol's story would be a billion times more interesting than Yao's, and he doesn't have the irritating Asian bandwagon fans to go with it. Seriously, how many people actually followed Houston before Yao was drafted

Exactly! Now more people follow Houston and Yao. That means, more money for whoever is making the film

[IronMan]

Some of you just don't understand... Basketball in China is so underdeveloped that for someone to come straight out of there to the NBA is phenomenal. Yao Ming may appear as just an above average basketball player to the rest of you, but he's an icon for chinese people. Look at China's gigantic population. There has never been an international superstar like Yao Ming. Whether it was the NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, etc. Yao Ming was the first, and it means a lot to chinese people. How does it feel to grow up as a child and never hope to make it big in your favourite sport? Yao Ming has given these people hope. These are exciting times and it's the start of something big I believe. In an industry heavily dominated by white and black people, it's big news for a chinese individual to be able to succeed in the NBA. But as I said before, you guys don't understand because you take for granted the road that has already been paved for you.

[air gordon]

actually.. u'd probably get a bloody arse if u did that

know this through personnal experience?

if this manute bol story is going so great/inspiring, why isn't anyone making a movie about him? not even a some schmuck like michael bay is pursuing it. oh wait, recently he only does remakes. or even ron howard, king of sappy movies.

i suggest you buy a video camera, grab a pencil and start writing the script yourselves, because otherwise a manute bol movie isn't happening

jae- whichever team drafted yao ming, their fan base would increase

great post, broken wings

[Indy]

BrokenWings, you are right. The only point i was making is that the story of Manute Bol, fleeing the persecution and oppresion in Sudan, and playing in the NBA is a more inspiring, better story.

And you are correct about the Chinese people loving when they get a guy in the NBA, when i was there they saw me in my NBA apperal and all the did was ask me about Whang ZhiZhi.

[J@3]

if this manute bol story is going so great/inspiring, why isn't anyone making a movie about him?

You're exactly right. For someone's story to be great and inspiring, someone has to make a movie of it.

jae- whichever team drafted yao ming, their fan base would increase

nice one Sherlock... what other team could I have used? "Seriously, who was a Hawks fan before Yao got drafted"... bandwagoners are a cancer to sports, I can understand people in China getting all giddy about Yao and following Houston, but it's the American-based Asians that shit me the most. KevC and the like.

great post, broken wings

All that being said, it's not as if the bandwagoners are just Chinese. It seems that every Asian nation has latched onto Yao's undoubtedly small manhood and gone along for the ride.

As far as Manute Bol's story goes...

http://sports.espn.go.com/page2/tvlisti ... cript.html

Bol in effect, bled for his people financially and literally. He could have stayed in the U.S. and lived comfortably. Instead, he went home to a civil war. He gave millions to help his people fight one of the world's most oppressive regimes.

MONTVILLE- He did something that kind of still defies imagination. Coming from the jungle really. I mean Manute came from the loincloth. In like six years -- he had never even heard of basketball and six years later he's playing in the NBA.

SCHAAP- This is where Manute Bol came from. The southern Sudan in northeast Africa. He grew up here in the 1970s during a brief respite in the civil war that has consumed the Sudan for most of the last 50 years. His tribe, the Dinka's, is the largest in the region. He's descended from a long line of chiefs.

MONTVILLE- He was kind of from a royalty. A lot of people said that when he came here he had a sense of entitlement, almost like, I'm from the Kennedy's or something, you know.

As his NBA career was winding down Bol became the most visible and one of the most vocal critics of the Sudanese government which was again waging war against it's darker skinned, non Muslim citizens in the south. Bol's people.

Bol says he spent $3-and-a-half million supporting the southern rebels, most of who's leaders like him, were Christians. As the son and grandson of chiefs, he says he felt a deep obligation to his tribe. Basketball took Bol from the Sudan but he still bore the markings of a Dinka.

After 11 seasons, Bol retired from the NBA in 1996. Forsaking the comforts of the U.S., he moved to Uganda in central Africa. From there, he could closely monitor that war that was still raging in the Sudan. Then a year later, the Sudanese government signed a peace treaty with several of the rebel factions. Bol moved to the capital Khartoum to work with the people he had fought against for so many years.

There's alot more in that link I posted.

i suggest you buy a video camera, grab a pencil and start writing the script yourselves, because otherwise a manute bol movie isn't happening

So lets see, Manute Bol came out of Africa, had never heard of basketball but within 6 years was playing in the NBA and was also the tallest player in the league's history. He rallied and fought against a racist government and poored millions of his own money into the cause. Now he has no money at all and lives off the charity of his friends.

Yao Ming was a tall Asian who got drafted and made alot of other Asians want to play basketball.

You're exactly right, where's my pen I'll write the script for Yao's movie myself.

[Strike Freedom]

NBA wanna attract more Chinese market.. uknow.. 1.3 billion.. people..
try to get 10% of the total population would be about 130,000,000

[air gordon]

lol jae no one's making you see the movie...

don't complain about or point out how there are so many other more inspiring/interesting movies that can be made about some other nba player. not every hollywood movie can be like coolhand luke, fight club, on the waterfront etc

if yao ming was norweigan or from the former tanzania, i'd still be a fan and watch a film made about him. and is it really a big deal that fans are 'bandwagoning' on a single player? then who reserves the right to be a fan of yao ming? only the chinese population and the city of houston? and from what i read around here, it's not like these bandwagoners all up on his nuts like some kobe bryant fans were during the lakers championship years.

thanks for the manute bol information. there was a great story on him in SI a while back if anyone's interested

[J@3]

I'm just bitter about him playing like shit after I traded for him

[air gordon]

a shit yao is better then an injured quentin richardson

[maes]

Would everyone shut up about Yao? He's on the news, he has his own movie, he started in the all-star game (oh ya what competition except for Brad Miller) he did a frigging grade 2 crossover, he's really overrated imo.

And he's more productive with less touches than LeBron James.

Efficiency per 48 minutes:

1. Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves)
80 40.29
2. Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs)
64 36.65
3. Amare Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns)
78 35.44
4. Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks)
76 34.90
5. Shaquille O'Neal (Miami Heat)
73 34.36
6. Yao Ming (Houston Rockets)
78 32.25
7. LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
78 31.92

But i guess playing in the NBA as well as LeBron & Shaq is just "overrated".

[beau_boy04]

Why is he getting so much exposure? we all know he ain't the next Shaq or Hakeem.

[air gordon]

read the entire thread before you post. it's helpful

[beau_boy04]

Yeah and so I did... however isn't a player of his caliber supposed to progressed from his previous season? This year Yao averaged career low in so many categories. Going on to next season Yao will be 25 y/o. Aren't players suppose to hit their prime at age 25?

[Andrew]

He's averaging a career high in points, blocks, field goal percentage and steals, his second best rebounds per game mark and his numbers that are down aren't abnormally lower, especially since his playing time is down by an average of two minutes per game. Not everyone's numbers increase across the board without a slight decline year to year. There are areas he could be better in and legitimate criticisms that can be made, but on the whole he's not doing too terribly.

[Sauru]

Actually Manute Bol's story would be a billion times more interesting than Yao's, and he doesn't have the irritating Asian bandwagon fans to go with it. Seriously, how many people actually followed Houston before Yao was drafted

exactly. And Manute's story is a hell of a lot more inspiring too.

if the manute bol story was the same as the yao one(just based on rookie year) it would be stupid. now if it was actually the manute bol story, well that i would pay to see. i would pay to see it just to watch him again in the boxing ring, or trying to play hockey.