Changed environment: NBA to CBA
"A player my age is no longer the future of China's basketball. China needs a responsible new generation of players to take the heavy burden from my shoulder," said Yao last summer, his words sounding more like an admonition to the Chinese men's basketball team.
In the days without Yao, the Chinese men's basketball team defeated Jordan's national team with only one point, to become the champion. It was like a self-salvation for the team in an age without Yao. Yao's retirement weakens the men's team, but it is fundamentally a beneficial thing.
Yang Yi, the vice managing editor of Sports Weekly, said "Yao's retirement is good for Chinese basketball. He has been like a walking stick for the Chinese men's basketball team in the past decade. Due to his retirement, managers have to think of the next step without Yao on the team."
Unexpectedly, the team with nothing to lose finally won the Asian Basketball Tournament since their last time 6 years ago.
Yao calmly commented on the changes that the Chinese men's team will face in the future. "In the Olympic games, the Chinese men's team will be in a very different situation. Rivals will amplify the Chinese men's team's shortages to a large extent. It is much more important to work out how to react then. The Chinese men's team should pay more attention to training players, not to being concerned with a higher ranking place only."
One hundred days after Yao's retirement, the Chinese men's basketball team won the champion trophy cup. By contrast, the NBA is facing a continually gloomy market in China.
"Yao's retirement brings about a destructive influence to the NBA's China market," said Yang Yi.
According to NBA official statistics, over 370 million new audience members have risen since Yao's participation in the NBA. And Big Yao has influenced more young people to play basketball. Now basketball has become the number one sport in China.
From the CCTV's live broadcast statistics, after Yao quit, the audience ratings for the NBA last season dropped to 0.3%, the lowest on record. Some local TV stations even reached only 0.1%. Yang Yi claims that 70% of NBA audiences were lost after Yao quit. Except for the 15% deadly loyal NBA fans, 45% of the fans express no desire to watch NBA games without Yao playing.
The 100 days without Yao is neither short nor long. Yao still moves forward as planned, though basketball in China has changed a lot.
