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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Rockets Delegation Meets Sharks on Yao's NBA Draft

The Houston Rockets have met for the first time with China's Shanghai Sharks regarding the possibility of selecting 2.23-meter (7-foot-5) Chinese center Yao Ming as the first pick in the NBA draft.


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Chinese Center Yao Impresses NBA Coaches, Scouts in Official Workout
The Houston Rockets have met for the first time with China's Shanghai Sharks regarding the possibility of selecting 2.23-meter (7-foot-5) Chinese center Yao Ming as the first pick in the NBA draft.

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich and general manager Carroll Dawson are among the team's representatives in Shanghai to talk with Sharks general manager Li Yeomin and club president Bai Li.

Rockets attorney Michael Goldberg spoke with the Sharks' GM, Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis said early Monday.

"It was more of a get-acquainted meeting," Luis said from Shanghai. "It was our first one-on-one session and it went very well."

After a tour of the city Monday, Goldberg planned a meeting with Bai Li later in the day before the Rockets departed for Beijing.

Luis said a meeting also might be arranged between the Rockets and Yao's parents, both former members of the Chinese national basketball teams.

The Rockets have the first pick in the June 26 NBA draft and want to make Yao the No. 1 selection. But they must clear details both with the Sharks, for whom Yao plays, and other Chinese government officials.

"Basketball is not the issue, we've seen him play a number of times since he was 17," Dawson said before leaving for China. "We think he has a tremendous upside. This is not a basketball meeting. It is the other things that we have to get wrapped up."

The Sharks have said that before the Rockets can be cleared to select Yao, approval must come from the Far East Recreation Club, which owns the Sharks.

There also must be approval from the mayor of Shanghai, the national government in Beijing, the China National Basketball Association and the China Olympic Basketball Committee, in that order.

Houston Mayor Lee Brown was in Shanghai recently and talked with officials regarding Yao's presence in Houston.

Source: Agencies


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