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Smith, who will take over as dean of the FAS on July 15, will pick Gross's successor. Gross said he expected Smith to make the choice after coming back from vacation next month...
...impact was evident at Thursday's 2007 NBA draft in New York City. After much-hyped college stars Greg Oden and Kevin Durant were selected as the top two choices this year, the Milwaukee Bucks used the sixth overall pick in the draft to snap up Yi Jianlian, another seven footer from China - albeit a more athletic one who has been compared to NBA all-star (and German import) Dirk Nowitzki. And like Yao before him, he is already surrounded by a sense of intrigue and anticipation. Web sites from Hooplah... Nation-a blog dedicated to the New Jersey Nets...
That's why five years ago this month, as Yao prepared to become the NBA's number one pick, Yi Jianlian, then either 15 or 18, sweated through drills and games in a Shanghai gym, one of an elite group of players from all over east Asia. He was participating in an annual Adidas all star camp. He was a revelation, "the best player in the camp that year by far," says former NBA all star Detlef Schrempf, who now works for Adidas (which took over Reebok in 2005). These all star camps are "very important parts of our marketing...
This was the same camp that Yi Jianlian had come through, exactly five years ago; it was, to be sure, about improving the young players' skills - how to run the pick and roll properly, how to use a screen, how to play good defense. But more than anything, it was about a huge global company trying to mine a market that it believes, justifiably, has almost limitless potential. Asked during one of the work- outs whether there was anyone in the current crop as good as Yi had been, former NBA star Schrempf answered bluntly - and honestly: "No." When...
...that he's almost certainly correct. Yi is the second first round pick from China in NBA history, but he won't be the last. And for the sneaker companies and the NBA, the more the merrier. Consider that when Yi squares off next year for the first time in an NBA game against Yao and the Rockets, that will likely be the single most watched basketball game in human history as it is beamed back to their home country. It's not for nothing that Adidas and Nike believe their commercial futures lay in China. It is, you might...