NBA: Mavericks trade Feng Shui for Wang Zhizhi

Way out west in La-La land basketball disciples swarm to the eastern practice of Feng Shui in a fanatical effort to become one with the hardwood. They clear their minds to gain more profound knowledge of the triangle offense. They strive to replace ancient hair-pulling rituals with a more reasoned awareness of just what the heck Phil Jackson is doing with their beloved Lakers.

Way down south in the land of cotton Don Nelson, Mark Cuban and their blue-and-green collar Dallas troops will have none of this sissified, Brie cheese eating gobbledy-gook. As for the Mavericks Fung Shui is out and Wang Zhizhi is in.

That's right. Wang Zhizhi. Wang as in "Walking Great Wall" of China. Zhizhi as in "I'm much bigger than you," and "What are you going to do about it?"

23-year old Wang Zhizhi has been a 7'1" stalwart of the Red army's Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) for years now and he is coming to America to prove once and for all that there is a place in the NBA for he and his countrymen.

Many international experts now agree that China is behind only the U.S. in regards to basketball talent. The old international powers of Yugoslavia and Russia will soon find themselves falling behind China as reigning world round ball powers. China is doing an excellent job of combing its burgeoning population for the size it needs to cultivate world-class hoops teams.

Now all of this talk of big men from China seems incongruous with what we Americans have always known as a land of the height-challenged. After all, no native Chinese basketball player has ever played in the NBA. Several have tried but always seemed to come up, shall we say, short.

The Atlanta Hawks chose Chinese national team star player Song Tao in the '86 NBA draft but Tao did not make the team after sustaining knee injuries.

A decade later forward Ma Jian left his Hebei province team, in defiance of Chinese officials, to try his hand at American round ball. He was fast, powerful, had tremendous ball handling skills and even at the ripe old age of 31, could battle his way to the basket against much bigger men. Ma Jian played a little Juco ball, and then college ball at The University of Utah before being the last player cut by the LA Clippers at the close of their '96 training camp. Oh, so close!

There has been but one Chinese pro-basketball success story here in the U.S. to date. Zheng Haixia, a center for the Chinese women's national team, came to the U.S.in '96 and enjoyed a two-year career with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Now it appears very likely Wang Zhizhi will be the first male Chinese national to take to the NBA floor. And it may happen in the next few weeks.

Dallas' wild man Nellie struck fear in the hearts of Dallas faithful taking Zhizhi with the 36th pick in the 2nd round of the '99 NBA draft. Was this just another hair-brained Nelson scheme? How was this Wang going to do anything to help Dallas out of the decade long mire it had wallowed in? And, just what was a Wang anyway?

Wang was one of three Chinese giants comprising the "Walking Great Wall" of China's 2000 Olympic team. They gave the US Dream Team fits before bowing to foul trouble in what ended up a 117-72 Dream Team route. Wang made up but one third of that terrific wall. The other two bricks of that wall, 7' 5" Yao Ming and 6" 11" Menk Bater, are China's two other highly prized players that may follow Wang's lead into the NBA very soon.

Wang's play in the '96 and 2000 Olympics gave NBA scouts much to think about. He's a nimble dribbler, very smooth moving up the court and he can pull up outside and put the ball in your eye. And Wang has a lot of the one thing you can't teach. He's got height. Sounds rather Robinesque to those of us down here in South Texas.

Houston Rocket and Team USA headman Rudy Tomjanovich said of Wang during the 2000 Olympics, "No. 15 is very smooth..."

LSU coach Dale Brown unsuccessfully tried to recruit Zhizhi to play for him at Baton Rouge. "Wang is ready for the NBA right now and the NBA is very ready for Wang," Brown has said.

Zhizhi had just helped his CBA team, the Bayi Rockets, win their sixth consecutive national championship when the Mavericks put on the big push to bring him to the U.S. for the balance of this NBA season. For all of the headway the Chinese have made in opening their economy to the world's free market, such goodwill has not yet been extended to its precious basketball resources.

Negotiations involved a lot of fast-talking on the part of Wang's agent, Bill Duffy, and Maverick's officials. The Chinese Army claims exclusive rights to all of its players and they were very reluctant to let one of their premier players go without assurances that he would return for China's national games and the Asian Basketball Championships this fall. Dallas coach Don Nelson promised the Chinese that Zhizhi would be back. That means the Mavericks now have some splainin' to do to NBA officials whose rules do not allow players to play with overseas club teams during the NBA season.

"Certainly we want them to have Wang here – it's a historic occasion," said Russ Granik, NBA deputy commissioner. "But we have to manage our rules so every team is treated fairly."

The league has indicated that it will entertain any Maverick requests regarding Wang's temporary return to his homeland. After all, what have they got to lose? The NBA doesn't want to choke away a win-win situation here. The NBA product is viewed by millions in China and Wang's signing and success here will be huge to boost for the league and Chinese basketball as well. You just can't buy advertising like that for the price of a second-round draft pick any more!

After arriving last week from Beijing, Zhizhi held up his new Dallas jersey for some pictures, designated a big old Texas steak dinner as his favorite meal, then proceeded to play some two-on-two with assistant coach Donny Nelson and special assistants Morlon Wiley and Greg Dreiling. "He looks great," Nelson said.

Nelson may have appeared off his rocker when he reached halfway around the globe in '99 to draft a player that no Texan had ever heard of. But Dallas fans are questioning him now. Most everything he touches lately turns to gold. Witness the Juwan Howard coming out party still going on as he somehow found another powerful offensive weapon to add to his arsenal with a late season trade.

With his Mavs on a hot streak, punking 3-out-of-four western conference powers on this road trip, Nellie emphasizes that right before the playoffs is the worst time for a new player to try to work into a lineup. He insists there will be no favoritism shown Wang no matter how far he had to fly to get here. How Wang plays in the next few weeks will decide if he earns a spot on the Maverick's first playoff roster in a decade.

Sometimes nothing hits the spot like Chinese take-out and the Dallas Mavericks are looking to get their bellies full. No lily-livered, wine and cheese froo-froo will do here. The Mavs are trading Feng Shui for 7'1" Wang Zhizhi and they're looking for him to blossom into a full-course, jumbo-sized gourmet NBA meal. Pass the steak sauce, please.