NBA celebrates Year of the Rooster

The NBA's marketing strategy targets China and Chinese/Americans.

ASAM NEWS

THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION is continuing its marketing push into China with four new videos featuring their biggest NBA stars wishing the world a happy Chinese New Year.

Brooklyn Net’s Jeremy Lin, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, and Houston’s James Harden return once again to take part in the campaign. This year they’ve added Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans.

The four ads are basically start the same, but we’re told will feature four different endings. They will be released through February 11.

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Some have criticized the NBA for not expanding the campaign to Lunar New Year which would of course include the Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong and Thai communities, among others.

During the campaign, 60 NBA games will be made broadcast on televisions.

Four NBA teams will wear special Chinese New Year uniforms at special games during the two week celebration. Those teams will be the Warriors, Rockets, Raptors and Wizards. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Sacramento Kings, Nets, Warriors, Wizards, Raptors and Rockets will host special Chinese New Year celebrations during their games.

Not coincidentally, the Rockets will retire Yao Ming’s uniform on February 3 during their game with the Bulls.

Yao Ming's association with the NBA opened up the door in China where the league's popularity is soaring.

"I chalk up our current business success and popularity to being authentic and genuine with our fans," NBA China CEO David Shoemaker told ESPN from Hong Kong. "When we play our games in China, it's very important to our fans that we bring an authentic NBA basketball experience -- the teams, the dance teams, the dunk teams, the video boards and the DJs -- to the point that if you didn't know better, if you were sitting in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, you might think you were in the Staples Center in Los Angeles."

Shoemaker leads a staff of more than 100 NBA employees in Beijing and approximately 75 more based in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. 

The Canada native joined NBA China in 2011 and has seen the NBA's popularity on social media in China grow from approximately 10 million fans and followers to 120 million in recent years. 

Today, 30 years after NBA games were first broadcast on China Central Television, fans are also consuming games in the digital space, with an average of 2 million viewers for every game shown on digital platforms in China. More than 400 games will be aired on mobile media there this season. 

The participation of NBA teams in celebrating Chinese New Year is part of that marketing strategy. The Houston Rockets history with Yao Ming, and the Golden State Warriors, with a large Asian/American fan base in the San Francisco Bay Area, are leading the way.

(Views from the Edge contributed to this report.)

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Yao Ming named to NBA Hall of Fame; his impact goes beyond basketball

Houston Rockets website

AsAm News, NBA & Views From The Edge
THE NBA had never seen a player like Yao Ming. 

Not only was he 7’6″ tall, he was Chinese. America had never seen an Asian like Ming. He shattered all stereotypes of the Asian male

Fans of Yao, who was named to the 2016 class of the NBA Hall of Fame yesterday, will vividly recall the first time he faced Shaquille O’Neil, Yao blocked Shaq’s first three shots. They’ll also recall when Shaq mocked Yao’s Chinese accent.

“Tell Yao Ming, ‘Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-so.'” Shaq cracked.

Shaq would later apologize and today speaks very highly of his formal rival.

“The first time I met him he blocked my shot like seven times, I didn’t know who he was,” recalled Shaq to ESPN. “He was actually the first guy to turn around and look me in the eye and shoot a jumper right in my face. Yao, I want to say congratulations to you and the nation of China. You definitely deserve it. You’re a great player and a great ambassador to the game. A great friend. Ni Hao and congratulations, brother.”

Shaq, Yao and Alan Iverson Monday joined Yao as the 2016 class of inductees into the NBA Hall of Fame.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was an NBA analyst for TNT in 2004 when he called Yao a “chinaman” during a telecast.

“I apologize for my ignorance,” Kerr said back in 2004. “I was thinking of the term Frenchman and Dutchman, and I had no idea it was used as a demeaning term in any way. I feel terrible about it, and I apologize to anybody who was offended.”

The 7’2″ Dikembe Mutombo who played in the NBA from 1991 to 2009 says Yao forced him to look at the Chinese differently.

“Not everybody in China is short. It is like an education process that we are going through, the more we discover people, the more we learn about the culture, the language and their countries. And I think that is something Yao Ming is doing to all of us, especially the NBA players.”

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 10 members of the Class of 2016 to be honored September 8-10, 2016 during this year's Enshrinement festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Class Announcement was made in Houston, the site of the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four, and televised live on ESPN SportsCenter.

Other members of this year's class includes 27-year NBA referee Darell Garretson, two-time NABC Coach of the Year Tom Izzo, the first African-American coach in a professional league John McLendon,  and four-time WNBA Champion Sheryl Swoopes. Distinguished committees focused on preserving all areas from the game also selected four directly elected members. They include Zelmo Beaty from the Veterans Committee,  Cumberland Posey from the Early African American Pioneers Committee and Jerry Reinsdorf from the Contributor Committee.

"The impact the Class of 2016 has had on the game of basketball is gigantic," said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. "To have several icons of the game be recognized in the same year makes this class one of the most memorable to date. We look forward to honoring each of these inductees during Enshrinement in September."

Ming's impact on the game of basketball and the American perspective of Asians can not be underestimated.

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Yao Ming on the verge of basketball immortality

Yao Ming's success in the NBA led to the league's popularity in China

Reprinted from AsAm News

YAO MING is expected to be among those named to the NBA Hall of Fame tomorrow (April 4), according to ESPN.

Ming spent his entire nine year NBA career with the Houston Rockets and put the NBA on the map in China.

His career was cut short by injury, but his contributions to the game are undeniable.

He was the No. 1 overall selection of the NBA draft in 2002. He averaged 19 points per game during his career and 9.2 rebounds. The 7’6″ center is a rarity among big men. He was actually a good free throw shooter with an 83 percent career average.

In his first game against the 7’1″ 360 pound Shaquille O’Neal, he blocked the big man’s first three shots.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Ming about the expected Hall of Fame announcement. “There’s a long list that can be nominated. I don’t have a long career in the NBA, but I appreciate people give me that chance.”

He remains humble despite his numerous achievements and even minimizes his impact on the popularity of basketball in China.

“Basketball is a global game itself. I’m just a lucky guy to show up at the right time,” he said to ESPN’s Cary Chow.

NBA teams note the Year of the Goat

PRETTY COOL that the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets  of the National Basketball Association have been wearing these jerseys in honor of Chinese New Year.

The shirts were so popular with the Warriors fans that they sold out. It's just another sign of the diversity of this nation and how immigrants have influenced this country in small ways as well as big.

The Houston Rockets probably have the biggest fan base in China considering Yao Ming played for them for years before retiring. The 7'4" center is probably the best known Chinese athlete outside of China.

In the case of the Warriors, you only have to look at their San Francisco Bay Area fan base - lots and lots of Asian faces in the crowd. So even if it is a marketing ploy, kudos to those teams. They didn't have to do that but you have to give those two teams credit that in their own way, they can show that they value the diversity of their fans. Certainly all the other NBA teams could have, should have, done something similar but for some reason they chose not to. I'm surprised that the L.A. Lakers, the only team with two Asian Americans on its team, didn't follow suit.

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