The Chinese giant was so dazzled by the lights of Las Vegas that he didn't notice the furtive glances of the tourists gathering around him. Trying to unwind after a few days of intense training in August, the basketball sensation had just taken a ride on the roller coaster atop the Stratosphere tower--he was lucky there wasn't a maximum height limit to get on--and now he was gazing out over the gaudiest stretch of urban landscape in America. He marveled at the brightly illuminated replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Manhattan skyline, the dazzling fountains of Rome. "Las Vegas is the most beautiful city in the world," he said, "especially at night." A red-faced American tourist broke the reverie. "Hey, Yao Ming!" the man shouted. "Yao Ming, you da man!" It was the last thing the Chinese athlete wanted to hear. He gave a tight smile and then, as politely as he could, he recited one of the few English phrases he has committed to memory: "I am not Yao Ming."
Maybe not. But Yi Jianlian had better get used to the lofty expectations. A lot of people on both sides of the Pacific are hoping that the talented 6-ft. 11-in. teenager will be the next Yao Ming. Ever since Yao electrified the National Basketball Association last season as a rookie fresh out of Shanghai, a slew of agents, scouts and shoe-company reps have been looking for a Chinese player who can follow the large--and lucrative--footsteps of one of the league's biggest draws. Yi wears size-18 shoes, just like Yao. But it is the glimmer of his vast potential--the explosive slam dunks, the boyish good looks, even the mystery surrounding his age (anywhere from 15 to 18, depending on whom you believe)--that has catapulted Yi beyond where Yao stood at this point in his career. The attention is a bit overwhelming for a shy kid who started playing ball only four years ago. "I do feel a lot of pressure," says Yi (pronounced Ee). "But what I need most is to learn and to practice--not to get distracted by being famous."
There are, of course, plenty of hidden treasures in the Middle Kingdom. Aside from Yao, two other Chinese hoopsters already play in the NBA: Mengke Bateer, a muscle-bound 6-ft. 11-in. reserve center with the Toronto Raptors, and Wang Zhizhi, a lithe, 7-ft. 1-in. sharpshooter with the Los Angeles Clippers. Another player, a rail-thin center named Xue Yuyang, 20, was chosen in the second round in June's NBA draft, but Beijing--rankled by his decision to enter the draft without official permission--has refused to let him test his mettle in America. So instead NBA scouts and agents are focusing on the crop of younger players, ranging from Tang Zhengdong, 19, a bruising 7-footer with an uncharacteristic taste for rough play, to prodigy Chen Jianghua, 14, a 6-ft. 1-in. ball handler whose gravity-defying 360ยบ dunks look like something out of a Jet Li movie.