Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A dozen basketball courts in downtown Beijing is where it all starts.
The skills.
The game.
The dream.
It's all here for whoever works the hardest.
"Chinese players work hard," said Yan Siyu, one on the Chinese teenagers doing his best to imitate the American way of playing game.
He's wearing a USA Kobe Bryant basketball jersey now, but one day, he hopes to put on the Chinese National jersey.
"We're a team," said Siyu, "I can enjoy it, basketball."
"I think that practice makes perfect," says another player, Harry Cheng, who's wearing a Chauncey Billups Detroit Pistons jersey.
The NBA is very popular in China.
Several youngsters here wear NBA jerseys.
While we were here interviewing the players, we see several uniforms: the Miami Heat, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and Boston Celtics. One player even had an Indiana Pacers top and Phoenix Suns shorts.
I asked Siyu why so many Chinese youngsters wore NBA jersey's.
"I think China is good," he told me, "but America is the best."
These guys want to learn the game the way they see it played on TV.
Most of them probably watched USA play China.
It's being called the most-watched basketball game ever.
Nike built this court a couple of years ago to try to grow basketball in China.
Of course, Nike is selling some sneakers along the way.
But these players say they're just happy to be hanging out with friends while shooting hoops.
"I like it," smiled Siyu, "Basketball gives me so much happiness and too much good memories."
There's also no doubt the NBA is interested in Chinese basketball players. After Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian made the NBA, it's easy to see future players coming from courts like these.
"Many players here want to be like the second Michael Jordan," said Scott Rin, one of the many Chinese youngsters who chose an English first name to go by.
Sure, there are a lot of missed shots here.
Even more bad passes.
But with every mistake, these players are learning.
It's exactly what the NBA and team scouts already living in China are hoping.
