Shanghai (CNN) -- When Yao Ming retired from professional basketball seven months ago, there were fears that interest in the NBA among China's 1.3 billion people would dwindle.
But now the former Houston Rockets center -- one of the most successful overseas players in the league's history -- could be forgiven for feeling like yesterday's star in China thanks to Jeremy Lin, the American-born New York Knicks point guard with roots in mainland China and Taiwan.
"We have a lot of talented young athletes here who are passionate about basketball," Yao told CNN in an interview Wednesday. "They all want be the next Jeremy.
"I think they can relate more to Jeremy because they're more common-sized."
For Yao, 31, who stands at seven feet six inches (2.29 meters) tall and remains a towering presence off court, Lin's natural talent more than makes up for his below average six-foot-three-inch (1.91 meters) frame in the league.
Cha: In Lin, China loves a winner
"The easy part is to find a strong basketball player -- I have the size; Shaquille O'Neal: big and strong; Kobe, LeBron, all those names," he said. "Jeremy has basketball IQ -- you can't program that.
"He's the kind of player I'd like to play with if I'm still a player -- he's a team player and everybody likes the way he wins a game," he added. "Honestly, he did much more than I'd expected."
Lin, 23, only recently a little known back-up player sitting on the Knicks bench, has been leading his team to a wave of recent victories without their established stars -- pulling off an average of 20 points and eight assists in six successive games.
source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/22/sport/china-yao-ming-jeremy-lin/index.html?iref=allsearch
