The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen reports that the NBA's No. 1 draft pick said Thursday he's looking forward to battling with the best in the league -- even if he has to adjust to American food along the way.

A day after making basketball history, 7-5 Yao Ming worked out with the Chinese national team and pledged one day to best Shaquille O'Neal.

"He is a mountain in my way," Yao said, referring to the Los Angeles Lakers' 7-1 star. "I will try to conquer it by all means.

"My first tries may turn out to be failures, but I will continue with others."

For weeks, the Rockets had targeted Bostjan Nachbar with their second first-round pick. Then Nachbar put on a show that left the Rockets concerned only that he would be gone before they were up with the 15th pick.

But as impressive as Nachbar's performance was to the Rockets, he was more sold on the Rockets.

He checked flight schedules from Houston to his home in Slovenia. He imagined himself filling a wing with Yao Ming sending an outlet pass and Steve Francis handling the ball on a break. He penned a letter to general manager Carroll Dawson and coach Rudy Tomjanovich to thank them for considering him, the first letter of its type they had ever received and the only one he sent.

Rumors even circulated around the NBA that Nachbar saved his best for the Rockets' workout, not showing as much in other stops as he put on display Sunday on the Westside Tennis Club court.

It was a night that years from now could be looked back on as vitally important to the franchise. Not just for the Rockets' ability to get past the legal maneuvering that allowed them to make Yao the No. 1 overall choice in the draft, but also for the selection of Slovenia's Bostjan Nachbar with the No. 15 pick.

By taking a 7-5 Chinese center and a 6-8 forward from Europe, the Rockets were wholeheartedly embracing the globalization of basketball at the highest level and showing a broad vision that is putting a new spark in the old game and could pay huge dividends.

Take a look around the NBA and notice all of the international success stories running and jumping up and down courts. From Germany's Dirk Nowitzki, Canada's Steve Nash and China's Wang Zhizhi in Dallas to Serbia's Vlade Divac, Yugoslavia's Peja Stojakovic and Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu in Sacramento, the borders of our American game have expanded so far that there are no borders.

After a lukewarm reception by Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley to the idea of taking Chinese center Yao Ming with the first pick in the draft, Rockets players are beginning to like the idea after seeing some tape of the man play, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

Feigen quotes Maurice Taylor at length in his praises for what Yao Ming will bring to the team.  "I like what I see. He's a big guy with a lot of skill. He's going to help us. We look at him as an addition to our team. He's going to come in and help us. We're excited about playing basketball with him. For us, it's all about basketball. Numbers aside, he's going to have a presence."

Moochie Norris said of Yao, "This guy can move. He's skilled. He's crafty with the ball. He's good around the basket. He can block shots. Athletic. Run the floor. I like him. I'm excited. Just watching him on tape, I can't say enough. We're getting help on the inside. It will be great for our team."

Cuttino Mobley, who had earlier asked Rudy Tomjanovich on national TV to trade the pick for Lamar Odom, said, "Those tapes gave us a little more feeling for what his skills are and what he can do for us. You could see what he could do for us. It's pretty exciting. We got the No. 1 pick and the guy is skilled. He's not an average 7-6 dude."

Steve Francis reportedly has praised Yao as well, saying, "This guy can play." Eddie Griffin also had good things to say.  "I feel like it's the start of something good," Griffin said. "We're going to be a good team."

He wasn't in attendance all decked out in a tailor-made suit, but the Houston Rockets still got their man.
The Houston Rockets surprised no one by making Chinese center Yao Ming the first pick of the 2002 NBA draft Wednesday night, after having logged more flyer miles and placed more long-distance phone calls than any NBA team just to get the China Basketball Association's stamp of approval to take the 7-foot-5 Ming.

But the problem for the Rockets is the mystique that surrounds the No. 1 overall pick. There's an unwritten rule that a team can't take someone who's simply going to be good, such as Gooden. You have to hit a home run, and never mind the fact that most drafts lack a Shaquille O'Neal or a Tim Duncan atop the board.

Consider the 1998 draft. All kinds of talent on that board ? Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Mike Bibby and Pierce, not to mention Germany's Dirk Nowitzki. But with the first pick, the Clippers couldn't make the safe play for Carter, Jamison or Pierce. They had to hit that home run, so 7-foot Nigerian Michael Olowokandi got the call.

He has become a solid but hardly spectacular man in the middle while the others are regular visitors to the All-Star Game.

Sometimes it's OK just to hit a solid single or double with the top pick. Remember when the Cowboys took Russell Maryland with the No. 1 pick in 1991. They were criticized for taking a player considered unworthy of No. 1 status.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes that Chinese center Yao Ming is cleared to come to the NBA next season.  He will be chosen first in the draft by the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)exchanged letters.  The Rockets promised that Yao would be available the the Chinese national team for international play and the CBA promised that Yao would be available for the Rockets' regular and postseason.  Official FIBA approval is now just a formality.

Yao's team, the Shanghai Sharks, conceded their permission after reaching a financial agreement of compensation with Yao Ming on Saturday.

The Rockets could have picked Yao in the draft regardless of these approvals but Yao might not have been available to come next season.  With these approvals, he should be wearing a Rockets jersey in the first game of the season.

Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reports that the letter giving Yao Ming clearance to play in the NBA hasn?t arrived in Houston yet. The Rockets will likely draft Ming with the first pick in tonight?s draft whether or not they have that letter or not.

With the Chinese Basketball Association dragging its feet on sending the written authorization to free Yao, there were plenty of rumors swirling about what the Rockets will do with the pick. But a person with knowledge of the Rockets' plans said the holdup likely will not keep them from selecting Yao, 21, who will be the first foreign-born player to go No. 1 who hasn't at least played college basketball in the U.S.

"They want Yao Ming and that isn't going to change," said the source last night. "But they thought they'd have the letter by now."

Because of the delay, several teams have contacted the Rockets about trading the first pick. Among the offers, the Clippers wanted to ship Lamar Odom, along with the eighth and 12th picks, for the No. 1 pick, and an unidentified Rocket. In the market for a star playmaker, the Clippers had hoped to move up seven places to take Duke's Jay Williams. But Houston is leery of Odom's drug history and wanted no part of the third-year forward.

If the Rockets do decide to trade the pick, they will likely trade down to the #3 or #4 range to try to pick up UConn's Caron Butler or Maryland's Chris Wilcox. They will not use it on Jay Williams, who is expected to go to Chicago with the No. 2 pick.

According to Bob Wolfley, if you're Rudy Tomjanovich, if you're the Houston Rockets, don't you have to be scared to death about making Yao Ming the first pick in the draft?

This is more pressure than annually goes to the team with the first pick in the draft. There is a sense that the Rockets can't afford not to take him.

Yao, the consensus opinion seems to be, is too big to avoid

But you can pose in the press all you want. You can exude all the supreme assurance and confidence in your ability to divine the potential of another Ming Dynasty.

But the fact is Yao Ming is 7 feet 5 inches, but he's not a shot-blocker.

Think hard about that.

He's 7-5 and does all these other wonderful things for someone his size: dribble, take the perimeter jump shot, run the floor, pass, score.

But he's not a shot-blocker.

If the security sirens aren't sounding around chez Rockets because of that, then they need a new security firm.

If Yao is not a shot-blocker, then he's not going to be a dominating, game-altering defender or rebounder. What's the point of being 7-5 on this planet if you are not going to be a shot-blocker, defender and rebounder?

Guarantee you Shaquille O'Neal is not losing sleep worrying about how he's going to check Yao Ming. Yet, the Rockets are poised to draft him in hopes of getting past O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers in future playoff rounds.

If you had to predict where Yao will be five years from now in the National Basketball Association, it's easier to mount the argument he'll be closer to being Kent Benson or Pervis Ellison or Ralph Sampson than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Hakeem Olajuwon.

If you're 7-5 and you're not a shot-blocker or a game-altering defender, then what are you?

A bust from a would-be Ming Dynasty is what you are.

If Yao is selected first, he would be the first international player taken so high, and also carry the burden of proving that he is more than just an extra-long curiosity.

That's because his peers in the 7-4-and-taller group have been more often cited for their lack of ability and waste of precious inches. Manute Bol was a 7-7 string bean, so long and lean that he seemed fragile banging under the basket. Gheorghe Muresan was a plodding giant at 7-7. Shawn Bradley is 7-6 of unfulfilled potential ? and booed by his own Mavericks fans, even now.

These are the Super Tall of the NBA, and there's not a superstar among them.

They are curiosities even when skill level is minimal, given an opportunity in a league that so values unteachable height. They are given chances, like Yao apparently will be given as the No. 1 pick, primarily because of how high the measuring stick reads.