Mavs second-round draft pick Wang Zhizhi could "boost"
the popularity of U.S. basketball in China "to a new level,"
according to NEWSWEEK's Tim Noonan. However, Zhizhi
currently plays for the Bayi Rockets -- which is the team of
the People's Liberation Army (PLA) -- and in China, "a team
has almost total control over a player's rights. The P.L.A.
would fight to keep him" from joining the Mavericks. While
NBA Pacific VP & Managing Dir Mary Reiling Spencer said that
the addition of Zhizhi to the NBA "would be huge" in China,
Noonan writes that the NBA "doesn't want to appear to be
'poaching' China's best players." Noonan: "While a Chinese
star would help ratings, a big indigenous basketball market
may be even more important" (NEWSWEEK, 9/20 issue).
GLOBAL: USA TODAY's Valerie Lister profiles the NBA's
int'l branding efforts, including the various preseason
games it will play across the world. NBA Commissioner David
Stern: "We are obviously showing our games on a global basis
in a branding context. You could consider a game a two-
hour-plus commercial." NBA VP/Int'l PR Terry Lyons: "What
we try to do with ... some of the things we do around the
world is just keep building the awareness of the game. What
separates basketball from some of the other sports is that
the game is played everywhere" (USA TODAY, 9/16).
