Rockets Selects CBA Giant with First Pick in NBA Draft

The Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association selected China's 2.26-meter (7-foot-5) center Yao Ming with the top pick in the 2002 NBA draft in New York Wednesday evening.

NBA Commissioner David Stern declared the draft which makes Yao Ming from the Shanghai Sharks the ever first international player outside the American basketball program to be the No 1 pick in the NBA draft history.

Yao Ming led the Shanghai Sharks to their ever first title in the Chinese Basketball Association league last April and will head his national team to the World Championship and Asian Games through September to October before jumping to the Rockets for the 2002-03 NBA season which started on November.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2002)