Kareem Abdul-Jabbar teaches basics of the American game in Shanghai
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-24 19:51

Xu Yong, 16 years old and 200 centimeters (six foot, six inches) tall, was born the year NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired, on the other side of the world, in a country where basketball had made little impact on society.

On Tuesday, Xu was in class the with NBA great, learning aspects of the American game as a long leg-up toward his own NBA dreams.

``I know he's a real star, a great player sort of from the earlier generation,'' said Xu. ``I'm not nervous having him watch me, though,'' he adds nonchalantly.

Xu was one of 55 players from China and the region watching Abdul-Jabbar teach American-style physicality as part of a newly developed course called ``basketball psychology and attitude.''

The class aims to cover real-life situations that occur routinely in the NBA but which athletes from China and other nations might not have experienced, including talking trash and dealing with the media, footwork, fitness, and mental preparation.

Abdul-Jabbar showed players how to use their bodies to defend and keep opponents out of the paint. He cited the example of Yao Ming, the Shanghai-born center for the Houston Rockets who has spent two seasons adjusting to the more aggressive American game.

``Yao Ming is a great player, but he has had trouble with other players who keep him off balance and make it hard for him to use his height advantage,'' Abdul-Jabbar told players seated on the court at the Shanghai Sports Academy.

And he showed off the basics of the ``sky-hook,'' Abdul-Jabbar's trademark shot that has gone the way of canvas sneakers since his 1989 retirement.

``It never really had the opportunity to become fashionable,'' he said of the shot on Monday. ``It's kind of like from another era, the 1950s.''

Abdul-Jabbar's two-day course is part of the 2004 adidas Superstar Camp that will pick an all-star team to play in America.

Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks' Desmond Mason join Abdul-Jabbar as the camp's guest players.

China is one of the NBA's fastest growing markets. Chinese national television broadcasts two NBA games a week, while fans in Shanghai _ where Yao starred with a Chinese team before moving to the NBA _ can see as many as six a week.

The NBA last October staged two preseason games in China and plans to host a regular-season game in China ahead of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Xu, both of whose parents played basketball for Shanghai, said he and the other Chinese participants aimed to soak up all they could learn at the camp.

``What they're teaching us is really useful,'' he said.

``To play in the NBA is pretty much the dream of everyone here.''

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