It’s going to be quite a spectacle when 7-foot-3 Keith Closs and 7-foot-1 Rashid Byrd walk through Tiananmen Square.
Not to mention Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jr.
“When he lets out his hair, he’s about 7-6,” said Santa Barbara Breakers head coach Curt Pickering, who embarked on a 23-day tour of China with the team on Tuesday.
A total of 11 players — five Breaker veterans and six newbies — will spend the next three weeks skipping around the country to play 12 games against a variety of different squads. The trip is sponsored by a Chinese team which is connected to the country’s government.
Basketball has found an enormous market in the world’s most populated country, particularly with players such as Yi Jianlin, Wang Zhi Zhi and, of course, Yao Ming, breaking through into the NBA.
The Chinese have even developed nicknames for NBA stars that don’t fully cross the language barrier. TIm Duncan is “The Stone Buddha” for his no-nonsense approach to the game, while LeBron James is dubbed “The Little Emperor.”
“They’re hungry for basketball and I think we’re going to be exciting to watch over there,” said Pickering, who will likely start Closs and Byrd together in a twin-tower approach down low.
“It’s showtime. The game was born here in the U.S., and part of our responsibility is to pique the interest of the new fans in China. We’ve got to be entertaining like the Lakers of the 80s,” he said.
They’ll have a chance at that if they can walk by the time they get on the plane. Pickering contacted China Eastern Airlines ahead of time to try and reserve an exit row for his post players, but was told that such seats may only be reserved at the airport before the flight.
“I told them we’ve got seven-footers, but it didn’t work. I don’t like the sound of that,” he said.
Speedy little guards like 2008 Breakers Mark Peters, Tim Taylor and Justin Johnson will have a little more leg room, as they hover around the 6-foot mark.
Pickering has coached all over the world, including Kuwait, but his voice carries a strong sense of excitement about this particular trip with players from his very own Santa Barbara squad.
The only thing he’s not too excited about is the culinary possibilities to explore.
“I don’t want to eat any monkey brain or anything like that, but we are going to see all the landmarks. I hope this won’t be the only tour we do over there,” he said.
