Friday, May 4, 2007

The NBA in China: A Sneak Peak




Shane Battier wreaked havoc on my fantasy basketball team this year. After a string of dreadful games, I dropped the former Duke star (that should have been my clue) in favor of Denver's Nene. Well, it turns out that being the 28th-highest scoring guard in the NBA (and Yao's teammate, I guess) is enough for a major shoe contract in China. Battier is the spokesperson for Peak basketball shoes, a surprisingly ugly brand given the Chinese love of trendy sneakers. He and Dirk Nowitzki are the only two NBA players with big posters in Sunshine Sports of the City, the awesome sporting goods store next to my school.

Incidentally, with the playoffs going on, I've been asking some people here about their interest in the NBA. So far they (like me) are ga-ga over Steve Nash. And when I bring up the Pistons, they just want to talk about former Ben Wallace, who of course is a Bull now. Now those guys could sell some shoes here.

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