The Next Yao Ming? The Chinese giant was so dazzled by the lights of Las Vegas that he didn't notice the furtive glances of the tourists gathering around him. Now he was gazing out over the gaudiest stretch of urban landscape in America. He marveled at the brightly illuminated replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Manhattan skyline, the dazzling fountains of Rome . A red-faced American tourist broke the reverie .“Hey, Yao Ming! ”the man shouted.“Yao Ming, you da man! ”It was the last thing the Chinese athlete wanted to hear. He gave a tight smile and then, as politely as he could, he recited one of the few English phrases he has committed to memory:“I am not Yao Ming. ” Maybe not. But Yi Jianlian had better get used to the lofty expectations. A lot of people on both sides of the Pacific are hoping that the talented 6 ft-11 ins teenager will be the next Yao Ming. Ever since Yao electrified the National Basketball Association last season as a rookie fresh out of Shanghai, a slew of agents, scouts1 and shoe-company reps have been looking for a Chinese player who can follow the large — and lucrative — footsteps of one of the league's biggest draws. Yi wears size-18 shoes, just like Yao. But it is the glimmer of his vast potential — the explosive slam dunks, the boyish good looks, even the mystery surrounding his age — that has catapulted Yi beyond where Yao stood at this point in his career. Aside from Yao, two other Chinese hoopsters2 already play in the NBA: Mengke Bateer, a muscle-bound 6 ft-11 ins reserve center3 with the Toronto Raptors, and Wang Zhizhi, a lithe, 7 ft-2ins sharpshooter with the Los Angeles Clippers. Another player, a rail-thin center named Xue Yuyang, 20, was chosen in the second round in June's NBA draft, but Beijing — rankled by his decision to enter the draft without official permission — has refused to let him test his mettle in America. So instead NBA scouts and agents are focusing on the crop of younger players, ranging from Tang Zhengdong, 19, to prodigy Chen Jianghua, 14, a 6 ft-1in ball handler whose dunks look like something out of a Jet Li movie. Nobody, though, seems a safer bet than Yi Jianlian. Yi was discovered in 1999 on a playground in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen. Barely out of grade school, he was already 6 ft-4 ins tall, a behemoth in a region known for its diminutive people. By the time he joined Guangdong's professional Chinese Basketball Association ( CBA) team last year, he was an astonishing 6ft-11 ins — and he could leap and touch a spot more than 11 ft-6 ins off the ground. ( The basketball rim is 10 feet high. ) As Yi mastered new skills — the midrange jumper, the baby hook, the reverse slam — he attracted the attention of Adidas. Eager to loosen Nike's hold on Chinese basketball, the shoe company flew Yi to New Jersey for its ABCD Camp in the summer of 2002 . He was the only Chinese player there. “ It was an eye-opening experience for him, ”says Guangdong junior coach Zhang Zhenming.“ He came back with a very clear vision of where he wanted to go: the NBA. ”