We Have A Ming-Ming Sighting

Late last year, I wrote a little bit about Sun Ming-Ming, the 7-8 Chinese center who played briefly for my hometown Ventura College Pirates this past season. Ever since initially reading about Ming-Ming while writing that piece I have been very interested in his career but somehow let him slip my mind. So, I was very excited to see this picture on the Dodge City Legends page...

That's the big man towering over the Oklahoma Storm in what appears to be one of his ten field goal attempts in sixteen games this season. The season hasn't been too kind to Sun, he is averaging 6.5 minutes per game and has scored only nine points while grabbing seventeen rebounds and committing twenty personal fouls. His biggest challenge is stamina, and it would be interesting to know if those 6.5 minutes came consecutively or in 1-2 minute stints.

Considering that he is playing his first real competitive basketball and life-saving surgery is less than a year in the past, it's pretty remarkable for him to be playing professional ball anywhere. Although at 22 years-old and as slow as he is coming along, it is hard to imagine that he will make it to the NBA anytime soon.

But I'm rooting for him to make it and I'll continue following his progress. I'm sure that he will have no problem finding a team to play for year-round for the next couple of years, he will have the opportunity to develop. But will he or is his late start just too much to make up?

If you want to see more, click here for video of Sun arriving in Dodge City, click here for video of him at practice in Ventura and click here for a very interesting article on his life in pro ball this season.