INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING ? They come to enjoy the action and they also come to get a free slice of pizza when their Sharks win big. But basketball fans in Shanghai mainly turn up to see the main man ? Yao Ming.

Basketball is back in China's financial hub after a long time in the wilderness, which began when hometown hero Yao left for the NBA after leading the Sharks to the China Basketball Association championship in 2002.

Yao, who is missing the NBA season with the Houston Rockets due to a broken foot, is now the owner and general manager of the club where he launched his spectacular career, and where his father once played.

New coach Robert Donewald, an NBA veteran recruited by the 29-year-old Yao, says the team's renaissance is largely due to Shanghai's prodigal son.

"It's the Yao factor, no doubt about it -- he has set the tone," Donewald, a former assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, told AFP in an interview.

"You can look at any company, any successful sports team -- they have great leadership, it starts from the top," he said, "Yao brought in the mentality, the culture, and it has trickled down. It is his core values -- he wants things done the right way."

Since taking over the financially-ailing Sharks, Yao has brought in Donewald, a new sponsor, two gritty American players, moved the team to a bigger arena and shaken up club management.

The results are nothing short of astounding. After Yao left, the Sharks finished the season at the bottom of the table.

Now they are the talk of the league, the darlings of China's biggest city and sitting in fourth place with a 10-3 record.

"Everyone is saying that I've become a businessman... but I'm in a transition period -- right now I'm half professional athlete, half businessman," Yao said in an interview with flashy Shanghai magazine Bund.

"What we are trying to do now is rebuild the spirit of the Shanghai team... this will take a long time, no one generation can complete it. I just hope that the bricks that I am putting in place now will one day turn into jewels."

Besides being one of the best centers in the NBA, the multi-millionaire Yao and his team of financial advisers have built a marketing empire that has arguably made the expectant father China's most recognizable star.

When the CBA season began last month, many fans came to the games just to see Yao sitting in the stands, and now they are flocking to watch the team win, Sharks spokesman Zhang Chi told AFP.

The club is offering each ticket-holder a free slice of pizza when the Sharks score more than 100 points and win the game ? a marketing ploy Yao has taken straight out of the NBA playbook.

Guard John Lucas III , son of legendary Rocket playmaker John Lucas, and 23-year-old American center Garret Siler are two other reasons for the Sharks' success.

Lucas is leading the team with an average of 24.7 points per game, and Siler, who is playing hurt, has chipped in 12.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

The two are leading a powerful charge with star guard Liu Wei ? one of China's best players, a prominent fixture on the national team and one of Yao's teammates during the Sharks 2002 championship year.

Liu is averaging 20.7 points and 5.2 assists per game, and Donewald says he is "a warrior, the spiritual leader of the team."

The American coach said he has been surprised by how quickly the team has come together and the hard work the players have put in, but it has been the Shanghai crowds that have impressed him the most.

"We are moving along, we still have a lot of errors and we still need to get stronger and more seasoned, but we are heading in the right direction," Donewald said.

"The crowd has been awesome ?our young team feeds off this crowd. I think we would have lost some games if it was not for the crowd. It's been a definite plus for us."