If you haven't noticed...

I've changed my name from YaoMing4Ever to ChinaHoops. As I have few, if any, regular readers, I don't think it'll be a bad transition.

This isn't just a name change on a whim; I changed for a couple of reasons:

1. I originally wanted to focus completely on Yao in this blog, but when I really started getting serious about posting in my blog, I realized that I definitely would not be able to compete YaoMania. It's been around since before Yao entered the NBA, has thousands of views a day, and has been mentioned and is read by national media. With such a well-established site, I had no chance.

2. As I looked at the popularity of Chinese basketball, and then at the blogs that cover basketball, I realized that there were no English blogs that covered Chinese basketball, and covered it exclusively. I believe I am in a unique position to convey information about Chinese basketball to anyone who cares to listen. I have the best of both worlds, as I gather information from YaoMingMania, InterBasket, AsiaBasket, and then NBA forums like RealGM and Basketballboards. I think that I am best informed and equipped of anyone to talk about Chinese basketball (well, maybe that's a stretch, but no else is willing, so I'm stepping forward).

Right now the demand is for Euro-league blogs, but as Chinese basketball grows and becomes better (pretty soon, they'll be sending first-round picks to the NBA yearly), the same demand will be shifting to looking for English-language content blogs. I think I'm the first of these (I think that "pioneer" might also be a stretch).

Rest assured, loyal readers (no, scratch that, there aren't any), I still will be posting about Yao constantly. He'll probably be my main focus, as he is the only Chinese player in the NBA right now. But, when Yi Jianlian joins him in a year's time, my focus will change, while at the same time still covering NBA prospects like Chen Jianghua and Sun Yue.