Maciej Lampe

Maciej Bolesław Lampe (born February 5, 1985) is a Polish professional basketball player who plays for Beşiktaş of the Turkish Basketball League. Standing at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), he plays at the power forward and center positions.

Professional career

Originally from Łódź, Poland, Lampe grew up in Stockholm, Sweden. He played briefly for Real Madrid in the Spanish ACB League before being sent on loan to Universidad Complutense of the LEB, the second division level in Spain, to receive more playing time.

NBA

Lampe was selected by the NBA club the New York Knicks in the second round (30th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft as an early entry candidate, despite having been projected as a top five lottery pick. Maciej was elected to the 2003 Reebok Rocky Mountain Revue All-Revue Team after averaging 17.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in 32.4 minutes for the Knicks' summer league team. Maciej was traded to the Phoenix Suns on January 5, 2004 deal, and at the time, he became the youngest player in Suns history to appear in a regular season game.

Yao Ming

Yao Ming (born September 12, 1980) is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Team five times. At the time of his final season, he was the tallest active player in the NBA, at 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in).

Yao, who was born in Shanghai, China, started playing for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager, and played on their senior team for five years in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning a championship in his final year. After negotiating with the CBA and the Sharks to secure his release, Yao was selected by the Houston Rockets as the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. He reached the NBA Playoffs four times, and the Rockets won a first-round series in the 2009 postseason, their first playoff series victory since 1997. In July 2011, Yao announced his retirement from professional basketball because of a series of foot and ankle injuries which forced him to miss 250 games in his last six seasons. In eight seasons with the Rockets, Yao ranks sixth among franchise leaders in total points and total rebounds, and second in total blocks.