BEIJING - The players representing USA Basketball in the Olympics are known as the "Redeem Team" back home, where they're expected to atone for the 2004 team's failings.
No such designation applies in China, where the players are loved unconditionally.
The NBA is big worldwide, and especially so in China. If Jazz guard Deron Williams ever worried about being noticed while playing in one of the league's smallest markets, all he had to do was come to China.
"The fans are crazy; they know you everywhere you go," Williams said Tuesday, after the Americans' 97-76 victory over Angola in pool play. "There's nowhere you can go in this city without being recognized."
Or even outside the city of 17 million. When he traveled about 45 minutes to hit some golf balls, he was greeted immediately after walking into the driving range by cries of "Williams!"
"Everybody's [called] their last name," Williams explained. "Except Kobe [Bryant]. Kobe's 'Kobe.' "
Jazz forward Carlos Boozer was welcomed with tears. A woman seeking his autograph began crying as he scribbled his name.
"Literally crying," Boozer said, marveling at the memory. "I couldn't believe that. I felt like the Pope for a minute. I just play basketball."
And the treatment of the Jazzmen is nothing like the reception for Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers' guard has joked about not being able to return home without a gold medal, but he should consider staying, regardless.
He receives the loudest cheers in the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium every time he's introduced or makes a basket. Generally, the Americans are treated like the home team, although the Chinese fans applaud every good play by either team.
It's all a commentary on the NBA's popularity in China. The league is marketing itself with merchandise stores and other avenues, while staffing offices around the country and staging exhibition games. NBA telecasts are watched by an estimated 450 million viewers -- about one-third of the population -- and some 300 million Chinese play recreational basketball.
It helps that China has produced NBA players Yao Ming of Houston and Li Jianlian, and others are on the way. Boozer expects two or three of the Chinese players his team opposed Sunday to soon play in the NBA.
The growth of Chinese basketball is undoubtedly spurred by the NBA's following, and it's no surprise to Roger Reid. The former Brigham Young coach landed a job with the Hangzhou Horses in China's professional league -- not necessarily because of his credentials with the Cougars, but because he had worked as a Phoenix Suns assistant. All Reid had to do to get his players' attention was say that's the way they do things in the NBA.
"Basketball's expanding in China, and it's already big," said Reid, now Southern Utah's coach. "And it's just going to get better."
