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Making basketball dreams real

By Eric Jou (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-19 10:14

Sherlock Sun is eager to shape the future of the NBA in China, Eric Jou reports.

Growing up in New York City, in the shadows of Madison Square Garden and Rucker Park, 35-year-old Sherlock Sun had always dreamed of being part of the National Basketball Association or NBA. Named for his father's appreciation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sun is now living the dream in a different way; he is the Director of Global Marketing Partnerships of NBA China.

Sherlock Sun has a product to sell in China that he's believed in for his whole life: The NBA. [Liu Zhe / for China Daily]

"I grew up playing basketball, I never imagined working for the NBA," says Sun, who has been in the job for four years. "It was sort of like a dream come true."

Offered a job in China by a former employer, Sun jumped at the chance to discover his ancestral home and understand where he came from. Soon after his arrival in Beijing in 2006, Sun was picked up by the NBA to help integrate its business model with the Chinese market. Two years later, NBA China was born.

Sun, a Chinese-American, was born and raised in New York City by a Shanghainese father and a Taiwanese mother. His parents emphasized strong academics but also sought to balance his studies with other interests, which included basketball. He grew up like a typical American-born Chinese, with a stunted level of Mandarin.

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"I grew up speaking Chinese, and it was very important," says Sun. "When I first arrived I went through a period of assimilation, my Chinese in the US versus my Chinese here, there were a lot of colloquial terms that I didn't understand. I did private tutoring for a long period of time, expanded my network of local contacts, friends and business contacts in an attempt to submerge myself in the culture."

Since his arrival, Sun says, "I saw China's tremendous market potential and made decisive personal investments such as in real estate and Dao Le wine bar in Beijing."

It is exactly this mindset of assimilation and desire for cultural understanding that helps Sun and the NBA succeed in China. Starting in 2006 before the formation of NBA China, the NBA opened its first retail store in Beijing's Wangfujing Street, catering to the Chinese demand for basketball paraphernalia, from player and team-themed sneakers to basketball related apparel.

While many people attribute the immense popularity of the NBA in China to the proliferation of Chinese players in the league, such as Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, the popularity of the sport and the star players transcend the racial and cultural boundaries.

The top three best-selling jerseys in China, according to the NBA China, are the jerseys of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade. Yao Ming's jersey doesn't even crack the top 10.

China's love affair with basketball has made both the NBA and Sun's job of bridging the Chinese market easier. "The NBA has long been an American company with American values," says Sun. "As you know, a foreign entity coming into China is never an easy process. It's been very fluid for the NBA because of the popularity of basketball."

That embrace has come in part because the government supports the development of basketball courts and promotes the sport as a healthy lifestyle choice.

One of the key reasons why the NBA is successful in China is the penetration of basketball.

Today, more Chinese players are moving up onto the international stage and American players are crossing over to China. One NBA star, Stephon Marbury, joined the Chinese Basketball Association earlier this year and others are interested in coming over to China to further their own brand or to promote their sponsor brands.

When they do come, Sun has a hand in making it all work out - from bringing legends of the sport like Robert Horry and Scottie Pippen to lead basketball training camps with children to setting up unsuspecting Chinese street ballers with a chance to play with Steve Nash.

For Sun, it all comes down to entertainment.

"Our [NBA] brand isn't just about the sport basketball, whether it's the retail business or arena business, at the end of the day this is really about connecting all of the pieces of entertainment together," he says.

"We all know in the US it's a lifestyle brand, not just about basketball. There are so many different ways for us to move the consumer and fans."

Working with a variety of different partners, Sun moves to continue the success of the NBA brand in China. Through partnerships with Tsingdao Beer and other Chinese companies, the NBA has become a mainstay in China.

In the immediate future: The opening of this year's China Games will be an NBA league match between the New Jersey Nets and the Houston Rockets. It will be Yao Ming's first league game after returning from a broken bone in his left foot.

"The future of NBA China is where we take it," says Sun. "We've only scratched the surface."