9. The Year of the Yao
Site rank 2, IMDb rank 8; Overall Score 10
Directed by Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern
That the Chinese can’t play basketball was a well established stereotype in the NBA. Then Yao Ming arrived and everything changed. The film follows the Chinese basketball prodigy’s transition from the Chinese Basketball League to the NBA and shows us how Yao coped with it, trying to create a place for himself both on and off the court. His rivalry with Shaquille O’Neal, who was dominating the NBA paint at the time, is also portrayed.
