NBA Hall of Famer Yao Ming called for “urgent” reform and said he was facing a multitude of problems as he was elected president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) on Thursday.

    The giant former Houston Rockets center, 37, arrives at the post as China searches for new superstars and more glory days for its national team, which has largely stalled since his retirement in 2011.

    Yao, the first league head not drawn from government ranks, has long advocated reform of how basketball is run in China, which has failed to produce anyone close to his calibre.

    “At the moment, the most urgent matter is the reform of the CBA, which we must set on a virtuous cycle that will increase our influence and vitality, and bring new ideas to the fore,” he told a news conference in Beijing.

    “The biggest problem is that there is no ‘biggest problem,’ The problems are everywhere. I believe this is a common thing to encounter in the process of reform.”

    Yao has previously advocated change “with the ultimate goal of improving the level of the national team,” while not relying excessively on importing foreign talent to China’s league.

    He has also called for enhancing the fan experience in what is rated as China’s most popular sport.

    Now an investor in his former team Shanghai Sharks, which he led to the Chinese title in 2002 before packing his bags for the NBA, Yao indicated he would dispose of his share in the club in light of his CBA appointment.

    The 2.29-meter-tall Yao, who was born in Shanghai in 1980 and began to play in the CBA at the age of 17, towers over basketball in China after his ground-breaking eight-season NBA career, in which he became a popular global ambassador for the sport.

    Chinese fans began to dream of glory in the early 2000s when Yao partnered with fellows Mengke Bateer and Wang Zhizhi to form China’s basketball “Great Wall.”

    Yao led the team to three straight FIBA Asian championships in the 2000s, but the national team has only won the title twice over the past decade, including the latest edition in 2015, and has consistently struggled in Olympic competition.

    The Chinese team is currently ranked 14th in the world.

    Yao was the NBA’s first overall draft selection in 2002 and the first player drafted number one who didn’t play collegiately in the United States.

    He has continued promoting the game after he was forced into retirement in 2011 by repeated foot injuries.

    (SD-Agencies)