Mengke Bateer
From Hoopedia
Mengke Bateer (or Menk Batere, Mongolian:баатар or very often just Bateer), born November 20, 1975 in Hanggin Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China) is a professional basketball player formerly in the National Basketball Association. Like many ethnic Mongolians, he does not have a family name, and his full name is a composition of two words: Menk = Eternal; Bateer = Hero. In China he is only referred to as "Ba Te Er" (巴特尔) in the Chinese tradition.
Mengke Bateer made his debut for China Men's Basketball Team in the 1994 Asian Games at the age of 19. Bateer had always been a regular in the National Team, but in 1997 he was cut from the team after "disciplinary problems". A filial son, Bateer had several times in his career attempted to voluntarily leave his teams to be back in his hometown with his family.
In 1999, while training with the National Team, he was invited to play in a pre-draft tournament held in Phoenix, where he suffered from jet lag and did not impress. He also made a short appearance in the Treviso Pre-Draft Camp in Italy.
In October 2001, Mengke Bateer was invited by the Denver Nuggets in their preseason training camp. He was cut after two preseason games, but in April he would be invited again after the Nuggets was in desperate need of a big man after trading away Raef LaFrentz. Bateer arrived in Denver promptly and played the remaining 25 games, averaging 5.5 points while battling foul problems. Because of the shortage of the big men on the Nuggets team, Bateer was almost immediately placed as a starter. He ended up starting ten out of the remaining 25 games with Denver. He was the first Chinese player to ever start an NBA game. Another Chinese player in the league at the time, Dallas Mavericks player Wang Zhizhi, was not in the starting line-up of an NBA team until he was playing for the Los Angeles Clippers a year later. Bateer was the first player from China to become an NBA starter and the second to play in the league.
In the summer of 2002, Bateer was traded to Detroit for Don Reid. After an impressive showing against Team USA in the FIBA World Championship in Indiana (where he scored 19 and led China in scoring five of seven games in the tournament while sharing time with a young Yao Ming), American assistant coach Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs decided to take a chance at the big man, trading a second round pick to Detroit to acquire Bateer. Bateer was a member of the San Antonio Spurs 2002-03 NBA championship team.
After being waived by the New York Knicks in September 2004, he played briefly for the Huntsville Flight of the National Basketball Development League. He rejoined the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association in mid-February 2005, a couple of weeks before the end of the 2004-05 regular season, and was named MVP of the 2005 CBA All-star Game (played at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs). He continued to play for the team in the 2005-06 season.
At 6' 11" and over 300 lbs, he was considered one of the stronger centers in the NBA. He is also an accomplished passer, and dished out 6 assists in one NBA game. It is his lack of speed that greatly limited his prospects in the fast-paced environment of the NBA.
After carrying his Beijing Ducks team to a franchise-best Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) North Division title while averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, Mengke Bateer failed to receive the CBA MVP due to an archaic rule forbidding suspended players from any awards. In mid-season, Mengke Bateer received the heaviest fine in CBA history for arguing with a referee and sat out two games as a result. At the end, nobody received the CBA MVP trophy and the CBA stated they would consider changing the rule.
The trio of 7' 1" Wang Zhizhi, 7' 6" Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer were known as the "Walking Great Wall" of the Chinese national basketball team.
