In Australia, there's a quaint little saying which (supplanting a bad word) goes: His bottom always ends up in the butter.

It refers to a lucky man who, no matter how dire the circumstances, always manages to have a soft landing. NBA Commissioner David Stern is such a being.

No matter how bad things seem to get in the world's best basketball league, the canny former New York lawyer always comes out sunny-side up, so to speak.

Labor disputes, player shenanigans and a referee betting scandal aside, this dude's posterior must be covered in the yellow toast accompaniment, and he can thank China's own Yao Ming for a fair smattering of that.

When the commish took over the reins in 1984, he held a steed running on one of the greatest individual and team rivalries of all-time - Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson and Celtics vs Lakers. Then, as that eventually waned, what happened?

Let me tell you. A dude called Michael Jordan came along and redefined the sport both on the court, with his otherworldly ability, and off it, with his mass, worldwide commercial appeal.

Bird and Magic (and, with due respect, Dr J) made people in the United States want to watch basketball again. Jordan made the world want to see what was going on.

It was a seamless transition as the NBA became more global and its cast of playing characters slowly but surely became more international.

The Europeans led the charge in the '80s, with stars like Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis and Detlef Schrempf paving the way for the likes of Pau Gasol, Hedo Turkoglu and Dirk Nowitzki.

However, that was preaching to converted as Europe already had strong leagues that only needed to be tapped.

China, the world's greatest emerging economy, was a different kettle of fish for the league to crack. Teams, dating back to the then-Washington Bullets in 1974, made the odd foray into China, as did (and still do) players peddling their various wares.

Then, 30 years after the Bullets' visit, the NBA held its first China Games between the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings, and guess who was on that Rockets team? None other than Yao.

The No 1 draft pick in 2002 opened the eyes of the world to Chinese basketball and the NBA's to the greater potential of the China market which, in my opinion, makes him the most influential foreign player to pull on an NBA jersey.

The all-star will be on center stage on Wednesday when Houston tackles New Jersey in the first of two games in China. It was supposed to be a China showdown between Yao and compatriot Yi Jianlian. However, the Nets scuttled those plans by trading Yi to the Washington Wizards in July.

But do you think Mr Stern is concerned about that glitch? I doubt it, because he knows where his bottom always ends up.