Center Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese player in the National Basketball Association, signed a multi-year contract with the Miami Heat after the club released forward Tyrone Hill.

Zhizhi played in only two games for the Los Angeles Clippers this season before being released on November 21. He had four points and a blocked shot in nine minutes.

The 7-foot-1 former Chinese national team partner of Yao Ming has averaged 5.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 103 NBA games, most with the Dallas Mavericks.

Wang spent five seasons in the Chinese League before making his NBA debut with Dallas in April of 2001.

He joins a Miami squad struggling at 5-12, sixth in the seven-team Atlantic Division where no club has a winning record. But his former club, the Clippers, are a woeful 4-8, having lost six in a row, four of them since dropping Wang.

Hill, 35, averaged 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in five games for Miami. Hill averaged 9.4 points and 8.6 rebounds in 801 games with Golden State, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Miami.

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