China Hoops

Moving...for good

2007-04-20T14:18:00.000+08:00

Ok, so I haven't updated in months. The reason is because I was offered a place at FIBA.com. With the launch of their new site design, they have a new "blogosphere" feature, of which I am now a part. To see more of my writings, please to there from now on. Since I can start from the beginning again, I have a lot of new ideas, so please stay tuned.

More on Yi Jianlian

2006-11-06T18:04:00.000+08:00

Perhaps something I might have neglected to say in my last post is this: It is not certain that Yi Jianlian will be going to the NBA. Probably what a lot of people missed is the fact that it was not the CBA that gave their consent to Yi, it was his club that gave him their OK.

So, does this announcement mean nothing then? No, it actually means lot for Yi's chances. When Yao Ming and Team Yao was preparing for the draft in the summer of 2002, he not only had to negotiate with the CBA, he also had to talk with his club. People might forget that there was actually a lot of uncertainty all the way up to the draft, and the Rockets had to have a lot of confidence to stand by their man. For Yi, he has already cleared one obstacle, and gained an ally. Because they announced their consent, his team will not want to lose face if he can't enter after all, so they'll be fighting for him when he's talking to the CBA. Furthermore, now the NBA teams will know Yi is serious, and what's more, he has the backing of his club. There might not be a team like the Rockets that would take the chance on an unproven rookie that might not even come over, so every bit of official backing is a point in Yi's favor

Another factor that's going for Yi is that Yao has been through all this before. The CBA will now be more confident in handling the situation, and Yi's people will have a precedent to go by.

Does this mean that Yi's path is paved already smooth? Well, let's say it's smoother than Yao's was, but it's definitely not going to be a rosy pathway from here to the NBA. For one thing, the CBA has set the rule that Chinese players can't leave China for the NBA until they are 22. Yi will still be only 19 when the the 2007 NBA draft takes place. However, I think the CBA can see far enough ahead to be able to see that this rule should be either be abolished, or that Yi should be an exception. Yi isn't as ready as he should be, but he's as ready as he'll ever be playing in China.

There's also the financial aspect, as both the Guangdong Tigers and the CBA will want some monetary reimbursement for giving away a crown jewel. There are rumors that Guangdong will want even more money than the Shanghai Sharks wanted for Yao, which I think is somewhat greedy of them, because Yi's absence won't affect the Tigers the way Yao's did.

Meanwhile, this news makes its way into Yao's hearing, and he gives his first response. The first thing he said (or at least, the first quote of his in the article) said that he didn't want Yi to end up in Houston, because if the Rockets were high enough to draft him, then that would probably mean they would not have made the playoffs. That's a very good point, and that's not mentioning the fact that Yi would not be the kind of three-point shooting power forward (Steve Novak, Scott Padgett, Juwan Howard) or scrapper (Chuck Hayes) that the Rockets are looking for. Yao did say the NBA team Yi should be on was the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately, the Suns will probably also have too low a draft pick to draft Yi.

One interesting quote Yao did have was this: "I can't say now whether Yi entering the NBA will be helpful for Chinese basketball, but it will be good for his personal improvement." Personally, I think Yi's personal improvement will help Chinese basketball, as another NBA-level player will automatically make the Chinese national team better.

Speaking of the national team, Jonas Kazlauskas must have a big headache right now. Six of his players, four of whom are supposed to be starting, have nagging injuries. Du Feng has a knee injury, Wang ZhiZhi is still fighting his leg injury, Liu Wei just pulled a ligament, Yi Jianlian and Wang Shipeng sprained their ankles, and Li Nan is also injured. While they are not really, really serious, they will require rest, and the games against the NBDL team, the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, is coming up in less than two weeks, and the Asian Games will be starting in days. However, there might be a silver lining, because if one of the above players pulls outs, a younger player, just waiting for a chance to shine, might be able to claim a spot on the roster that would normally be filled by that veteran.

News from China

2006-11-03T16:57:00.000+08:00

In 2007, a collection of all-star players from the CBA and Korean Basketball League (KBL) will be facing off against each other. Now, similar to the NBA's All-Star Game voting, you can vote for who makes the roster here (it's all in Chinese, of course).

However, I have a feeling that the Chinese players won't be taking it seriously. No one plays hard in an all-star game, but the level of Korean basketball has fallen off in recent years, and Wang ZhiZhi said publicly that they no longer look at Korea as their biggest rivals, instead saying that Lebanon and Qatar were the biggest challenge they would say (and then continued by saying they would still beat them anyway).

Immediately after it was announced that Yi Jianlian would be entering the NBA draft, Sina.com put up a poll asking where Yi would be drafted. With about 10,000 votes, most (37%) think he'll be gone in the first ten. I was a bit surprised, though, that fully 18% thought he wouldn't even get drafted in the first round, and only 6% said he would be picked first. If people think Chinese fans are biased, then they should look at this poll.

Another poll that was made asked readers to pick the four players they thought would be cut from the national team. If you don't remember, my picks were Hu Xuefeng, Zhang Jinsong, Zhang Quingpeng and Huo Nan. The general consensus agreed with me on Huo and Zhang Songtao, but the majority said the last two would be Zhang Quingpeng and Chen Jianghua, instead of my predictions of Hu Xuefeng and Zhang Jinsong.

On a related topic, it appears that Li Nan's long-lasting injury (which has prevented him from playing in the World Championships or any games in this CBA season) means he will not be traveling to Doha for the Asian Games. Originally, it was Gong Songlin that was going to be his replacement, but when he got injured himself, he was forced to withdraw, meaning that a spot has been opened for one more lucky player.

Finally, an interesting article from Slam Magazine, which was posted here. Although the author was there to try to catch up with God Shammgod, he also had some nice things to say about Yi and Chen Jianghua.

Yi and Chen both look good and like legit prospects. Yi finished with 36 points and close to 20 boards. He is stronger than I thought, quite athletic, has good court sense and is a little more street than I thought. Byrd tried to intimidate him with pushes and bows and Yi gave it right back. It’s still a little hard for me to gauge his NBA potential because he was a man amongst boys. If he can maintain that attitude and aggression against guys as big or bigger than him, he is going to be very good. Point guard Chen is supposedly only 17 or so but birthdates of the players here are notoriously suspect. I’d say he’s 19 or 20 and he looks legit too.

Chen is very quick, but under control, has a great handle, is confident and seems to have really good instincts. He and hahmm were a good matchup. Chinese players do not get the greatest coaching and often have trouble really developing their games but Chen is lucky to be from Guangdong and in the best possible place. I am definitely going to keep my eye on him and hope he continues to grow, both literally (he is probably 6-1 and could use 2-3 inches) and hoops-wise.

However, I found one interesting little side-note right near the end:

The crowds of people waiting there for autographs had time to rush over and crush against the door, screaming “Yi Jianlin!” The team translator said to another American on board, “You take the back and I’ll take the front. Put your shoulder down and push.” I walked off the bus right in front of them and a huge surge clawed at Yi. They followed the plan and just bulled through. It was pretty wild and aggressive. A lot of people were asking me for autographs, which I thought was funny. I actually signed a few from people who were persistent even when I said Chinese something approximating, “You don’t want me.” I signed a jacket, a T shirt and several programs.

Either the masses were just interested in getting an autograph from someone famous (as evidenced from asking an autograph from the writer, who's a nobody), or else Yi Jianlian is really big superstar. I would pick the latter. I would also say that there's going to be several dozen million new fans of whatever NBA team drafts Yi next year, and that Yi's jersey number (9 for Guangdong, 11 internationally) will probably be one of the top 5 jersey sellers in the NBA, if not the very top.

If you believe all that is going to happen, then you find yourself wondering "Would ever surpass Yao in popularity?". You know what? I'm wondering that myself...

Yi Jianlian officially entering the 2007 draft.

2006-11-02T20:03:00.000+08:00

Although for months NBA draft sites have been putting Yi Jianlian on their 2007 mock drafts, it has finally been announced that it is certain Yi will be entering the NBA draft next year, which means (barring a total fall from grace that leaves him undrafted and unsigned) he'll be only the fourth Chinese player to do play on an NBA team.

(The Chinese article is here, if you want to read the original article).

Although I don't think it will be just clear sailing from here (the NBA team that drafts him, the CBA, and Guangdong will have a lot of negotiations on a buyout, contract terms and so on), this is the first big step.

However, the man himself, Yi, refused to comment on his feelings or where he thought he would be drafted, saying only that he was still focused mainly on winning the Asian Games and the CBA title.

After the CBA season has run its full course, I will be planning on focusing a lot more on Yi Jianlian and his coming NBA career, on his strengths and weaknesses, and what to expect and not expect from him.

Before the start of the CBA season, I wrote a long post about the change in the CBA schedule. At the time, I was opposed to the change, for reasons listed in the post. However, now, I may stand corrected. Of the three warmup games played by the national team before the Asian Games, one game will be against a junior Australian team, which won't do any power of good.

However, they will twice play against the champions of the NBDL, the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. Not only will this be good competition for the national team, it will also server as a comparison. If the team's top young prospects get outplayed by players that can't even make the IR of an NBA team, then there should be some serious re-thinking going on in the offices of the CBA. This is especially important for Yi. He should take this chance to prove himself, grab it by the horns, and dominate. Although it won't improve his draft position any, since a dominant performance is expected, the opposite, a lackluster game, would hurt his position a lot.

Asian Games roster and predictions

2006-10-29T22:37:00.001+08:00

Jonas Kazlauskas announced the 16-man roster for the training camp, which will be cut down to 12 before the Asian Games. Apparently, Wang Shipeng, Zhu Fangyu, Yi Jianlian, Wang ZhiZhi, Li Nan, Mo Ke, Du Feng, Liu Wei, and Tang Zhengdong all have guaranteed roster spots–unless they get injured, they won't be cut. That leaves Zhang Jinsong, Hu Xuefeng, Zhang Quingpeng, Chen Jianghua, and the three Aoshen players (Sun Yue, Zhang Songtao, and Huo Nan) to fight it out for the last three spots. I think Sun Yue and Zhang Songtao will make it in without any problem. The last spot will be hotly contested, Chen Jianghua will be the last two to make it. Both Zhang Quingpeng and Hu Xuefeng have had a better season than Chen, but I still firmly believe (and I think Kazlauskas recognizes as well) that Chen is still one of the top-three point guards in China, despite being less than impressive in his debut season.

If these predictions comes true, then the roster will look something like this:

PG: Liu Wei, Sun Yue, Chen Jianghua
SG: Wang Shipeng, Li Nan,
SF: Zhu Fangyu, Du Feng
PF: Wang ZhiZhi, Mo Ke
C- Yi Jianlian, Tang Zhengdong

Although Kazlauskas will probably have Yi Jianlian and Wang ZhiZhi as his starting (very athletic) Twin Towers, I think Tang Zhengdong will be the first one off the bench. His role will be something like Bonzi Well's on the Rockets this coming season–he doesn't start, but he plays almost as much as the other starters. I think that there will be a three-man rotation at the power forward and center spot. Kazlauskas did the same in the World Championships, with Yi, Wang, and Yao.

While the big man rotation has been getting better and better, Zhang Songtao will be left out in the cold—again. Zhang has the talent to be a star for China, yet with the flux of big men, he is without an opportunity to improve.

Although on my depth chart I listed Chen as shooting guard, because he is a naturally a shooting guard, I think Kazlauskas will use him (when he's in the game) as the primary ball handler. But, like Zhang Songtao, he has several other competitors at his position, so minutes could be scarce. However, his one advantage over Zhang is that he is the team's best dribbler, so Kazlauskas will use him in the face of a dogged full-court press from the other team.

Tattoos and Techs

2006-10-28T08:56:00.000+08:00

Over at ESPN, as part of a special preview for each team, the Daily Dime included a section called "Ask the Blogger", and the question asked was "What would it take for you to get a tattoo of the [insert NBA team] on your chest." I'm green with envy that each blogger could get a free appearance on ESPN. However, if I cannot participate in body, I can participate in spirit. So, I'll do my own twist on the question: What would it take for me to get a tattoo of the CBA logo?

I hope to keep my chest unscarred, but I would get a tattoo when...

–Yao Ming breaks a backboard, preferably over Amare Stoudemire, in the finals of the Beijing Olympics, on a momentum-turning play.

–Yi Jianlian becomes a full-fledged NBA player...on and off the court. That means he totes the gun, he sports the 'fro, and he shows off the girl.

–Chen Jianghua becomes the first Chinese player (besides Yao, of course) to get a technical. He dunks in the face of a big stiff, and then screams in his face, thereby drawing the tech.

–Tang Zhengdong shows the utter lack of quality centers in the NBA by not only being signed by a team, but playing, and starting for his team.

Unlikely? Probably? But then again, I don't like having a permanent scar on my chest. And I think most bloggers who participated on ESPN didn't either, so they just said some wacko things. And didn't it make it all the more brilliant?

The CBA and its system

2006-10-27T15:29:00.000+08:00

On Tuesday night, Guangdong brushed aside Shangdong. Two days before, they shell-shacked the Zhejiang Lions, and walked away with a 35 points victory. The game before that was another 35 point win, this time against Shanghai. In short, after a 6-point opening win against Bayi, they have dominated everyone. No team has come close to even challenging them, let alone getting a win. Maybe this will change when Jiangsu and their Player of the Week Tang Zhengdong comes calling on Friday, but the Tigers' dominance has already been established for all to see.

This team is a dynasty by anyone's standards. They already have the "three-peat", and a fourth straight title in looking very, very likely. Indeed, they might threaten the Bayi Rockets of old, who won the CBA's first six titles. And one question that is already being asked around the league is: Can they win it all? That is, can they go undefeated throughout the regular season and sweep the playoffs? As the season progresses, that seems more and more likely, and with a shorter season, the odds for it get higher and higher.

And perhaps the most scary thing of it all is that this team isn't even as good as they want to be, as the team's collective prime has yet to be reached. Their three native starters, Wang Shipeng, Zhu Fangyu, and Yi Jianlian, are 23, 23, and 19, respectively. Although they'll almost certainly be losing Yi next year to the NBA draft, they'll hardly be affected, as junior national team starter, Zhou Peng, will simply be able to step in and fulfill his role. You could take away their foreign import, Terrence Green, but they could fill that hole with Chen Jianghua or Liu Xiaoyu, two of China's best young point guards. To say that they are stacked at every position is a big understatement.

Now, why write about this? Well, the Tigers are probably the perfect example of the almost unique (and outdated) system that is now in place in the CBA. Basically, there is no trading, no salary cap, no draft, and the only free agents are players that were released by their team (can you imagine a free agent market where the best free agents were Keith Van Horn and Dermarr Johnson?). Because of this, the Guangdong GM doesn't have to worry about whether one of his starters will get fed up and demand a trade, or whether there's enough room left in the salary cap to resign his star player (actually, I don't even think CBA teams have a GM, since he wouldn't have much to do). As a result of this, a team can easily retain their superstars, and become and remain a dynasty for many years, while the bottom-level teams stay the same. So, while Steve Kerr is wondering "Is parity good for the league?", the CBA is (or should be) wondering how to make the league more competitive. Thee remedy is actually as clear as anything: Every league has player movement, maybe some more and some less, and in different forms, but they all have a lot of players moving around. In the interest of competitiveness and progress, something similar should be instituted in the CBA. Maybe it doesn't even have to be all at once, but a step-by-step implementation will do wonders for the CBA's overall competition level. And no just for the competition; as each team gets better and has a better chance at winning, the fans will stick around and become more intereseted, thereby raising the popularity of the games, the attendance, and ultimately (and most important), the profit.

Beijing Olympics: China Exposed

2006-10-22T17:12:00.000+08:00

In this article, Yao Ming says that his fellow countrymen should "stop shouting in public and respect pedestrians". All of this is for, of course, the Beijing Olympics, so that China can present an image of an "internationalized host nation with a great cultural tradition."

Now, a while back I compared the upcoming Olympics to the "Hitler Olympics" (the 1938 Summer Olympics). There was massive cleanup before those Olympics, and it will and has been the same now, 70 years later.

Why? Well, China is a growing country, and despite its eagerness to show that it's very advanced compared to the rest of the world, it is in reality very poor, and not advanced at all in modern ways. The biggest reason for this is that China has been for years an isolated country. Some might think it's impossible for one of the biggest countries in the world in size and population to be cut off almost completely from foreign influence, yet that it what has happened. Furthermore, China is the oldest surviving civilization in the world, and over the years, its many and varied traditions have been kept intact, or at least a lot of them, anyway. However, a breakthrough from the outside was inevitable, and it did happen, although only gradually and over a period of years and decades. However, the processs had speeded up in the last 10 years, a lot of which goes to the fact that China is now a world leader.

So, how does this relate to Yao, and the Olympics? Well, in two year's time, what you'll have is a city hosting thousands of international players, reporters, and more, and being watched by billions around the world. This has never, ever happened before in China. Never have they had this kind of openness before so many people. So, gut check time for the Chinese goverment all around. The first thing they want to do is hide everything that's bad in China, and sad to say, there's a lot of bad things in China right now. The people are poor, mainland China is known for thieves and pickpocketers (here in Hong Kong, people are very wary about going over the border to Guangzhou, because it's notorious for having a ton of pickpocketers), and people are very backward. So, word is spread (secretly, of course), that "bumping off" poor people is OK, or that maybe you finally need to crack down on these thieves. Anything to maintain that good image to the outside world.

But, Yao, being both a patriot and a truthful guy, suddenly comes out with "we [need to] work on our public courtesy." Perhaps more people listen to Yao than any other Chinese figure, premier, prime minister, and everyone else included. So, to say publicly, in front of billions, that Chinese need to work on common courtesy and manners...well, talk about losing face. It's true, but no one (in China, at least) is supposed to say.

However, the worst thing about the Olympic "preparations" and all is that it's all game. Everyone knows that China is poor, and a lot of people are uneducated and backward. And when the games are over, and everyone leaves, you know what's going to happen? Those people who were swept off the street will come right back again, and Beijing will be back to "normal": corrupt, uneducated, and poor.

Zhejiang vs. Fujian

2006-10-21T08:49:00.000+08:00

For the past week or so, Arthur Volbert over at AsiaBasket has been going on about a "new name to remember". Ding Jinhui is supposedly only 16 years old, yet he scored first 22, then 25 points in consecutive games. However, the game after that, he only scored 5, so I was very pleased when CCTV-5 decided to show his team on Friday night, as I wanted to see whether he was just a flash-in-the-pan, or the real thing.

The game itself was quite exciting, as Fujian, who was down almost the whole second half, made a push in the last minute, thanks to a couple of threes. Zhejiang had a one-point lead and the ball with about 50 seconds left, but they missed (the game recap at Sina.com said it was a foul, but I didn't think so), and a lob from Fujian's Chris Porter got Fujian a wide-open layup with 22 seconds left. Soumaila Samake (a big Nigerian dude) had a last chance, but that was off the rim, and so Fujian came away the winners.

This was my second time to see Fujian's Yang Chao, and I became even more impressed with him than ever. He scored 32 points (a team-high), shot 8-of-14, made two threes, and was instrumental in bringing Fujian back from an 11-point deficit. He can definitely shoot, as he lit it up from 20+ feet several times. Could he make the national team? I think it's a definite possiblity. Maybe not for the Asian Games this year, or even next year, but sometime in the future, he definitely has a fighting chance. He's still only 20, so his path can only go upwards from here.

However, the big question is Ding. Was his scoring streak a fluke, or was it a sign of things to come? Well, after watching him play a full game, I can't say I was terribly impressed with him. He's solid, but not great. However, for a 16-year old to be solid when playing against guys twice his age, then solid is great. In 22 minutes, he had 8 points and 5 rebounds, shooting 2-of-6. He hustled and he fought for rebounds, which is more than what can be said for most top CBA players. He's got a good foundation, and those 20-point games will give him a lot of confidence. If he keeps on building on his solid base, then his road will be very long and very rosy.

China Newswire

2006-10-20T17:27:00.000+08:00

This is kind of embarassing to post, but I'll say it anway: In my post about Shang Ping, I said he was "the first Chinese player since Ma Jian to play in NCAA Division I basketball". However, I am sorry to say that I have now found out that that is incorrect. Aaron Xia, who is already a junior, is playing D-1 ball at The Citadel. Many thanks to Xu.Jing for posting this.

Actually, after a little Google research, I found that, interestingly enough, he actually knows Yao Ming, as they both went to the Shanghai Sports Academy together. More info on that here.

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Now that I've accomplished all the goals I set for myself concerning Wikipedia, I've now decided to put the wind under my wings and set my sights on Youtube. So, the first thing I did was create a Chinese basketball Youtube group. As you can see, I've already added 60 vidoes. The videos include (but aren't limited to) Yao Ming, Wang ZhiZhi, Yi Jianlian, Chen Jianghua, Sun Yue, and more. In short, if there's a video about any Chinese-related player, then it'll be in there. The videos really do include everything, from the good (Chen Jianghua in the World Championships), to the bad (Sun Ming-Ming video clip), to the ugly (more Sun Ming-Ming).

Jiangsu vs. Liaoning

2006-10-17T18:52:00.001+08:00

Sunday night, CCTV-5 provided a game between these two teams, and after the final score was confirmed (118-107 to Jiangsu), I came away with a few good (and bad) impressions.

1. This was the first time I saw Yi Li, a 19-year old small forward, in action, and frankly, I wasn't impressed at all. Several people have said that Yi should replace Zhu Fangyu as starting small forward for the national team. I strongly disagree with that. Their main reason for replacing Zhu is that Yi is much more athletic. If Yi is an athletic player, then I would take the "fundamental" player any day. Actually, Zhu is neither very fundamental or un-athletic. He's skilled (meaning he can shoot lights out–usually), he can defend with some decency, and, most importantly, he has some bulk on his body. Yi is as skinny as a stick. I think he's ascending towards the national team, and he's still a teen, so he's got a while. Neverthless, he's not going to be starting for a while–probably not until after the Beijing Olympics. The new generation of Chinese players are coming up very fast, but they're very young, very raw, and very skinny (see Yi and Chen Jianghua).

2. The hero of this game was Tang Zhengdong. He was formerly on the national team until he got an attitude problem. Now, he's demoted back to the CBA, but it seems he really wants to get back. 40 points and 15 rebounds were on his stat sheet. Watching his movements, I'm not suprised that he went undrafted in the recent draft and no one signed him afterwards. He's got the moves and he's got the strength, but he's has feet of gum. His speed is somewhere between Yao Ming's and Sun MingMing's. Some speed agility training would be the best thing that could happen to him. If he improves (he's still only 22), then he could be a player in the mold of Mengke Bateer. And one more comparison- Tang vs Jiangsu–40 points, 15 rebounds. Wang ZhiZhi against Shanghai–41 points, 10 rebounds. Season scoring average–Wang ZhiZhi 34.5, Tang Zhengdong 32.5. Obviously, tt's a rough comparison, but I think that another improvement from Tang this season could see him in the NBA next year.

3. As Liaoning made started pressing late in the game (futilely, as they ended up losing anyway), the level of the CBA was once again made clear to me. Liaoning employed a full-court zone press with a halfcourt trap, and when the point guard of Jiangsu dribbled into the trap, instead of attacking the defenders and advancing past halfcourt that way, he instead turned and threw it to his backcourt partner, and Jiangsu got the ball over the line that way. OK, that's a nice strategy. However, in the NBA, do you see guys like Tony Parker throwing the ball to a teammate in a press defense? No, you him going right at them, and through them. The same goes for Nash, Iverson, Kidd, and all the other point guards. The fact is that CBA guards can't do the same against the less physical competition of their own league. Their physical strength is part of the problem, but their mentality is the bigger problem. Chen Jianghua is not a physical specimin; he's actually rather skinny and weak. Yet he was fearless, in driving to basket, and in challenging in press. The first time he came in when China was playing against Greece in the World Championships, he sped past the Greek defenders, and got Yi Jianlian an open look at the basket. I would have laughed, but I realized that that was the first time all game (it was mid-way in the second quarter already) that a Chinese guard tried to go past the press.

So, once again, I return to my favorite topic (or least favorite, depending on how you look at it): Chinese players don't have the heart. They're skilled, but they have no heart. Or no, let me put it this way: They have some skills, but they don't have other skills because those skills require heart. For example, how much heart does shooting require? Not an ounce? How about rebounding? To sacrifice your body and bang inside, it requires a lot (in fact, every junior high coach will tell you that in rebounding, heart is underrated, height is overrated. China has the height, but not the heart). The same goes for driving inside and defense. Yao Ming has often stated that China has the scorers, but does not, among other things, have the rebounders, the defenders, the drivers. The guys with heart are missing. The NBA term for 99% of Chinese players (Yao being that one percent) would be soft. Take a look at the guys who are considered "tough" in the NBA, the guys who are the exact antonyms of soft. Just a few names: Bruce Bowen, Ron Artest, Ben Wallace. Is it any coincedence all three are renowned for their defense?

Chinese players are often called "zombies" or "robots" in the way they seem not to care about losing or winning, and right now I'm afraid I can't disagree with those people.

Yao is out again; Fears are in

2006-10-12T19:21:00.000+08:00

Chinese basketball fans should be watching the CBA. Houston Rockets fans should be celebrating their win against the Grizzlies in their opening preseason game. Yao Ming fans should be revving up to watch Yao in action for the 2006-2007 season. Instead, every fan in those three categories are looking at this news article from the Houston Chronicle. The long and the short of it is that Yao is sidelined again, and this time for 10 days. The worries are not over the missed time (10 days in the preseason is not a big deal at all). It's the fact that, once again, Yao is missing time. And it's not missed time from unrelated injuries. It's the same toe, again and again. This is a problem that Yao has had for over a year.

Perhaps the first question this raises is whether Yao is still durable. For the first three years of his career, Yao missed two games in total. Now, a year and 27 missed games later, there a question. Just a whisper, but if he misses time in the season, then those whispers will come out in the open.

And how tragic would it be for a guy like Yao, with an indomitable spirit, and an unquenched will to work, to become just another guy who could have been so much better, but got overtaken by injuries. In every sport, in every league, you can name guys whose careers were interrupted, shortened, or even cancelled altogether because of their injuries. Perhaps the first NBA player to come to mind would be Bill Walton. How ironic would it be if Yao, who was hyped by Walton from the very beginning, would become like him?

Chinese basketball fans should be watching the CBA. Houston Rockets fans should be celebrating their win against the Grizzlies in their opening preseason game. Yao Ming fans should be revving up to watch Yao in action for the 2006-2007 season. Instead, every fan in those three categories are looking at this news article from the Houston Chronicle. The long and the short of it is that Yao is sidelined again, and this time for 10 days. The worries are not over the missed time (10 days in the preseason is not a big deal at all). It's the fact that, once again, Yao is missing time. And it's not missed time from unrelated injuries. It's the same toe, again and again. This is a problem that Yao has had for two years.

Perhaps the first question this raises is whether Yao is still durable. For the first three years of his career, Yao missed two games in total. Now, a year and 27 missed games later, there a question. Just a whisper, but if he misses time in the season, then those whispers will come out in the open. And this quote from Yao's personal trainer, Keith Jones, will only make them louder:

When asked if Yao could have such problems as long as he plays basketball, Rockets trainer Keith Jones said: "It's possible. It's very possible.

And how tragic would it be for a guy like Yao, with an unquenchable will to work, and a great willingness to play through pain, to become just another guy who could have been so much better, but got overtaken by injuries. In every sport, in every league, you can name guys whose careers were interrupted, shortened, or even cancelled altogether because of their injuries. Perhaps the first NBA player to come to mind would be Bill Walton. How ironic would it be if Yao, who was hyped by Walton from the very beginning, would become like him?

However, below those concerns is the underlying question – did Yao bring this upon himself? There is a delicate balance for a professional athlete as to whether he should continue playing despite an injury, or to sit out to avoid aggravating it further. His doctor can advise and recommend, but the decision is ultimately in the player's hands. Throughout his career, Yao has been choosing to keep on playing, and has focused on the short-term, even though it hurt him in the long run. I find it so sad that Yao's career could be messed up because of a few decisions early in his career that were made with the best intentions, yet hurt him a lot later on.

Is this too doom and gloom? As a Yao fan, I am desperately hoping that I'm overreacting. 80 games a year, every year, is still possible in Yao's career, but right now it's looking a lot less likely than it was two years ago.

Shanghai vs. Fujian

2006-10-11T18:03:00.000+08:00

Since I could not watch the opener, I instead sat down to watch Shanghai play Fujian on Sunday night (that's like missing matchup between the Spurs and the Mavs, and having to settle for a Hawks-Knicks game). Both are mediocre, low-level teams, the kind that aren't bad enough so that they start a complete makeover, but not good enough to get into the playoffs and compete. Shanghai hasn't been in the playoffs since Yao left, and Fujian were only promoted from the CBL to the CBA two years ago, and they haven't been to the playoffs in either year. Neither team was exactly brimming with talent, either, as Liu Wei was the only national team player in the game, and neither team had any NBA prospects (not even potential prospects).

However, it was interesting to watch Yao's old club, and the difference in them from five years ago. As I said, no playoff appearances in the last five years, and not even one season at or above .500. They justed folded after Yao left, showing that they had no infrastructure around Yao. They were a complete failure as a franchise, which is somewhat of a shame, since Liu Wei is a great point guard, and they're wasting away his career (Kevin Garnett anyone?).

Anyway, the game wasn't exciting most of the way, as the Sharks led in double-digits most of the way. A late Fujian run cut it to 5, but they got no further. Liu Wei performed brilliantly with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. I was also mildly impressed with Shanghai 6'8" small forward Wang Yong. This 20-year old only shot 4-of-12, but he made three threes, and while he's not good enough (yet) to be a candidate for the national team, his size and ability to move and shoot was intriguing. Fujian's top scorers were both foreign players, but Yang Chao (6-3, shooting guard, 20 years old) caught my eye. While both Yang and Wang are not big prospects, they're merely guys who I'm adding to my radar, as they probably won't rise to the top, but still have a chance to.

Guangdong Tigers vs. Bayi Rockets

2006-10-10T22:06:00.000+08:00

I was extremely disappointed when real life imposed on Saturday night, meaning I could not see the opening game of the new CBA season. And what a game it was. This is NBA equivalent of the Spurs and the Mavs facing off in the season opener. It's even serious enough that Jonas Kazlauskas came along to see it.

Anyway, down to the game. To my complete un-surprise, Wang ZhiZhi and Yi Jianlian battled it out with each filling the stats sheet (if there were fantasy leagues for the CBA, their owners would be celebrating). Yi had 26 points and 15 rebounds, and Wang had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. From the stats and from the final score, you can see that Yi had the better of Wang. This confirmed by almost-sure conviction that Yi was better than Wang. Why is this important? Well, it's not really, but it proves that Yi is better than an NBA scrub, which is what Wang is. Minimum, Yi be playing on the active roster during his NBA career, unlike Wang who was on the injured reserve the majority of his playing days.

However, one thing I was somewhat surprised by was the play of Chen Jianghua. He missed all three shots, and had two turnovers in nine minutes. In a way, it was a surprise, because I know his talent is above almost everyone else, but then again, it's not so much of a surprise. A couple of weeks ago I said "Chen's playing style...rubs against the traditional guys." Guangdong is a championship team, and for the coach of Guangdong (Li Qun), to put someone like Chen into the lineup, who could disrupt their offense, lose and game, and therefore ruin their season (in a 28-game season, every game is important), would be suicidal. Their fans would murder him, the players would revolt, and the management would eventually fire him. So, he didn't risk it. Terrence Greene (one of the Tigers imported players) played 30 minutes and Liu Xiaoyu played 19.

That strategy by Li is very different from what Kazlauakas did with the national team. Kazlauskas, having coached the Lithuanian national team, knows how China needs to play and who they need to play to be able to compete in the big leagues. So, in the World Championships, he gave Chen a chance to prove himself, and he definitely did. Guangdong's coach did not. However, even if Chen's lack of play wasn't his fault, his zero points and two turnovers didn't do any good. Maybe Li Qun will never play him, but that type of game definitely won't help his cause.

Yao gearing up for the new season

2006-10-06T15:59:00.000+08:00

While Yi Jianlian and Guangdong are preparing to defend their title, and Wang ZhiZhi and Bayi are preparing to challenge them for it, halfway across the world, across the Pacific, Yao Ming is warming up, on a much, much bigger stage, for the biggest goal. That goal, according to a Chinese propagandist, would probably be "to bring glory to my homeland", but even for a patriot like Yao, that's not the goal. All the Rockets want something a lot simpler than glory and honor. Another season of domination individually, and a playoff berth for his team would suffice. And just about everyone thinks that, Yao and company will be able to accomplish that goal. However, their future after that is a bit blurry. 45% of the general public that view the Rockets official site think that Houston will win the championships and Tim Potvak agrees with them. However, barring homerism and blatant stupidity, the more conservative of the talking heads thinks that the Rockets will be playing their way to the second round.

But, speculations aside, the fact is that this team is much, much more talented than two 2004-2005 Rockets team. That team won 55 games, and was one more shot (or one less foul) away from making the second round. The squad is superior, in talent, in athleticism, in experience. In every basically. However, as everyone, including (and especially) the players realize that the team is built for now. Their top three players, besides Yao and Tracy, will consist of 2 30-year olds (Bonzi Wells and Rafer Alston), and a 28-year old (Shane Battier). Almost all of their important players are in their prime, which means in about three years this team won't be fit to beat a Euro team (some of whom appear to actually be pretty good, since one of them just beat the Sixers). Doubtless, Luther Head and Kirk Snyder will turn out to great young players, but they are hardly players you want as your best young prospects.

So, three years on, will the Rockets be in the rebuilding mode, as so many teams are, or will they be resting on their laurels after winning a championship (or two)? This is something only the players can decide. However, one big issue for this time, at least in the early part of the season will how the fit in. There are 10 new players for the Rockets, and there going to be several positional battles going on (Head and Snyder for time off the bench, Wells and Battier for starting position), and between good players, too, so doubtless, to determine who goes where in the rotation, Jeff Van Gundy will be experimenting with the starting lineups for the first weeks. Memories comes floating back of the mess the 04-05 Rockets got themselves into at the start of the season (6-11 start, and fully 35 games to get back over .500) . The Rockets are expected to be contenders with teams in the West like the Mavs, Sun, and Spurs, but they'll be digging themselves into a deep, deep hole by starting off badly, and then finishing the season with not home-court advantage.

However, it's not only players that have been added. To Yao's teammates, he appears to have added even more moves to his varied portfolio of post moves. This (very encouraging) quote from the Houston Chronicle:

The Rockets saw a reminder of the Yao who dominated the second half of last season as opposed to the Yao who limped through the first half.

Bonzi Wells spoke of how agile Yao appeared. Rafer Alston said Yao looked stronger. Shane Battier cited Yao's refined moves.

Tracy McGrady hit on all of the above.

"I see the difference in Yao each year," McGrady said. "He comes back stronger. He adds another few moves to his repertoire. He looks more comfortable. He looks more fluid. He definitely looks stronger on the post."

Yao has already post moves that everyone knows are coming, yet still can't stop. To be able to add more makes him...well, I think "best post player in the NBA" would be a good description.

Although some people have made a big deal about Yao playing too much during the off season for China, Yao himself has said that playing in the recent World Championships made him feel "fresh" and "in much better shape." Did that extra training and warm up make him stronger and more agile, as his teammates said. I think that probably is so. It appears that those who say being patriotic and playing for his country is bad for Yao have been proven wrong...again.

However, on the subject of the national team. YaoMania recently interviewed Yao, and the controversial subject of Chinese players going to Europe, he said:

I guess it will happen. But I hope it will happen before it’s too late. Some of the players are past the age where the player can improve, and have more experience than young players. Some players can still improve at 26 (years of age), 27, 30, but the earlier they come out the more help they can get. I believe maybe after the Olympics some will come out, but I hope it’s not too late. I hope the CBA and their owner can give them the best career they can have.

Key phrase: "after the Olympics." That is, the Olympics in 2008. Two years from now. If Yao is correct about this (and he usually is on matters about Chinese basketball), then by then Yi Jianlian will already be in Europe. For Chen Jianghua it might not be too late, but still, that's two years which could have been periods of growth and development for Chinese players. How often it is that China moves as a turtle, not the hare. Maybe the only consolation is that the race of basketball is unlimited, and someday, eventually, that turtle will catch the hare up and win the race.

Chinese news

2006-10-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

Has anyone heard of Shang Ping? Anyone outside his mom and dad? No, probably not, not until this article came out, anyway. Now, he's the first Chinese player since Ma Jian to play in NCAA Division I basketball. He has verbally commited to the Nebraska Cornhuskers (although I doubt he knows what that last word means). I don't think anyone in China has really seen him play, since, as this article says, he was in a prep school before, and before that in a high school in Auckland, New Zealand (of all places). I don't think anyone knew about him until just a few months ago. But I think we'll be hearing a lot about him from now on.

I would love to creat a Wikipedia article for him, but I don't think he's important enough to create an article. We'll see.
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Once more, it's just a little independent clause stuck on at the end that proves to be of vital importance. AsiaBasket reports on what the national team might be doing this next offseason. Just normal news, what everyone expects. But then, right at the end, they say that "they might attend [an] NBA summer league next year." They treat it as nothing, but I don't want to, because this is actually major news. Granted, summer leagues are hardly a good comparison to the NBA. But still, it would be very, very good competition for the Chinese team. A summer league is full of college players, good ones, so it's level might be even better than a Division I league. Plus, the Chinese players could play against some of the top rookies. Can you imagine Yi Jianlian getting to play against Greg Oden? Chen Jianghua against OJ Mayo? That would be the greatest thing possible for everyone involved. If this new schedule change for the CBA is final, then those who pull the strings should make sure to do everything in their power to make it happen.

CBA schedule

2006-09-29T19:12:00.000+08:00

The CBA has now announced their schedule. Just the dates:

October 7- First game (Guangdong vs. Bayi Rockets)
November 1- Play stops, and Asian Games preparations begin
December 22- Play in the CBA resumes
February 7- Regular season
Mid-April (I'm unsure of this last date)- CBA championships end

The first game of the new season will tipoff at 7:30 PM local time, and the two teams will be the finalists of last year- the Guangdong Southern Tigers, and the Bayi Rockets.This is going to be a highly rated, highly anticipated game for several reasons

1. Four years in a row (since Yao left the Sharks), the teams have met in the playoffs. In the 2002-03 season, Bayi defeated Guangdong in the finals. However, since then, the Tigers have beaten Bayi three straight times, including twice in the finals.

2. This is Chen Jianghua's first regular season game with the Tigers. For Guangdong fans and NBA scouts alike, this will be a game to watch. For fans, it will be excitement in seeing a very good player. For the scouts, it will be to see how well he fits in with his team. They already know how good he is, but how he fits in with his CBA team and the CBA style is a question yet to be answered.

3. The last, but most important, reason, is that, not only is it Wang ZhiZhi's first game back with Bayi, it is the first time ever that Yi Jianlian and Wang will face up against each other. Yi has been called a "Little Yao", and although his game isn't completely alike to either Yao's or Wang's, his playing style and skills are much more similar to Wang's. Yao is a true low-post center, whereas Yi and Wang are perimter-oriented. Wang plays as a shooting guard, as he plays mainly in the high post (something like a more athletic Brad Miller). Yi is similar, but he's more of a small forward, as he can post up as well.

However, Yi hasn't been compared to only Yao and Wang's playing styles. Maybe the main question being asked is, "Will Yi be a success or bust?" Yao is probably the best success story of any Chinese athlete (except for maybe Liu Xiang). Wang is probably China's biggest bust in a long time. Yao succeeded because he worked hard, and Wang failed (mostly) because of the opposite side -- laziness. Yi isn't the most harding working of guys, but he's not lazy...yet. So his future is hanging in the balance right now, and only he can decide what the outcome will be.

News from China

2006-09-28T21:17:00.000+08:00

After having the whole World Championships and junior Asian Championships to watch Chen Jianghua, Yao Ming comes out with (I believe) his first official opinion of Chen. Since this Sina.com article is obviously in Chinese, I would translate it roughly, but I think that pryuen does a better job here.

The article isn't only about Chen, as Yao says several other things (Wang ZhiZhi was crucial to the team, especially in the fourth quarter against Slovenia, Wang Shipeng was very courageous to take that buzzerbeater against Slovenia, and he was very apprehensive when he first came to the NBA), but the most important thing, about Chen, was that he was the first player of his kind in China, and therefore, his playing style is in direct conflict to his teammates, on the national team, and on his CBA team.

Once again, there's a clash of old vs. new. Chen's playing style is very NBA-like (in fact, it's probably the most NBA-like of anyone in China, excepting Yao). That rubs against the traditional guys, like Du Feng, Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, and so on. Those are the old-generation guys. There are only three Chinese players that are "new-generation" players -- Yao, Yi Jianlian, and Chen.Therefore, they're outnumbered, but with Yao on the team, and a good coach in Kazlauskas, they have a good chance of being promoted. It apperas that the new generation is, slowly but surely, winning out.
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It appears that the owner of Beijing Aoshen, Li Su, has a good eye for talent. Unfortunately for him, so does Jonas Kazlauskas. Already, two of Aoshen's best players, Sun Yue and Zhang Songtao, are going to miss the first half of the season to play in the December Asian Games. Now, it seems, a third player from Aoshen will be joining his teammates. Huo Nan, a shooting guard for Beijing, has caught the eye of Kazlauskas, and now he has been invited to training for the Asian Games. If he makes the team, it will mean that Beijing has three national team players, which makes them almost as good as Guangdong (five national team players, three starters).

Yao still a representative of China

2006-09-27T22:35:00.001+08:00

Henry Abbott posted a little blurb about how much Tracy McGrady has benefited from becoming Yao's teammate. The quote from T-Mac was a

A lot of these kids over here in Asia really look up to me and watch my every move. They can tell me stories of things I’ve done, and I don’t even remember it. But it is true. Those things really happened. I just didn’t remember them. So this response was a lot more than I expected. So that’s a great feeling, for them to really be following my every move.

A must for a country to be able to compete in a sport internationally is that their lowest level players, the amateurs, must really love the game. Then, the next highest level will get more players from the lower level, and get better. That will affect the next highest level, and go up and up until it reaches the pro level. This is true in China, as the youngsters out there are all lacing up and balling, copying T-Mac.

There are hundreds of kids that love the NBA, idolize their basketball heroes, and copy their every move. With that kind of devotion bordering on reverence, a rise in overall talent is a guarantee. This affect is also multiplied by many times when you have 1.3 billion people, and such a high percentage of them are playing basketball.

And yet, when I think over this, I also realize that the majority those in America don't realzie that any of this is going on, and this extends not only to basketball, but also to all areas of Chinese culture. (Everything I say from now on is going to be very blunt) Most Americans are, quit simply lazy. They are content to stay within their own circle, and not explore anything outside of it. This is the same among sports and basketball fans, and maybe even more so. Millions of middle-aged men not only stay within their own circle, they limit themselves even more by focus all their attention on only basketball. So when a guy from a very different, secluded culture (Yao) walks in on them, it's no suprise that they become very flustered. A lot of people (American-born Chinese, mostly) accused those same guys of racism, but 90% of it was merely ignorance.

Also, since Yao was about the only link to China for most American NBA fans, those fans represented the whole of China with Yao. So every move by Yao was thought of as a representation of the Chinese people. One thing Yao conveyed was the loyalty and thoughtfulness of the Chinese people. But one misstep from him, and all that good rep was gone.

More and more, as I look back on Yao's first season, I'm amazed that he was able to survive. Not only did he have to adjust to the NBA style of playing, not only did he have to adjust to the different culture, he also had to represent 1.2 billion Chinese people. How many people could do all that at once? Yao is certainly a unique player, and person.

But now Yao is no longer a rookie. It's his fourth season, and despite all he's done, so much more needs to be done. The reality is one person can't do it all. Fortunately for him, more Chinese athletes are coming onto the international scene, both in basketball, and in other sports. But still, Yao is the main focus of American media, and he realizes it. A recent function in Houston (more info here), he said "I wish I can be a good textbook not only limited to the basketball sports." And for four years, hasn't he done a great job being a "textbook"?

DraftExpress recapping the U-18 Asian Championships

2006-09-26T17:06:00.000+08:00

Draftexpress with a little scouting report of the recent junior Asian Championships. I suppose I should be put to shame, since they have such a detailed report of players other than Chen Jianghua, and I didn't. But I would really like to know how and where he watched those games, since I couldn't find them anywhere. Well, I suppose there are advantages to being a big site like that, with lots of contacts, while we amateurs work solo (and, in my case, toil in obscurity).

However, did you find anything familar in the report? How about this?

Chen operated at will on the court, as virtually no defender could keep up with his incredible quickness, excellent ball-handling skills and footwork.

Yep, that's right, I posted that almost two weeks ago (that was the post that shot me to fame by being mentioned by J.E. Skeets). Maybe I should be ashamed, but it's nice to know that I beat DraftExpress to the punch.

One thing I haven't mentioned, but have noticed is this:

He looked in love with his one-handed layups (he removes his left hand sooner than usual).

That's a bad habit that's hard to break. If he goes to the NBA, and still has that tendency, can't you just see Ben Wallace and Dwight Howard salivating over that? His shot will be swatted into the crowd the first time he tries it.

Of course, this article wasn't only about Chen, as they also mentioned Zhou Peng, Han Shuo, and Liu Xiaoxu. Since I really can't add anything to what they say, just take a look at the article.

This reminds me of one of my goals for this season- watch everyone of those guys, plus guys like Xie Libin, Huo Nan, and a few others guys. Sound familiar? Probably not, because I've never mentioned that, because I've never seen them play. Seeing them play internationally in the Junior World Championships would be great, but a CBA game would suffice. Seeing a game live and in person would be even better. Unfortunately, that's a very unlikely goal.

New News

2006-09-24T15:04:00.000+08:00

As you can see, the layout of my blog has changed slightly (although not too much). This is due to the fact that I have changed my blog from the regular Blogger to the new Beta Blogger. This application has a lot of new features, but I switched because of only two. The first enables you to put "labels" on your posts, or file them under topics. For example, this post is labeled under News. And on the right side, down the page, you can see each at a glance each label. Obviously, Yao Ming and Chen Jianghua are my most popular topics. The other new geature is the ability to edit your template much more easily. Instead of editing raw HTML code, you can now simply click and drag to move around your "page elements".

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As I was browsing my "cousin" site, Globetrotter, I came across a link to my "sister" site. You've got to respect the guy who does TaiwanHoops. Even if I knew enough about Taiwan basketball to do a blog about it (I don't), I probably wouldn't make one. The reason I made this blog was because China is on track to take over basketball, and people want to know about it. Taiwan isn't threatening to take over the basketball world anytime soon (unless it's absorbed by mainland China, which is very possible). So he's never going to get a lot of views, and will probably always work in obscurity. And, since it's related to my site, I can't help but to link it.
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I am now honored to say that if you google Chen Jianghua, I now appear on the second page. Apparently, all my hyping him up has paid off. Now if only it was the same on Yahoo...
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Speaking of googling, if I google my name, I get 56 hits, which is pretty cool, since before I started this blog I probably wouldn't have gotten any. However, the excitement wears off once I compare myself to J.E. Skeets or Henry Abbott.

Chinese Basketball Wikipedia Project: Closed (For now)

2006-09-23T10:11:00.000+08:00

There are a lot of WikiProjects on Wikipedia (Two of them that I'm involved in are WikiProject: China, and WikiProject: National Basketball Assocation). I never created an official page for WikiProject: Chinese Basketball, but nevertheless, it was a serious undertaking, and quite a job for one person. But a completely free weekend is what I've had (and still have, since it's not over yet), and I haven't wasted any time (unless you consider staying on the computer for hours on end "wasting time").

So, I think I can officially end this mini-project, as I've accomplished almost all of my goals, and have completed all the important ones.

I've expanded Sun Yue, done some major editing for Yao Ming (major as in an hour of editing), and also edited Yi Jianlian. Since all the major Chinese players have been edited to my liking, so I think I can call it quits on that project. However, I'll still be maintaining those pages (updating and so forth).

One more article I created was for Hu Weidong, who is probably the most famous pre-Yao Chinese player. However, it is merely a stub, since I don't know that much about him, and I'm hoping someone else will be able to come along and add more to it. I posted on YaoMingMania about it, but no changes have been made yet.

But I didn't limit my activities to just Chinese players. I was the first to add to Tracy McGrady a part about him getting married. I also added infoboxes to Ryan Bowen, Shane Battier, and Luther Head.

I know, I know I'm shamelessly flaunting my hard work. Alas, I have no shame. My user page gives a full account of my editing career, as well as a little bio (complete with a link to here, of course).

But on a competely unrelated note, I also twice added a piece of news for Natascha Kampusch. On one occasion, I added a news article fully 15 minutes after it was posted on the site. I think I'm getting pretty good at this Wikipedia game.

AsiaBasket and Arthur Volbert

2006-09-22T22:10:00.000+08:00

I am usually in agreement with Arthur Volbert about everything in Chinese basketball, but in this case, I am afraid that I directly disagree with what he said. On the main page of AsiaBasket, he said that he agreed "with the CBA, not Yao" about the CBA's schedule change.

He said a lot of things, but the main things were:

If the proper competition and training is provided this will indeed help the effort to get an Olympic Medal. Winning a medal in 2008 would be the best thing that could happen to the CBA.

Yes, it is important to find good opponents for overseas play. But the Chinese can offer marketing incentives for European teams to play them, even exhibitions played during the season with teams out of title contention.

Even inferior first division European teams use the European style of play. Playing against these teams will give China's best players experience in playing the more intense, physical style of international play.

Sending several teams to Europe will help show China which players are best in the international style. There may be some surprises and players might rise to National Team status who might otherwise be overlooked in favor of players better at the less physical Chinese style.

His main reasons for supporting the change was that even if the Euro leagues would be in full swing, China could offer "marketing incentives" to teams that were "out of title contention." I think that's, to be honest, a rather silly idea. No team would schedule an exhibition mid-season, even with "incentives" as part of the deal. Even if the Hawks or Knicks were out of the playoff race, they would still play all of the 82 games, and not schedule an extra game, "marketing incentives" and all. National teams, of course, would be out of the question, as each player would be on a different team, and no sane coach would allow his player to leave to play against China, barely a top-10 team in the world. Probably the only teams China would be able to play against would be some sort of junior national team, or Asian teams, neither of which would be really challenging. Plain, boring old drills certainly aren't any good for the team, as the players have been doing those all their lives.

And one thing I think Volbert failed to justify is the more practical aspect of it, something which Yao pointed out specifically.

The change is a setback for the 11-year-old league, which has made rapid improvement over the past two seasons. CBA has established a good image among the fans. I think many of them will be disappointed.

When a league is not well protected by long and stable rules, the sponsors will be at a loss as how to get the gain from their investment.

It is for sure that their interests have suffered a blow. A league can not progress smoothly without sponsors' involvement.

A good league won't, can't change so suddenly. That's what the CBA did, and it's a jolt to fans, players, and sponsors alike. As a still fledging league, a decline in popularity (which is what this will bring) could be very detrimental.

Assorted News from China

2006-09-21T19:05:00.000+08:00

1. During my daily scour of Youtube, I came across two new videos of Chen Jianghua. One is a compilation video of Chen in the recent Asian U-18 Championships. The second is another highlight video, this time of a single game, against South Korea in the finals. I would recommend the second over the first, as it's much clearer and has better quality.

However, I'm not really a fan of highlights videos (or mixtapes, or remixes, or whatever you call them), since they really do no more than inflate the value of the players, showing only their offensive strengths (mixtapes are never made about defensive plays. Can you imagine a blazing hip-hop jam accompanying a highlight video of Bruce Bowen and his defense? I can't). One thing you can see from the video is that Chen didn't really set the team up and play point guard. No 8 on their team, Han Shou, was actually the primary point guard for them. He's a big guard, at about 6'5, and he might go on to great things.

2. Before the World Championships, NBADraft.net listed Zhang Songtao as one of the Chinese "prospects to watch", along with Chen, Yi Jianlian, and Sun Yue. I haven't mentioned him before, and I think I should now. The WC were his debut with the senior national team, and he didn't get a lot of playing time behind Yao, Yi, and Wang ZhiZhi (three games, 8 minutes total). However, I think this is a guy to watch. For one thing, he's a "normal" basketball player. If I may say so, Yao, Yi, and Chen are all "abnormal in one way or another. Chen has amazing quickness, Yi is very athletic, and Yao, of course, is very tall. Zhang, on the other hand, is merely a normal 6-11, 250 center/power forward. He plays in the ABA (along with Sun), which is obviously not a top-level league, but it's certainly better than the CBA, and it's exposing him to the "American-style" of play, and the more physical play he's exposed to, the better.

3. Finally, an article posted more than a week ago by Marty Burns of SI.com addresses the issue of Chinese basketball. I didn't reference it, because it didn't really say anything new. However, on the second page, there is one interesting quote from Del Harris (who, if you've forgotten, coached China in the 2004 Olympics).

Harris argues that the '08 Games are important enough to China that it
would be for the benefit of all if the pro owners would allow [Chinese players to go to Europe].

"It is too bad that there is not enough national team spirit among the
owners and not enough knowledge within the political ranks to make this happen." Harris says. "China has players who could play at a nice level in Europe: Zhu (Fangyu), Yi, Du (Feng), both Wangs (Zhizhi and Shipeng), Liu (Wei), Li (Xiaoxu) and Sun (Yue). That is eight players plus Yao who are very good and would vastly improve by playing the best competition for 60-80 games in the season leading up to the '08 Olympics. It is that kind of competition that has closed the gap between the NBA players and the rest of the
world."

First, I find it kind of interesting that he mentions a player like Liu Xiaoxu, who has yet to make the national team, but not mention Chen (one more reason to go on proclaiming Chen's brilliance to the world right here).

Also, he says that "it would be for the benefit of all if pro owners" allowed top players to go to Europe. I agree with him there, but then, I still see the other side, and, realistically, the right side isn't going to win out. Take the Guangdong Southern Tigers. They're aiming for their fourth straight championship this year, but if Yi, Wang Shipeng, and Zhu Fangyu all left, their team would be gutted, and the would almost certainly not be champs once again.

However, according to Sinobball of interbasket.net, there will be one Chinese player in Europe next year. Mengke Bateer has attracted interest from a few European teams, so good luck to him. This is a great first step, and if he is successful in Europe, then maybe it will encourage those in China to send others over there as well. However, it is only a first step. Bateer isn't even on the national team, and even if he gets better (he's already over 30, so it's doubtful), it won't mean much to China. Sending young players over is crucial. And as good as this piece of news is, it doesn't accomplish that goal.

Stromile Swift- Stifled...or Lazy?

2006-09-19T14:19:00.000+08:00

Jonathan Feigen and Fran Blinebury co-op a blog on Chron.com, an excellent resource for Rockets fans, and as a fan of Yao, I am therefore a Rockets fan.

In a recent post, they talked about Stromile Swift, who has recently been a very controversial topic for Rockets fans.

Was he really an overhyped player, that deserved no more playing time than he got, or was his natural talent simply stifled by the Jeff Van Gundy and his peculiar (even unique) system of play?

The comments on this article were very ranged. Some said he was "D O N E" (emphasis not mine), and others said he was "good" or at least had "potential." However, the general consensus was that Stromile had the skills, but not the heart (or passion or dedication,).

The sad fact of the matter is that there are many, many guys who come from the dark ghetto, and get to the bright lights of the NBA only because they have more God-given talents than any of the other dudes from the hood. And once they get there, they quit. They stop working hard, and simply rest on their laurels and money (Swift- 5.4 million in the upcoming year).

Stromile is one of those average guys (for the NBA) who could have been so un-average. Basketball is a game of discipline from an early age, a game where you have to practice hours and hours to get to the top. Yao Ming has no talent, no natural talent anyway, but he made himself the best by practicing and working and practing and working and then practicing some more. Kobe Bryant is immensely talented, but 95% of that came from the hours and hours he spent on his game, and the even more hours he spent exercising, running, weightlifting. Stromile is not a Kobe or Yao. He's, quite bluntly, lazy.

So, what's next for Stromile? He's back to the same city again, after an unsuccessful venture for a year. Will he succeed, or will he, after his career, simply become on of those tall black guys who used to play in the pros? Frankly, he won't be. Some people said he had potential, but potential is no more than a chance to get better if you work hard. And unless Stromile changes very fast, his actions have shown that he simply refuses to work hard.

The "other" big man

2006-09-16T21:13:00.000+08:00

I have neglected to mention Sun Ming-Ming, and for good reason. This blog is about Chinese players, specifically NBA prospects. Unfortunately, there is a common misconception that Sun Ming-Ming is an actual NBA prospect. As a steward of the truth, it is my job to rebut that inaccurate (in fact, entirely false) rumor.

Let me say it out at the very beginning, loud and clear: Sun is not going to the NBA. There's been a drought of good centers currently, but none so bad that Sun would be signed. He will just keep on playing in a subpar league, and be the Michael Olowakandi of the ABA -- OK career, but way overhyped.

Yao can actually move around pretty well for a big man. He's not uncoordinated. You look at Sun, he's just looks like he's got into a growth spurt, and never stopped growing (which is actually what happened). When he walks, he doesn't flow smoothly like Yao does. You translate that onto the basketball court, and he looks like a two-year old (and he's only played basketball about that long). And I don't even want to talk about his speed and athleticism. Yao looks like Speedy Gonzalez compared to him.

To call him anything more than a "freak who plays basketball" would be to seriously overrate him. I'm sorry to be harsh, and I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but the truth be told, he's bad.

Yao turns 26, but still isn't satisfied

2006-09-16T09:37:00.000+08:00

BasketballJones said "anyone who wants to learn more about Chinese ballers not named Yao " should go here. Well, I'm afraid that I still do cover Yao, and will do so more extensively as the season approaches (countdown- 25 days till the start of the preseason).

So, first item of business. At the end of the article talking about Yao criticizing the CBA, there was a little two-paragraph add-on about Yao's birthday. Yep, that's right, 4 days ago, Yao Ming officially turned 26. How the years fly by. I think back on some of Yao's achievements, and I find myself struggling to remember, was it in his second year, or third year? Did that player play with Yao in 2006, or the year before? That either means I'm losing my memory, or it means that Yao is now a true NBA veteran. And, Yao, of course, realizes that as well.

"I am 26-year-old. There is no excuse to say I am still growing up. It is time to have good results...As a dominant centre, you need to lead your team to victories and win NBA championships. Shaq O'Neal has achieved the goal, but I have not yet."

Over 4 years, what has Yao gotten? A 20/10 season, a couple of playoffs appearances...and nothing else. He was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs both times. The first time, against the Lakers, Yao had 10 points, and shot 3-of-10 in the final game. The second time, against the Mavs, 33 points from Yao meant nothing in a 40-point loss. Yao, being a guy who nevers think highly of himself, must have each time felt deeply affected by those losses and his own shortcomings. And, being the guy that he is, he simply went out and worked harder.

What is in store for Yao? Another first-round exit, a career that closely resembles Kevin Garnett? Will he forever play on a team that makes the playoffs consistently, but can never get past the first big hump? Or will he be the guy who lifts his team time and time again, and leads his team to the ultimate victory? Yao will never be satisfied until the number-one goal is reached, that championship ring. But will he ever get to it, by his hard work and willpower alone?

J.E. Skeets For Ever

2006-09-15T19:34:00.000+08:00

I now officially love TheBasketballJones and its author J.E Skeets. China Hoops has now been mentioned on a major blog for the first time ever. What can I say? I've had more views in two days then I've in the past month. And maybe most importantly of all, he's upped my "influence" rating on LowPost.net's blog rankings, which has taken me from the 70s, all the way up to 31st (one away from getting onto the first page. Man!). Still, it's nice to know I'm (almost) in the top 30 NBA blogs. And he also added me to his links, so I could but only do the same.

Hopefully, this will be the catapult I've been waiting for to launch my blog into higher circles. And as I predicted, as China becomes better and better, the demand for English blogs about Chinese players will grow. I'm trying to be the first to fill that vacuum. Apparently, I'm already on the way towards success. I just hope that all those people who came to check it out will continue to do so...

Yao calls out the CBA...again

2006-09-14T22:59:00.000+08:00

People's Daily has the story again, as Yao Ming criticizes the CBA...maybe "slams" isn't the right word, but all Yao's previous "suggestions" (that's all they were anyway), are mere figurative drops in the bucket compared to now.

When I commented on this a few days back, I said "they need to play against European teams." Yao Ming thinks the same thing, and according to him China will not "be able to find strong opponents at that time. The quality is more important than quantity. So the 28-plus days will have little meaning if we can not compete with strong teams from Europe and America."

But to get to the real heart of the issue, you have to look at just one small sentence, tacked on at the end of a paragraph, overwhelmed by the rest of the text. In the fourth paragraph of the above article is the sentence, "CBA officials said the reduced number of games is a response to the decision of the General Administration of Sports."

Before I go into detail, let me say something first:

A. The CBA is not just a Chinese basketball league. They run not only the top men's professional league, they also run amateur competitions, junior leagues, and then the national teams, both junior and senior. So actually, it’s the NBA and USA Basketball combined.

B. Furthermore, it's a government organization, and subject to political whims and whiles (which is always changing, especially in China). It's not just basketball; it's politics camouflaged as basketball. The CBA's main purpose (although it won't say this) is to keep up the appearance of power, and, most importantly, promote and bring glory to the blessed Motherland. They can do that by doing well in the Beijing Olympics. Make no mistake; by the time 2008 rolls around, the Chinese propaganda machine will be in full force. It's an opportunity like none other, and the "higher-ups" in Chinese government aren't ones to sit on their hands doing nothing. Think the '36 Olympics, minus the blatant racism. This is supposed to be the crowning glory for Chinese sports, and a chance for the country to show how "open" it is.

Every Chinese fan knows that team sports are not China's strong point (volleyball being the main exception). Ping-pong, badminton, swimming, diving, and other obscure Olympic sports are the sports in which China dominates. Basketball is the most popular sport in China, and its league is the most watched in China. So success is crucial, and the CBA decides to sacrifice the top professional league, disregarding fans and sponsors alike. After all, no one in China dares criticize them, and anyone other than that can't do more than make inconsequential noises.

BAM, the other shoe drops. Yao's criticism of the CBA has been coming fast and furious this summer, and with yet another change, he didn't remain silent. So what happens? As I stated in my post a week ago, the CBA's hands are tied. They can't even lift a finger, because every fan in China has Yao's back. They can't even blackmail him into silence by threatening to kick him off the team, because Yao is way, way too important to the team. Furthermore, doing that would raise the ire of Chinese fans, and (so the Chinese thinking goes), those watching from the sidelines will take that as a sign of weakness. Being embarrassed and showing weakness will not bring glory to China, so they can only remain silent. Grin and bear it, and seethe inwardly.

Chinese players on Wikipedia

2006-09-14T19:12:00.000+08:00

I registered on Wikipedia a few days ago (not having an account didn't prevent me from editing, it just made me active), and I didn't waste time. As I mentioned before, I made an article for Chen Jianghua. However, since then, I have also made an entry for Liu Wei, while also editing Sun Yue's page, Yi Jianlian's article, and Yao Ming.

However, for most of those, I was able only to edit or add a small part of their entries. The most pressing need, as I also mentioned before, is a scouting report, for both Sun and Chen. I also think that the article for Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets need some major restructuring.

I will be doing some more editing in the coming months, but, of course, I would love for any help to come my way. Stay tuned, as I will keep you informed.

Chen Jianghua named MVP

2006-09-14T18:39:00.000+08:00

According to AsiaBasket and Arthur Volbert, Chen Jianghua was, surprise, suprise, the MVP of the Asian Under-18 Championships. His officials averages were 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Arthur Volbert, who does an excellent job running AsiaBasket, posted in YaoMingMania recently that "On the national team he [Chen] could easily see time at the Asian champion alongside Sun Yue, with Sun playing point guard on offense but guarding the opponent's shooting guard on defense." That is an excellent idea (that is, if you forget about Liu Wei completely). But I don't think Chen can play shooting guard in international or NBA-level play. He played PG exclusively in the World Championships, and you'll see him doing the same next year and the year after in the Olympics. Against lesser talent like those in these Asian Championships, he did it (the lack of assists shows that), but not elsewhere. Well, take that back, he can also do that in the CBA. But with Wang Shipeng (starting shooting guard for China) on the team, I don't think he'll be playing it that much.

Contemplation

2006-09-11T22:23:00.000+08:00

On the anniversary of such a terrible day, it makes you wonder why basketball is so important. It makes you realize that, actually, it's not.

When I remember this, I sometimes wish I could step into the fantasy life, which we have all visited, but can never stay forever.

On a day like this, I don't wish to post. Just...why?

When I remember this, I sometimes wish I could step into the fantasy life, which we have all visited, but can never stay forever.

On a day like this, I don't wish to post. Just...why?

Chen Jianghua is now on Wikipedia

2006-09-10T20:44:00.000+08:00

Chen Jianghua has now made his Wikipedia debut, an article made by, you guessed it, yours truly. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out all the code, and make a two-paragraph article. Too bad the neutrality is already disputed, for no apparent reason.

However, two paragraphs is definitely my ultimate goal, and I'm hoping that I (or a basketball fan similar to myself) can expand the article, with the number one aim being to add a scouting report. So, if anyone if willing and able, I'd be glad to accept some help.

Meanwhile, the real Chen has been doing some work...but not too much work. In the finals of the Asian U-18 Championships, China beat South Korea by "only" 16 points. No stats other than the score, though. Very disappointing that FIBA Asia cannot supply anything in the way of boxscores or the like.

CBA changes their schedule

2006-09-09T19:01:00.000+08:00

I'm quite suprised to find that no sites have reported this (not YaoMania, InterBasket, or even AsiaBasket), so I'll be the first to break the news.

According to People Daily Online, the CBA has cut off a huge chunk of their schedule (112 games to be exact) in order to help Chinese players spend more time preparing for not only the Asian Games in December, but also for the Beijing Olympics, which is rapidly approaching.

I can see the perspective of the Chinese officials on this,and understand, and I don't think it's a bad thing...BUT, the one absolutely necessary thing is if the national team players are going to take time off this summer to do extra training, then they need to play against European teams. When Yao talked about sending Chinese youngsters to foreign leagues, he also mentioned that the first good step in this direction was that China spent the summer playing against European teams. This summer, doing that again is a must, an absolute.

If the CBA isn't going to send off Yi Jianlian or anyone else to a foreign league (and that's becoming more and more likely, once again), then the least they can do is let them face top-flight teams with NBA talent.

Yao the Humanitarian

2006-09-09T15:36:00.000+08:00

Yao has had a break of a couple of weeks since the World Championships, but he certainly hasn't spent the whole time lazing away.

Once again, he shows his true heart by making a visit to the Beijing Hui Lei School. It wasn't just an "ordinary" visit, as this one has a story behind it. Last year, Yao was working in Basketball without Borders (he's the kind of guy who does that stuff), and orinigally he was going to go to the dedication ceremony of the Beijing Hui Lei School. However, due to the fact he injured himself, he was unable to go, but later he wrote a personal letter to the school promising them that he would visit them in a year. And so, he did.

There are a lot of things that helped Yao adjust smoothly to the NBA, but one huge thing is that you really couldn't help but to like him. He wasn't arrogant, he wasn't presumptious, he was, in short, as unlike to most NBA players as day to night. Even if you get impatient with him, you cant' help but go back to him just because he's simply a great guy. Yi Jianlian would do well to learn from him.

On another note, he also made another visit, except this one wasn't so special (but it was still interesting). In this case, in his capacity as "official spokesman for China Unicom", he visited the reality TV show, Win in China (apparently, China seems to have found a liking for reality TV). Anyway, in this picture, he's shown signing the back of a girl's shirt. She looks extremely embarassed...but I would glady take her place.

Chen Jianghua

2006-09-09T09:05:00.000+08:00

For Yi Jianlian, he started making a buzz when he was only about 16. At first it was just a whisper, about this "really athletic 7-foot dude for China." But it was the 2004 Olympics in Greece that showed, to the world, just how good (and bad) he really was. For Chen Jianghua, he has come up the same way. For the past year or two, he was no more than an underground rumor, as insiders in China raved about this "Allen-Iverson like" player who completely broke the mold of a typical Chinese guard. The World Championships was his unveiling act. Crossing over Gilbert Arenas on his very first play was only the start of it.

Now, after guarding and being guarded by the likes of Arenas, Chris Paul, and Kirk Hinrich, he has gone to much less talent environment, to play in the Under-18 Asian Championships. It's obvious that no one there can match up to his quickness and athleticism, and no team can even come close to China. They're undefeated in 7 games, and their average victory margin is almost 50 points (their biggest win, by the way, was against Hong Kong, with a 94-point deficit; the Hong Kong basketball team always make me proud to live in Hong Kong). They are now going to face South Korea in the finals, although the outcome doesn't really matter, as they have already qualified for next year's Junior World Championships (top three team advance).

The problem with all this is that it does absolutely nothing for the Chinese players, especially for Chen. It doesn't make them better, because no one can compete with them, and they really don't have to work hard to get the wins. For a player like Chen, who has real NBA potential, being challenged is the most important thing of all. Chen is so naturally gifted, that, especially since he's playing against a lot of non-athletic players in China, he'll be able to score easily without making an effort to use fundamentals. If you watch Chen, you can see that's he's naturally flashy, and he even makes an effort to be flashy. Being showy is fine in my book but when you put that over your fundamentals, then you have a problem. Right now, he's playing against a lot of less-talented players, and I think that (understandably) he feels that he can kick back and relax a little, be a bit more free with his shots and so on. The same thing is going to happen when he gets to the CBA, because, if he keeps on growing and developing, he's going to be the best point guard in China, and the margin between him and the next guy will be very big.

You see, the problem with the CBA is that there's a big gap between the best players in the league, the national team players, and the rest of the players below them. The talent isn't really spread out that much, so if you're one of those top 12 guys, then you don't have to play hard to play well. This is especially true for Chen and Yi, because they are talented enough to get by on their athleticism alone. Yi is already doing this, and if Chen stays in the CBA, then he'll be doing it to. This will seriously hurt their chances of being drafted highly, and it will make their transition period from the CBA to the NBA a lot harder. Yao had a really hard time of it himself, and he was never one to rely on his athleticism. He was a polished product, something Yi and Chen are not, That's why Yao has said, over and over, send these players to Europe. He's said it at least three times since the World Championships, and I think he'll keep on saying it until someone actually acts upon his advice.

If you haven't noticed...

2006-09-08T23:06:00.000+08:00

I've changed my name from YaoMing4Ever to ChinaHoops. As I have few, if any, regular readers, I don't think it'll be a bad transition.

This isn't just a name change on a whim; I changed for a couple of reasons:

1. I originally wanted to focus completely on Yao in this blog, but when I really started getting serious about posting in my blog, I realized that I definitely would not be able to compete YaoMania. It's been around since before Yao entered the NBA, has thousands of views a day, and has been mentioned and is read by national media. With such a well-established site, I had no chance.

2. As I looked at the popularity of Chinese basketball, and then at the blogs that cover basketball, I realized that there were no English blogs that covered Chinese basketball, and covered it exclusively. I believe I am in a unique position to convey information about Chinese basketball to anyone who cares to listen. I have the best of both worlds, as I gather information from YaoMingMania, InterBasket, AsiaBasket, and then NBA forums like RealGM and Basketballboards. I think that I am best informed and equipped of anyone to talk about Chinese basketball (well, maybe that's a stretch, but no else is willing, so I'm stepping forward).

Right now the demand is for Euro-league blogs, but as Chinese basketball grows and becomes better (pretty soon, they'll be sending first-round picks to the NBA yearly), the same demand will be shifting to looking for English-language content blogs. I think I'm the first of these (I think that "pioneer" might also be a stretch).

Rest assured, loyal readers (no, scratch that, there aren't any), I still will be posting about Yao constantly. He'll probably be my main focus, as he is the only Chinese player in the NBA right now. But, when Yi Jianlian joins him in a year's time, my focus will change, while at the same time still covering NBA prospects like Chen Jianghua and Sun Yue.

Is H-Town an attractive place for free agents?

2006-09-03T17:32:00.000+08:00

A recent topic on RealGM brought up an interesting question: are free agents attracted to Houston? Is this a team a free agent would want to go to?

E Wizzle (the moderator of the Rockets board, and, of course, a tremendous poster) summed it all up, as usual, clearly and precisely, and, once again, correctly.

You're only as good as last season to a lot of people and FA's are among them. There are really two groups of players that take paycuts. The veterans looking for a good chance at a ring or young guys who want a favorable situation in which to make a splash, hopefully leading to a bigger contract down the road. Houston didn't offer either of those two scenarios last season and as the result, lost the two groups that would most likely take a paycut to come here. But on the bright side, all it takes is one great season to reverse that.

I would want to add one thing to that -- besides championships teams or teams that'll play young players, a third team that would be attractive to free agents would be a team that is fun to play for. That would be created with the advent of teams like the Suns, with their run-and-gun style, and teams after them like the Mavs and Sonics (who have copied them with varying degrees of success).

Houston, as he said, doesn't fit into either of the first two categories, and they certainly aren't a run-and-gun team (in fact, they're polar opposites to the Suns and Mavs). About the only thing going for them is Yao and T-Mac (especially Yao). When you play with those two, it's only a matter of making the open shots they're going to give to you.

However, as E Wizzle said again, one season of 50-55 wins, and they're back in the the good books of the free agents.

While I'm talking about free agents, I sincerely hope that Vassilis Spanoulis does not become a Swift. Obviously, they are two very, very different players, completely different, actually, but the Swift debacle is still on everyone's minds. Maybe we should played him more, but the word raw instantly reminds me of him, and I involuntarily shiver.

What next for Team USA?

2006-09-03T16:19:00.000+08:00

After winning the bronze medal against Argentina, the question that arises for the US is -- what next? Do we add better players, play together more, or stay the same?

Well, first of all, I think that, whatever others may say, the US is still the best team in the world. This is the best in the world, without changes. The loss against Greece was because the missed free throws when they had to make them. Despite how far international basketball has come, the US still has the talent to win against teams simply because of their superior offense. They beat Italy because of their offense, they nearly beat Greece because of their scoring, and they did the same to Argentina. This is not a defensive team, to say the least. Some people criticize them for playing one-on-one too much, but two points are two points, no matter how you score them, and America can beat any team in the world playing that way.

However, I think that they can become even better...by becoming worse. In other words, take off some of the scoreres, and put in more role players. On Team USA, you have Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, and Chris Paul. That's seven players who are relied on by their team to score 25 points a night, seven franchise players. History shows that teams like that don't succeed, because all those players are most effective with the ball in their hands, and don't do well without it. Everyone made a big deal about Shane Battier making the team, a real live roleplayer. But they need more than just one guy. They need guys like Wade, Anthony, and Lebron of course. Those are the guys who are relied upon to shoot and score. But players that only rebound, only shoot, and only play defense are also needed. When you have five guys out on the floor who know they have only one thing to do, and they know exactly what it is and how to do it, then you're going to play a lot better than if you have five guys who have to do several things all the time.

One of the most urgent things is a big man. Not just any big man, but a defensive, helpside blocking big man. Get Joel Przybilla or Steven Hunter if need be, but just get a big man who plays defense. One of the biggest weaknesses of Team USA was the lack of interior defense. The opposition could ski right past perimeter guys and get an easy layup. Howard and Brand are good blockers, but they also have other worries. You'll also find that once you get a good center who'll be right behind you to back you up and help on your man, and the opposition knows he's going to go for the block, then they'll stop driving so much, and will start taking low-percentage jump shots. That was not a characteristic of the USA's defense.

So, what's the point of all this? Why improve the team if they can already beat any other country? Well, as I said before, the international players have improved by leaps and bounds -- big leaps and bounds. The NBA still has more talent, but they've gone from winning by huge margins, to winning but nearly losing, to winning, but also losing sometimes. Someday, teams like Spain or Agentina, or even China, will have the teamwork (which is how Greece won), and the talent and athleticism. Then the US will be up the roaring Nile in a little coracle without a paddle.

The ranged opinions

2006-09-01T20:31:00.000+08:00

There are some who, when seeing the morning headlines, will simply go on their life, since, in reality, it doesn't affect them. There are others, who, pretending that it actually affects their life, will start groaning and moaning over their morning coffee. And there are the real geeks, who put their opinions online (like me, except I'm doing it over dinner). Those in the NBA "blogosphere" had various opinions, from disbelief to shock to anger.

The Nugg Doctor "couldn't believe" it. Basketball Jones did pretty well on its live play-by-play.

"Absolute MONSTER 3 from Greece!!!"
"AND ANOTHER 3!"
"Greece hits another 3!"

The Mighty MJD Blog called it "sophisticated" and "beautiful"...the Greeks' offense, that is. He called the US "ugly". TrueHoop was its usual neutral self. He didn't say anything, actually. RedsArmy said that "this was supposed to be a new kind of Team USA...But a Greek team without a single NBA player on the squad took out the US 101-95." 20-Second Timeout posted that "Greece dissected Team USA's...defense" and Greece "got whatever it wanted".

About the only positive note was from HoopsRambling. "At least no more 3AM wakeups for me." And, in a way, that sums up the attitude of those in America. OK, we lost. But, hey, we still have the NBA to talk about, so who cares. Leave the Argentines and Spanish players to battle it out on the world stage. It really doesn't matter that much.

Gone without a trace

2006-09-01T18:23:00.000+08:00

Many millions of basketball fans in America will be waking up to their morning coffee soon, and on the morning news they're going to see the big headlines -- Americans LOSE. Ya, that's right, to Greece. The so-called "Pistons of the NBA". They certainly have copied them pretty well. The "real" Pistons beat the Lakers and 4 Hall of Famers. These "copy-cat Pistons" have done the same to a team that is full of All-Stars and superstars.

This, obviously, was a disappointing loss. Even if they win the third-place game and get the bronze, this is going to hurt all over. This finally shows that, truly, the Americans will no longer really dominate. They're going to win a gold medal...eventually, but no more 30-point wins on average.

This game really showed the lacking of this team. For one thing, the Greeks used the pick-and-roll to perfection. Every time they used it, they got a good shot, and most of the time it was an open layup. Down the stretch, consistenly, they couldn't stop the team. Even Bruce Bowen couldn't have helped here. He could have guarded, say, Vassilis Spanoulis, but then they could have gone to another player, and have done just as well.

Plus, they American's couldn't make the free throws when they needed to, and the Greeks could. 20/34 from the line for the US. 14 misses from the best players in the world? Carmelo, 6-of-10, Wade, 6-of-9, Lebron, 1-of-4.

So, what happens now? You can't put anymore players on. They have a team of stars, there's no more talent better than those on the team now. The US simply has to face the fact that...well, they're normal. No more Dream Team. Disappeared, just like every victim on Without a Trace. Will we ever find that Dream Team again?

War of the Words

2006-08-31T20:51:00.000+08:00

There are tons of sports newspapers in China, and not surprisingly, the opinions of the game against Greece were very varied.

But, among the inconsequential opinions published by miniscule writers (in both stature and power), the voice of the many of the day shines through.

Yao was clearly disappointed by this performance of his team, although he didn't say so it in so many words. So, as politely as he could, he said:

We cannot make enough progress by the national league alone: it's like trying to build a cart without knowing how.

Chinese players have to go overseas to play. I mean, they should go there alone and fight for their positions on the teams. This is the only way to lift the overall level of Chinese basketball

He didn't exactly order the Chinese basketball officals around, but he came as close as he dared. Now, those same officals have a Yao-sized egg in their face. They certainly can't deny it, as any Chinese basketball fan would say the same. They can't rebuke Yao, either (at least not in public), as Yao is too big internationly for them to do that, and they would be criticized themselves for rebuking someone who is speaking the truth. They could simply remain passive, but then they would lose face.

So, it appears the only way they're going to wipe the egg off their face is if they actually send their promising young players to the European leagues. Since they're aiming for a medal in two years at the Olympics, they should immediately send Yi Jianlian and Chen Jianghua to a European league. Yi will already play a year in the NBA before the Olympics, but going to Europe will help smooth the transitition between the CBA and the NBA. Hopefully, if Chen plays in a more controlled game in Europe that emphasises a passing game, then he could learn to play under control, and learn maybe even better than if he was in the NBA. Two years in a Euro league, and he'll be much improved when playing in the Olympics, and then maybe enter the NBA in the year after.

Seems like a good idea? To me, to you, to just about every fan of Chinese basketball, the answer would be yes. But to the bigwigs that control the CBA, then the answer, very possibly, could be no. I can somewhat understand their concern, because when your guys go the Euro league, or to the NBA, then you simply lose your investment. The Shanghai Sharks used to be champions, but now that Yao's gone, they're no better than a consistent lottery team (well, there is no lottery in the CBA). That is a valid point, but I think if you look at it in the long-term, then you can see the benefits.

The Weekly What-if

2006-08-31T11:07:00.000+08:00

As a certified arm-chair NBA second-guesser, the what ifs of the world are my expertise. Not just what iffing about loses, but about anything. So, in my first installment: What if Yao hadn't been able to enter the 2002 NBA Draft, and would have instead gone the next year?

If you've read Yao's book, Yao: A Life in Two Worlds, you'll know that it was extremely difficult for him to to enter the Draft and then go to the States. It was very possible that he could have been delayed for a year, and then entered in the 2003 draft. If so, the Cavs would have had a choice between Lebron James and Yao Ming. As a GM, who would you choose? Both are players that are very, very rare. To get one is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, literally. Yao has extraordinary skills for 7-6 guy. Lebron has amazing skill and maturity for an 18-year old guy who's 6-8. Two, almost unique athletes in one draft. Who would you take?

I think that if the Cleveland GM had to choose, he would still take Lebron. Lebron would only be 18, and Yao would already be 22. But then there's another what if. If Yao was there for the taking, then the Pistons would probably have taken him second instead of Darko. What if Yao was playing for the Pistons and starting? Imagine the Pistons lineup, and then put Yao in at center. That would be a team not just with defense, but with a star center to anchor them on offense. I'd bet anything they would have beaten the Spurs in the 2005 Finals, and probably have gone to the Finals this year as well. But, of course, that didn't happen.

Just something to mull over.

Yao and Co. to head back to China

2006-08-29T11:25:00.000+08:00

So, the World Championships are over for China and Yao. The Chinese team flew back to China yesterday. According to an article translated by pryuen of YMM, Yao will stay at Beijing and Shanghai until his birthday (September 12), and then go back to the States. The article also stated that Yao would not be playing in any international tournaments next year, as China already has an automatic berth in the Olympics, so Yao will not need to play in Asian Games, which would normally be the qualifying tournament.

So, this is looking good for all concerned, as Yao will get some rest, some very well-deserved rest, a lot of the younger Chinese players will get some experience, and the rest of Asia actually has a chance now. Looks like South Korea will be heading to Beijing, as they are probably the second-best team in Asia right (Ha-Seung Jin and Co.).

A certain antweb of Youtube has compiled a lot of highlight videos of Yao, Yi Jianlian and Chen Jianghua.

Yao Ming
vs. Germany
vs. Brazil
vs. Australia
vs. Italy
vs. USA
vs. Puerto Rico
vs. Senegal
vs. Slovenia

Yi Jianlian
vs. Germany
vs. Brazil
vs. Australia
vs. USA
vs. Puerto Rico

Chen Jianghua
vs. Germany
vs. Brazil
vs. Australia
vs. USA
vs. Puerto Rico

There's enough scouting material to satisfy anybody.

The New NBA Season

2006-08-28T16:53:00.000+08:00

Well, the World Championships are now over, at least for China, anyway, and it's time to start looking ahead to the new NBA season. It's only 44 days until the start of the preseason for the Rockets.

On the topic of the Rockets and the NBA, has anyone noticed how Carroll Dawson has quietly put together several good drafts? For example, in the 2002 draft, there was the "base" pick of Yao Ming. From there, he has done a very good job of building on him.

In 2004, he traded the Rockets 56th pick, Luis Flores, to the Mavs for the 51st, who was Vassilis Spanoulis. Spanoulis, who is now signed at a pretty reasonable price, has a good chance of becoming a very good role player for the Rockets.

The following year, with the 24th pick, he got Luther Head, who was, I think, is very impressive, and should have been a lottery pick, even top 10 maybe. But I'm just as glad he fell to us.

Then, in the most recent draft, he got Shane Battier and Steve Novick. Technically, he didn't draft Battier, but using the 8th pick, he traded for Battier.

So, over 5 drafts and 8 picks, he has gotten Yao, Spanoulis, Head, Batter and Novick. That would actually be a pretty nice starting lineup. And have you noticed how all those players are role players that are made to play around Yao? This team is being built on the assumption that Yao is going to stay a long time, not that T-Mac is going to play here a while. One advantage for Yao, which was not available for Wang ZhiZhi or Mengke Bateer, is that, from the very first, the Rockets strove to build around Yao, and made it very obvious they were doing so.

China eliminated because of...

2006-08-27T21:09:00.000+08:00

24 turnovers for China, 3 for Greece. Need I say more. If you want more, China lost by 31 to Greece (the same margin they lost to the USA). China couldn't get the ball over the backcourt, literally. Yao couldn't get the ball, all he could do was watch his guards turn it over again and again. Sometimes I think Yao wishes he could be a guard. Yao took only 5 shots, and finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Ah, it started so well. China scored the first 8 points, and none of them were scored by Yao. They were still up by 7 at the end of the first. But by the second, Greece was ahead by the third, and the third was a debacle. China scored 6 points total. I couldn't bear to watch...but I did. I will never, ever complain about Rockets players not being able to get the ball to Yao (OK, maybe not).

The only bright spot was that Chen Jianghua scored 8 points and was perfect from the field. He finally showed some range and made three long, contested jumpers. Too bad even he couldn't break the press. He could, but his IQ still isn't up to his skill (which will be crucial to his further development).

Well, what else can I say. If nothing else, this will show Chinese officials what really is wrong with them. Liu Wei is good enough as a basic point guard, but not good enough to break the press. Chen is too young, and Sun Yue isn't good enough either. It's going to take time, but proper training of young guards will help speed up the process immensely.

The Unknown

2006-08-27T15:17:00.000+08:00

If you think about it, two years ago, Yao Ming said winning against Serbia & Montenegro to advance to the final eight was the happiest day of his life. Did he know, that, 2 years later, that win would be superseded by this dramatic one over Slovenia? No, of course he didn't. Does he know what will happen tonight? No? Neither does anyone on this earth. So, I lay awake at night thinking about all the possible outcomes of this game (there's a lot -- anywhere from a 50-point loss for China to a 50-point win). Such is the life of the NBA junkie.

Speaking of "The Unknown", one big unknown is Yi Jianlian. After getting 14 points and 9 rebounds without either Yao or Wang, he was supposed to come into the World Championships and average something along those lines, maybe 15/10. And yet, his averages are 5.6 points (34.5% FG shooting) and 5.8 rebounds. Hardly the numbers you would expect from a potential lottery pick. In fact, the only decent game he had was once again against the USA -- 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5-9 shooting. To be honest, I think he's not ready, and I think when enters the draft in a years time (that's when he's supposed to be entering), he's not going to be ready. In the article by Fran Blinebury (which I analysed in my previous post), Blinebury said that "
National team veteran Liu Wei went to training camp with the Sacramento Kings two years ago, and it became clear quickly he could not compete with NBA guards." Liu Wei played in two exhibition games, where hardly anyone played seriously. What will happen when Yi goes up against these big strong guys, during the regular season, when everyone plays hard (or is supposed to), and it really does matter? And then what about the playoffs. In Yao Ming's first game in the CBA, he fell over 17 times. Somehow, I have a feeling that that might happen to Yi in his first NBA game (maybe not falling 17 times, but he's not going to go out there and make the sort of debut that Lebron did).

Meanwhile, here is a wonderful little tidbit from AsiaBasketbat's Arthur Volbert. He's echoing what I was thinking about earlier (but, apparently, I didn't write it down soon enough).

Liu Wei hit a two-point shot in the paint with three seconds left in China's 90-87 loss to Puerto Rico that was almost as important as Wang Shipeng's three-point buzzer-beater in the 78-77 win against Slovenia. If Liu had not made this shot, Puerto Rico would have won 90-85 and would have advanced to the Round of 16 over China on point differential.

When Larry Ayuso hit a three-pointer with 1:34 left in overtime, Puerto Rico went ahead 88-80. This is the sort of situation where, in the past, China's team would mentally pack its bags and go home.

Instead Zhu Fangyu answered with his own three-pointer at 1:23. After Antonio Latimer hit 1 of 2 free throws with 44 seconds left, Wang Shipeng hit a two-pointer in the paint 5 seconds later. Wang scored six points in the overtime so he had two games where he performed heroics in cruch time.

Ayuso made one free throw with 12 seconds left, but missed the second and Yi Jianlian grabbed the rebound. This clutch rebound permitted Liu to hit his very important basket.

Credit must also be given to coach Jonas Kauslauskas who trained his team to be focused even after they fell behind by eight.

Once again, continued evidence of small but sure steps in the right direction by the Chinese players. But, as a fan, it still seems so slow. But at least it's better than nothing.

The clock is ticking...ticking...ticking

2006-08-26T14:47:00.000+08:00

Fran Blinebury wrote a wonderful article about the Chinese basketball team, and the obvious goal they are working up to -- the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

If [Wang Shipeng's] shot had kissed off the front or kicked off the back of the rim, Team China would have packed up and marched out of the World Basketball Championship with the emotionless expression of the guards around the Forbidden City.

But the ball found the bottom of the basket and Yao Ming and his teammates found themselves dancing with joy amid the realization they had gotten off the floor and advanced to the final 16....

Many of those people are among the large contingent of Chinese media at the tournament. Through the first three games, they filled up the courtside media tables, moaned loudly and were almost despondent after losses. Then they would go each day to the postgame interview session and grill Kazlauskas with the same questions for nearly an hour.

"Why don't you coach them to play defense? Why is your team not prepared to win?"

Then came Wang's shot and the stunning win over Slovenia, and the same reporters were cheering, hugging and exchanging high-fives with the players.

One even told Kazlauskas, "We thank you for brilliant coaching today."

I think that maybe some people have forgotten that China was one very, very improbably shot away from elimination. One shot, maybe one inch, and then the Chinese media would be unhappy yet again. China has a ways to go, even though they've proved a lot here.

Concerns such as that probably have kept 6-11 forward Yi Jianlian out of the NBA draft in recent years and playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Yi is long and athletic, with good instincts and quick moves around the hoop. The NBA received a notice at the start of last season that Yi was 19 years old and would be draft eligible in 2006. Then another notice arrived in January, informing that Yi was only 18 and too young for the draft. Most insiders believe he is 22. During an exhibition game two weeks ago, Yi told Shane Battier he's 24.

There have been so many articles and opinions posted about Yi's age, I certainly can't add to it. But I'm once again questioning his age. A few days ago, ESPN's Chris Sheridan said that Chinese reporters told him that "everyone" knows that Yi is 24. And then this article says that Yi told Battier he was really 24. I have no idea where they got that, as I've never seen that anywhere else, so I'm still wondering whether it's completely accurate. Nevertheless, if it's true, then you have Chinese reporters who are supposed to know stuff like that and Yi himself saying he's 24. Does that say anything to you? It does to me.

Good guard play is what China lacks most. National team veteran Liu Wei went to training camp with the Sacramento Kings two years ago, and it became clear quickly he could not compete with NBA guards.

He can pass. He can shoot. But he could not physically match up or play with anyone.

I've said covered that before already, this just makes it even more clear. And apparently, Blinebury hasn't heard of Chen Jianghua yet, because I think he'll definitely be able to match up with NBA players. He already did when he played against China. Some think Sun Yue is an NBA prospect, but Chen is definitely the one who'll pave the way for China.

[Yao] "In the last five games, I saw a lot of hope for us. Here is something very interesting. In my first international game, I was 17 years old in Australia. Puerto Rico beat us by 79 points. Now we come here and lose by three in overtime. This is progress. We have another two years, and I think we can do something."

Kazlauskas smiles and shrugs.

"The Chinese have to make decisions, not me," he said. "Myself and (2004 Olympic coach) Del Harris made suggestions after Athens and nothing happened. Maybe they are thinking that, 'OK, now we have a coach and he'll put in some systems and everything will be OK.' But to make those systems work, we need now to know the basics of basketball and this is not the case at this moment."

So, on one hand, you have Yao once again citing the vast improvement of China (79 points!? That's huge). And then, you have Kazlauskas telling how the bigwigs that run the CBA still reject some perfectly sound advice from those who know what they're talking about and still going to old way. Two very conflicting reports. China right now is at a crossroads, both in basketball and politically. These 24 months until the Olympics start are crucial to deciding which road they will take.

Two Historic Occasions

2006-08-26T13:39:00.000+08:00

A few days after what would have been the 70th birthday of Wilt Chamberlain, this thought struck me: There have been only two games in the history of the NBA that have been canceled before full time, at least to my knowledge. The first was the the game in which Wilt scored 100 points. The second was when the Pistons and Pacers broke into the infamous brawl. So the question that's just begging to be asked is: Which was more historical, and which affected the NBA more?

Well, first let me look at Wilt's accomplishment. There's a lot of mystical legend surrounding Wilt. He never fouled out. His free throw shooting was atrocious, except for one magical night. He was always better than Rusell, yet his team never got past Russell's. And then of course, there's THE GAME. It was played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. That's hardly a big-time, skyscraper city. Only a few thousand people attended, and no movies and only a few photos existed of the game. No one is even sure how Wilt scored the famous last two points. They only sure thing is this.

Contrast this to the brawl that took place. It was played in Detroit, thousands of people were in the staduim, and it showed on NBA TV. The images of the brawl were shown on ESPN again and again, and eventually beamed around the world.

And then, you have the impact, the lasting impact. How many players, on any level, have dreamed of the legendary, the mystical yet unobtainable triple-digits, 100 points? And the only man to finally get it was the indestructible Wilt Chamberlain. Have you ever considered how smooth 100 is. Perfectly round and lovely. Would it really be that legendary if he had scored, say, 102? 107? How ugly are those numbers? Yet 100 is so perfect.

And then, there's the ugly brawl. You can't describe it any other way than extremely messy. Not only were the players involved, you had fans getting into it as well. Yet it finally convinced the league that they had to crack down on fights like that, and not err on the side of mercy. Even those only minorly involved got suspensions. Ron Artest got an unprecedented season-long ban (which was richly-deserved, by the way).

So, I think that the Palace Brawl was more influential, in the present, and also in the long-term. Not, of course, that the 100 points should be poo-pooed upon. But I think that accomplishment, done by an individual, didn't have so much bearing on the league as a whole, and it was more distant to the average fan. This brawl, as I said before, was broadcast so many times around the world. The effect was long-lasting, and it really made fans, and, most importantly, the league, question how they were doing stuff, if it was being done properly, and so on.

So, in the end, it's the Brawl that gets the nod

A day of rest

2006-08-25T23:50:00.000+08:00

Today is a day to relax for all the teams, and tomorrow the round of 16 will start (or 8-finals, as the FIBA site calls it, which is finally back up). But China won't play Greece until Sunday night, which means Yao and his teammates will have three full day to recover from an exhilarating yet probably exhausting game (especially for Yao).

When the games tips off, Yao will once again be facing a teammate in Vassilis Spanoulis. This might be even more interesting to see than Yao playing against Battier. Spanoulis has said before that "all international players look up to Yao. He's our role model." I wonder if Spanoulis will be prepared to challenge Yao going down the lane. Yao certainly won't shy away from going all-out to block his shot. Yao would his mom if she went down the lane against China (trivia fact- Yao has actually blocked once, when they played one-on-one together).

But even if this is a day of rest for Yao & Co., it's not for Mark and Co. (that's me). So, let me continue with my thoughts about yesterday's game:

Whatever the outcome of the game against Greece, I think China will truly be able to say that they, to put it into Yao's words, "fought to the last minute...like men." This team now knows what it means to never give up. They were down by 14, and they came back. A lot of it was Yao, of course, but guys like Du Feng and Zhu Fangyu really hit some big threes, especially in the all-important third quarter.

The problem with China was never really the talent. China has skilled players. It has good shooters, some good passers, some good low post guys. It was the heart (this is starting to sound like some sort of sappy movie). A few years ago, the Chinese players would simply give up once the deficit reached a certain point. And maybe they still do. But, if nothing else, their win against Slovenia, and their win two years ago against Serbia and Montenegro should teach them they actually have the talent and the skill to come back against a team like Slovenia that has four NBA players.

But now they have to go a step further. They have to play with fire, not just so they don't ever give up, but so that passion is always there. They need a firey player...a player like Bob Sura. In the 04-05 season, Sura and Jon Barry, but especially Sura, were the fuel that fed the flames. They were the ones that sacrificed their bodies to get the team motivated. They dived on the floor and get floor burns. They took the charges and took the headaches. They were skilled players, good shooters, good passers, but it was their passion for the game that made them invaluable (sadly, now Barry is retired, and Sura has been out for over a year).

Yao had to learn to do this. He already would never give up. But even that wasn't enough. Once he got to the NBA, he had to become more passionate. He did, and if he hadn't, he wouldn't be half as good as he is now.

Right now, besides Yao, the only really passionate players are Chen Jianghua and Yi Jianlian. It's no coincedence that they are also the two most promising youngsters on the team. Both will have big roles to play in helping China to become better by become NBA-level players themselves. Yi will be going to the NBA in a year, and I think he'll be ready to improve himself, but I think Chen might be even more influential than Yi. Yao was the original pioneer for China, but Chen could become the pioneer for guards. If you haven't noticed already, China's best players are all big men. Their best guards really aren't that exciting to watch. Chen is the only one who doesn't fit the mold of some boring old Chinese guard. He's fast, he's explosive, he has great dribbling skills, and he has a flair for showing off. It's not going to be long before he gets noticed by NBA scouts. In fact, there are scouts probably checking him out already. If he can show that Chinese guards can make the NBA, even if you're not abnormally tall, then maybe that could finally open the way for Chinese guards to start improving.

Miracle of miracles

2006-08-25T16:51:00.000+08:00

Never did I think that a Chinese player could imitate T-Mac, yet in every way Wang Shipeng shamelessly copied T-Mac's famous last shot of his even more famous 12 points in 33 seconds. Wang took the ball from his own baseline, as did T-Mac. He pulled up about two feet behind the three-point line, on the left wing, with two guys in his face. So did T-Mac. And, like T-Mac, he made it. The only thing he didn't do was scissor his legs during the shot and then do a fist punch and yell.

And the first to congratulate Wang was Yao. And the first to congratulate T-Mac was Yao. Faithful Yao. Spectator Yao. Because once again it wasn't really Yao that won the game. On the Rockets, it was T-Mac who made the threes and all Yao did was watch (and set the screens). This time, once again, it wasn't Yao who took the scoring load. Actually, he missed several shots down the stretch. It was Wang ZhiZhi who scored 5 straight points to tie the game. It was Zhu Fangyu who hit a huge fallaway three-pointer to cut the lead to one. And, then of course, it was Wang SP who hit the gamewinner.

Not, of course, that Yao didn't do his part. He played every seconds of the game, like some gigantic Wilt, and he put up numbers to match as well (and he didn't foul out). 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks, 13-21 from the field and 10-12 from the line (In this he surpasses Wilt). For the first three quarters, he absolutely unstoppable, and he scored 17 alone in the third, where they made their big comeback. But in the fourth, he really started to tire, and he started shorting some shots. But, hey, they won, so who cares?

Finally

2006-08-24T00:17:00.000+08:00

For me, it's like having my first cup of water after 10 thirsty days.

This was the response from Yao after China won for the first time. I can sympathize with Yao. It's bad enough to watch Yao play with no help and no passers. I can't think what must have been going through Yao's mind as he saw his teammates stumble and bungle their way to three losses, despite the fact he's leading the WC in scoring.

Due to a scheduling conflict, I wasn't able to watch China (and Yao) take Senegal apart 100-83. I wish I could, because I have a feeling that the game against Slovenia tomorrow (which I will watch), will be somewhat different.

Due to the fact that Slovenia beat Puerto Rico by 8, the last day of group play could become very complicated. I think I have the correct take on this (this task was made no easier by the fact that the FIBA site is still down most of the time).

1. If China beats Slovenia, and Puerto Rico beats Italy, then China will automatically advance, since PR will be 3-2, and Slovenia and China will be 2-3, and China will hold the head-to-head, which is the first tiebreaker used in the FIBA events.

2. If China wins, but Puerto Rico loses, then things become very, very complicated. Then, Slovenia, China, and PR will all be tied at 2-3. Since China beat Slovenia, Slovenia beat PR, and PR beat China, all head-to-head matchups would canceled as tiebreakers, and it would go down to point differential. If PR loses by a small amount, then China would have to win against Slovenia by a minimum of 17 points. Then both Slovenia and China would be tied at -15 point differential, and since China beat Slovenia, China would advance. However, if PR loses big, then China might be able to overtake PR and even Slovenia as well to be the third team in their group.

Of course, all these situations will be canceled out if China loses, so it is imperative China wins first, then worry about the PR-Italy afterwards, as it will be played later.

Situations like these make you think about what would have happened if China had simply beaten PR. Then all they would have had to do is beat Slovenia and they would automatically advance.

In such a close loss like that, I often fall into thinking about "what if?".

At the start of the game, Yao Ming went for the tip (Yi Jianlian jumped center, not him), and was called for an offensive foul, which it obviously wasn't. What if it wasn't called? Then Yao Ming wouldn't have fouled out.

What if Yi had held on to the rebound with 22 seconds left, instead of fumbling it to Latimer, who scored the tying basket? Then PR would have had to foul, and China would have had a chance to clinch it.

So many times I have said to myself and even to others that speculation is endless and profitless. Yet still I revert to this. Am I merely a unique, rabid fan, or are there others out there like me?

China vs. Puerto Rico

2006-08-22T15:42:00.000+08:00

Did I just happen to say that the refeering here was "pretty good"? My apologies, because I was wrong. Yao Ming fouled out, and that should not have happened, if the game had been called correctly. Twice, Daniel Santiago (the ugly cheater), flopped and was rewarded with two offensive foul calls on Yao. When Yao was playing with 4 fouls, one away from fouling out, Anthony Latimer drove the lane and drew the foul from Yao...no, he didn't draw the foul from Yao, he drew the foul from the refs, as Yao simply stood there, and got called for the foul despite the fact that Latimer clearly initiated the contact.

Did I say that the international refs didn't show any favors to superstars? That's right, because they actually make players like Santiago look like superstars with the way they call fouls.
OK, my apologies for going on like this, because it's tough to see your team's lead evaporate, then go down, and then back up again, then have the other team tie, then go into overtime and finally lose because of stupid, boneheaded plays.

Well, the loss wasn't entirely due to the refs. The fact of the matter is that China can't play with Yao. To play cohesively, and as one unit is impossible for China unless Yao is on the court. You could visibly see the play of Puerto Rico change when Yao went to the bench, and you could also see at the same time the playing style of China begin to morph into a brainless chicken with no muscle, no movement, and definitely no skill.

For example:With 44 seconds left, China had the ball and a 2-point lead. Instead of winding down the clock and shooting with about three seconds left, Du Feng (who should have been the hero since he hit the three that got them the lead) decided to back his man down from the three-point line, and then got trapped. He promptly traveled, leaving the Puerto Ricans fully 30 seconds to get a shot.

On the next possession, the Puerto Ricans (naturally) got a shot close in, and Yi Jianlian not only let them score, he even fouled him as well. So, tie game, and a chance to go ahead. Fortunately, for China, he missed, but then they even let them get the rebound. But once again they were saved because Carlos Arroyo missed a jumper at the last second. So, to overtime they went, and I don't even want to talk about their play in OT. They weren't just brainless chickens, they were chickens with no head, no arms, and no legs.

So, as the situation stands, the Chinese national team now has to win their next two, or they'll fishing early this year. Their opponents are Slovenia and Senegal. I think they can beat Senegal, but Slovenia will be very difficult. And that's who they'll be facing tomorrow.

I have posted several times about how Yao is so different on his national team, and today's game offered another great example. On one play, Yao was fouled by Peter John Ramos (that no-namer who played a grand total of 20 minutes for the Wizards), and then started jawing with him. They started pushing each other a little, and it could have turned into a shoving match, but, accompanied by a roar from the crowd, their teammates were rushed in, and the incident was over. However, once again, Yao showed his aggresiveness, as it was he who started it off, and his willingness to stand up for himself. Yao sort of seethed throughout the whole game, and in the third quarter he made this wonderful baseline spin (the fourth time he did that), and then threw down in the grill of the little suckers...err, Ramos and Santiago. If you've seen the infamous picture of Stromile dunking on Yao, then you'll what I mean when I say he did the same thing to Ramos.

And, at the last, here are some pictures of the stare-down between Ramos and Yao, provided by our trustworthy pryuen of yaomingmania.com.

A Day of Rest

2006-08-22T10:54:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the only day off for China in group stage. The rational, objective part of me knows how much a day off means to a team and a player (especially Yao, since he's still recovering). But the maniacal, subjective fan part of me wants my favorite team and player to go out and entertain every night. Alas, my rational part of me always wins out, because they never play every night anyway.

During the break, someone took the time to make a Youtube video showing the Battier-Yao collision, and also a gif. Looking at the replay, I think that it was a good call by the referees. Even Yao said (indirectly) that it was a charge. However, you can understand Yao's frustration. Earlier in the game, he got in front of Lebron on a drive, and appeared to draw the charge, but he was called for blocking. As it has often been said, the thing that most annoys players is not bad calls by the ref, but inconsistency, i.e. calling a charge on one play, then calling a blocking foul on the next in the same situation. That's what the FIBA refs appeared to do.

However, I guess I can't complain about them, as the NBA refs are just as bad, if not worse. The refs favor superstars, seem to forget that traveling is a violation, and a whole host of other things. The reffing in these World Championships seem decent, as at least they don't favor star players (if they did, then Battier would have been called for foul, not Yao). It's certainly better than the refereeing in the 04 Olympics. In fact, it seemed everything associated with that event was bad. There was almost no fan support, because there were no fans (most basketball games were played in almost dead silence), and their courts weren't even good (in the stadium where the played the games, the players kept on slipping because the paint was so slippery). Fortunately, everything seems to be going smoothly here.

USA vs. China

2006-08-20T22:35:00.000+08:00

At the start of this game, I knew who was going to win without a doubt (and I was right). The only reason I tuned in was to see how many Yao scored, even though I knew, without a doubt, that he would do well (and he did). But, for whatever reason, I stayed and watched the blowout that I knew was going to happen.

Even in the pre-game warmups the USA players looked tall and strong. The Chinese players looked tentative at best, with only Yao striding confidently. And when the game actually started, it was obvious he was the only who could hang with any of the USA players. In fact, he didn't just hang, he dominated them. He scored 10 of China's 17 points in the first. Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh were no contest for him. The USA made a laughable attempt to put some height on him by putting Brad Miller into the game, but Mr. Softie was no use either. The USA really needs big men, not just hybrid power forwards. When they face a team with a quality big man surrounded by good shooters and passers, they're going to have serious trouble on the inside.

Anyway. With Yao and Wang playing, the CNT actually did worse in the first quarter than when they didn't have them two weeks ago. They were down 15 at the end of the first, compared to just 4 in Guangzhou earlier. The second quarter was much of the same, and I think the Chinese players sort of gave up when they went into the second half down by 25. But with a few key plays by Yao, they actually made a run against the USA, to cut it down to "only" 14, but then Wade took over, and from there the game was over.

I've already said that Yao is much more animated...no, forceful and assertive with his team than with the Rockets. He showed it again today throughout the game, but one play really showcased that. He stole the ball (one of America's players threw the ball straight at him), then dribbled all the way up the court (I think he's a better dribbler than all the China guards, he went a whole lot faster than they usually do), crossed over Dwight Howard (bringing back memories of the behind-the-back dribble against Shareef Abdul-Rahim), and finally finished it up with a layup over Battier, and the foul...no, it was a charge. I was shocked, his teammates were shocked, and most importantly Yao was furious (and I think Battier lying on the floor was half-unconscious with the shock of it all). He pleaded, argued, and cajoled for the call, but to no avail. How many times have you seen Yao in the NBA shadowing the ref down the court and chewing his ear off?

But I think Battier summed upthe event best by saying this:

I told Yao that was the last time in my career that I would ever take a
charge from him. Not even in practice. I can check that experience off my list.
From now on, we're teammates.

Challenges for Chinese Basketball

2006-08-20T18:24:00.000+08:00

As I was browsing the YaoMingMania.com forums, I found a post that lucidly expresses the problems facing Chinese players trying to follow in Yao's footsteps. This post was posted by LAYaoFan, a poster who is a very good source of information of Chinese basketball.

The rest of the players of Yao's generation need to go NOW. As I said
before, CNT is going nowhere as long as Liu Wei, Zhu Fanyu and Wang Shipeng are
getting significant minutes. Liu and Wang are have the ball handling skills of a
JV girls player, and have no business playing in a professional league ANYWHERE
let alone making the national team. As for Zhu Fangyu, he has the talent, but he
has ZERO intensity.

Yao's generation was likely the last to learn basketball the "old"
way...meaning no intensity, no passion, no defense, no phsyicality. Yao was able
to shake off that training through some intense de-programming by NBA coaching.
His contemporaries, however, are a lost cause and should be dumped as soon as
possible. The CNT needs to be bold, take the long view and promote the younger
generation to the CNT (Yang Ming, Yi Li, etc).

He perfectly sums up the mentality of the "old" way in China, the (unfortunately) accepted way -- "no intensity, no passion, no defense". He goes on to say that Yao was the pioneer in that he broke the mold.

Sometimes I despair for Chinese basketball. It seems that almost no advancement is being made, and the few small steps that are being made are being done at a snail pace, too slow to benefit Yao in his career.

But then my hopes rise as I look at players like Yi Jianlian and Chen Jianghua, players that are stereotype-breakers.

But once again my spirits fall. Yao was exceptionally qualified for this job as pioneer, maybe even uniquely. To break outside the box, and then bear the pressures of a billion people...that was hard (understatement of the year). Can Yi and Chen and other young players bear the pressure. They won't face as much pressure as Yao, but they'll still be under intense scrutiny in the NBA, from both those in America, and from their homeland. Can they do it? I have hope, as they are both young (or supposed to be). The future of Chinese basketball is in their hands, and I hope they live up to it.

More on Yao

2006-08-20T17:04:00.000+08:00

I seem to have forgotten to say anything about Yao in my previous post, due to the fact that my ranting about China took over. Well, my apologies.

To be honest, that was probably the best game I've seen from Yao in a long, long time, including his numerous 30+ point outings this past season. Probably the only better game would be his 39 point, 13 rebound performance in the 04 Olympics.

It's obvious his mentality when playing with his national team is so different than with the Rockets. I thought Yao had become more of a leader with the Rockets this past season, but watching him against Italy, I realized I was wrong. His did become much more of a leader with Rockets, but it still didn't match what he's like now. He went out there, and grabbed rebounds like they were ping-pong balls just waiting to be grabbed, and then dunked them like they were hotcakes. There was one play where he got the ball, dunked the ball with all his might, got fouled, and then screamed. I mean screamed as in YELLED. You would never, ever see that with Yao in the NBA.

He talks to the refs without fear, to the his coaches without reserve, and to his teammates with outright authority and even anger. None of which he does in the NBA (can you imagine him facing up to JVG? That would be a sight to behold). It's obvious that he is the team captain, and not just in name.

Now, I think that anyone who has seen Yao in two totally different frames of minds has asked the question: Can he duplicate this mentality with the Rockets? In my personal opinion, no. I think it's obvious that he puts so much more value into playing on his national team, for China, his country. He's already said that, if he had to choose, he would rather quit the and win a gold medal, then do the opposite and win a championship with the Rockets. Now, that's not to say that he doesn't try. Just the opposite, he probably tries too much, and is probably the biggest self-criticizer in the NBA. Nevertheless, I think he's an unashamed patriot, and playing for his motherland will always be first in his heart.

However, if you despair at this, I think that Yao will certainly become more aggressive in the NBA as time progresses. However, I don't think he'll ever become someone like Shaq who puts up huge numbers. He'll put the team first, like Tim Duncan (those two are very similar, in game and mentality), and score only if that's what they want. He'll probably be considered one of the best centers of the 00's, and he'll certainly be considered as a pioneer for international players and for Chinese players. He'll probably even go to the Hall of Fame for the same reason. But the killer instinct will never be developed (another Spur that springs to mind would be David Robinson).

Day 1 recap

2006-08-19T21:15:00.000+08:00

I have just finished watching Italy playing China, and disappointment was just the least of my feelings. Excitement with Yao's playing (30 points, 12-17 shooting, 9 rebounds), and anger at the ineptitude of the rest of the Chinese players, especially those in the backcourt, and amazement and frustration at the shooting of the Italians (13-25 from three, better than their 2-point shooting) all combined at one time.

I'm not worried about China's defense, because Italy merely had a game-long hot streak (to my constant frustration). It was their offense in general, and passing in particular that distressed me. Their continual inability to dump the ball in the paint to the one player who could have won the game for them (Yao, of course), was horrifying. Not only that, their offense in general is stagnant at best. Little off-the-ball movement means that without Yao in the game, all they do is pass around the perimeter until one of them ventures to toss up a three-pointer -- a contested one, of course. The only one has any kind of ingenuity, any kind of ability to penetrate and be creative is Chen Jianghua, and he is, unfortunately, too inexperienced to play serious minutes.

(Forgive my rantings, but I heard it's good to expell it and take it out of your system.)

Anyway, I would provide an English box score, but as of now fiba.com says "The amount of traffic exceeds the Web site's configured capacity." In other word, the official site of this tournament couldn't even get enough bandwith for this, which I think is incredibly stupid.
Moving on to the US game. I can provide a box score, here.

The general consensus around the forums is that the USA underperformed. In my personal opinion, I agree, as I stated before. But, as I also mentioned before, a win is a win, and the previous game means nothing in the game you're playing now. Really, the US won't be facing any serious competition in the group stage, so a loss against any of the rest of Group A would be shocking (or not, depending on your viewpoint).

Finally, the US and China will be playing tomorrow, at 6:30 AM ET, same time as today's game.

Incidentally, however scheduled these games is crazy. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back (5 games in 5 days) is way, way too much.

USA vs. Puerto Rico

2006-08-19T12:36:00.000+08:00

Well, I managed to find the right channel in time to see about three quarters, on and off, of the USA-Puerto Rico game. To be honest, the so-called Dream Team 2's debut wasn't impressive. A win is a win, as always, but it was nowhere close to being called a domination, and Puerto Rico, with more talent around Arroyo (who didn't even play the 4th), might have even made it close.

Well, I'll post more thoughts later, after the China-Italy game.

Incidentally, Dan Wetzel was right on target when, on the topic of the USA's shooting problems, he said "Point guard Kirk Hinrich, who may have been expendable, now could find himself a lock to make the squad." Kirk Hinrich, according to my informal stats, shot 4-of-7 from behind the line (Edit- the official box score said he shot 3-of-5 from three.

World Championships

2006-08-19T12:05:00.000+08:00

Well, now that the intros are over, it's time to get down to the serious stuff.

At 6:30 PM Hong Kong time (6:30 AM ET), China will be facing off against Italy in their first group game in the World Championships. I will be watching the game live (or slightly delayed) on CCTV-5, via TVKoo.

For those of you who don't know, TVKoo is the latest in peer-to-peer (P2P) software, and probably the best in terms easy usability. It streams channels live or delayed, and in this case I'll be watching the CCTV-5 stream.

Now, I definitely know that CCTV-5 will be showing the game, but I what I'm looking for is a channel that shows the US playing against Puerto Rico, which is due to start in about 20 minutes. Alas, no channels that I can see. So, I think I shall have to be satisfied with watching China.

When that game is done, I'll provide a recap, and hopefully it will be a happy one for both Yao and China.

Statement of Purpose

2006-08-19T00:20:00.000+08:00

I don't want start off all formal, but this is the statement of why this blog exists

First and foremost, to cover Yao Ming, which is what the title of this blog suggests. This includes him in the NBA as he plays with the Rockets or any other team, then internationally, and finally off-the-court.

Besides that, I'll also put in the occasional post about the NBA. I'm not a completely one-dimensional fan, and the most of the NBA's doings interest me.

And, once in a rare, rare while, I might post something non-NBA, whether it be another sport, my life (I doubt I would do that, though), or world politics (my secret hobby).

So, if you weren't listening that would be:
1. Yao Ming
2. non-Yao related NBA
3. Anything non-NBA