Indepth, Independent Analysis Of Chinese Basketball
Zhu Fangyu, the all-time leading scorer in CBA history, two-time league MVP, four-time Finals MVP and an eight-time league champion officially retired on Saturday. With the announcement, the Guangdong Tigers forward ends a remarkable playing career that saw massive highs but also major lows. Continue reading “The Storm Has Passed; ‘The Rain Of Threes’, Zhu Fangyu, Calls Time On A Storied Playing Career”
Recently Yahoo Sports reported NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s frustration over the lack of Chinese players in the Association despite the incredible amount of followers, aficionados and athletes pursuing an interest in the sport. China is already a pivotal part of the basketball landscape and Yao Ming’s perennial presence atop the All-Star votes in his NBA years goes to show how appealing that market is for the North American league. Understandably Silver wants in on that opportunity. Continue reading “China’s NBA Hopefuls Vol. 1: Guo Ailun, the Chinese Tony Parker.”
Call it an overhaul, call it a gentle purge but whatever is going on in Beijing is pretty significant. Yesterday, the Beijing Ducks announced that Yannis Christopoulos, a long-term assistant coach with the Chinese national was taking over as Ducks head coach.
Min Lulei, Christopoulos’ predecessor and one of the CBA’s most decorated coaches, will now take up a role within the Ducks front office. For watchers of Chinese basketball, these are remarkable times.
Continue reading “Min Lulei Steps Aside As The Beijing Reboot Continues”
Another team, another protracted problem with saying goodbye to an iconic player. A couple of years ago, Wang Zhizhi, perhaps the best player to have ever worn the red Bayi Rockets uniform, was obliged to unretire by the Chinese military to stop the team’s losing streak. This season, Yi Jianlian left the Guangdong Tigers for the NBA, only to return, ignite a needless powerplay and then see his team get destroyed in the CBA Finals as a result.
Now, it is Beijing’s turn to ignore the hints of Father Time. The Ducks have won three CBA titles under the leadership of Stephon Marbury, who himself is probably the most beloved athlete in the city. But Marbury will be 41 by the end of next season and the Ducks would really like to move on with their own rebuild whilst their roster of local players is still competitive. The American has other ideas and this is quickly becoming the story of the current CBA offseason. Continue reading “The Stephon Marbury Saga Looks Set For One Final Twist (Updated)”
With a 4-0 sweep of the Guangdong Tigers, the Xinjiang Tigers (Chinese pro teams really love their big cats) are CBA champions for the first time in their history. The extremely wealthy team from Urumqi have been building towards this moment for over a decade but made it look easy in the fourth meeting in nine CBA Finals between the two sides.
On paper, the rise of Xinjiang is great for Chinese basketball, who now become only the fifth CBA team to have won the championship in in modern era of Middle Kingdom hoops. From the perspective of real politik, state-controlled media now also have a positive article to write about Xinjiang province, whose predominantly Muslim, Uyghur-speaking populace have been among the most defiant to Beijing and the CCP machine. Continue reading “The Xinjiang Tigers Are CBA Champions– And Now Everything in Chinese Basketball Could Change”
With the CBA Finals having been decided (more on that later), its probably worth checking in on what has been a pretty decent postseason so far in the CBA.
Jimmer Fredette and Ding Yanyunhang are the 2017 CBA Regular Season MVPs after two memorable seasons in which both men dragged their teams into the postseason. Ding beat out speedy Liaoning guard Guo Ailun and Guangsha’s Hu Jinqiu whilst Fredette got double the votes of his nearest rival for foreign MVP, Sichuan’s Hamed Haddadi. Continue reading “Fredette and Ding Collect MVP Awards After Breakout CBA Seasons”
