Yao, Chen, Yi, Mark?

When I think Chinese basketball, I think Yao Ming, Damon Jones’ shoes, and Tas Melas blocking 5′6″ dudes. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Thank Ch’eng-Huang then — Chinese God of moats and walls. Duh… — for Mark Nilrad and his new Chinese basketball blog, China Hoops.

Yeah, for anyone who wants to learn more about Chinese ballers not named Yao — and why wouldn’t you; they’re bound to take over the NBA one day — China Hoops is a can’t miss resource.

Case in point: I knew nothing about 17-year-old point guard prospect Chen Jianghua. Now I do:

For the past year or two, [Chen Jianghua] 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.

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 and 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 he won’t have a lot of challengers.

Great stuff. Mark’s also doing a bang-up job of getting guys like Chen updated on Wikipedia. I suggest you check it out: China Hoops.

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By J.E. Skeets at 1:39 pm on 09.14.2006 — Tags: International

Comments

4 Responses to “Yao, Chen, Yi, Mark?”

  1. Atma Brother #1 at 2:37 pm on 09.14.2006

    Don’t sleep on The Yi Movement.

  2. Chris Clarke at 9:57 am on 09.15.2006

    Why is it everytime I hear about an Asian basketball player who isn’t 7 feet tall, he’s compared to Allen Iverson? Does the Asian part of the world only get Sixers games or something?

    It’s cool though that someone is reporting on Chinese basketball. Quite a lot of players in China, too, I hear.

  3. Mark at 6:46 pm on 09.15.2006

    “Why is it everytime I hear about an Asian basketball player who isn’t 7 feet tall, he’s compared to Allen Iverson?”

    Actually, it’s not really like that. Chen is the only kind of player who’s being compared to Iverson, and if you see him play, you can definitely see why. Maybe not talent wise (yet), but in his speed and dribbling, he’s definitely unique in China.

  4. Chris Clarke at 4:46 pm on 09.18.2006

    Well, it has been like that from my experience, but I guess you’ll be changing things on that front, Mark. Good on ya.

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