PRAGUE- – Aside from the utter dominance of the U.S. U19 team in the early rounds of the World championships this week, the biggest story here has been the continued rise of Chinese basketball.
China, which did not win a medal in any team competition at the 2012 London Olympics, has taken a giant step forward in its quest to become a world power in men’s basketball by finally defeating Australia, its longtime nemesis, 88-79, in a second round game to edge closer to a spot in the quarterfinals of the medal round that begin at the O2 Arena Friday. It was the first time the Chinese had ever beaten the Aussies in the U19s and it was the country’s first U19 World victory over a non-Asian or African team beating Portugal in 1999. That becomes even more significant because, starting in 2017, Australia will play its World Championship and Olympic qualifying matches in a combined Asian-Oceanic zone.
What made this particular win over Australia so special was the fact it was accomplished it with a young Chinese team that has two of its stars– 17-year-old 7-1 star center Qi Zhou and 18-year-old point guard Ji Wei Zhao playing up after participating on the U17 world championship team and the U18 Albert Schweitzer games in Germany last year. At the Schweitzer tournament, China beat European teams Greece, Denmark and Sweden. They defeated France, the Czech Republic twice and Egypt in the U17 Worlds.
“This is wonderful, excellent. It’s just like when we beat France last year,” said point guard JW Zhao through an interpreter, Duam Lian, the head of the Chinese Basketball Federation, after the win over Australia. “Our federation is giving our young players a lot of chances to play international tournaments so we can get a lot of experience. And this helps us get better and feel more comfortable.”
Qi Zhou has been a revelation, averaging 13.8 points, 11.2 rebounds arnd blocked 26 shots in the four games he has played . Qu Zhou set the tone for this team when he ripped Russia for 28 points in a 61-59 victory over intense rival Russia in the opening game. Ji Wei Zhao is a 6-3 point guard who is jet quick in the open floor, has a creative Westernized flair for the game, as seen by his highlight over the shoulder pass to a trailer for a dunk against Serbia. “Pro scouts look at him and say he’s skinny, but they said that about Reggie Miller. The fact he has 26 blocked shots in four games is impressive under any circumstance,” Raveling said.
For some reason, the Chinese coaches chose not to play Qi Zhou against stronger, unbeaten Serbia, which defeated China, 76-50. Maybe U19 head coach Huaiyu Wang simple wanted to rest him for the medal rounds. Maybe he was aware of all the NBA scouts in the stands, looking for the next Yao Ming..
Who knows? No one questions the road to progress.
The decision to play younger players against better competition at an advanced age level is all part of the Chinese Federation’s master plan to produce a team capable of winning a medal in the Olympics in the near future.
China is taking a more sophisicated view of team building. According to the well researched FIBA.com web site, It has also been sending a team to the Nike International Junior Tournament (NIJT) Finals held at the Euroleague Final Four for the past three seasons. Three players from the current U19 team played for Team China at the NIJT finals in 2012 in Istanbul, including Qian Wu and Zhao Tianyi who also played in London in 2013. Those tournaments helped me open my eyes to help play against other great players from other countries,” Wu told FIBA writer David Hein. China actually pulled a major upset at the 2013 Euroleague NIJT tourney in London in May as they knocked off the storied Lithuania, 66-57. Six players from the U19 team in Prague were in London.
China’s U19 coach Huaiyu Wang told two reporters outside Sparta Arena the success is the result of the federation spending money to send youth teams aboard so they participate in events like this and inviting foreign teams to the country for tournaments. “This win over Australia shows our young players have shown good ability to make progress.. In the future, I believe we can get a lot of good results, maybe even win the World championship.”
“China likes to say it has 365 million participants in a country where basketball is the No. 1 sport,” Nike global executive
George Raveling said. “That is roughly the equivalent of the population of the United States. You can go to any big city in China and you can easily see 100 outdoor courts. That’s where all the basketball is being played.”
Nike had the vision to see the potential of China basketball as early as 1978 when it made a concerted attempt to build a relationship with that country. LeBron James is a mega star over there as is Kobe Bryant, who is a rock star and may be the biggest name other than Yao Ming in that country.
The sport began to take off ever in China since the NBA gave broadcasting rights to China Central Television, free of charge, cultivating a fan base of 450 million. Beijing has gradually allowed corporate giants like Nike, Li Ning and the NBA to build their brands inside its borders.
State support for basketball careers has been replaced by the Chinese Basketball Assocation and the development of high caliber players like 7-5 NBA All Star starter Yao Ming, ‘Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Mengke Bateer and Sun Yue, who all played in the NBA. Yao retired in 2011 but the government, which once discouraged its stars from playing in the premier leagues like the NBA for feat of losing them, is now encouraging them to play overseas to become internationally competitive. In an effort to upgrade the competition, the CBA has also signed former NBA All Stars like Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Kenyon Martin.
China is rapidly developing a new generation of stars and not all of them play the low post.
Aside from Ji Wei Zhou, point guard Shuai Yuan is the leading three point shooter in the tournament, making 24 of 42 attempts and both he and versatile 6-6 power forward shang Gao are averaging over 15 points in the tournament. More and more Chinese players are learning how to aggressive score off the bounce.
“This may be the start of a new era in China basketball,” said Raveling, who helped run an All Asia camp sponsored by Nike in that country. “There are easily Size is not the problem. Skill development is. We are seeing the slow evolution of guard play escalating in China. Two of the Chinese guards are the among the leading scorers in the tournament and one kid is just nailing threes.
“I guess we’ll go China has arrived when they produce a guard who is good enough to make an NBA roster,” Raveling said.
It shouldn’t be that far away.
