Zhang chooses CBA over Cal
Friday, 29th October 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Sharks are owned by Yao Ming and coached by Bob Donewald, who also coaches the Chinese National Team. Zhang has been in China for a couple of months playing for Donewald in warm-ups for the Asian Games, and was recently selected to the country's Asian Games squad. No reports have come out about his salary with the Sharks, but Sina reported that the Xinjiang Snow Leopards, one of the league's best teams in the past few years, offered him 2 million RMB, or about $294,000.
It's hard to see how this is a good decision for Max Zhang. He averaged 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds at Cal last year. The 7-foot 2-inch center clearly still has a lot to learn, and the competition and training he would get in the NCAA would make him a better player. And Zhang's earning potential as a basketball player is limited, so turning his back on a free education from a top American university seems like a bad idea.
According to Faraudo's report, Zhang's coach at Cal is very disappointed:
"He signed, he's done," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said after the team's open practice Wednesday night. "We were getting unclear messages. It's really unfortunate, but that's water under the bridge. This is our team."
Max Zhang image: Baidu
Tags: basketball, CBA, Max Zhang, NCAA, Zhang Zhaoxu
China-Brazil brawl raises questions about basketball program
Sunday, 17th October 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Zhu Fangyu (right) was one of two Chinese players fined 30,000 yuan
What is it with China's national men's basketball team? After its throwdown with the Brazilian national team last week, the team has now been involved in three of the worst fights in international basketball this decade. There was China-Lebanon in 2001, China-Puerto Rico in 2005 (video), and now China-Brazil in 2010.
The latest came in an exhibition game in Xuchang (Henan province) to prepare the China for November's Asian Games. Here's a YouTube video of the fight, and here is a Youku video. The YouTube one captures the tantrum that China's head coach throws before the fight, and the Youku one shows the foul that set him off.
The Chinese Basketball Association has levied 290,000 yuan ($43,660) in penalties to 15 people for the melee (Chinese report). It fined head coach Bob Donewald, an American who has coached a season in the CBA, 50,000 yuan ($7,530), and suspended him from practice. Three players—Zhu Fangyu, Ding Jinhui and Su Wei—were each fined 30,000 yuan, and six other players drew 20,000-yuan fines. Team official Zhang Xiong also was suspended, and fine 30,000 yuan.
The CBA should not just be investigating this incident, but also looking for answers as to why China is building up an ugly history of fights in international play. The fact that Donewald, a former Bobby Knight protégé, blew his top, contributed to the China-Brazil mess, but this isn't out of form for China. The throwdowns with Lebanon and Puerto Rico were already some of the worst in FIBA-sanctioned play. And the domestic league, the CBA, also sees its share of fights (witness: Charles Gaines-Du Feng, 2010) often with fans getting involved by throwing objects on the court. Do officials need to learn how to keep the players and crowd under control? Is the Chinese style of play actually not physical enough, leading to frustration and anger when players come up against a little more contact? Does China's tendency toward soccer-style faking and flopping raise the level of tension? Does alleged match-fixing rob players of an outlet for their competitive emotions? Or are these guys all too roided up?
Whatever the answer, the CBA needs to be searching for it, because these incidents make China look thuggish and amateur.
In case you haven't seen the brawl:
Numerous videos posted online indicate that emotions got hot when coach Bob Donewald lost his temper at officials for a missed moving screen call in the first minute of the game. Donewald cursed and screamed at referees, pounded his fist on the scorer's table, and was removed from the game with two technical fouls. The team claims that guard Zhang Qingpeng, who received the screen, suffered a concussion from it, although it certainly didn't look like Zhang's head hit anything. Media reports show Zhang in a neck brace.
After another 30 seconds of very physical play, Chinese veteran guard and one-time CBA MVP Zhu Fangyu blatantly hip-checked to the floor a Brazilian who was already bent over and getting his footing. What followed was a bench-clearing brawl that made the Malice at the Palace look mild—Brazilian players threw some punches, but for the most part, they were trying to get out of the way, while Chinese players were taking cheap shots and kicking their opponents while they were down.
As for the Chinese players with substantial playing experience in the United States, Wang Zhizhi (Dallas Mavericks, LA Clippers, Miami Heat) seems to have stayed out of the brawl; Sun Yue (LA Lakers) got some cheap kicks in; and Max Zhang (Cal-Berkeley) threw and received some punches.
Image: Chinasmack
Tags: basketball, Bob Donewald, CBA, Max Zhang, Sun Yue, Wang Zhizhi, Zhu Fangyu