Flumesday.com - China Ball 3/20/07

Sunday night in Guangdong, the Bayi Rockets took Game 1 of the CBA finals, defeating the Guangdong Tigers 94-89. Sorry, let me backtrack. There's this league in China called the CBA or China Basketball Association that is not the same as America's CBA, though equally as boring. In fact, it is China's national basketball league. Who are some players you know who played in the CBA? Well there's Yao Ming who played from 1997-2002. And that just about does it.
    I suppose that's a bit insulting. True NBA fans know Wang Zhizhi, who played 5 forgettable seasons with the Mavericks, Clippers and Heat and became the first Chinese player ever to play in the NBA. He has since returned to China and coincidentally, played in Sunday's game. And played quite well. The 7-footer shot 10-12 for 22 points and 8 boards to help the Bayi Rockets steal Game 1 on the road. Since his return to China, the 29 year-old is turning heads once again back at his former place of employment, the NBA.
    This year, unlike in years past, a large group of NBA scouts came to China to get a first-hand look at the Chinese talent. Don't be confused, the main source of NBA interest is not Wang, but rather 20-year-old Yi Jianlian, who TIME magazine dubbed "The Next Yao Ming." Yi is expected to go top 10 in this year's NBA draft and is creating a buzz in NBA front offices. Top officials from the Bulls, Warriors, 76ers, Nets and Suns all made the trip to China to watch Yi and Wang square off for the CBA championship. Suns VP of basketball operations told reporters in Guangdong, "We know that Yi Jianlian has declared himself eligible for this year's draft, so we have come to watch him. There are a lot of good players in this match up that are worth looking at."
    Among the NBA officials on hand for the game was the "C" of "Run TMC" (Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond are not in China), Brooklyn's own Chris Mullin, currently an executive for Golden State and Bull's general manager John Paxson. The least the Chinese government could have done is announce that two of the most dangerous 3-point shooters of the last century were in town together. I might have traveled to Guangdong just to touch Mullin's crew cut. Which, by the way, looks like it's doing quite well (photo above).
    It would have been nice to hear what Mullin and Paxson think of Yi and Wang and their overall impression of Chinese basketball. Unfortunately, the NBA places a gag order on team representatives from discussing possible draft selections or players not in the NBA. Both Mullins and Paxson's teams are currently in line to make the playoffs and thus, would not have a opportunity to draft Yi in the NBA lottery.
    While Game 1 of the CBA finals did not garner any attention in America, there's one 7-foot-6-inch CBA fan who announced he would be pulling for the Bayi Rockets. Yao Ming, in Philadelphia for a road game, told the Houston Chronicle that he was unable to catch the game live as he would have back home in Houston. Yao told the newspaper, "The hotel would charge $10 for the Internet, so I didn't get it. I just waited for friends to call to say they (Bayi) lost Game 1. Yao went on to say, "Hey, that's not cheap. You pay $10 for 10 minutes; that's not fair. You can wait 20 hours to get home, where it's free." This year, Yao will be earning $12.5 million from the Houston Rockets.
    Perhaps Yao is like the rest of us when it comes to the CBA. While it's cool insomuch as it relates to the NBA-- Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi and of course, Yao-- the league just isn't all that cool on its own. If it were, I think the league's most prestigious alum could have spent a couple hundred bucks to watch the first game of the finals.

•AFP: NBA Scouts Descend on China for Finals
•Houston Chronicle: Yao Says He's Pulling for Bayi

More "China Ball":
China Ball 1 - Chinese Street Ball
China Ball 2 - How Hoops Came to China
China Ball 3 - Foreign Players in the CBA
China Ball 4 - Bring the NBA to China
China Ball 5 - Chinese Dunking