Zhou Qi and China playing tonight at 7pm on NBATV against USA

Daryl Moroney should field an All American table tennis team to challenge China, including Forrest Gump Jr.

 

One game and Rockets believe he can turn a corner.

 

Yeah, 25-30 is about right. D-league would typically be fine with me but I don't see him there either after that. I'd like him to keep his confidence because in the videos I've watched he seems to have a good IQ and skill set. Just need a lot of work.

 

Please don't curse anymore of our players

 

Watching the replay of the game now, and his confidence (or lack thereof) is sticking out like a sore thumb. I don't know why I didn't notice it as much the first time around, but he looks like he doesn't believe he belongs out there. Even the Chinese guards, who have no shot at playing in the NBA, at least look confident and are trying to attack. I guess we can attribute that to him being 19 and understandably shook... but you're right, coming here too soon would destroy him mentally.

 

He showed promise to me.

Against that USA defense, he couldn't do much of anything when around the perimeter nor in midrange within the defense. But he does move well for being that tall, and can handle the ball. And I like the few times he had it on the baseline when he didn't have help defense reaching in. Hard to get a real read against that defense.

I was disappointed on his defense and propensity to reach for the ball vs use his length better. Hopefully, that bad habit can be trained out of him.

I think he would have done very well in Summer League. Dekker wouldn't have done much, too, against that team, and he's got more experience.

 

He's a 20-year old, 2nd round draft pick. Chill.

 

This was just a safe pick who wouldn't come over right away, can get Les some china dollars and is someone Morey can praise about since nobody pays attention.

 

Someone get this dude some of the stuff LeVeon Bell has and to Raymond Felton on nutrition recommendations!

 

Yea he needa hire Raymond Felton as a development coach lmaoo

 

Reminds me of what I thought of Capela when we drafted him.

The difference of course is Capela joined at age 19 from a superior league and Zhou Qi will join at age 21 from a lesser league.

IMO we should be rushing to get this guy in the hands of our trainers. He clearly has basketball IQ and good hands. However physically and tactically you have to work from the ground up with this guy and the sooner the better.

If he were coming over this season I'd be very happy to see him at RGV and in NBA practice. I think he's 1 year of RGV away from sitting on an NBA bench, and then one summer away from competing for minutes on an NBA team.

To the people who are saying he looked terrible, consider for a second that if you put Barnes on that team he would probably pick up 5-6 points in this game.

 

20 year old rookie having his first ever NBA level experience playing against DJ/Cousins/Durant...

 

Outside of some speculation in the US, there is not a shred of evidence that indicates otherwise. He certainly does not look older then about 19.

 

Completely agree.

 

I remember Charles Barkley saying that Yao would never score 20 points in an NBA game and that if he did he would kiss Kenny Smiths ass. Be careful making crazy ass statements, especially when you are talking about a 19 year old kid.

 

He is a skilled tall Small Forward

 

He has outstanding raw conditions. Gaining some muscle not only will give him strength but also more speed, explosiveness and confidence. A beautiful project to observe. Key will be his mentality.

 

Age controversies are often manufactured by the media in the USA.

There isn't a lot of reason to doubt he is anything but 19 at this stage.

 

Replace Zhou Qi with Ben Simmons and China still loses by 40+. Hell even LeBron wouldn't make China competitive. If Qi ever plays in the NBA he wouldn't be going against Cousins with Butler and George on the wings and Draymond helping weak side and no shooters on your own team. These Olympic Games won't be a good way to judge any international pick as if an NBA game environment.

However, Reggie Miller made a good point during the broadcast about how the Chinese have always packed foot speed and shooting compared to the rest of the world. Zhou Qi doesn't look to be an exception to that rule. His movements were slow for any NBA player and that's not going to change simply by gaining weight. His form looked good during drills but his release was slow. His shot looked much more rushed last night.

 

Just remember that Yao's NBA debut was at 22 y.o. and he looked like this at 20: