I was wondering what happened to ZhiZhi? Because he was a free agent this year, but what happened to him? Did he get called back to China?
He is having a hard time. He doesn't like Mavs. He had to work hard to find a new team. If he goes back, he will have little chance to play in NBA again. But he contacted normally with Chinese National Team. Once he told the media he would never defect. This makes sense. Fans only love a player who at least love his country.
He's in Los Angeles preparing for the NBA Summer League. China is embaressed by this. Wang is looking for a lucrative contract and wants the summer to show off he's worth it.
I wonder what are the chances the Rockets could get him and Yao Ming? That would be cool, but we might need to trade Cato. I think that if you trade Cato to the East you could get some thing good in return.
Wang ZhiZhi is a Mavs restricted FA. Dallas can offer him anything up to the MCE. It's not likely Houston will add a 4th center to the roster even if the could outbid the Mavs (they can't). My understanding is that Wang wants to play on the Clipps summer league team. The Clipps have the cap room to outbid Dallas for ZhiZhi and Wang is a good to have around in case contract negotiations with Kandi-man hit a snag. I have also heard it mentioned that Wang has a girlfriend on the West Coast (SF Bay Area, IIRC).
Time to dispel some myths about the Wang situation. 1. Dallas Mavs do not know where Wang is. 2. Wang does not want to play for the Mavs. The Truth? 1. It has been going around in certain circles that the Mavs encouraged Wang to go to L.A. to play in the summer leagues in order to improve his game. The Mavs want to resign Wang and want him to become a bigger part of the team but he needs to spend the summer in the US in order to improve his game. Since the Mavs want to resign Wang they can not say this openly because it would probably keep the Chinese from renegotiating a new contract with them so of course their public stance is that they do not know where Wang is and that they have had no contact with him. One known fact is that Donnie Nelson was riding around with Wang in Wang’s car just a couple of days before he disappeared. 2. Since Wang is playing in L.A. it is assumed that he does not want to play for Dallas. The fact is that Dallas can not allow Wang to play on their summer league team for political reasons. The Chinese want Wang back in China to practice with the national team so any team that encourages Wang to stay against the Chinese wishes or helps Wang to play in the summer leagues while keeping Wang from his duties at home will likely not find any cooperation from the Chinese in signing Wang to a new contract. This is why Wang is in L.A. as opposed to Dallas.
Is it true that Wang "defected"? What is his current status with the Chinese government? Other posters have said he is still with the Red Army. Does this mean that the Army has called him back, and he could be technically classified as AWOL? Is he currently in contact with his government?
Sounds to me like ZhiZhi does not want to got back to China. Saounds like he is hiding form the goverment, I hope Yao Does the same thing.
Well, if he wants to do well, the Summer Pro League is the place to do it. That league turns 3rd string and scrub players into legends.
IMO the reason is that if he did go back to China last month it would be very hard for him to come back to US again (to play in the Summer League) before October... it doesn't seem that he want to defect at all...
Zhi Zhi is doing what me and you take for granted, displaying free-will, to do what he wants to do and is looking out for numero uno. Go for it Zhi Zhi!!!!!!
I wonder if this is what you guys had said if David Robinson skipped his naval obligations to get in the NBA draft 2 years earlier.
State-side Wang won't play for Mavs summer team: http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0620/1397000.html Thursday, June 20 Wang's refusal to return to China forces Mavs' hand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press DALLAS -- Wang Zhizhi's plans to play for the Dallas Mavericks' summer-league team have hit a snag after he refused to return to China for mandatory training with the national team. The Mavericks won't allow the free-agent center from China to play in the NBA summer league, citing the franchise's agreement to release Wang to join China's national team whenever asked. "It's a strange situation where we'd love to have him play on our summer-league teams, but we don't want to be misconstrued in China," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said in Thursday's editions of The Dallas Morning News. "That (Wang returning to China) was our commitment to them." Nelson declined comment to The Associated Press on Thursday morning. Wang, 24, continues to work out privately in Los Angeles, said adviser Simon Chan. The Mavericks haven't had contact with Wang since the end of the season, Nelson said. China has summoned Wang home to join China's national team in its preparations for the World Championship games in Indianapolis this summer. Wang has since missed two deadlines to return to China. Dallas owner Mark Cuban said despite the team's decision to not allow Wang to play on the summer-league team, they still hope to re-sign the 7-foot-1 free agent. The Mavericks have the right to match any offer Wang receives, with a first-year salary up to the league average, about $4.5 million.
I would not be suprised if Cuban is paying Wang under the table to stay in the states. Cuban is probably trying to sabatoge the Ming deal.
Wang has notified the Chinese team that he will definitely play for their national team, and has no intentions of defecting. They know his whereabouts and don't have a problem with him preparing for the Chinese national team in the summer league here as opposed to the rest of the Chinese team. That was the last I heard, in response to the defection rumors.
There is a report http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2002-06-21/21280845.shtml saying that Wang is likely to play for the Warriors in the Summer League. He's undergoing intense workouts in LA, doing a lot of weight ligting and running. He has 5 meals a day and intakes at least 700 grams of protein everyday. He also play some ball with Austin Croshere, Zendon Hamilton, and a high schooler. Wang's weight was 255 lbs when he joined Mavs. Now, he is 264 lbs after training.
