Zhou has the physical development of a 12 year old. That is viewed as his biggest weakness but it is actually his biggest area of upside, since it is the easiest to improve. It should improve naturally as he gets older, and only accelerate with western training. My biggest concern about him is his drive, heart, love of the game, and competitiveness. This is always a concern for Chinese players as their sports system simply picks tall guys to train from a young age, disregarding if the kids even enjoy the game, which produces a bunch of tall robots. From the few interviews of Zhou that I've seen, this might be the case a little. He mentions at times when he was younger he contemplating quitting because the training was too tiresome. And that during time off he's had trouble getting the motivation to start training again due to laziness. Hopefully that is just the immaturity of a teenager, and not a disinterest for the game from someone who was forced to play just because of his physical attributes. One silverlining is that Yao was also forced to play because he was tall, and I don't believe he had any tremendous love of the game initially. But worked out in the end due to his professionalism and sense of duty/patriotism to his country to fulfill his countrymen's expectations. He did develop his competitiveness as he became more Americanized later, "You can't ****ing stop me". If Zhou develops in this direction maybe he can become a rotational player one day.
I have no problems with the pick. Qi was projected to go somewhere in the second round, so it wasn't a reach for the Rockets in my opinion. We could have selected him with the 37 pick, but we didn't. He's a long term project with big upside. I have no problems with that from a second round pick. Very simular to picking Capela a couple of years ago. Capela was young and skinny with upside, and I think it's work out well with him. Qi just needs to gain a lot of weight and muscle. Let's see what happens over the next couple of years.
A valid comparison here - doesn't shoot as good as Ralph or have the experience but Qi should hire Yao for a couple of years. 2017-2018 is the goal here anyway.
Meh, possibly. It's always a red flag to me when you draft someone with that body frame and then assume that they'll be able to put on enough weight to compete in the NBA. My mind goes back to all of the justifications given when Shawn Bradley was picked by the 76ers and their fans were also told that he would be able to put on the weight. That didn't work out very well. At least Qi can actually play the game at a high level (unlike Bradley) so he has that going for him. As for risk vs reward, to me that analysis doesn't matter because this was after all a late 2nd round pick that won't help them this year. And they need help now - not two or three years down the road.
I agree he is a no risk, high reward player. I LOVE the pick (for a pick in the 40s). I don't think it's a racism thing. I think this board was just rearing to jump at the opportunity to criticize a move by our front office. How many of the people voting and commenting really took the time to scout the top 50 players before the draft to have an educated opinion on Zhou Qi against the other potential picks? Is 2% too high an estimation. It's not racism, it's hate. Lazy hate. Directed at management, by people who didn't care enough anymore to bother to see what the kid can do.
If Zhou never amounts to anything and is constantly a benchwarmer, it would garner NEGATIVE publicity from China. People in China would (wrongfully)resent the Rockets for wasting their "national treasure". This would not be profitable for Les, in fact opposite, it would cut ties. You think it was bad with Jeremy Lin? He's Taiwanese American so it never even got the level of attention from Chinese media/fans(it was Taiwanese media/American born asians). With Zhou, he is viewed as the next big hope in Chinese basketball, so his development is going to be highly scrutinized(less so than Yao did, but probably on the same level as Yi Jianlian).
I knew that Les is going to pick Zhou, but just thought Mavs would pick him before the rockets. Now Les had his dream, he is going to make a few $100 more from this, and he must be very happy right now.
I do think it's lazy, but part of it really is just bigoted thinking. Some of the same people that are dumping on this pick are high on the Chinanu Onuaku pick despite the fact that he has a MUCH lower ceiling than Zhou Qi. If they were just looking to bash a move by the FO, they'd certainly bash that pick given that he lacks skill, size, shooting, and athleticism. He's basically Clint Capela if you took away all of the tools that make him effective and do they hate that pick? No, they like that pick and dislike the Zhou Qi pick. I think the reason for that is pretty transparent.
If he doesn't pan out, no one in China will care, let alone garner negative publicity. He will be forgotten, and some 15 year old kid will become the new potential "national treasure". Yao wasn't the only Chinese played in the NBA. He was "national treasure" because he was good.
If you accept the lazy premise, then there's no need for bigoted thinking (though that might be the case for some). It's just easier for people to connect the dots.. "What! Chinese?! Le$ gon' Le$!!"
After a night of marinating over the whole Le$ and dollars thing, I have come to the conclusion that Le$ would be a fool not to exploit this pick for financial gain. Qi isn't even going to be able to join the team until 2017 anyway and if Le$ can sell a bunch of Zhou Qi Rockets jerseys in China, then I say go for it. This is a business after all and I have no problem with the owner making money off his investment. I am more hacked off at Le$ over his choice of D'Antoni than I am over him making a few more yuan because of a late 2nd round draft pick.
I don't think you are familiar with sentiments in China. Zhou is widely regarded as the best prospect there in the last 10 years(since Yi, who was a bust). There isn't some 15 year old being hyped up every year. He led the CBA in blocks the last 2 years(since his rookie year) and may be the best Chinese shotblocker ever already. If he gets plenty of opportunities in the NBA like Yi Jianlian and fails, no one in China would blame the Rockets and it would be deemed Zhou's fault. However, since the Rockets are not some lottery team, and have a superstar in his prime as its best player, in reality Zhou will never even see the court if he is not good enough to contribute. In that case Chinese fans/media would wrongfully(because basketball fans anywhere are not rational) blame the Rockets for wasting his development. In that case the Rockets would lose prestige and business from China, not gain. So the idea that Zhou is only picked with financial considerations with no hope of ever seeing the court doesn't make sense. Taking into account the irrationality of basketball fans, taking Zhou is actually a financial risk for Les in case he doesn't pan out and incite the ire of Chinese fans. But if he does pan out and become a useful player, even merely a rotational player, then financially it would pay off big time for Les.
It is sad. Yao went through the same thing and he was the real deal. Anyone else with Yao's skills and size coming into this draft would have been drooled over. Obviously the kid isn't Yao but he also isn't the #1 pick in the draft.
While I admit I am not familiar with the kid, I trust NBA scouts. If he's indeed on Yao's level or Yi's level, he would have been drafted higher. Yi as a bust was drafted at 6th pick, while we all know Yao was no. 1 pick. This kid is a mid 2nd rounder.
The thing is if they pan out we will flip them anyway....we don't keep any player beyond their rookie deal. DD
