I know it`s taken from the board of "the enemy" but it has some info on how Yao has played in relation to the rest of his teamates both recently and a couple of years ago. FWIW HOOPSWORLD.com :: HOOPSWORLD VER 4.02 Message Board » Welcome Guest Log In :: Register HOOPSWORLD VER 4.02/TEAM FORUMS/HOUSTON ROCKETS/Chinese Players Topic: Chinese Players, An international perspective < Next Oldest | Next Newest > Steals Posted: June 26 2002,12:20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of international competition China did not compete in the Olympics until 1988, where they placed 11th out of 12 teams (bball was first played in 1956): 1 USSR 2 Yugoslavia 3 USA 4 Australia 5 Brazil 6 Canada 7 Puerto Rico 8 Spain 9 Korea 10 Central Africa 11 China They played again in 1992 where they finished 12th out of 12 teams (in the rounds they also lost to an Australian team 88-66). 1 USA 2 Croatia 3 Lithuania 4 CIS 5 Brazil 6 Australia 7 Germany 8 Puerto Rico 9 Spain 10 Angola 11 Venezuela 12 China In 1996 China progressed to 8th (out of 12 teams), managing to place above some real basketball powerhouses. 1 USA 2 Yugoslavia 3 Lithuania 4 Australia 5 Greece 6 Brazil 7 Croatia 8 China 9 Argentina 10 Puerto Rico 11 Angola 12 Korea So, from the above, China has Never been a bball powerhouse. Turning now to more recent international results: In 2000, rather than continued growth, China actually regressed in their international rankings, only managing to place above New Zealand (A country of about 7 million people, of which 6,999,988 play rugby union not basketball) and Angola. This is on the back of the "new wave" of talent of Wang and Ming and to a lesser extent Betere. This was supposed to be the "intimidating" walking wall of china, average height of 2.17m. 1 USA 2 France 3 Lithuania 4 Australia 5 Italy 6 Yugoslavia 7 Canada 8 Russia 9 Spain 10 China 11 New Zealand 12 Angola Results for China: United States 119 - China 72 China 75 - New Zealand 60 France 82 - China 70 Lithuania 82 - China 66 China 85 - Italy 76 Chinese Team Statistics for 2000 Olympics, comparing Ming and Wang: 2P FG 3P FG FT Reb Name G Min M/A % M/A % M/A % O D Tot As PF TO St Pts Avg WANG, Z. 6 161 24/42 57.1 5/12 41.7 18/20 90.0 6 24 30 5 10 13 3 81 13.5 YAO, M. 6 160 23/36 63.9 0/0 0.0 17/24 70.8 11 25 36 10 21 15 3 63 10.5 (If you want to look at that properly you are better off copying it and pasting into word then changing font to courier new or something) FIBA Diamond Ball 2000 FINAL STANDINGS 1 Australia 2 Yugoslavia 3 Italy 4 Canada 5 China 6 Angola Some of the results from this tournament that I have managed to locate: China 64 Yugoslavia 84 China's NBA draft pick, future Dallas Maverick Wang Zhizhi, picked up his game in the second half after only scoring 4 points in the opening frame. He finished the game with 22 points. Yao did not gain a mention in the postgame write up. China 73 Canada 86 For China, Li Nan had 17 points, Zhang Jinsong 16, Wang Zhizhi 12 and Sun Jun had 10. Yao, again, does not get a mention. China 69 Angola 61 (a playoff to avoid last place). The score after 20 minutes was 30-29 in China's favor. The play in the first half was tight with an emphasis on defense. China only had four fouls after the half, and the teams combines for just 10 at that point. Big Yao Ming of China, all 7-foot-6 (229cm) if him, had trouble keeping the ball away from his defenders as they flicked it out of his hands several times early in the game. Yao and Wang Zhizhi kept the crowd happy with several dunks in the final minutes as China held on to clinch 5th place with a 69-61 win. Wang led China with 18 points, Yao had 13 and Guo Shiqiang had 14. Hu Weidong also got 10. Results from the 2001 Asian Championships (http://www.asia-basket.com/events/ac/ac01.asp): China – Thailand 121-46 (Wang 17+7reb, Yao, 16+17reb, Batere 13+11reb, Li Nan 18, Gong Xiaobin 12, Zhang Jinsong 12, Liu Yudong 9 -) Home team China cruised by Thailand 121-46 with every player contributed. Qatar – China 58-87 (Daoud Daoud 14 – Hu Weidong 31, Lee Xiao-yung 18, Lee Nan 13, Wang 10) Lebanon – China 87-76 (Fadi El Khatib 20, Fahed 10 – Wang 23+10reb, Weidong 15, Li Nan 10, Liu Dong 10, Yao Ming 10) China - Japan 126-67 (Wang 22+8reb, Yao Ming 13+8reb, Gong Xiao-bin 17, Hu Wei-dong 16, Menk Bateer 12 -) The Chinese hardly missed the services of Cheng Zhang, who was slapped a two-game suspension for his involvement in the Lebanon-China melee. Dallas Maverick Wang Zhi-zhi had 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead China breeze by Japan, 126-67, with an astonishing 77 % from the field. Wang made all of his four three-point attempts. Taiwan – China 71-100 (Yang Yu-min 18, Tien Lei 11, Chou Hong-yu 11, Tsun Wen-ding 8, Chen Chih-chung 8 - Wang Zhizhi 22+8reb, Gong Xiao-bin 19, Lee Nan 17, Yao Ming 14+7reb) Either China was being kind or Chinese Taipei really played well. The Chinese exerted just enough effort to beat the Taiwanese, 100-79, and sweep Group I. Taiwan head coach Lee Yun-kwang's " 2-1-2 " zone defense was not enough to contain China's "Multiple Towers". China used their height advantage with consecutive 11-0 and 13-0 runs. Before halftime, the score was already 61-33 and out of reach. Semifinals: China – Syria 94-55 (Hu Wei-dong 20, Yao Ming 17 -) Without surprise, China breezed past Syria 94-55 and went to the championship game. China led by as many as 28 points in the second half Final: China – Lebanon 97-63 (Yao Ming 16+11reb, Menk Bateer 17, Liu Yu-dong 13, Wang Zhi-zhi 10 - Fadi Khatib 18) With the self-claimed "Asian Dream Team" and the huge home court advantage, China slammed Lebanon 97-63 in the 21st ABC championship game and made a strong statement that they are still Asia's best. China wins the 12th title in their 14 appearances in the ABC Championship. Since 1975, China failed to reach the championship game only twice, finishing third both in 1986 and 1997. With the expected opponent South Korea losing in the semi, China had no problem dealing with Lebanon in light mood, jumpstarting to a 22-10 opening lead and led as many as 43 points. Minutes into the final quarter, China head coach Wang Fei had cleared all his bench. Chang Chen, who served a two-game suspension after initiating a bench-clearing brawl in China's last game with Lebanon, also played with 2:30 remaining. Stats from Yao Ming from the recent China vs New Zealand series (June 2002): GAME 1: Expected to be the top pick in this month's NBA draft, Yao wiped out any lingering doubts the Kiwis might have had about his claims on that spot, scoring 25 points from 8/9 field goals and 10/11 free throws, claiming 11 rebounds and swatting seven shots from their path. China won 89 - 74. GAME 2: At 1.98m and 120kg,you wouldn't usually consider the New Zealand captain "little", but in such lofty company, he could not fairly be described as a giant either. He gives up a foot (30cm) in height to Yao and in Mengke, faces an opponent at least as strong. None of that mattered as he battled, at various times, both Chinese stars to a standstill in a very physical encounter that produced a total of 66 fouls. China 111 (Li Nan 22, Yao Ming 19, Mengke Bateer 15, Cheng Ke 13, Liu Wei 11) Tall Blacks 101 (Pero Cameron 25, Terrence Lewis 18, Mark Dickel 10, Judd Flavell 10). GAME 3: Defensively, the Tall Blacks had been largely satisfied to play behind Chinese gargantuans Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer through games one and two with limited success in wrestling them under the basket. This time, coach Tab Baldwin demanded a more aggressive effort from big men Pero Cameron, Ed Book and Robert Hickey in fronting the giants to deny them the ball. It largely worked. Yao still got 29 points to lead all scoring, 11 from the free throw line and only seven in the second half. Perhaps this is a little better but New Zealand won the game. Tall Blacks 100 (Ed Book 20, Phill Jones 17, Terrence Lewis 14, Pero Cameron 12, Paul Henare 11) China 85 (Yao Ming 29, Zhang Cheng 10) Now, I am an Australia and as a nation we often play china in basketball games to prepare for international competition. I have not been able to find any game notes on these series but I don't ever recall us losing a series to China. It just hasn't happened. Luc Longley only ever played for australia in 2 olympic campaigns (one before he was drafted and in 2000). Chris Anstey is the only other "NBA player" on the australian squad. What does that say about Yao's ability? My point in this “diatribe” is as follows: China have never been an historically strong basketballing nation as witnessed from the Olympic results. In 2000 when they had all that height on their side they only managed to finish 10th. In the 2000 FIBA diamond ball competition Ming hardly made a contribution. Ming has not shown an ability to outplay Wang. We all know what type of player Wang is. In the 2001 Asian championships Wang played better in almost all games. The interesting here is that, obviously the quality of bball in Asia is lacking, I mean, look at the teams in that championship, it's nowhere near as tough as the competition in Europe (germany, yugosalvia, lithuania, france to name but a few). In the final Yao stats read 16 points 11 rebounds and 3 blocks. Not exactly stand out figures. Compare this to Stojakovic who in the European championships averaged 23 points on 67% shooting. Or to Pau Gasol who just after he was drafted had the stats of 31pts, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks against a german team that included Dirk Nowitzki. In the New Zealand series Ming was nullified on a number of occasions by Pero Cameron. How did that happen? Not a ringing endorsement for a number 1 draft pick. Can you imagine what it would be like if Ming was defended by NBA bodies? I’d imagine a tall, but infective player. Could you imagine what Dirk or any other supposed top tier NBA player would do against a New Zealand team? You also have to remember that China play a more team based game then a bunch of individuals (like the USA team) They have plays that revolve entirely around Ming… i.e. he is the “shaq” of the china team. They run most plays through him, hence he has the opportunity to post bigger numbers. I just can’t see how Ming will help the Rockets RIGHT now. From all that I have read he looks to have potential, but not the number 1 potential of a Shaq or Tim Duncan. He is a player that needs to be developed. I say in 2 or 3 years he may be able to compete. At this point in time he would be worthy of a lower pick, but not the number 1. Not if the rockets want to win now. He does appear to have potential (he is tall and coordinated) but right now he isn’t going to help. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROCKS RULE Late.
