what about his mental toughness? i read a scouting report that he doesn't do well in big games, and has bad games whenever NBA scouts are at games?
His name alone is worth 11 points. If properly utilized, he could easily triple his output. It all depends on where he lands.
What's that supposed to mean? It's not like Chinese players have never gone #1 and #6 in the NBA draft before -- they have. GMs are always looking for 7' talent. But you're right, if Zhou had put up those numbers in the Euroleague known for their experienced big men and physical play, then yeah, Zhou would have gone in the top 10, because he would be more proven...it's a much better league. We can't assume he could put up those numbers in Euroleague, though. We'll see how he does in the Olympics versus those Euro big men. Were you making a racist comment?
I think he is pretty tough as he never backs down from challenges and he plays with a little attitude sometimes. Like in his very first adult national team game against Australia NT, opponents tried to body him up when they couldn't contain him skillwise, he confronted them without hesitation. He burst onto scene in 2011 with some monster games in a prestige youth tournament in Europe, 41/28r/15b in the semi final win (94-90) against Germany, then 30/17r/8b to lead China to win 67-66 in the final over the host nation Turkey.
Everybody is tough when they're just better then their opponent. Even in the NBA finals. Klay is tough with the media one day... Sneaking out to the locker room early the next. Some guys are always tough even when they're struggling or suck. Just classic tough guys. Zi hasn't been tested enough yet against real competition to see.
He is playing in a league where Yi was the MVP, Jordon Crawford average 43 points per game and also scored 72 in a game while taking 52 shots, with most of those players names that we know about are rejects from the NBA and some can't even find a chance in D-league here. And he showed no sign of any kind of dominance there so far, not like Yao. So please stop your silly comparison.
At least he isn't a big stiff. He is mobile, relatively athletic and has good reach and height. He has a soft shooting touch too. Becoming stronger and putting on weight is not easy but do-able compared to some of the intangibles he has.
I hope he can fly over for the summer league. I know it's more than likely that he won't but it would be awesome if he could so we can see him play against the top NCAA talent. Also for those looking to see him against a higher talent level, we will definitely see that once the summer olympics kick off in August. At this point the best competition has been the international camps he's been to.
Hard to say, don't think it's particularly going either way, he doesn't show emotion usually on the floor, there's only really one game ppl can recall him really showing obvious emotion (FIBA 2015 where he lead China back against Korea in rather improbable fashion. ) And Michael Beasley scored about 24 points per 36 on the Rockets while scoring 27 points per 36 in the CBA the year before and , clearly this means the two leagues are about the same! singular cases taken out of context FTW Using Yao as a comp is utterly ridiculous for that simple point that if your asking a guy drafted in the 2nd round to be held to the standard of a HOF player your either delusional or something else. We're not even getting to the relative difference of quality of competition in China in the last 15+ years. if you think the just in the CBA now are rejects, surely you didn't see the Americans Yao beat to lead the CBA in blocks back then. (hint, they're much worse.) Zhou's game would have worked pretty easily in Europe. it doesn't mean it will work in the NBA, it might, I can see a more reasonable path to success for him than Yi since it doesn't involve him being the #1 scoring option. But let's forget actual basketball evaluation and just keep throwing racist **** around, a long clutch fan tradition
This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the actual league. If Zhou put up this stats in a European league and he was actually the age reported I would be the first to be extremely happy with this pick. At the same time if a European put these stats in China I wouldn't want to draft him. Btw Zhou plays with his NT. Why he played only 9 minutes against Canada and scored 4 pnts in a 30 pnts loss? All the other starters played much more except someone named Li. If he doesn't get minutes in a blowout against Canada's B-team which consists of Anthony Benett, Ennis and fat Bulhar off the bench, when will he? He wasn't even against a real C only a 6'7 pf.
According to Sina's post game summary, ZQ only played 9 minutes because he wasn't feeling well. They didn't elaborate on what the issue is though. We'll see if ZQ plays against the Philippines today.