http://www.asia-basket.com/chn/chn.asp Sun Ming-ming and Mo Guo-chao -- Two Big Men to Watch - May. 4, 2003 - by Arthur Volbert Sun Ming-ming (227 cm) and Mo Guo-chao (210 cm, 1988) are the two most intriguing young big men in China. Unlike Yi Jianlian, however, they are intriguing because no one yet knows whether they truly have NBA potential. As I have not seen these players personally, though I have seen a picture of Sun Ming-ming, I cannot totally vouch for the accuracy of these reports. However, my input from multiple sources, leads me to believe that they are essentially true. It does say that you should try to get a look at these players and assess their true abilities. At his current height of 210 cm, Mo is supposedly "freakishly" athletic according to one observer. He can beat guards in a foot race and jump from the free-throw line and dunk. The observer saw Mo when he was still 208 cm and said that his fundamentals are shaky -- which one would expect from a 14-year-old. This kid may be the Yi Jianlian of the class of 1988. With 1.3 billion people and more average innate athleticism than Caucasians to offset their disadvantage in average height, eventually China will produce more good players than Europe. So China may produce players like Yi and Mo once a year, or perhaps even more often, now that they don't just choose players based on their outside shooting ability. Now that China realizes that it can succeed in basketball internationally, and is beginning to play the more physical game that is played elsewhere, it will soon begin to produce outstanding guards. I believe that China will eventually produced better guards than big men -- guards who can shoot the open three-pointer, athletically slash to the basket, be premier passers and know when to do each. But because guards require the greatest amount of learned skills, it will take China longer to develop great guards than great big men. I have more information on Sun Ming-ming. He is relatively new to basketball, and was discovered in Heilonjiang, a province in northeast China, last year. He is currently playing for the for a youth team called the "2008 Olympic Hope" which averages 16 years of age and reportedly has an American coach. Sun has slow feet and isn't very athletic, but has massive size (150 kg which is about 330 pounds) and soft hands -- he can finish around basket. He sounds like a young Gheorghe Muresan, who had a successful NBA career until felled prematurely by a foot injury. Some reports have Sun listed as being 18 years old while others have him born in 1983. So there is currently a question as to Sun's real age. As to where he might be drafted, he would be a first-round selection if he is only the next Shawn Bradley. I did a survey of the 50 NBA draft picks in slots 11-15 during the 1990's. Bradley has had a 10-year career and currently starts for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA playoffs. Seven of the players surveyed had careers significantly better than Bradley's. Eight had comparable career statistics. The other 35 either had extremely short careers or had careers significanly worse than Bradley's. Bradley's problem was that he was the second overall pick in the NBA draft by an owner in Philadelphia who vastly over-rated him. Had Bradley been chosen with picks 11-15, everyone would be happy with his career.
the part about china people being more athletic than whites is bullcrap. ming ain't nowhere near as athletic as my cousin bobby
With 1.3 billion people and more average innate athleticism than Caucasians to offset their disadvantage in average height, eventually China will produce more good players than Europe. So China may produce players like Yi and Mo once a year, or perhaps even more often, now that they don't just choose players based on their outside shooting ability. I will just leave this alone. Anyhow...they don't need to be concerned about the athleticism of European players because Euros have never been known for that. I think only American blacks have been noted for it.
Xue eyes NBA Xue Yuyang could be following in the footsteps of Chinese trio- Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Menk Bateer- and enter the NBA Draft on June 26. The 2.12-meter center forward who plays for the Hong Kong Flying Dragons on loan, has already attracted the attention of scouts from four NBA teams- Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns. Xue averaged 21.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and one assist in the Chinese Basketball Association league this season. He is currently training with the national team. Xue's agent Xia Song, who has helped Wang and Menk make it to the NBA, said Xue is expected to make his position official on the NBA.com Website.
With 1.3 billion people and more average innate athleticism than Caucasians to offset their disadvantage in average height, eventually China will produce more good players than Europe. So China may produce players like Yi and Mo once a year, or perhaps even more often, now that they don't just choose players based on their outside shooting ability. You know, not all Europeans are Caucasian.
More News on Young Chinese Prospects - May. 13, 2003 - by Arthur Volbert According to sources, Mo Guo-chao, born in 1988, has grown to 212 cm. This year he played for the Guangdong Junior Team. Next year he is expected to join the Guangdong senior team where he will play alongside Yi Jianlian(212 cm, 1987). Also slated for promotion to the senior team are Chen Dawei (202 cm, 1985) and Zhang Zhe (180 cm, 1986). Guangdong, a southern Chinese province of 86 million, appears to be a hotbed of basketball talent. Perhaps the Chinese will produce a top-flight athletic big man once a year now that young players are allowed to excel at NBA-like athleticism and are not almost exclusively judged on outside shooting prowess. My source also tells me that he saw Sun Ming-ming (227 cm, 1983?) play and was not impressed. Sun appeared slow and unathletic. The source notes that an American coach for Sun's "2008 Olympic Hope Team", who was once a coach for the Portland Trail Blazers, mentioned the team's quick guards as possible NBA prospects but did not mention Sun. However, while some big men like Yao Ming and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, develop quickly others develop late. 7-5 Mark Eaton, who starred along with Karl Malone and John Stockton in their early years with the Utah Jazz, was a little-used substitute while at college at UCLA. He was little used because he wasn't any good. But he began to improve when he joined the Jazz and became a very good pro. Sometimes co-ordination catches up with great height as a player gets older. Sometimes it never does. So we should wait another year or two before pronouncing final judgement on Sun Ming-ming. If Sun was only discovered last year, and previously played against inferior competition in his home province of Heilongjiang, he may need some time to develop. In a picture I saw of Sun he appeared soft and lacked muscle. Perhaps he could benefit from a weight-training regimen. And a lot may depend on how much he wants to excel. i thought the bolded part of this article was pretty interesting. hopefully, they do develop better players. cause yao is one boring player. by the way, i really think, they shouldn't have said that about white people, cause that sounds kind of offensive to white people, but it was a white person who wrote it anyway. there was also a cnnsi article a while back i think that had an american player saying china was the most athletic foreign team, but they had some dumba$$ training techniques that ruined their players. so i think its safe to validate this article's evaluations as true. but they shouldn't have said that about white people, cause brent barry won the slam dunk contest. everybody knows white people can jump.
got any photos or video of the free throw line dunk, that i gotta see. it's too bad, he plays for a team in sars infected guangdong, hopefully nothing bad happens to him. also it's too bad, his fundamentals are shaky according to the report. by the way, that jersey looks pretty well designed, anybody know where i can get one? i'm never going to buy a yao jersey though cause he sucks. at least this 14 year old looks like a promising player, he actually tries to dunk the ball. looks aggressive too. that's always a plus.
A 14 years old 7 footer... looks like he has pretty long arms too. We need to sign this kid to our farm team (if we have one)... or sign him to a 20 years contract... whatever ... just get him ...
