Though he is undersized in NBA, he made his game of statement back to CBA this year joining Shanghai Sharks, and scored 40+ in the first game, team lost though. After reading an article in Sina.com, I came to realize that why JVG cut him, even the coach there in Shanghai told the press "this kid has no D, as long as he can fire 40+ night in night out, we get a chance to win when the rest players picking up some points". I guess Yao get him this job, as far as I know (with my experience in Shanghai following some pro teams), he is now paid around US 300K per season+Bonus, 5 months, not a very bad choice. Some people thought he could land an NBA team after being cut by Rxs, but I think he has no chance if his D sucks. Alex, have fun in China! And Welcome back to Houston watching the Team in playoff!!!
I'm not so sure about 300k being US. Because wasn't Yao only making 80k when he left the Shanghai Shark? Also, since basketball is secondary in terms of popularity to soccer in China, and the Chinese soccer leagues are only offering 100k RMB / game to the whole team, I doubt the basketball salaries would be that high. I'm guessing he's getting 300k RMB, which is about 37k U.S. And trust me, that's more than enough money if he's living in shanghai.
So then all the rumors were true. Sending an exchange player from the Rox to the Sharks was part of the Yao deal.
You made a good point! Btw, US 300K for Alex is not exaggerating, NBA minimum is USD 375K (or higher?), and he is a definitely NBA caliber player, just not lucky this time with the new coach with a D on the forehead. The year when Yao snatched CBA title, a guy used to play in Utah, Benoit sthg was paid around USD 100K by join Shanghai Sharks at the end of regular season, you do the math. Chinese players are paid low, but not guys from US, so you even saw 1996 Most-Improved Player-Big Ugly Austin playing in a CBA team representing a province close to Tibet, what a joke if the money doesn't count?
Of course, I'm kidding. If you hang out here long enough, you'll see that my John Amaechi comments are a repeating comic motif. But all kidding aside, John Amaechi is the next big thing. He takes up a lot of space on the bench.
Clarification!!!!!!!!! Alex scored 37 points not 40! He did play in CBA last year so he just changed a team, the 37 points is scored againist his former team. Some mentionable names that have played in CBA: Ike Austin ( Most improved player), David Benoit (starting small forward for Jazz during the championship years), Chris Anderson (Nuggests), and Hawkings (Rockets). Those are the people (except Hawkings) who had played significant amount minutes in the NBA. There are a lot of NBA scrubs who have never played significant minutes in the NBA have played in CBA.
