Panda you are obviously an intelligent and thoughtful man. I understand your position regarding Wang and I cannot say you are wrong at all. However, I do disagree with you. Wang may be doing what he believes in the best interest of the CBA. Even soldiers according to The Hague are supposed to act with conscience despite strict orders and sworn obediance. When Wang didn't report to the NT I was upset and though it wrong. After watching the Chinese team, the coaching and level of basketball awareness, I think he may be acting in good conscience. Maybe. I hear from some he's the best basketball player in China right now. He might have his heart in the right place. I believe the CBA does also. But to hear Wang Fei say that this has been a successful tournament for the Chinese, it makes the CBA appear follish in the eyes of the world. The Chinese players have a lot of talent right now. I hate to quote Bill Walton, but in his Ming Dynasty article on ESPN.com he called the the coaching in China abysmal. Chinese culture is very different than ours, and I respect that. But sports is not about idealogy - it is results only. The CBA basketball culture (and maybe it's true about Asia, I do not know) is in the dark ages. I have never experienced anything like watching the Chinese team in this tournament, Rudy doesn't understand it and I don't either. It might be possible that Wang Zhi Zhi does, and he's trying to help. Please don't be offended, America was born to scutinize institutions and distrust authority. We think it's healthy, but no one is criticizing you or your beliefs. For the sake of the CBA and Yao and Wang, I hope you're right.
Sun12, I have the same feeling as you do. If you have time, you can check out two other threads that I posted. See how some people barked at me just because I don't like the CBA's decision on wang zhizhi and the coach. Anyway, there are at least two people on this board that I'd rather keep myself away from. You know who they are. Keep on good posting.
declan32001: Thank you for your compliments and concerns, I'm glad that my "motives" of defending CBA is not in doubt in your eyes. Don't worry about me being offended, I really have no problem with people bashing CBA and NT, as long as they show some true understanding of China's basketball status quo and most important of all, stop making everything political. I must say that this WBC is a disapointing performance and the CBA basketball culture has some drawbacks. One of my biggest gripes is that formal recognition of leadership is absent in most CBA teams and is reflected in this NT as well. In CBA games you'll see undisciplined guards shooting jumpers when Wang, Bateer or Yao established their post up positions. I've heard Mobley openly claim that he's a co-leader of the Rockets. Such things won't happen in China as it'll be regarded as arrogance, and since the coaching level is low recognition of leadership is not emphasized. As a result, that sorry cocah Wang Fei obviously didn't state Yao's prominent role to the guards. Following their CBA habits the guards are not disciplined enough to stick to the game plan of an inside and outside game, coupled with their ineptitude to get the ball to Yao, adding the age factor(most older than Yao), as well as their egoes of being established CBA veterans status and possible jealousy(although not as collective and blatantly as some tries to portray), the result is that sometimes Yao was frozen out of offense. Let me ask a question, if Shaq is on the US NT, would he receive the ball everytime since he's clearly the most dominating player, with other stars standing around as his three point shooters? Highly unlikely. That's the same dilemma Yao and his coach faces in this tournament, it's just more obvious with other aforementioned factors. With that being said, I'd like to detour from the popular American CBA bashing - the media has a interest to always make it political, apt or not, and the Rockets fans, frankly, gives little concern to CBA's own interest - and urge people to look at the brighter side that CBA is a very young league under 10 years old, so there's a lot of room to improve and expectations shouldn't be set too high. Also that CBA is making conscientious efforts to get better, including hiring foreign coaches and players, copying from the NBA such as the in game music and cheerleader team etc... It's expanding and recently added a Hong Kong club. That's why I'm fairly optimistic about CBA's future as opposed to some other fans on this board. I also believe if it's the Shanghai Sharks instead of the current NT playing, Yao and China will be much better off as a result of a more understanding coach and more cooperating teammates. The point is that this NT can't represent the image of all CBA teams, although having some traits of it. Now onto the Wang situation, it's admirable for his desire to succeed, but it shouldn't have come at the expense of not only the CBA or NT, but most importantly, at the expense of millions of Chinese basketball fans who had high hopes on him, but now disgusted at his selfishness of putting his own NBA career ahead of his sublime duties, considering the WBC is related to qualifying for the 2004 Olympics. Wang is also hurting those officials who supported his departure by making them look bad. Have you ever wondered about Wang's desperate effort to stay in America? He's risking being criticized by millions of Chinese basketball fans and his chance to sign a new contract. His reluctance to play for China is quite detrimental to his image and popularity in China. Beside, even Wang wastes his chance of getting better in the summer, he can still get better in actual NBA games and practice. The league can always use a 40% 3 point shooting 7 footer so he doesn't need to worry about unemployment. I don't see why he makes it look like his whole NBA career is contingent on this summer training. He seems to not knowing what he's really doing. Although Wang can say he's improving his game in US to help the Chinese basketball to get better in the future, no one can take his words seriously as he breached an agreement to return and play for NT. In my impression Wang is a good hearted young man- unless he changed since being in a position to make millions of dollars, which I don't think so- but his muturity level is not up there with Yao's. It's possible that some people urged him to adopt this run-and-hide approach in order to gain some personal benefits. Such as his agent Mr.Chan, who will definitely earn more commission as a result of a new contract in this summer, which depends exactly if Wang can impress people with his summer league performance here in US. If that's the case, Mr. Chan obviously underestimated teams' ties with CBA. Wang is not a bad guy, but maybe immature and naive to be swayed by some bad influences. I don't know if this is the case, just a thought. Whew. What a long post, I hope it doesn't hurt people's eyes reading it.
I cannot imagin you made such a long discussion for nothing. BUT Your thought is wrong. (period here)
Unbelievable you read one article (by whoelse but Mike Fisher on dallasbaeketball.com) and you are talking about unbelievable. Read espn article about thoughts on US NT. I've always wondered if any of you Wang backers have any experience in any management position, especially in US. Note: the nelson quote says nothing, absolutely nothing about Wang's agreement with CBA. Nelson just lay out Mavs position in FUTURE dealing the Wang and CBA, as their previous abligation has expired.
First of all, I doubt whether this is a good way to ask the question? : There is one old saying in Chinese, let me try to translate in Enlish: "When you talk while stand straigh up, you surely don't feel your waist hurt." For those who are born outside China, let me explain it a little bit by this little example. When a rich man see a poor "fat" homeless man and asked "why don't you go to the gym to excercise to lose your weight?", that is what the old saying means. If you want to see another real example, read the message below and try to put yourself in Wang Zhizhi's big shoes: QUOTE]Originally posted by Panda Now onto the Wang situation, it's admirable for his desire to succeed, but it shouldn't have come at the expense of not only the CBA or NT, but most importantly, at the expense of millions of Chinese basketball fans who had high hopes on him, but now disgusted at his selfishness of putting his own NBA career ahead of his sublime duties, considering the WBC is related to qualifying for the 2004 Olympics. Wang is also hurting those officials who supported his departure by making them look bad. Have you ever wondered about Wang's desperate effort to stay in America? He's risking being criticized by millions of Chinese basketball fans and his chance to sign a new contract. His reluctance to play for China is quite detrimental to his image and popularity in China. Beside, even Wang wastes his chance of getting better in the summer, he can still get better in actual NBA games and practice. The league can always use a 40% 3 point shooting 7 footer so he doesn't need to worry about unemployment. I don't see why he makes it look like his whole NBA career is contingent on this summer training. He seems to not knowing what he's really doing. Although Wang can say he's improving his game in US to help the Chinese basketball to get better in the future, no one can take his words seriously as he breached an agreement to return and play for NT. [/B][/QUOTE]
