Yes, they'll play team USA in exhibition twice (7/24 7/26) in staples and Oracle. and then they're in the same group again for the actual games, so yeah... you can watch him get killed 3 times by team USA this summer If he can hang with team USA at all Morey should bring him over ASAP.
Guess who's in town. http://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Zhou-Qi-in-town-to-train-with-Rockets-eyes-11105160.php Great news. He should stay with the Rockets staff all summer.
"Zhou, a 7-foot-2, 218 pound forward/center, averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds this season for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, but broke his left thumb in a collision with Carlos Boozer of Guangdong in the China Basketball Association Finals." As if I needed another reason to despise Carlos Boozer.
OK you guys who follow int'l ball. How did the man fare this season? How close to being ready is he? Can he even be described as 'like so and so' and 'his ceiling is ____?'
He played really well both this year and last year. He is not NBA ready, if we do sign him, expect D-League minutes, he needs major strength training, his game is defined. Some will say Porzingis, but that is not a good comparison. To be honest, he does not have a comparable NBA player. His ceiling is very, very high. He is not Yao Ming, first and foremost, nothing like Yao at all. Yao utterly trashed the CBA with 30 points 19 rebs 4 blocks over 2 years. Joe is a very good shot blocker, he has height, wingspan, athleticism, and timing. He's a decent rebounder, quite a bit above average when you consider he doesn't play under the basket a ton. He's a very, very skilled shooter (60% from the field, with a good amount coming outside the paint), and has 3p range (36%) tho he takes only a couple per game. He has very good handles, very good footwork, and he runs well for his size. In the NBA, he will get bodied hard his first few years, and it may be he can never handle a stronger player. But, if he can manage weight and strength, without losing his gifts and sweet shot, he will be very productive.
I will give you a little hint here. When you see Capela will often fall to the ground or got push around under the basket this season, think about this guy that will probably got murdered and end his basketball career less than 5 minutes on the floor in the NBA.
We currently have like four guys as regulars in the Dleague (I like several of them FYI) so I think we have plenty of room to take him in the org next year. Capela wasn't physically ready his rookie year either so I'm not worried about that.
How about he can be like Wiltjer except maybe better. Qi is longer and he seems like he has more fight and is mentally stronger. It will be very interesting to see what he can do.
Needs to be a stretch 4. Some traditional 4s might be able to post him up and back him down, but they'll still have to shoot over him - his wingspan is 7' 7.75" (Rudy Gobert's is 7' 8.5" by comparison).
Wiltjer is a spot up dead-eye shooter, do not expect Joe to fall on those lines. His normal instinct is to take 1 step inside and shoot, the rockets org will work on him staying out on the three. He will be a very good to elite weakside defender from the very start. Rookies do not start well in that department.
