Sports Weekly: Men s Basketball Team will have no surprises when they go to the Asian Cup, and the two players choose to study abroad to give birth to hope

Chinese basketball has been very lively in recent days. First, the Chinese men's basketball team is about to go to the 2025 Asian Cup with the "remnant team". Second, it has ushered in the double good news that Yu Jiahao signed with La Liga Bilbao and Zeng Fanbo signed with the NBA Nets. This situation also reflects the contradictions and hopes of the development of Chinese basketball.

As of press time, the Chinese men's basketball team has not officially announced the 12-man roster for the Asian Cup, but according to the team's previous personnel arrangements during the warm-up match, if nothing unexpected happens, Gao Shiyan, Hu Mingxuan, Liao Sanning, Cheng Shuipeng, Zhao Rui, Wang Junjie, Yu Jiahao, Zhao Jiayi, Hu Jinqiu, Zhu Junlong, Li Xiangbo, and Raymond are the final 12-man roster. This is not the strongest main force that the Chinese men's basketball team can send. Many main players are absent due to injuries or other reasons, including Zhou Qi, Yang Hansen, Zeng Fanbo, Zhang Zhenlin, Cui Yongxi, Zhao Jiwei, etc. Faced with opponents such as Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, South Korea, and Japan, the lineup of the Chinese men's basketball team is not outstanding in terms of talent and experience.

Especially on the back line, although guards such as Zhao Rui, Hu Mingxuan, Liao Sanning performed well in China, facing the American naturalized guards generally equipped by Asian teams, the Chinese men's basketball team's backcourt was at a disadvantage in speed, confrontation and key ball handling. When the game enters a stalemate, the lack of defenders who can rely on their personal abilities to open up the situation will become a key factor that restricts the team's ceiling.

Group stage, the Chinese men's basketball team will face India, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The three teams are relatively weak. The Chinese team has great hope to qualify as the first in the group. It is very likely to play against Lebanon or South Korea in the eight-point and four-time season. In the 2023 Asian Cup, both teams have defeated us, and this year the Chinese men's basketball team has ushered in a chance to revenge. But if the Chinese men's basketball team missed the group stage and fell to second place in the group, they had to play in the quarter-finals first, and they would enter the quarter-finals first, and they would likely encounter Australia in the eight-fourth knockout round, and their promotion prospects were not optimistic.

Faced with the challenge, head coach Guo Shiqiang is quite pragmatic about the team's positioning. "This Asian Cup is more difficult for us, but we will do our best to play one game and strive for the best results."

Just as the Chinese men's basketball team prepares for the Asian Cup with a residual team, Chinese basketball has successively heard exciting news: Yu Jiahao officially joined the Spanish League Bilbao Club, and Zeng Fanbo signed with the NBA Nets and is expected to become another Chinese player to enter the NBA. These two news was selected by Yang Hansen by the Trail Blazers, marking the continued warming of the trend of Chinese basketball players studying abroad. In addition, Lin Wei is also sure to start studying abroad next season, and his next family will be revealed soon.

Yu Jiahao, who is 2.21 meters tall, chose to temporarily leave the CBA comfort zone and join Bilbao to praise his courage. According to his agent team, the club arranged for loan to the Alega Cantabria team in the third-level league Torreravega in his first season, with a monthly salary of only 2,000 euros, far lower than the annual salary of one million in China. This choice of "more things, less money, and far away from home" demonstrates the determination of the new generation of players to pursue competitive improvement.

The dilemma of the Chinese men's basketball team going to the 2025 Asian Cup with the remnants of the team, and the good news of Yu Jiahao and Zeng Fanbo embarking on their journey abroad constitutes a dialectical picture of the current development of Chinese basketball. On the one hand, the national team is experiencing the pain of alternating new and old, and it is difficult to reappear in the Asian arena in the short term; on the other hand, young players are rushing to high-level European and American leagues, marking a positive change in the talent training model. This situation of coexisting short-term pain and long-term positive benefits is a true portrayal of the transformation period of Chinese basketball.

Looking back at the best period in the history of Chinese basketball, the core players in the team, such as Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, etc., have rich overseas league experiences. Modern basketball development is changing with each passing day. It is difficult to adapt to international competition with closed-door training mode. It is possible to allow young players with potential to get in touch with the world's advanced basketball concepts and training methods as soon as possible, and hone in a higher level of competitive environment. This is the only way to enhance the overall strength of Chinese basketball.

The Asian Cup, which was launched in the remnants of the lineup, may not have a stunning performance, but the choices of Yu Jiahao and Zeng Fanbo to study abroad have nurtured greater hope. If Chinese basketball can stick to this direction and accumulate it for a long time, it will surely achieve fruitful results.

(Sports Weekly)