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Japan’s ‘chosen one’ Yuta Watanabe has big hoop dreams
He grabs rebounds and blocks shots inside, he sprints as fast as anyone else and he hits jumpers with a silky shooting touch.
That’s what 18-year-old Yuta Watanabe does. He does it all and has everything a basketball player could hope to have, and that’s why he gets the “Chosen One” treatment.
Although he had been selected for provisional national team squads before, Watanabe still seemed somewhat reserved when he went through drills during a recent training camp in preparation for the May 16-21 FIBA East Asia Championship in Incheon, South Korea.
But that wasn’t the case once the team started playing intra-squad games at the end of the practice session on Friday at the National Training Center, where Watanabe gave a full display of his skills.
“I’ve felt that I have been able to play on this team since the training camp started,” said Watanabe, who mainly plays as a small forward. “I think I’ll gain more confidence the more I play here.”
Born to parents with experience of playing in Japan’s top basketball leagues (his mother, Kumi, played for the women’s national team as well), Watanabe, a 201-cm versatile player, is determined to maximize his potential and become the best he can be.
Watanabe, who led Jinsei Gakuen High School of Kagawa Prefecture to the runnerup spot at the last two All Japan High School Tournaments, has decided to cross the Pacific to the United States. In September, he will attend St. Thomas More Preparatory School in Connecticut, with an eye on enrolling at an NCAA Division I school next year.
“My immediate goal is to play at a Division I school,” Watanabe said. “I know it’s an extremely high goal, but ultimately I would like to make it to the NBA.”
Watanabe, who named the Los Angeles Lakers and their superstar Kobe Bryant as his favorite team and player, didn’t envision going to America earlier in his high school life and thought only about which Japanese college he would attend. But eventually he got caught up with the idea as he improved as a player. He began thinking about attending a U.S. university after the All Japan Tournament in his junior season.
“I came to think, if I had a chance, I wanted to do it,” Watanabe said. “Because there aren’t so many that have that kind of an opportunity.”
As much as Watanabe wants to become a special player, members of the national team think this innocent-looking guy is the future of Japanese basketball. Japan’s men’s national team has struggled in recent years, and the last time it made a top-three finish at the Asia Championship was back in 1997 in Saudi Arabia.
Although Watanabe, who weighs just 73 kg, clearly lacks physical strength at this point, nobody thought it was a ridiculous decision by the Japan Basketball Association and men’s national team coach Kimikazu Suzuki to call him up for the A team.
“Watanabe is 201 cm but can play like a guard,” Suzuki said. “He’s not good enough to be on this team yet, but eventually he’s going to be (Japan’s) ace player. We all know his capabilities and we intend to help him develop.”
Japan captain Ryota Sakurai backed Suzuki’s words. He said he was impressed that Watanabe matched up well with Kosuke Takeuchi, who is taller by 5 cm, during the open practice session.
“He doesn’t have a strong physical presence, but he kept up with Kosuke,” Sakurai said. “As the head coach said, once he gets more physical strength, he’ll be a player who will represent the Japanese national team. And I’m looking forward to that.”
Who knows? If he does all the right things and stays on the right track, he could be a great, unstoppable all-around player like LeBron James or Kevin Durant for Japan in the future.
The top five teams in the East Asia Championship will advance to August’s FIBA Asia Championship in Manila, and the top three finishers in the Philippines will earn spots at next year’s FIBA World Cup in Spain.
Jeremy Lin thinks Rockets will be more comfortable together next season
After a series of marathon exit interviews with everything from the Rockets coaches to trainers, front office decision-makers to directors of strength and conditioning, Jeremy Lin was asked how he could improve. He seemed to think it would take another three hours.
“I’ll keep you guys here longer if I go into all that,” he said. “Just becoming a better offensive and defensive player, looking at my turnovers, missed shots, my defensive breakdowns. I have it all right now. I spent a lot of time talking about all that, what the percentages were and the advanced stats behind it. I haven’t wrapped my head around it all.”
When asked, Lin said he did like his improvement through the season. He said his chest injury would need only rest and that he had had come to grips with his playoff struggles, saying it was “rough,” while trying to play with it. He said he would take about three weeks before heading back into training.
“I’m happy with everything we did,” Lin said. “Now, three days removed, I’m less emotional, more objective about the playoffs. I think overall this season surpassed a lot of people’s expectations so we’re happy with that. One thing we did realize, we still have a long way to go. I think we’re hungry because we’ve gotten just a little taste of what we can accomplish.
“We need to get better defensively and offensively and we will be naturally in our second year just because it’s our second year. But also, along with that, just building the chemistry, just building the trust that you need to close out close games, to be able to win games on the road when it’s your fourth game in five nights, or Game 6 at home to push to Game 7.”
via Ultimate Rockets » Lin thinks Rockets will be more comfortable together next season.
Jeremy Lin promises improvement
Be it in 140-character increments or in post after post on page after page of website after website, there was no lack of opinion in the wake of the Rockets’ playoff departure that Jeremy Lin is a poseur, a disappointment, a weakling, an incomplete product, a failure, a flop.
In some ways, Lin would concur. The difference between Lin and his detractors, though, is that Lin has firsthand knowledge of what he has to do to improve his game and his contributions to the Rockets’ success and has, he believes, the time, determination and support to get it done.
“I have a long way to go. I have a really long way to go,” Lin said in the wake of his three-point, 13-minute stint off the bench in the Rockets’ 103-94 loss Friday night.
“I’m really excited for the offseason, just because I can get better, not that I wanted it to start. There are so many things I wish I was better at after playing my first whole season and realizing this is what separates good players from great players.”
Given the harsh formula of hype, expectations and potential with which he began the season, Lin could hardly help but fall short. He arrived in July, fresh off his “Linsanity” debut in New York last season, as the new face of the franchise, only to be supplanted in that role with the October acquisition of James Harden.
Still, along with center Omer Asik, he was the only player on the roster to start in and play in all 82 games, ranking third on the Rockets behind Harden and Chandler Parsons in minutes played. He improved after the All-Star break in scoring, shooting percentage and 3-point percentage and remained steady in most other metrics.
But then he ran into Russell Westbrook, figuratively, in the opening game of the Thunder series and into Thabo Sefolosha, literally, in Game 2, suffering a bruised chest muscle that sidelined him in Games 4 and 5, both of which the Rockets won, and limited him in Game 6.
And in this most devoted of football towns, Lin also faces a phenomenon with which fans are all too eager to subscribe: the backup quarterback syndrome – represented, in this case, by midseason acquisition Patrick Beverley, whose defensive intensity was valuable down the stretch, and Aaron Brooks, the former Rockets fan favorite who returned to Houston for the stretch drive.
Both had their moments in the playoffs in Lin’s absence, and the presence of each raises questions among Lin’s detractors about his value to the team
Lin, however, has coach Kevin McHale in his corner, and he knows where he has to improve to become a fully rounded point guard.
“I’m not even close,” he said. “I can talk about anything, and it would be something that I would want to be better, whether it’s defense, jump shots, making decisions, being quicker, being more explosive, being more consistent. I think I’m as motivated now as I’ve been my whole life.”
Lin was a rarity in that so much was expected from him, based on his brief flash of brilliance last year with the Knicks, while so little was expected collectively of the 2012-13 Rockets.
He said a friend told him the Rockets were a solid pick for mediocrity among the Las Vegas oddsmakers, “and for us to be here in Game 6 of the Western (Conference) playoffs against the No. 1 seed, when I look at it as a whole I’m thankful.”
“There are a lot of players who got a lot better and a lot of players who opened a lot of eyes, and the future is bright.”
That season of doubters may play a role in Lin’s outlook for next season amid conversation that the Rockets still need to make acquisitions, up to and including Dwight Howard, to be realistic contenders.
“I know a lot of people say we might need another this or another that, but we’re pretty darned good, and we’re young as heck,” he said.
When it comes to roster moves, he added, “We will do whatever we need to do to get better, but I fully believe in the guys that we have in this locker room, on this team.”
via Rockets’ oft-criticized Lin promises improvement | Ultimate Rockets.
Jeremy Lin ‘getting better every day’ but can he back for Game 5?
Rockets guard Jeremy Lin’s last-chance effort to play in Game 4 on Monday against the Thunder never came close. He knew it wouldn’t. The hope was that by Wednesday’s Game 5 in Oklahoma City, he would not need a game-time decision to fall his way.
Lin sat out Monday’s game, the first he missed this season, with a bruised chest muscle. He went through a late shooting drill on the Rockets practice court before tipoff that he hoped would reveal greater improvement than even he expected. It didn’t and so he sat.
He said he felt better on Tuesday, but through his post-practice drills, he only shot with his left hand in an indication of how far he still has to go.
“It’s getting a little better every day,” Lin said. “We continue to evaluate it every day. I haven’t got around to shooting yet. That’s a little ways away. We’ll see. It’s different every day. Sometimes, it depends on how much I do the day before.”
Lin, who made 1 of 7 shots in Game 3 with the injury, said it was too soon to predict whether he will play in Game 5, but after struggling badly with the injury on Saturday he said, “If it feels like it did in Game 3 I can’t do it.
“It’s getting better slowly. Right now, I’m trying to keep everything left-handed. I wasn’t that close last night. I kind of knew when I woke up unless it felt drastically better I probably wouldn’t be able to (play.) Today definitely felt better. It’s one of those things you have to wait out. Injury is probably as frustrating as it gets and it being the second year in a row (he was hurt) in the playoffs) doesn’t help.”
via Ultimate Rockets » Jeremy Lin ‘getting better every day’ but can he back for Game 5?.
Lin used to tuning out the noise
Though Jeremy Lin never has been in the playoffs, few young players have faced the sort of pressure and scrutiny he has over the past 14 months. That experience, he said, offers lessons to use in the next endeavor, lessons he said the underdog Rockets can use as well.“Tuning stuff out, just being focused and not worried about all the outside noise that’s going on,” Lin said of what he has learned and can apply to the playoffs. “I feel like in the last year, all there has been is noise. Just got to continue to tune everything out and just play.“That’s what we have to do as a team. We can’t listen to what everyone else is going to say, whether we have a chance, whether we don’t have a chance, we lost our last two games of the season, whatever. Right now it’s 0-0. As long as we believe we can win, I think we can.”
via Ultimate Rockets » Notes: Lin used to tuning out the noise.
JeremyLin.net interviews Lin’s shooting coach Doc Scheppler
Doc Scheppler helps us put things into perspective. Also, I too need to stop sometimes and realize just how amazing it is for this young team and young point guard to be in the position they’re in. Lebron, JKidd, and a bunch of other greats never even made the playoffs in their first full season starting. Let’s all realize this is a learning process for all of the Rockets players as well as coaches and they’ll be bumps along the road.
JeremyLin.Net:
How do feel about JLins first full season as a starter? How much has he grown as a player?
Doc:
I think he’s had a solid year. His team is going to the playoffs and that is a meaningful accomplishment considering the age and experience of their roster. It takes time to really become a team and I can really see the guys are getting to know each others skill sets. They appear to have better relationships while playing. You can tell they enjoy playing basketball. The NBA season is LONG and exhausting with many hills and valleys along the way. They are a fun offensive team to watch when they move and share the ball and take the shots a team needs to take to be successful. I don’t enjoy when Harden holds the ball too long while everybody stands. He is really an offensive talent that just needs to make his move sooner and create shots.
I think that Jeremy should be lauded for playing EVERY game through many ankle tweaks, 100′s of falls, dozens of charges, stitches, facial blows. He really is a Tough athlete. He also is that rare NBA player that puts forth an honest effort every game. His defensive principles are solid and he is a player a coach can rely on to always play the right way. I’d like to see his on-ball defense improve in containing dribble penetration. I’m not referring to situations when he’s been in a helping or rotating situation, or, even in a pick and roll where he has to rely on getting hedge help or corral help, I’m talking about staying in front of his man and not relying on his help. That is a trait every point guard at any level should possess. Pressuring the ball and containing penetration.
Jeremy plays best when the ball is in his hands and having to share touches with Harden has been an adjustment, but I think that he’s getting better at playing off the ball. He’s learning that he can put himself in advantageous position when he does catch the ball if he attacks a close out. He has developed a beautiful, explosive catch and drive upon reception of the ball. I still think he turns down too many catch and shoot opportunities which are a result of reverting back too whats comfortable, which is for him, attack the rim. He still has a hesitant attitude about shooting, and , you can use the threes he hit vs Memphis in the 4th as an example.. Those 2 releases were quick and shot with complete conviction… The result….2 perfect, rhythmical shots. Those particular shots are there for him many times during the flow of the game.
When the ball is in his hands and he has a creator mentality he is just a great Shot Creator for his team. His vision and delivering the ball with great passing angles is a trait that makes him a joy to play with.
As his shooting coach, I think he has space to shoot and doesn’t, but I think that being a point guard he’s very mindful still of not being a shot-hungry player that is a pain to play with. Just trying to find that balance is very tricky.
He’s still 24 years old. He’s going to get better, and he wants to be great! All of his shooting numbers have improved as the season has progressed. His overall FG %age is 44% and his 3 point pct is now at 34%… Thats big improvement over his early season numbers of 38% overall and 27% from 3..
JeremyLin.Net:
How often were you in contact with Jeremy over this past season?
Doc:
We exchange texts before and after most games..I give him shooting reminders and my feedback on what he’s done well and improvement areas.
JeremyLin.Net:
Did you have a chance to see/work with him during the season?
Doc:
I went down to Houston twice during the season in late October and after Christmas. He was struggling with his shooting mechanics and mentality. We worked together 2 times during each visit, and it took 10 minutes to “tune” up his mechanics. He just needed a voice to remind him of his release cues (wrist snap,defined follow through), footwork (quick, defined jump). I still believe his game shooting numbers will continue to reflect and be closer to his drill shooting numbers as he continues to make progress. He was shooting mid 70′s %wise in ALL shooting situations this summer. He should be in the 40′s from 3 and 50 overall…85 from the line.
JeremyLin.Net:
Any advice to him before the start of the playoffs?
Doc: No advice other than to be aggressive. Just be Jeremy! He’s always relished big game opportunities throughout his whole career playing basketball. I’m excited to see how he responds.
JeremyLin.Net:
Will you be working with him again this summer? If so, what things will you be focusing on?
Doc: Yes.. I have a long list of skills and improvement areas.
We’ll continue to work on all of the shooting situations so he can shoot a high %age on every shot. We’ll also combine cardiovascular fatigue to the drill situations to better simulate a game.
I’m also going to suggest he play a lot of small sided pick 2v2 3v3 where he’s working on mastering playing away from the ball , moving into passing windows, being hard to guard without the ball, and developing a shooters mentality under playing conditions. Using these practice situations will give him hands on experience,and with that, a confidence in his shooting ability in games. i wanted to start that this past summer but we were limited with his knee rehab. I want to work on his shooters body language where he is seeking the ball with a mind set like a cat on the prowl. So many times he’s standing without a purpose.
I’d like to continue to cut down his shot release time which is just about making jump quicker on his shot.
He’s developed a nice repertoire of finishing moves around the basket,but, he still reverts to a left foot take off lay-up too much, which puts him at risk for getting drilled, and is, sometimes not the right finish at the right time. I want him to be able to dunk off a 2 foot take-off and a right foot take-off. He basically has his left leg as his pet takeoff leg (like a high or long jumper) . I’d like him to develop the ability to be almost as comfortable off his right and 2 feet.
I’m sure he’ll continue to work on his handle to get it tighter, as well as his off hand development passing the ball. He really passes well with his left hand and worked hard to improve that.. It’s an absolute joke that the “experts” say he can’t go left because he has no left hand.. He prefers driving right because his left leg is his most comfortable exploding leg.. He has made GREAT strides in driving left with an explosive burst since last year.
Lastly, he needs to continue to master a 2 foot floater. Many times on his drives he takes it too deep when he has space in that 8-12 foot floater zone. We’ll work on that quick 2 foot stop floater so he can shoot the ball before the helping big can get to it.. All you have to do is watch Tony Parkers floater and see how effective you can be. Jeremy prefers the 1 foot high arcing runner which he ‘s not consistent with. (too much forward movement going off his 1 foot causing long misses and a difficult time controlling distance) He’ll have a deadly floater next year!
JeremyLin.Net:
Are you going to Asia again?
Doc:
I’d love to go to China again. Haven’t really heard any details about the trip.
JeremyLin.Net:
more to come…
He’s Jeremy Lin, I’m Chris Tang
Jeremy Lin says race cost him a D-1 college scholarship – airing tomorrow on “60 Minutes”
Linsanity was one of the most unlikely and awe-inspiring success stories in NBA history, not only because of the rarity of Asian Americans in the NBA, but also because Jeremy Lins success seemingly came out of nowhere. Everyone knows the story of the four-year player at Harvard, who went undrafted and rode the bench for a year with the Golden State Warriors before being taken by the New York Knicks as an absolute last resort who instead became a worldwide sensation. But Lin, now with the Houston Rockets, tells 60 Minutes Charlie Rose in an interview airing Sunday night that he believes his ethnicity is largely responsible for that pre-Linsanity obscurity.”I think the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian American,” Lin told Rose when asked why he never was offered a Division I basketball scholarship. “I think that was a barrier.”Lin excelled as a high school basketball player in northern California but was passed over for scholarship offers from nearby schools such as UCLA and Stanford.NBA Commissioner David Stern agreed that Lins race might have been a factor in why he had to fight his way onto an NBA roster through summer league. “I dont know whether he was discriminated against because he was at Harvard or because he was Asian,” Stern said in the broadcast.Its impossible to know how much of Lins difficult path to NBA stardom was caused by his race, but it would be naive to assume it had nothing to do with it. On the other hand, had Lin played at a more high-profile school and been drafted in the mid-to-late first round in 2010, he would not have been able to sign the three-year, $25 million deal he received from the Rockets after his second season as a pro. Its clear he has the talent to be a starting point guard and that would have come to the surface one way or another. His path was just a little more unorthodox.
via Jeremy Lin says race cost him a D-1 college scholarship.
video: Yi Jianlian and the Guangdong Southern Tigers are 2013 CBA Champions
Guangdong swept Shangdong to become the 2013 CBA Champions. Yi Jianlian takes home the Finals MVP trophy. Yi was also the 2012-2013 season MVP.
Timeline of Jeremy Lin’s Up-and-Down 2012-13 Season with the Houston Rockets
There’s no quick, easy way to characterize Jeremy Lin’s first season with the Houston Rockets. His overall numbers (13 points, 6.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals, .443 from the field, .332 from three) aren’t half bad, though they’re hardly what one would envision for a guy who inked a $25.1 million deal this past summer.
Of course, James Harden’s arrival and subsequent All-Star ascendancy has had plenty to do with depressing Lin’s individual productivity. Then again, without the Beard’s brilliant, basket-attacking efforts, the Rockets are probably wallowing in NBA draft lottery “tank mode” right now, as opposed to gearing up for the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2009.
Like that of Houston on the whole, Lin’s trajectory has him on the up-and-up. Still, life in the NBA has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride for Linsanity since he left the New York Knicks for a new life in Space City.
July 14, 2012
Lin all but jumps the Knicks’ ship when he inks a three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet with the Rockets. The contract is of the “poison pill” variety, which means that if New York chooses to match it, the team would be on the hook for approximately $13 million in Lin’s salary during the 2014-15 season.
The Knicks, deterred by the luxury tax implications of such an undertaking, decline to retain Lin’s services.
July 19, 2012
Lin is officially introduced as a member of the Rockets at a press conference in Houston.
Oct. 10-26, 2012
Lin stumbles through much of the preseason. The lingering effects of offseason knee surgery, when coupled with the ongoing attempt to acclimate himself to new teammates in a new city, appear to hinder his effectiveness on the court. Through his first five exhibition games, Lin averages 5.0 points, 6.2 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 2.4 steals with 3.0 turnovers while shooting 22.2 percent (8-of-36) from the floor.
Lin finally shows some signs of improvement in Houston’s preseason finale against the Orlando Magic. He tallies 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting along with three rebounds, two steals, five assists and no turnovers.
Oct. 27, 2012
The Rockets send Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks and a second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for a package built around reigning Sixth Man of the Year James Harden. On paper, Houston’s backcourt of the future is now complete.
Oct. 31, 2012
Lin puts forth a solid effort in Houston’s season-opening Halloween win over the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He chips in 12 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals in his regular-season debut with the Rockets.
But the night belongs to Harden, as so many do during the months to come. The Beard puts up a rather ridiculous line—37 points on 14-of-25 from the field, 12 assists, six rebounds, four steals and a block in 44 minutes—to catalyze Houston’s victorious effort.
Nov. 2, 2012
Lin looks more like the Linsanity of old against the Atlanta Hawks. He shoots a subpar 6-of-16 from the floor, but still winds up with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a 109-102 win.
Once again, though, Harden is the star of the show. He pours in a career-high 45 points on 14-of-19 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free-throw line. The effort unofficially thrusts Harden to the forefront and lands Lin on the back burner in Houston.
Nov. 12, 2012
Lin faces the Miami Heat for the first time since Feb. 23, when the then-eventual champions locked him down on the way to an eight-point, three-assist, eight-turnover nightmare of a game. Lin’s struggles aren’t so pronounced this time around, though his nine points and six assists in the three-point loss are hardly worth writing home about.
Nov. 16, 2012
Lin tallies his first double-double as a Rocket (11 points, 11 assists) in a two-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Rookie Damian Lillard, Lin’s counterpart for the Blazers, explodes for 27 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals, often at Lin’s expense.
Nov. 23, 2012
In his first game against his old team, Lin logs 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, but is once again outshone by James Harden (33 points, nine assists, four rebounds) in a 131-103 blowout win over the Knicks.
Nov. 28, 2012
James Harden is at the center of the Rockets’ 22-point loss to the Thunder in OKC, but Jeremy Lin doesn’t exactly escape unscathed. Lin winds up with six points, eight assists, three rebounds and four steals in 41 minutes while being hounded by Russell Westbrook much of the time.
For the month of November, Lin averages 10.2 points, 6.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting a forgettable 37.3 percent from the floor.
Dec. 10, 2012
With Harden sidelined by a sprained ankle, Jeremy goes off for his finest performance since the salad days of Linsanity. He winds up with a career-high-tying 38 points on 11-of-21 from the field and 12-of-12 from the line, seven assists, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 42 minutes.
Lin’s efforts help the Rockets to push the San Antonio Spurs to overtime in the Beard’s absence. However, the Spurs eventually emerge victorious behind Tony Parker’s first career triple-double.
Dec. 17, 2012
Lin plays like the “man of the hour” as he makes his hotly anticipated return to Madison Square Garden. Not even Harden’s 28-point, 10-rebound showing can take away from Lin’s evening, wherein he piles up 22 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals in Houston’s 109-96 win over New York.
The combined brilliance of Lin and Harden against the Knicks helps to quash an emerging narrative regarding whether or not the Rockets should be starting two young, ball-dominant guards alongside one another.
Dec. 28-31, 2012
Jeremy Lin ends his whirlwind of a year with two strong performances in his last three outings. He piles up 21 points, eight assists and four steals in another loss to the Spurs, and registers 16 points, eight assists, four steals and two blocks in a 19-point win over the Hawks.
In between, Lin once again flounders opposite Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. Lin finishes the game with seven points, seven assists and four turnovers while Westbrook explodes for 28 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals in a 30-point pounding of Houston.
For the month of December, Lin averages 13.8 points, 6.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting a far more respectable 48.9 percent from the field.
Jan. 9-19, 2013
The Rockets stumble through a season-worst seven-game losing streak, during which Lin averages 11.6 points, 5.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals, and shoots 36.4 percent overall and 27.3 percent from three.
Jan. 17, 2013
The NBA announces the starters and top vote-getters for the 2013 All-Star Game at the Toyota Center in Houston. Lin falls less than 50,000 ballots short of election, but nearly doubles James Harden’s tally in the process.
Jan. 21, 2013
The Rockets finally stop their seven-game skid, albeit without many thanks to Jeremy Lin. He cobbles together an unremarkable four points and three rebounds in a 100-94 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. That same game sees James Harden go off for 29 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Jan. 24, 2013
The league reveals the All-Star reserves. Lin is (rightfully) left out. Harden, on the other hand, earns his first All-Star selection to represent the host Rockets at the game. However, Lin was later chosen to partake in the Skills Challenge during All-Star Weekend.
Jan. 25-30, 2013
Lin ends January with four straight double-digit scoring efforts, capped off by 22 points and five assists in an eight-point loss to the Denver Nuggets.
For the month of January, Lin averages 12.4 points, 5.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three.
Feb. 5, 2013
Lin plays a major role in Houston’s 140-109 dismantling of the Golden State Warriors. Lin hits five of the Rockets’ NBA-record-tying 23 three-pointers as part of a 28-point, nine-assist night against the team with whom he first played as a pro.
The big story, though, centers around Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who instructs his players to prevent the Rockets from breaking the single-game three-point record at all costs.
Feb. 12, 2013
The Rockets prevent the Warriors from exacting their revenge by way of a 116-107 win over Golden State. Lin contributes a double-double (14 points, 10 assists) to the cause.
Feb. 13, 2013
Lin’s second game without James Harden doesn’t go quite as well as the first, to say the least. While Harden is busy resting up for All-Star Weekend, Lin leads the Rockets into battle against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The result? A 106-96 loss in L.A., in which the Rockets fall behind by as many as 22 points while Lin chips in 14 points, seven assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block.
Feb. 16, 2013
Jeremy Lin represents the hometown Rockets as one of three members of the Western Conference squad in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Lin finishes the first round in 35.8 seconds, but fails to advance ahead of eventual winner Damian Lillard.
Feb. 20, 2013
The Rockets return from the All-Star break with a resounding 122-119 win over the visiting Thunder. As expected, the headlines belong to James Harden, who scores a career-high 46 points (16 in the fourth quarter) on 14-of-19 from the field, 7-of-8 from three and 11-of-12 from the line, to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block.
But Jeremy Lin’s efforts, while not nearly as celebrated, are nonetheless crucial to Houston’s success. Lin scores nine of his 29 points during the final 3:05. He also collects seven assists, six rebounds and two steals in the effort.
Feb. 22-27, 2013
Lin ends February with a trio of duds as Houston loses two of three. Those three games see Lin score a total of 24 points on 10-of-31 shooting with nine combined turnovers. On the positive end, he dishes 19 assists across those three games.
For the month of February, Lin averages 14.5 points, 6.6 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from three.
March 1-20, 2013
Lin extends his streak of double-digit scoring games to a season-high 10 straight, topped off by three straight 20-plus-point performances that invoke memories of Linsanity. Over that span, Lin averages 16.2 points, 5.6 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals with .518/.412/.800 shooting splits—arguably his best 10-game stretch with the Rockets thus far.
March 24, 2013
Lin struggles to score against the Spurs, but contributes five assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block along with his six points in a thrilling win over San Antonio. Not surprisingly, it’s James Harden (29 points, 15-of-17 from the line, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks, two steals) who comes away as the hero, as he has all season and likely will going forward, so long as he’s sharing a backcourt with Jeremy Lin.
via Timeline of Jeremy Lin’s Up-and-Down 2012-13 Season with the Houston Rockets | Bleacher Report.
Yi Jianlian unstoppable as Guangdong beat Shandong again in CBA Finals
DONGDUAN, Guangdong Province, March 24 (Xinhua) – Yi Jianlian shone in the first half with 22 points and nine rebounds to steer Guangdong Hongyuan to a 93-82 win over Shandong Gold in Game 2 of the Chinese Association league (CBA) finals here on Sunday.
Guangdong Hongyuan, which rallied to beat Shandong Gold 88-81 on Friday in Game 1, are now within two victories from their eighth CBA title.
Although no team could overcome a 2-0 deficit in the finals to win the championship in the league’s 18-year franchise history, Yi refused to get carried away.
“We should never think about that (a 2-0 lead). If we take it for granted, such a detail may change the results. What we need to do is to have a good rest and fully prepare for the next game,” said the 25-year-old power forward.
Yi paced the team with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Teammate Wang Shipeng and Donald Sloan helped with 14 points and 10 points respectively.
Shandong opened the game with a 3-pointer from Sui Ran, but Yi soon delighted the home fans with two spectacular slam dunks and six points in a row. Guangdong built a 21-15 lead after the first period…
via Yi unstoppable as Guangdong beat Shandong again in CBA Finals – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
Jeremy Lin has scored 20+ points in his past 3 games
HOUSTON (AP) — Before Wednesday night’s game against the Utah Jazz, Houston coach Kevin McHale got his team together and explained the possible implications for the postseason.
Jeremy Lin scored 24 for the Rockets, who currently hold the No. 7 spot in the West. They lead the idle Los Angeles Lakers by 1½ games and are three ahead of the sliding Jazz.
“This was a huge game for us going forward and we wanted to come out and set the tone early,” Houston’s Chandler Parsons said.
Lin had a strong third quarter, scoring 10 points, including seven in a row for the Rockets early in the period. The point guard has scored at least 21 points in each of the last three games.
“I thought that Jeremy made some big hoops coming down the stretch when we needed them,” McHale said. “They were really intent on staying with James in the second half and really not giving him a lot of room, so Jeremy really broke free.”
via James Harden, Jeremy Lin boost Rockets’ playoff chances.
Jeremy Lin vs. Raymond Felton: Did the Knicks or Rockets Make the Better Decision on Their Starting Point Guard?
By the stats, they’re not so different.
The Houston Rockets’ Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks’ Raymond Felton.
Two athletic point guards. Two guards that thrive off the pick-and-roll. Two players that, while having never played together, were bound together by the same common factor-being point guards for one of the most rabid fan bases in one of the most demanding cities in the world, New York.
Felton, acquired in free agency by the Knicks, was part of the rebuilding process to bring New York back to prominence in the summer of 2010. By that time, Lin, fresh out of Harvard, was vying for an NBA roster spot in the 2010 NBA Draft, but when unchosen, though he secured a job with the Golden State Warriors in late July of that year.
While Felton was becoming a mainstay in New York, helping Amar’e Stoudemire have an MVP-caliber season, that all changed in the trade that brought Carmelo Anthony from Denver to the Knicks during the February 2011 trade deadline. Felton was shipped out to Denver, then bounced back to Portland for an unimpressive 2011-12 season.
Meanwhile, Lin, who bounced around from Golden State to Houston, was nearing the end of his NBA rope before the Knicks picked him up off waivers in December. Then injuries to Anthony and Stoudemire forced then-coach Mike D’Antoni’s hand to put Lin into a Feb. 4 game against the then-New Jersey Nets, and…well, everyone remembers what happened next.
Yet, despite the eruption of “Linsanity” that took New York–and the world–by storm, the Knicks decided, amid some criticism–and some praise–to let Lin walk in free agency when Houston outbid New York for Lin’s services with a three-year, $25 million deal. The Rockets, spurred on by owner Leslie Alexander and a lot of cap space to burn, were hoping Lin was part of a huge overhaul that the franchise needed to exorcise the playoff-less times of the last three seasons.
The Knicks, meanwhile, opted instead to bring back Felton in a multi-player trade with Portland…which brings us to where we stand as of the end of February.
The Knicks have thrived under Felton’s veteran savvy and re-galvanized play for the first half of the season, taking the lead in the Atlantic Division with a 34-20 win-loss record.
And the Rockets?
They’ve only emerged as one of the most exciting offensive young teams in the NBA, rattling off 106.4 points per night, the second-highest team scoring average in the NBA behind OKC. And with only 23 games to go in their regular season, Lin–who has provided streaky scoring, but a team-first, playmaking strategy–and the Rockets have control of the eighth and final playoff seed, ahead of the barely-functioning L.A. Lakers.
All in all, by the win-loss column, things seem to have worked out fine for both teams. And yet still, the question remains-which team got the better end of the bargain? Who has been the better point guard, Lin or Felton?
Lin’s 2012-13 Season Past the Halfway Mark
Last season, Lin was having the time of his career–maybe even his life–with the Knicks, but just could not make it work once Anthony returned to the starting lineup. Lin was averaging 24.6 points and 9.2 assists in his first 10 games of “Linsanity” last season, but that production began dropping as Anthony began, understandably, taking his superstar’s share of the shots again. In his last nine games before his season-ending left meniscus injury, Lin produced only 13.6 points and 5.9 assists.
Lin also seemed to struggle when the Rockets, his new team, acquired James Harden, who has emerged as a dominating scorer and superstar-caliber player. He was especially floundering in November, when he was shooting a dreadful 37.3 percent from the field, hitting only 3.8 of his 10.1 shot attempts-which is about five shots less than the 15.1 shots–7.3 of them which he hit on 47.2 percent shooting-that he hit wearing a Knicks uniform in February last season. His production has gotten a little steadier with time, even showing flashes of greatness–his 38 points against San Antonio on Dec. 12, 28 points against Golden State on Feb. 5 and a few hot streaks scattered along the way are proof of that. For any other point guard, averaging 12.6 points and 6.2 assists on 43.3 percent shooting after 59 games would be a nice season. However, after the bar Lin set for himself last season, Lin has set expectations for himself that, in the eyes of his critics, he has fallen way short of.
And yet, while he hasn’t brought “Linsanity-Part II” to Houston this season-although if the team never acquired Harden, who knows if that would have still been the case? Or if the Rockets would even be in playoff contention now?-Lin has started to show signs of becoming a more mature, complete point guard.
He is learning how to move and think in the Rockets’ up-tempo offense, when to cut and when not to cut, how to play without the ball in his possession. For the most part, he has been getting better learning how to defer control of the offense to Harden when he gets hot–which is a lot in his All-Star season that has netted him 26.4 points per night, fifth highest in the NBA–and how to keep the Rockets’ red-hot offense going when Harden gets cold.
Plus, as a nice bonus, Lin has developed some quick hands on defense, his 1.92 steals ranked fourth-best in the league.
Oh, he can still improve on things. Lin has to become a better jump shot shooter to make sure more than 4.6 of his 10.7 shot attempts this season-a 43.3 season field goal percentage-go in. And he has to cut down a few of those 2.9 turnovers he’s coughed up.
But all in all, Lin has been growing as a player. As long as he works at his flaws, once he gets more comfortable in learning how to run Houston’s lightning-quick offense and how to do the little things a point guard has to do, he’ll soon be able to mesh more of his own skills into the offense, giving us a look at a more complete version of Lin.
Felton’s 2012-13 Season Past the Halfway Mark
Contrary to Lin’s slow start in Houston, Felton started out red-hot back in the Big Apple.
His first regular season game back as a Knick, Felton put up…
Yi Jianlian is CBA MVP but now back to business in the CBA playoffs
The party is over, now it’s time to get down to business.
After having a well-earned break at the CBA’s All-Star gala on Sunday, the league’s top players have to switch their attention to this year’s playoffs, which are hard to predict.
“The real competition starts from now on and everybody will become serious going into the first game of the postseason. No more fun times from tonight,” Guangdong Southern Tigers forward Yi Jianlian said after winning the All-Star MVP award on Sunday.
The perennial storyline has been who can challenge Guangdong’s dominance, but this year’s postseason boasts an open field with any of the top four teams capable of winning it all through balanced rosters.
“We have to prepare for every opponent. No one will be easy in the playoffs,” said Yi, who returned to the CBA this season after a five-year stint in the NBA.
For Yi and the Tigers, revenge for last year’s Finals loss to the Beijing Ducks would provide a perfect ending, but first they have to survive their first-round clash against the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.
Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi, Wang Zhelin among players in the CBA All-Star game
Players for Northern All Stars
Centre: Han Dejun 786,613 votes
Power Forward: Li Xiaoxu 589,854 votes
Small Forward: Tracy McGrady 2,218,388 votes
Shooting Guard: Guo Ailun 926, 534 votes
Point Guard: Stephon Marbury 1,230,561 votes.
Xirelijiang (Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers)
Tang Zhengdong (Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers)
Zhong Cheng (Jilin Northeastern Tigers)
Duan Jiangpeng (Shanxi Fenjiu Zhongyu)
Pooh Jeter (Shandong Kingston Lions)
Ding Yanyuhang (Shandong Kingston Lions)
Li Gen (Beijing Jinyu Capital Steel Ducks)
Players for Southern All Stars
Centre: Wang Zhizhi 885,630 votes
Power Forward: Yi Jianlian 1,559,634 votes
Small Forward: Yi Li 766,663 votes
Shooting Guard: Quincy Douby 987,536 votes
Point Guard: Liu Wei 768,563 votes
Ding Jinhui (Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank)
Marcus Haislip (Dongguan New Century Leopards)
Wang Shipeng (Guangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers)
Zhu Fangyu (Guangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers)
Han Shuo (Bayi Rockets)
Lin Chih-chieh (Zhejiang Guangsha Lions)
Wang Zhelin (Fujian SBS Xunxin)
The Skills Challenge
Zeng Lingxu (Foshan Draglions)
Liu Xiaoyu (Guangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers)
Han Shuo (Bayi Rockets)
Guo ailun (Liaoning Jiebao) Defending Champion
The 3-pointer Shooting Contest
Marcus Haislip (Dongguan New Century Leopards)
Xirelijiang (Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers)
Michel Maadanly (Foshan Draglions)
Qunicy Douby (Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank)
Zhao Yonggang (Qingdao Double Star Eagles)
Zhu Yanxi (Beijing Jinyu Capital Steel Ducks) Defending Champion
The Dunking Contest
Tian Guisen (Shanxi Fenjiu Zhongyu)
Zhai Xiaochuan (Beijing Jinyu Capital Steel Ducks)
Chang Lin (Beijing Jinyu Capital Steel Ducks)
Su Ruoyu (Zhejiang Guangsha Lions)
Gao Shang (Guangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers)
Zhai Yi (Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks)
Deputy commissioner: Jeremy Lin is not a flash in the pan
Adam Silver, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, said the global popularity of Rockets guard Jeremy Lin continues to grow despite his departure from New York to Houston.
“The Houston Rockets have continued to remain a popular television attraction, both in China and in Taiwan,” Silver said. “I think he’s demonstrated that he was not a flash in the pan, that he’s a highly successful NBA guard who’s continuing to grow in his development.
“And I think he’s continued to grow as a person. He’s engaged in lots of different marketing activities in the offseason. But most importantly, people are seeing that he has real growth potential as a player.
“I think from a global standpoint our teams appear virtually throughout the world, and the ultimate impact economic is yet to be measured. It’s still the case that as our fans become more sophisticated in markets such as China, he’s not the most popular player. The most popular players are the ones that win championships. Jeremy has a ways to go from that standpoint. But it’s fun to watch his growth as a person and as a player.”
via Ultimate Rockets » Deputy commissioner: Jeremy Lin is not a flash in the pan.
Westmoor boys headed to PAL final
Friday’s Peninsula Athletic League boys’ basketball tournament clash between Burlingame and Westmoor high schools falls under the term “instant classic.” First, because of the finish. And second, because once again, David has slain Goliath. Consider that prior to the 2012 tournament, Westmoor had yet to win a PAL tournament game, 0-5 to be exact, while Burlingame has played in the tourney’s championship game the last five seasons. Add to that the Panthers’ 12-0 mark in PAL South Division play this year and very few red and white supporters gave the upstart Rams any chance. But thanks to a Wai Min put-back at the buzzer, Westmoor will dance for the championship Saturday night at Sequoia High School.
The Rams survived a furious Burlingame second-half comeback in which Westmoor led by as many as 17. “I call it ‘senior desire,’” said Rams head coach Herb Yaptinchay. “There are a lot seniors on this team who have a lot of, desire. They really want to succeed. They want to come out here and win a basketball game.” “It’s a huge win. Our program hasn’t had a lot of success in 13, 14 years.
I think the last time we had any success was like 1999. Most of these kids were probably in diapers. So, I think it’s a huge win for the program. Five or six years ago, these guys won no games and now, all of sudden, we’re playing in the PAL championships.” The key to Westmoor’s win on Friday was its offensive distribution — different players caught fire at different times to help build the lead. In the first quarter, it was guard John Mayuga’s seven points that were huge. Burlingame did a great job of establishing Nick Loew in the post to take advantage of their superior size. No. 44 didn’t make a basket, but he went to the line three times and knocked down six freebies. Connor Haupt, the recently announced PAL South Most Valuable Player, got off to a decent start, scoring seven points. But Burlingame only led 18-15 after one quarter. Come the second, the Rams caught fire. The game was tied 21-21 before Westmoor closed the period out by outscoring the Panthers 16-7. Errol Fernandez scored eight points in the frame while Robert Santos knocked down two 3-pointers — in all, the Rams were 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and 8 of 13 overall from the field. Burlingame shot just 30 percent. “I tell these guys when they share the rock, they’re unselfish, we look beautiful,” Yaptinchay said. “And that’s what we were doing the first half. They attacked, they were looking for the extra pass. They were getting open looks. The second half, Burlingame put a little more pressure on us.” “The first half,” said Burlingame head coach Pete Harames when asked what the difference in the game was. “They shot well. They were open shots. That was the reason. And then, I thought we had them.” Before the Panthers stormed back, they fell behind even further. In the third quarter, it was Mayuga once again from the perimeter that burned Burlingame on a couple of huge shots. For the game, the point guard finished with 20 points. The Panthers began their run late in the third. It was until Haupt hit a jumper with 2:06 left in the period that Burlingame finally hit a second half basket. But that was a sign of things to come. Haupt scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half. More important to the Panthers’ comeback was the strong fourth-quarter play of Chris Graham. He scored all 10 of his points in that period as Burlingame stormed back. His basket underneath got the Panthers to within a point at 56-55 and, with 20 second left, Haupt drove and hit a floater in the lane for the 57-55 lead — their first since the 6:52 mark of the second quarter. “We got a little tired,” Yaptinchay said. “We were playing up-tempo and you noticed a lot of guys started to cramp up near the end of the game. We stopped attacking and all of sudden they were able to come back. Credit them, they played very hard and got the lead there the last couple of seconds.” Westmoor called a timeout and looked to set the hot Mayuga on a shot. No. 1 drove to his left and heaved up a desperation 3-pointer between two defenders with seconds ticking off the clocks. The shot was off, but there was Min, sneaking under the Burlingame defense and tipping the ball back into the hoop as the buzzer sounded. Min finished with eight points — none bigger than the two taking his team to their first PAL tournament championship.
Jeremy Lin ready for Bay Area homecoming
SAN FRANCISCO — A lot has happened since Bay Area native Jeremy Lin last played at Oracle Arena nearly 14 months ago.
But when his Houston Rockets visit the Warriors on Tuesday, Lin will have proved the most important thing: He belongs.
The third-year point guard isn’t as dominant as he was at the height of Linsanity, when he carried the injury-riddled New York Knicks into the postseason. But nor is he a 13th man. Lin is the starting point guard for a team in the mix for the Western Conference playoffs.
“I didn’t know it would happen this fast,” Lin said after practice Monday, referring to the rise of his career. “Midway through my first year in the league, I was like, ‘Dude, I could do this. I can play at this level.’ “
Lin said he loves being a Rocket. He even considers it home now. Houston is the peaceful middle ground between the pressure of the Bay Area and the magnitude of New York.
He can walk around, have dinner in comfort. He doesn’t have hype pressing on his shoulders or doubt shoving him in the back. It is an experience Lin said he hasn’t known since Harvard.
“I think I’m in a good place where I can grow and mature and get better as a player,” Lin said. “And kind of go at a reasonable, normal pace. … Playing (in the Bay Area) my rookie year was tough. There was a lot of pressure, and I wasn’t ready for it. And then New York is New York.
“Houston is a nice change of pace for me.”
Lin is not devoid of pressure and expectations after signing a three-year, $25 million contract. But the rush to win immediately was erased when the Rockets revamped the roster after their attempts to land center Dwight Howard failed. The numbers of eyes affixed on him to be the solution were lessened when management traded for Oklahoma City guard James Harden, demoting Lin to the Robin role in the dynamic backcourt duo.
Unlike in New York, where the offense seemed to revolve around Lin’s pick-and-roll abilities, Houston is challenging him to be a better point guard. The Rockets like to play at a fast pace and shoot a ton of 3-pointers, which the Warriors learned the hard way in their first matchup, a 140-109 loss last week. Lin still gets to run the pick-and-roll, but he also has to play off the ball and get his teammates going.
“He couldn’t shoot like he shoots the basketball now,” said Sacramento Kings coach Keith Smart, who coached Lin with the Warriors. “He was still trying to get the ball to the basket, where defenses were waiting on him. But that next year or year and a half, his game changed because his jump shot evolved. And once the jump shot evolved, he had a great feel for finding people, making plays to other teammates. And then his game took off.”
During Linsanity, he was averaging 13.5 shots per game. This season, he is taking about three shots fewer. In New York, Lin’s usage rate was 28.9 percent of the plays. With Houston, he is down to 19.7.
Some say Lin’s decline in production was proof that Linsanity was a fluke.
Reality says Lin is a catalyst for a team on the rise in the Western Conference.
“Linsanity, man,” Warriors point guard Stephen Curry said. “That’s going down in history as the most unbelievable thing ever. It wasn’t overrated at all. You give credit where credit is due. He’s pretty good.”
via Jeremy Lin ready for Bay Area homecoming – San Jose Mercury News.
Jeremy Lin in new ESPN commercial
Yao Ming is back in Houston for the All-Star festivities
That burning sensation in the chest after a series of full-court sprints; the one so intense that the lungs feel ill-equipped to withstand it and the body is pushed to the brink of submission. That’s what Yao Ming desires most since injuries to his feet and left ankle forced him into retirement less than two years ago.
“It’s very painful,” Yao said in a recent telephone interview, “but I don’t know why, I kind of miss that.”
Since making the last jump hook of a stellar career for the Houston Rockets, Yao has transitioned into a comfortable life that doesn’t involve the physical grind of competitive basketball.
He lives in Shanghai with his wife and young daughter, has become heavily involved in wildlife conservation — recently taking a stand against elephant and rhinoceros ivory poachers — and is taking economics courses at Jiao Tong University.
Yao also is the owner of the Chinese Basketball Association’s Shanghai Sharks, the team he played for before coming to the NBA in 2002 and the current home of former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas.
“Basketball is still a part of my life,” Yao said, “just in a different way.”
Yao formed a partnership with NBA China last summer to continue to build upon the incredible influence that the 7-foot-6 center has had on the popularity of the game in his native country.
The sides will collaborate on several development programs in a nation where the NBA estimates that the number of people playing basketball is almost the population of the United States.
And, as Chinese New Year approaches, the NBA again will lean on Yao to take a yet-to-be determined role in an eight-day celebration that will include 23 live televised games and five in-arena events, tipping off on Feb. 8, when the Wizards host the Brooklyn Nets at Verizon Center.
“People are always looking for something exciting,” Yao said, while promoting the NBA’s efforts to acknowledge the year of the snake. “It’s good entertainment for some people’s life.”
For the first time in 12 years, the NBA is without a Chinese-born player. Wang Zhizhi was first in 2001, followed by Yao. Yi Jianlian, the sixth overall pick of the 2007 draft, was expected to carry the mantle after Yao but had a mediocre five-year career with four teams — including the Wizards — before returning to China to play for the Guangdong Southern Tigers this season.
Yao believes that having a Chinese player in the NBA will help expand its popularity and is optimistic the void will be filled soon enough. Wang Zhelin, a 19-year-old 7-footer who plays for Fujian, is projected as a possible second-round pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
“I know few kids that are very talented and very often talk about them, how they possibly may make it to the NBA. I can’t give you their names because I don’t want to cause trouble,” Yao said. “Both of the players I’m talking about are very young. There is still a lot of work to do. But as long as they keep their attitude right and they play hard, I believe that one day you will see something out of China again.”
David Shoemaker, NBA China’s chief executive, said last year’s Chinese New Year event attracted nearly 90 million viewers with the league’s local television partners; he is expecting more than 100 million this year. Shoemaker credited Yao with expanding the interest of NBA in China while also educating fans about the other quality players within the league.
“He was a transformational player and he attracted a whole generation of basketball fans here in China,” Shoemaker said of Yao. “The naysayers were quite concerned that we’d see a drop-off in popularity and the thing is last year, our TV ratings were stronger than the year before and I think we owe so much of that to Yao. But I think it’s because we have a more sophisticated and diverse fan base now. They no longer cheer for any one player or for that matter, any one team.”
The Rockets remain popular, Shoemaker said, and three of their games will be televised on Chinese Central Television, the nation’s state-run international broadcaster, during the Chinese New Year celebration.
It helps that the team currently boasts Jeremy Lin, a Taiwanese American, and an all-star guard in James Harden.
Yao has formed a relationship with Lin — though he said he tries not to bother him during the season — and believes the 23-year-old guard who spawned Linsanity last season with the New York Knicks is in the perfect environment to develop in Houston.
“I was there, first 10 games, didn’t play well and they continued to encourage me and they tried to help me to fit into the NBA, instead of trying to judge me a good or bad player. I remember that,” Yao said of his time with the Rockets. “Jeremy, of course, people expect that he repeat what he did in New York last year. Under that circumstance, he still consistently helps the team and I’m very impressed with what he did.”
Yao added that Lin shouldn’t feel any added pressure. “He played in New York last year. What kind of pressure can compare to the Big Apple?”
Several former NBA all-stars, including Stephon Marbury, Tracy McGrady and Arenas, have extended their careers in the CBA. Arenas, a three-time all-star with the Wizards, signed with the Sharks last November and Yao praised the work ethic of his former competitive peer, though injuries have sidelined Arenas for much of the season and contributed to the Sharks’ poor record.
“Gilbert is a very nice person. You know they have a word for people, they say, ‘workaholic.’ He’s probably like a ‘playholic.’ He loves to play basketball,” Yao said. “Only thing in his mind is basketball. He plays the game and practice all day long. Unfortunately, he has some injury problem. The few games he played, he showed what it means to be an all-star. Even though he is a former all-star, he’s still at a different level.”
Yao was elected to eight consecutive all-star games but the ballot no longer has a separate box for centers.
“I feel sorry for the big guys,” Yao said, while mentioning Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez and former Georgetown star Roy Hibbert. “But if you’re looking through the history of basketball, the rule is always about limiting the power from the big man. Not the strongest survive, but the fittest. We have to make an adjustment to fit in those rules.”
Yao mentioned the three-point line and zone defenses, among other changes, for diminishing centers. He then asked: “What is a big man right now? Usually you talk a 7-footer or 6-10 and above around the paint. But now, all those 6-10, 6-11 guys like Kevin Durant, they play small forward; they play point guard.”
But even with all of the changes within the league since he departed, Yao plays down the impact of his absence.
“The NBA survived before me,” he said. “I think the league will survive again after I leave.”
Jeremy Lin Admits He And Teammates Were Not Classy In Win Over Warriors
The Houston Rockets’ 140-109 win over the Golden State Warriors two nights ago ended in controversy when the Warriors, acting on behalf of coach Mark Jackson, intentionally fouled the Rockets three times — one of which was a flagrant — despite the outcome being long decided.
The Warriors resorted to the hacking tactic because they didn’t want the Rockets to set the record for most three pointers made by a team in a game. (The Rockets had made 23 and were one away from breaking the record.)
Coach Jackson defended his decision to foul to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“We’re not going to lie down. I was an old-school basketball player. I’m an old-school coach. If you can’t appreciate that, that’s on you. If you’re going to try to get the record, we’re going to stop you.”
Of course, the Warriors didn’t simply “stop the record,” they fouled three times, including a hard foul that drew an ejection for Warriors bench player Draymond Green. Both sides, understandably, expressed their distaste over Twitter. Chandler Parsons of the Rockets tweeted a Mark Jackson quote to mark the Warriors (“Hand Down, Man Down!”), while Warriors center Andrew Bogut tweeted that he can’t wait to see the Rockets again soon.
But Jeremy Lin, ever honest, actually played neutral and conceded a bit of fault from the Rockets.
“Only thing I think we need to apologize for was the reaction after the dunk. To be honest, that wasn’t totally classy on our behalf,” the 24-year-old Taiwanese American told reporters.
It’s refreshing for an NBA player to actually admit fault in a heated situation. The Warriors, of course, are no strangers to beef this season. They’ve recently gotten at it with the Los Angeles Clippers and the OKC Thunder too.
What can we expect? They’re an Oakland squad with a Brooklyn coach.
via Jeremy Lin Admits He And Teammates Were Not Classy In Win Over Warriors – I Sports Times.
Remembering Assistant Coach Monica Quan
On Saturday night, ex-LAPD officer Christopher Jordan Dorner shot and killed 28-year-old Monica Quan, a second-year assistant coach with the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team, and her fiancé, 27-year-old Keith Lawrence, a public safety officer at USC. The couple died at the garage in their condominium in Irvine, California, after suffering multiple gunshot wounds while in the driver and passenger seats of their car. The 33-year-old Dorner also posted a “multi-page manifesto” online for police, in which he threatened multiple officers and their families. LAPD has issued a protective detail to more than 40 of its own.
Here’s a brief snippet from his manifesto, via the Miami Herald:
“I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty.”
And more nuggets from the manifesto, via the Orange County Register:
“Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave (sic) to deadly consequences for you and your family. There will be an element of surprise where you work, live, eat and sleep,’ he wrote. ‘I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own. I’m terminating yours.’”
One of the targets named by Dorner was an ex-LAPD captain and current attorney named Randall Quan, Monica’s father, who represented Dorner when he was fired by the LAPD in early 2009. Quan and his family, it appears, was targeted for retribution. In 2007,
via Monica Quan Murder | Cal State Fullerton Assistant Coach | SportsGrid.
One Year After Linsanity, Assessing Jeremy Lin’s Career and Future
Whenever anyone analyzes Jeremy Lin’s ability, the number most ignored is 75. That’s how many starts he’s had in three years as an NBA player, two thirds of them coming this season as a member of the Houston Rockets.
“Linsanity” was fun and exciting, but it also brought unprecedented exposure and expectations to a 24-year-old point guard with a limited skill set. A year later he’s still struggling with his inconsistent shot and inability to run a smooth half-court offense—though that’s probably due to the Rockets’ ridiculously fast pace.
The expectations were unreasonable, and to some degree they still are.
Lin is a maturing, evolving player who’s slowly shown improvement on both ends of the court, so keep his age and his minimal experience in mind when you discuss who he is and where he’s going.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey didn’t guarantee $25.1 million to a point guard who averages just 3.3 free-throw attempts and 6.1 assists per 36 minutes. But there are signs throughout Lin’s game that he can one day soon become the game-changing talent on both ends of the court that Morey thought he’d be getting.
Getting to the rim is perhaps Lin’s best skill, but for whatever reason his free-throw numbers just aren’t where they were last year, when he averaged 7.0 attempts per 36 minutes. Yet this is probably just a small sample size fluke; he’s still getting to the rim a bunch, averaging more shots there per game than Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West, Al Jefferson and Rudy Gay.
His ability to use the pick-and-roll has been awesome, and it’s an area in today’s game where point guards need to excel if they ever want to sniff “elite” status.
According to Synergy, 25.4 percent of Lin’s possessions end as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, and he’s shooting 49.2 percent on his attempts. Most of his made baskets come when he uses the screen as a launching pad towards the basket.
With the ball he’s shown improved decision-making skills, and his turnovers per 36 minutes have dropped from 4.8 last year to 3.3 currently.
Perhaps the most underrated part of Lin’s game is his above-average defense.
He guards in isolation, blows up pick-and-rolls and uses his quick hands to cause deflections several times a game. Guarding opposing point guards in today’s NBA isn’t easy, but Lin more than holds his own. He’s second in the league in total steals and has exceptional lateral quickness to go with his lightning quick hand speed.
The most notable criticism on Lin this season has been a lack of trust Rockets head coach Kevin McHale’s shown in him down the stretch.
While Lin’s appeared in all of Houston’s games, he’s been barred from the fourth quarter seven times. It’s a truly strange situation for any rotational player, but especially a starting point guard, someone who typically carries significant importance down the stretch in close games.
Lin can’t make three-pointers (he was at 28.9 percent before last night’s 5-8 performance), and the Rockets love shooting them. It’s a problem they’re still working on fixing; when he’s off the court, Houston’s attempts and percentage goes up.
Will Lin ever be an All-Star caliber point guard? It’s tough to say, but smart money leans towards no. But that’s more an assessment on how talented the field is than Lin’s own limitations. What he can be is consistently effective, extremely difficult to keep out of the paint (he already is) and an elite defender at his position.
Most importantly, Lin’s ceiling with his current team hinges on how much range he can add to his jump shot. If it improves over the next few years, the Rockets will be extremely happy they plucked him from New York.
via One Year After Linsanity, Assessing Jeremy Lin’s Career and Future | Bleacher Report.
Japeth Aguilar heading back home and ready for new beginning
CONTROVERSIAL slotman Japeth Aguilar is finally coming home as he looks forward to the fresh start that he longed for.
The 6’9” big man, who plays at the wing, is expected to immediately join GlobalPort, his new squad after finally getting traded late last week, in practice in preparation for the 2013 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
Aguilar got his wish of getting shipped out by Talk ‘N Text, which sent him to GlobalPort for fellow and former Ateneo Blue Eagle and teammate Rabeh Al-Hussaini last Thursday.
The 2009 no. 1 overall draft pick arrives today after spending several months in the United States trying his luck in the National Basketball Association D-League.
GlobalPort coach Junel Baculi is excited to welcome him in the new-look Batang Pier camp.
‘’Everyone in the team is excited to welcome all our new additions, especially Sol (Mercado) and Japeth (Aguilar). We know that we made a huge move in getting them and we are very optimistic that they can help our team become a lot better in the next conference,’’ said Baculi.
After getting Aguilar and his rights, GlobalPort management wanted to see him in person first before starting contract negotiations. Aguilar is technically a free agent since his contract expired prior to the start of the season.
The team’s core now consists of the high-octane backcourt trio of Mercado, resident scorer Gary David, two-time Most Valuable Player Willie Miller and Aguilar.
Aguilar makes his debut for Batang Pier in the league opener on Friday against Petron Blaze at 5 p.m.
Aguilar was drafted by the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBDL, but didn’t make the official roster.
He demanded a trade from TNT two weeks ago as he was not pleased with his playing time with the Tropang Texters. Wanting no part of any complications, the three-time Philippine Cup champions immediately granted his wish.
via Aguilar ready for new beginning – Manila Standard Today.
video: Jeremy LIn 5 three-pointers and highlights from the Rockets record setting game vs Warriors game Feb 5th, 2013.
The Jeremy Lin Video Game is now available on your phone, tablet and desktop
The Jeremy Lin “Video” game is now available in the Google Play for your android devices. You can also play this game on your desktop or mobile web browser.
Yao Ming checks in to discuss Jeremy Lin’s rise, and the disappearing NBA center | Ball Don’t Lie – Yahoo! Sports
On Feb. 10, the Chinese New Year hits. And as part of his partnership with the NBA, former Houston Rockets All-Star Yao Ming will take part in a series of events that will start on Feb. 8, promoting 23 games that will be nationally televised in China as part of the celebrations. Yao’s role, as reported by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee, is “yet to be determined;” but what is getting out there in advance of his promotional duties is his charitable turn with agencies concerned with stopping animal poaching. Most notably elephant poaching, as documented by Dan Devine in these pages last summer.
Ming hasn’t played an NBA game since Nov. 10, 2010. He retired from the sport some eight months later, and has kept a rather low profile NBA-wise in the years since. With a shift in styles surrounding NBA centers, though, and a startling ascension from Taiwanese-descended point guard Jeremy Lin, Yao felt like opening up to the Post recently, discussing his guidance sent to the Houston Rockets star, from the (sadly) former Rockets star, among other topics:
Yao has formed a relationship with Lin — though he said he tries not to bother him during the season — and believes the 23-year-old guard who spawned Linsanity last season with the New York Knicks is in the perfect environment to develop in Houston.
“I was there, first 10 games, didn’t play well and they continued to encourage me and they tried to help me to fit into the NBA, instead of trying to judge me a good or bad player. I remember that,” Yao said of his time with the Rockets. “Jeremy, of course, people expect that he repeat what he did in New York last year. Under that circumstance, he still consistently helps the team and I’m very impressed with what he did.”
Yao added that Lin shouldn’t feel any added pressure. “He played in New York last year. What kind of pressure can compare to the Big Apple?”
In defense of Lee’s questioning, there was the idea that Lin was playing with found money last year in New York. Without expectation, he was allowed to thrive as a bench spark, then starter, then superstar before we all caught up to the whirlwind Lin created. It was a marvelous run. And though the Rockets have gone out of their way to temper expectations and allow Lin space to breathe as he takes to his next uniform, just being asked to lead a team as starting point guard from the outset of a season bring on quite a bit of stress.
Nothing that Yao hadn’t been through, of course. The “first 10 games” that he mentioned to Lee were quite the affair. Not only was every second of it nationally televised back home, but the eyes of the North American public were focused on a player that was in some quarters thought of as a 7-6 oddity, one that could be a bust of a first overall pick.
In his first five contests, Yao shot 6-16 (37.5 percent) and only averaged 2.6 points per game in 14 foul-plagued minutes per contest. In his next five, though, the rookie exploded for over 13 points per game in just over 20 minutes a night, while hitting 30 of his 35 shot attempts. Things can switch, instantly,
As was the case last fall, when the NBA announced it would be changing its All-Star ballot to exclude the center position, if not centers. Yao, who made the All-Star game eight different times, understands the change. From Lee’s feature:
“I feel sorry for the big guys,” Yao said, while mentioning Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez and former Georgetown star Roy Hibbert. “But if you’re looking through the history of basketball, the rule is always about limiting the power from the big man. Not the strongest survive, but the fittest. We have to make an adjustment to fit in those rules.”
Yao mentioned the three-point line and zone defenses, among other changes, for diminishing centers. He then asked: “What is a big man right now? Usually you talk a 7-footer or 6-10 and above around the paint. But now, all those 6-10, 6-11 guys like Kevin Durant, they play small forward; they play point guard.”
OK, maybe not point guard, but the point is well taken. Yao Ming’s size and game were an oddity in 2002 – all those jump hooks and short turnaround jumpers. In 2013? He’s a throwback’s throwback.
One that is doing fine work, in helping the NBA reach out to its growing and already sizeable international audience, to say nothing of his anti-poaching efforts.
We just wish we’d hear from the guy more often. Much less watch him play 82 games a year.
Jeremy Lin 5 three-pointers helps Rockets tie NBA record to top Warriors
HOUSTON (AP) — The fans knew the Houston Rockets were on the verge of history Tuesday night, needing one more three-pointer to set an NBA record.
Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson wasn’t going to let that happen.
The Rockets settled for tying an NBA record and set a franchise mark with 23 three-pointers in a 140-109 win against the Warriors. Houston matched the single-game record for threes set by the Orlando Magic vs. the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 13, 2009.
The Toyota Center crowd realized the outright record was within reach in the final three minutes, chanting “One more three!” But the Warriors took away Houston’s chances of getting it by fouling at the end.
“We’re not going to lay down,” Jackson said. “If you’re going to try to get the record, we’re going to stop it.”
The Warriors should’ve employed that plan sooner.
Jeremy Lin sank five three-pointers, a career high, and Chandler Parsons and James Harden hit four apiece as the Rockets reached a season-high point total. They also tied an NBA record with 14 three-pointers in the first half and dished out a season-high 35 assists on 46 field goals overall.
“Thankfully, we were just able to get a bunch of open looks and knock them down,” Lin said. “That’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Lin scored 28 points, Harden added 18 and Parsons had 16 for Houston. The Rockets put on the shooting display without their best three-point shooter — Carlos Delfino, who sat out with a right elbow injury.
via Jeremy Lin helps Rockets tie NBA record to top Warriors.
Outtakes Online: Sundance loves ‘Linsanity’
“Linsanity,” the documentary about NBA sensation Jeremy Lin, has impressed reviewers during its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Jeremy Lin in action on the basketball court earlier this season. (Associated Press)
“The Hollywood Reporter” called “Linsanity,” which was co-produced by “Hawaii Five-0” regular Brian Yang and narrated by “Five-0” star Daniel Dae Kim, “a sports doc with abundant heart.” It premiered Sunday, the first of four screenings.
It was just a year ago that Lin exploded onto the national consciousness while playing for the New York Knicks. He had been told his whole life he wasn’t good enough to play professional basketball, but when he got a chance, he led the Knicks on a seven-game streak that electrified fans.
In his review in The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Lowe wrote: “Recapturing the joy Lin experiences while excelling on the court in that incomparable season — as fans at first discovered, then promoted and finally celebrated his accomplishments — Linsanity reaffirms that the best sports stories originate with dimensional, relatable subjects who earn respect and admiration through their personal struggles and triumphs.”
Steve Zeitchik of The L.A. Times called it “one of the most crowd-pleasing documentaries to play the festival this year.”
Video: ‘Linsanity’ documentary premieres at Sundance to standing ovation | ksl.com
SALT LAKE CITY — “Linsanity” is a documentary following the sensation of one NBA player’s introduction to the league, but it’s also about a man of faith who has had his shares of challenges.
The weather nearly caused disappointment for an audience tonight at the final screening of The Sundance Film Festival of the documentary “Linsanity,” that follows the life of NBA star Jeremy Lin. The Houston Rockets were grounded for hours in Grand Junction, Colo. before finally making it to the film’s screening.
Lin arrived late to watch the documentary about the international phenomenon and media sensation he’s become.
The life of Lin is layer after layer of highs and lows, and independent filmmaker, Evan Jackson Leong wanted to tell this story. But it didn’t go so well at first.
“He’s like ‘I’m not Kim Kardashian, I’m reality, I don’t want that kind of attention. I’m just a ball player,’ ” Leong said of Lin’s reaction to the proposed film. “For me, you’re a ball player that has an awesome story, so, let’s try something.”
Tonight Lin joined the director and producers onstage. A devoted Christian, he often expresses his gratitude to God. That is what finally convinced him to do the film.
“The more that I went through my journey, the more I realized what a big part of it God was, and I just felt like I had to share it and I had to share it with the world,” Lin told KSL.
Lin has also suffered racial slurs and prejudice. Overcoming challenges is a message of the film, he said.
The film received a standing ovation at Sundance. Simply the best reaction, the director said.
“It’s incredible. And you can’t ask for anything more as an independent filmmaker,” Leong said. This is the biggest stage to premiere something and to watch it with 600 people the first day, oh, it was amazing, I’ll never forget it.”
Video:
via 'Linsanity' documentary premieres at Sundance to standing ovation | ksl.com.
Yi Jianlian: League leader Guangdong clinches 12th straight victory
BEIJING, Jan. 25 — League leader Guangdong Hongyuan extended their winning streak to 12 games by easing past Bayi Fubang 92-82 at the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Friday.
Former NBA player Yi Jianlian became Guangdong’s hero again by wrapping up the team high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Yi propped up the offence side from inside to make up for Guangdong’s poor 16 percent of shooting from behind the arc.
The Guangdong team, who boasts seven CBA titles, has not tasted a defeat since former coach Li Chunjiang resigned due to health issue on Jan. 6.
Guangdong trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but used a pair of runs in the third quarter to go on top and build a big lead in the fourth quarter.
Veteran Wang Zhizhi finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds for Bayi, who suffered a five-game losing streak. Han Shuo added 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
via CBA Roundup: League leader Guangdong clinches 12th straight victory – NZweek.
Jeremy Lin to attend Sundance Film Festival
“Linsanity” is officially coming to the Sundance Film Festival.
Houston Rockets basketball star Jeremy Lin, the subject of the documentary Linsanity, will appear in person on Jan. 27, the festival’s final day.
“I’m excited for Jeremy that he will be able to experience his Sundance premiere after all,” says director Evan Jackson Leong. “I’m thrilled I’ll be able to watch the finished film with my film’s subject.”
Linsanity focuses on the worldwide effect the 6-foot-3 Asian-American point guard had when he came off the bench for the New York Knicks in February, 2012 and led the once-losing team on a 9-3 streak with prolific scoring and game-winning shots. His performance created a frenzy known as “Linsanity” that spread worldwide, given that he was the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA.
At the end of that season, Lin, then 23 years old, left the Knicks to join the Rockets.
Leong has filmed Lin since he was a stand-out guard at Harvard University and during a period where the undrafted player struggled to find a role in the NBA. The documentary cameras were rolling behind the scenes during Lin’s quick rise to international basketball hero.
Lin is able to attend the festival since the Rockets play the Utah Jazz on Jan. 28 and have the Sunday off for travel.
Winston Emano, a press representative for the film, says some of Lin’s Rocket teammates will join him for the screening, which takes place in Salt Lake City.
Linsanity premiered last week at a sold-out screening that drew fans from as far away as Hawaii.
High schooler Chris Tang adjusting to life at Oak Hill Academy
Last year, Chris Tang and the bench were distant associates. But after transferring from Hampton Roads Academy to Oak Hill Academy, the two have become close friends.
Tang, a 6-foot-3 junior, transferred schools to better his chances of playing college basketball. After a few months on a team fully equipped with all-stars, Tang is adjusting to becoming a second-string player.
“The competition is a lot better. We play pretty hard against each other in and out of practice,” said Tang.
Oak Hill coach Steve Smith, who is in his 28th season, said Tang was one of the team’s best perimeter shooters, but he still isn’t ready to start.
“At Hampton Roads he was a starter. He’s got to fit into the role so he’s adjusting,” said Smith. “He’s a good shooter off the bounce and off the catch and he’s going to keep getting stronger in the weight room.”
Tang scored a season-high 12 points earlier this week as Oak Hill beat Kamehamea of Hawaii 78-37 in the ‘Iolani Prep Classic in Hawaii. Oak Hill is 17-1 going into Friday night’s semifinals.
Originally from China, Tang said he misses his friends and host family in Newport News, but transferring to Oak Hill will make him a better player.
“They do more defensive drills and shooting drills, just more running of plays,” Tang said of Oak Hill.
Smith said Tang “needs to work on defensively guarding the ball and keeping guys in front of him.”
The change in coaching styles and high competition between Tang and his teammates has affected his playing.
“I think sometimes he’s stressing a bit. He thinks when he plays, and he needs to play freely,” said Smith. “I think sometimes he’s thinking, ‘Is coach going to take me out,’ because all our guys can play, and they know if one’s not doing well I’ll put in another one.”
Oak Hill is known for shipping its players to some of the best Division I basketball schools. Tang’s teammate, Troy Williams, committed to Indiana. Smith said with his continued hard work, Tang’s chances for playing college basketball will increase.
With a rigorous schedule between schoolwork and basketball, Tang said he has made new friends with his teammates. And unsurprisingly, when they aren’t in practice or in class, the team is playing basketball or watching it together on TV.
“My favorite (team) is the (Houston) Rockets. I like Jeremy Lin,” Tang said.
In the mean time Tang continues to adjust to living in the dorms and preparing for college, Smith said Tang keeps and optimistic attitude for the future.
“He doesn’t talk a lot but when he does he’s always telling me, ‘Coach I like it here, thank you for giving me the opportunity, and I’m getting better.”
via Tang makes friends with the bench to advance on the court – Daily Press.
CBA: Yi Jianlian’s 38 lifts Guangdong past Zhejiang (video)
The Guangdong Southern Tigers had a chance to extend their lead atop the standings with a win on Sunday night. Guangdong could move two games clear of the second place ducks as they took on the Zhejiang Bulls.
Zhejiang though, one of the most explosive teams in the league led by their foreign duo of Eddy Curry and Quincy Douby.
Guangdong’s Yi Jianlian was on fire early on as he was hitting from everywhere in the first half. The former NBAer had 23 of his 38 on the night before the break.
Guangdong, looking to pull away late in the period, but Eddy Curry help the Bulls keep it close. He finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds on the night.
However, Guangdong looked unstoppable in the third. The 7-time champs opened a 9-point lead on Terrence Williams‘ 3-point play.
Williams added 20 points overall.
The Southern Tigers cruised to a double-digit lead midway through the final quarter. Ike Diogu finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds as Guangdong held on to a 109-101 victory over Zhejiang.
video CBA: Yi Jianlian’s 38 lifts Guangdong past Zhejiang – People’s Daily Online.
Coach Brian Goorjian on potential NBA prospect 7’2″ center Li Muhao
Dwelling on what’s wrong with Chinese basketball is a pastime enjoyed by many, both within China’s borders and outside – one that’s accumulated more participants since the National Team’s summer 0-5 debacle at the 2012 London Olympics. It’s a problem with education system… It’s too political… Chinese bodies aren’t suited for a power sport like basketball… If you’ve got some time to burn, ask somebody what’s wrong with basketball in China and listen.
But what’s right with Chinese hoops? That’s a conversation rarely had, at least in the circles that NiuBBall runs with in Beijing. Which is really too bad. Because constantly dwelling on the wrong – something we have been guilty of ourselves — is pretty unfair when there’s so much right going on with Brian Goorjian down in DongGuan, Guangdong province.
Stressing comprehensive, long-term Chinese player development, Goorjian and the DongGuan New Century Leopard youth movement have become arguably the best story in Chinese basketball over the last three years; a story that can be better appreciated when you understand some of its background.
Starting with their inception in 2003 and entrance into the Chinese Basketball Association in 2005, the Leopards were mostly known throughout the 2000s as the middling neighbor that happened to share the same town as Chinese Basketball Association powerhouse, the Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers. By no means a bad team, the Leopards went through an average first five years in the league, finishing with back-to-back fourth place finishes in 2007-08 and 2008-09 sandwiched in between three seasons of no playoffs.
Like most CBA teams, DongGuan’s wins and losses generally correlated in part to the success in the selection of their foreign players; hit your mark, like they did with Mike Harris in 07-08 and 08-09, and its a winning season. Miss, and you’re out of the playoffs.
Apparently fed up of that model, DongGuan ownership made a change in philosophy when they hired Goorjian as a consultant in 2009. Known as the most successful coach in Australian professional basketball history (six NBL championships, over 400 wins and .700+ winning percentage), Goorjian has built himself an unquestioned reputation in winning and developing players, the latter of which appealed greatly to a forward-thinking club that is focused on structuring a team that will rely not on its foreigners, but rather on its Chinese players.
Goorjian, who also served as the Australian Men’s National Team head coach from 2001-08, a time in which he oversaw two trips to the Olympics and one to the FIBA World Championship, has not disappointed in spearheading that change. Coming in first as a consultant in 2009 while he was serving as an assistant on the China National Team bench under then-head coach, Guo Shiqiang, the Pepperdine alumni ended up leading DongGuan’s youth team to a championship at the end of the summer. Impressed with the work he was doing with their young players, management elected to hire him as head coach of the senior team in 2010-11. In his debut year, the Leopards — relying on heavy contributions from a mix of veteran and young Chinese players in addition to solid play from their two foreign players – finished in third place at 25-7 before going down to Guangdong in the CBA semi-finals. Using the same formula this past year, they went 19-13, eventually losing to Xinjiang in the first round of the playoffs.
But heading into his third season at the reigns, Goorjian and his Leopards are looking to make a big leap due largely in part because his vision of building a Chinese-centric roster is coming to fruition. Backed by an owner who is committed to the concept of player development, investing large amounts of money in coaching, youth teams and infrastructure — including a state-of-the-art training facility that is partnered with the NBA, the only one of its kind in the world — the 59 year-old has been able to carry his success from Down Under to southern China, getting wins, improving players and building a club capable of sustaining long-term success. And with an average team age of around 24 years-old, the sky seems to be the limit — so much so that Goorjian has on record as saying the team’s goal is to win a championship in three years.
Which brings us back to that whole post-Olympics, how-to-fix-Chinese-basketball-debate. Sure, there’s no simple solution and opinions differ. But, one thing remains certain — if every team was being run the same as DongGuan, we likely wouldn’t be having that conversation as much, or at all.
This year in that spot we went with Haislip because we’ve got Sun Zhe, we’ve got Li Muhao and we’ve got Sun Tonglin, all three of them are fives and all three of them are Chinese. And we’ve made a commitment this year to play Li Muhao. So with that being the case, the import now is a four instead of a five. And if we were going to go with a four, we wanted to be more athletic. More four than Jackson, more four than Shavlik and more athletic than either of them. And second, we wanted a guy who could stretch the floor and hit the three with those three big Chinese that we got.
NiuBBall: You mentioned Li Muhao and how he’s going to become more featured in the rotation this season. You’ve brought him along pretty slowly since you arrived in DongGuan and yet, DraftExpress recently placed him in the late second round of the 2014 NBA Draft. First, how would you rate his development since you’ve arrived with the team and second, is the NBA a realistic destination for him in your mind?
BG: His development has been a very, very, very slow process. And a big part of the development I think has been one, the pressure put on him in China, and all the eyes on him and every move that he makes. “When’s it going to happen, why didn’t he do this, why isn’t he doing that…” there’s just been pressure there and he’s a kid who I say is wound tight. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. So that’s been a big issue for him.
Number two, he’s unbelievably athletic and he’s 7’1. Basketball-wise, he’s all over the place, so the process has been a slow work in progress. But, I think this summer him leaving China and going to New Jersey and just being Li Muhao by himself with workout guys, he came back with a totally different mindset than from what I’ve seen. He’s much more coachable, he’s much more excited about the game, he seems to be at peace with himself and he seems to be enjoying basketball. He’s taken a big step in the last four or five months.
Last year, my plan, like what’s going on this year – and to be truthful, this happens with the Chinese setup – and again, I’m learning, but I come back [at the beginning of the off-season] and we start practicing… and there’s no Li Muhao. Where’s Li Muhao? Well, he’s off in Beijing somewhere and he’s there for four months! And our whole pre-season, our whole weight program, our development scheme, all of that is left in the hands of someone else. And then they’re brought back [to the team]. Li Muhao came back and just mentally he was burned out. He needed to be rested, he needed to be fed, needed to have a strength program put in place. So we pulled him off the court and brought him along slowly. And this is less than six weeks before the season is going to start.
As we started to get into the season, I would have had to cut out a major piece in our rotation to bring him, so I waited and then he rolled his ankle real bad. He was on the sideline for about a month. So really as you said, this is what was happening in his development last year and it was a real rough one for everyone involved, including Li.
This year, he went to New Jersey, he came with us for the whole pre-season, he’s playing with our group and right now, he is a guy that is going to be playing 25 or 20 minutes minimum in our system this year. So that’s a big piece that we didn’t have last year. It’s our most talented young player and he’ll burst onto the scene next year and I think it’ll give this youth movement a stronger and more noticeable look. When I say “youth movement,” that’s a piece nobody has seen before. So that’s big for him and it’s big for our club.
Second thing on the NBA, he’s got that on target his forehead right now and everybody who we play, any team who has an American, they all go after him and make things as difficult as they possibly can for him, which one, has been helpful in his development, but two also can let you see that he’s a long way from [the NBA] yet.
But as far as a talent, somebody you would draft and bring along? Yes. In my 30 years in this, he’s in the top four talents I’ve dealt with as far as, you come onto the court, you start throwing the ball to a guy and do a workout and you look and you say “Wow, I haven’t had much of these in my life.” He’s an NBA talent and I’m real excited where his head’s at, I just think he’s taken a huge step emotionally.
It’s a similar process to what Andrew Bogut went through when we were involved in Australia. He had similar issues mentally, just accepting coaching, accepting criticism, he was high strung, he was highly emotional and Li is very, very similar. And I’m saying this because I think in the long run, it’s a good thing. You gotta get a rope and pull him back, as opposed to some of these guys where you have to kick to get them to compete. Li doesn’t mind the physical stuff and he’s somebody you have to pull back. That’s a good quality.
Jeremy Lin: game #36 loss to New Orleans – 9 pts, 4/12 fg, 5 ast, 5 reb, 5 stl, -18 (record 21-15)
Jeremy Lin: game #35 win vs Los Angeles Lakers – 20 pts, 7/13 fg, 5 ast, 6 reb, 4 stl, +11 (record 21-14)
Jeremy Lin: game #34 win vs Cleveland – 20 pts, 7/13 fg, 5 ast, 4 reb, 1 stl, +6 (record 20-14)
Jeremy Lin: game #33 win vs Bucks – 8 pts, 3/8 fg, 7 ast, 1 reb, 4 stl, -4 (record 19-14)
Highschool Basketball: all-asian team stuns #2 ranked St. Ignatius in overtime
A bay area high school basketball team comprising of mostly asians is making some headlines. The team is almost entirely made up of sub 6-feet asian basketball players. But they’re not just playing for fun, they’re also winning. They currently have an 11-1 record. According to Jeremy Balan,
“They’re just looking for respect,” Coach Yaptinchay said of his senior-laden group. “Everyone looks at us and looks at our lineup — we’re all a bunch of short Asian kids for the most part and we don’t have a guy over 6-foot — but they play with tremendous heart and that’s the big thing. It’s a huge win for them.”
One of the standouts on the Westmoor team is 5’10″ senior center Wai Min. According to Jeremy Balan,
“He’s been a four-year starter for us and he’s been our team captain the last three years,” Yaptinchay said of Min. “Again, he’s underrated. They look at him and think he’s a 5-foot-10 Asian kid that can’t do anything, but he’s got tremendous competitiveness, jumps out of the gym and gets boards over everybody, and he’s playing center on defense. It’s all about heart.”
Scoring Leaders
Westmoor
Wai Min – 24
Errol Fernandez – 21
Eric Liang – 14
John Mayuga – 14
Alton Chen – 2
St. Ignatius
Julian Marcu – 18
Trevor Dunbar – 17
Jaren Yang – 16
Tristan Wentworth – 13
Troy Rike – 10
