China Olympics Athlete Blog List And Why No Chinese Magic Johnson?
Got an email this morning asking me why I was not writing more on the Olympics. Main reason is because I am vacationing in Pentwater, Michigan, placing me about 1800 miles from my 50" HDTV and forcing me to watch it on a 21" circa 1970s model. But, I have asked co-blogger, Steve Dickinson, who is in Qingdao right now, to give us all a report on the Olympic goings-on there. Expect that soon.
In the meantime, Danwei has a great list of Olympic Athletes who are blogging on the games.
But I feel compelled to discuss one thing I have noticed in watching the Olympics and that is that China's basketball team does not have a single point guard worth a damn and I have to wonder why.
Is it further evidence of the shortcomings of a planned economy? Does China pull out the great athletes for other sports, leaving only tall people for basketball?
Is it further evidence of a lack of innovation or take-chargedness (I know I am making up this word, but it works) in China? Great point guards have to be willing to innovate and take the heat. Is the coaching so tough that no player is willing to step up?
Seriously, why?
PS I know the Lakers are trying to sign Sun Yue, who is nominally a point guard, but I doubt he will play much point in the NBA were he to go there.
UPDATE: Apparently, Heart of Beijing wonders the same thing, in citing this line from an AP story: "China has more than a billion people, but there's not an elite point guard among them."
Comments (14)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endDavid Bronsard - August 15, 2008 6:23 AM
I do not think this problem is about athlete being pull-out since being a point-guard is (should) more about running the game.
First, even in the NBA, it is hard to find a good point guard
Second, the main post-Jordan influence in China is Allen Iverson who is a shoot-first guard
Third, Europeans have devellop their own style of basketball while, in China, they are trying to copy the post-80's way of playing.
Most of the point guards playing in the CBA will get bigger contracts if they score more. Assist, which should be the a primary goal for a PG, does not sell tickets.
I would like to hear from other people whom have seen CBA games to see if my evaluation is right or not.
Chris Carr - August 15, 2008 9:45 AM
Good post.
Yes, one would speculate that with the "you gotta be in touch with the group" societal thing in China, amazing point guards would abound, as that's in large part a must skill for a good point guard on a contending team (i.e., better be able to sense where others are and then love to pass and let the other primma donnas get their points).
But I have no idea, really.
As I have watched the Chinese play, I have noticed that their point guards do not have the explosiveness that NBA and high end college point guards do. One possible explanation -- they are not yet hitting the weight room like the US kids have been doing for years. May be time for the Chinese basketball players to step up the "curls for the girls" in the weight room so they in turn can point "the beach is thatta way" with a rock hard bicep, when asked.
TEJ - August 15, 2008 10:02 AM
Pentwater, you say? In a couple of weeks we'll be taking our annual retreat to the cabin in neighboring Newaygo County. Small world, eh?
James G - August 15, 2008 10:51 AM
Perhaps someone will correct me if I am off-base (they usually do) but in China, athletes are funneled into the system at an early age, and shorter people with athletic ability are not encouraged towards basketball.
Further, if you look at guards in the U.S., historically most of them became guards due to a lack of size in comparison to the people they are playing with. Magic Johnson type players are still a rarity in the U.S. - though there are lots of "big men" with decent ball handling skills - nearly all the elite point guards in the NBA are below 6'5. When I got to high school (in Chicago) I was shocked to discover that the freshmen - not varsity! - b-ball team players at my school were nearly all at least 6'1 already and could jump out of the gym. Matched against each other, I can see why the US produces so many wizards at the point. When the level of competition is that high, you've got to have some really special skills to stand out. In China, where b-ball is really popular but not historically so, they've still got some catching up to do in that regard. The pickup ball I played in China, I wasn't worried about a bunch of 6'6 teenagers coming in the gym and taking flight.
Tony Parker
Steve Nash
Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Chauncey Billups
Jason Kidd
midgets, all of them!
I went to one of those Chinese sports academies once, in Jinan Shandong province. Wow! Everyone was so big, healthy and fit. The young ladies that gave me an improptu tour of the campus looked like Chinese Flo-Jos, but once we got on campus they were par for the course. I suspect that if they just get a bit better coaching and a more development feeder system - not just dreary sports academies but fun stuff, like summer leagues, AAU, etc - then they might do some damage. I saw Yao Ming effortlessly dribble behind his back while warming up...
Sorry for using two non-basketball idioms - "off-base" and "par for the course" - to talk about basketball. Won't happen again.
Doug - August 15, 2008 12:59 PM
Pentwater is a great little vacation spot. Hope you have a great time.
Doug
Ben Ross - August 17, 2008 3:40 AM
Dan-
I couldn't agree with you more. With Yao and Yi, China is totally stocked when it comes to big men. Yet, the problem with their game is that they can't seem to work the ball inside to them very well. There is hardly any dribble penetration at all, or anything for that matter to open up the inside. When they played the US, the Americans simply collapsed on Yao, and all China could do was shoot 3 pointers. I have always found it somewhat ironic that in a country where stature is considerably lower than the international average, all 3 of their NBA exports (Yao, Yi, and Wang Zhi Zhi) have all been big men.
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:08 PM
David Bronsard,
I find it hard to believe that a top tier point guard would not be financially rewarded in the CBA for being the same.
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:12 PM
Chris,
You might have a point about the weight room. Also, and I just thought of this, it may also be due to the fact that they have not been playing basketball 5 hours a day their whole lives. I can remember watching a women's pro game around 25 years ago and thinking that while they all looked like excellent athletes, only one or two players looked like they had played the game their whole lives. Now, in the best women's high school leagues, virtually all varsity players look like they've been playing nearly every day since they were around 8 years old. Something similar may be happening in China. I mean, of all the positions, it is point guard that requires the most "knowledge of the game."
Also, how can one even think of being a great guard without having seen extensive film of Pistol Pete, Jerry West, Walt "Clyde Frazier, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, etc. ?
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:15 PM
TEJ,
Pentwater is a small world. My wife's family has had a cottage there since forever and so I have been going there since forever. This means I have been going to Mac Woods Dune Rides
and AJ's Go Carting far more times than is healthy for any sane human being. The good fudge does make it all a bit easier though.
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:17 PM
Doug,
Thanks.
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:18 PM
Ben Ross,
The inside game helps the outside game and vice-versa. You are right about the lack of penetration, which may be due to the lack of explosiveness Chris Carr noted above.
Dan - August 17, 2008 2:18 PM
James G.,
I definitely think that is part of it.
William - August 20, 2008 9:42 AM
Wow, there are some really great posts here.
I think one of the big problems is that most people never play formally. I'm not great at hoops, but I did play on leagues from ages 8-14 in the US. I noticed that in China, many people have a lot of talent, but their shooting, passing, boxing out...etc tends to lack the type of formal skills one would learn from a coach. Also, most of the Chinese people I played with had played some basketball while in high school, but generally speaking, they were too busy studying for the Gaokao back then. It's only in college and beyond when people really have lots of free time to use in playing basketball. (To some degree, I think of basketball as THE sport for college-educated Chinese guys. It'd be interesting to do a study to see how much hoops college educated guys have played compared to the general population).
Also, another factor might be (and this is a pure guess, correct me if wrong), I assume that freakishly tall people, like Yao and Yi, get flagged at a young age and are put into special programs. One the other hand, a guy who ends up being 6 foot to 6'5 would certainly be tall growing up, but not so freakishly tall that he would be put into a special sports school (again, I'm speculating on that). Therefore, a person who might have had the potential to be a point guard had they grown up in the US, might find that they'd be under too much pressure to study in the Chinese educational system.
Another factor: I have rarely seen courts in rural villages. If it's true that rural villages don't have adequate courts, then you take out villages from the mix, then you're really only taking about drawing from a population of 500 million or so, rather than 1.3 billion.
brazilian jiu jitsu - March 4, 2010 3:00 AM
I would love to read more. Thankyou!