China 2014

[Kings]

Friendly Games

29/05 China 95 Australia 97
31/05 China 64 Australia 85
06/06 China 95 Australia 80
08/06 China 95 Australia 90
18/07 China 93 Serbia 95
19/07 China 72 Germany 67
20/07 China 66 Montenegro 71
23/07 China 82 Serbia 77
24/07 China 69 Germany 54
25/07 China 60 Montenegro 56
10/09 China 105 Jordan 80
12/09 China 86 Jordan 76
14/09 China 91 Jordan 66

5th FIBA Asia Cup

Preliminary Round

11/07 China 105 Indonesia 37
12/07 China 64 Iran 51
13/07 China 58 India 65
14/07 China 79 Japan 66

1/4 Final

17/07 China 84 Singapore 37

1/2 Final

18/07 China 73 Chinese Taipei 84

3rd to 4th Place

19/07 China 79 Philippines 80

10th Stankovic Continental Champions Cup

Preliminary Round

31/07 China 66 Angola 55
01/08 China 62 Russia 60
02/08 China 74 Slovenia 82

3rd to 4th Place

04/08 China 74 Angola 58

3rd U17 World Championship

Preliminary Round

08/08 China 68 Serbia 80
09/08 China 70 Argentina 75
11/08 China 84 Egypt 58

1/8 Final

12/08 China 79 Italy 67

1/4 Final

14/08 China 71 USA 113

5th to 8th Place

15/08 China 81 Canada 92
16/08 China 87 France 79

23th FIBA Asia U18 Championship

Preliminary Round

19/08 China 95 Malaysia 55
20/08 China 89 Qatar 18
21/08 China 100 India 40

Second Round

22/08 China 97 Jordan 55
23/08 China 91 Philippines 49
24/08 China 81 South Korea 54

1/4 Final

26/08 China 106 Kazakhstan 53

1/2 Final

27/08 China 92 Chinese Taipei 50

Final

28/08 China 66 Iran 48

17th Asian Games

Preliminary Round

24/09 China 76 Kazakhstan 59
25/09 China 59 Chinese Taipei 58

Second Round

26/09 China 108 Mongolia 67
27/09 China 72 Japan 79
28/09 China 67 Iran 75

5th to 8th Place

29/09 China 78 Philippines 71
01/10 China 70 Qatar 60

[CKR13]

China bids for a wild card entry for next year's world cup. If China gets a wildcard, it will serve a good build-up for the Asian games.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/70292/arti.html

[CKR13]

Any news about the post-negotiations between Giannakis and the CBA? Last week, the Dragon was in Beijing and had watched a CBA game of the Beijing and Foshan.

Li Gen was praised by Giannakis. NT material? Yes.

[CKR13]

Watching the highlights of Wang Zhelin's 39 points + 14 rebounds game against Tianjin and Panagiotis Giannakis was in attendance, watching Wang reach the 1000th career points.

[CKR13]

Rumors surfacing that Gong Luming will coach the national team?

Rumor:http://sports.163.com/14/0124/14/9JC...html?f=jsearch

[CKR13]

There were reports from the media that stated Gong Luming is coming out of retirement to help the national team. But the CBA has not confirmed it yet.

[CKR13]

This site is reporting that China has pulled out of the FIBA wildcard bids: http://www.mundodeportivo.com/201401...399746531.html

[CKR13]

CBA still has not issued a statement about the said news. But Chinese netizens are seem to be welcoming it as most of them echo that the team can focus on the Incheon Asian games and the 2015 FIBA Asia qualifiers for Rio 2016.

[CKR13]

According to Sportando and Mundo Deportivo, FIBA has confirmed the withdrawal of both China and Russia from the wildcard bid.

I am reading some of the opinions on Chinese media and some fans:

1. China was a favorite to get one of the wildcards, but cannot assure the public that it can form a competitive team due to the fact that A. Panagiotis Giannakis is no longer with the team. At this point, men's team does not have a coach and it would mean starting over from scratch in April.

2. From Point 1, there is the possibility of having a worst finish compared to 2010 and 2006.

3. Some claim that the CBA would rather aim for the 2014 Asian games and that builds up for 2015 FIBA Asia that serves as a qualifier for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

4. China being invited by wildcard and not by direct qualification is unacceptable to some and there lies the probability that they could finish lower than Iran, Philippines and South Korea.

[CKR13]

It seems final then, China won't be in the world cup and instead will make the Asian games the primary target.

[CKR13]

Gong Luming confirmed to be the new head coach

http://www.usportnews.com/nba_cba/cba/42418.html

[sinobball]

Gong's last tenure was ten years ago with the China's women's NT. CWNT was upset by the Kiwis in Athens and he was, almost ironically, replaced by the NZL head coach (Tom Maher). He hasn't coached anything since then, not even as an assistant, but all things considered, this was probably the best choice.

A little history is in place. Gong was the head coach for the 1996 China men's team which finished 8th in Atlanta, before fading from the basketball scene. By 1999 he had relocated to Canada and was almost forgotten. That May, the Chinese women's NT completely crashed in ABC, finishing 4th in Asia (the only time in history that this happened). Almost in an exact same situation as today, he took over the team, with little knowledge about women's basketball. First thing he did was to get rid of 7 of the 12 players for good from that roster, instead choosing a number of very young players - 6 teenagers on the training camp roster of 16. The players were obviously very raw. During the first week or so, the team played a scrimmage against a group of male basketball reporters. The reporters destroyed the girls. Gong told them, we'll play again in 3 months. He reportedly trained more than 8 hours a day, focusing on stamina and strength. Some girls later complained of exhaustion and having to be on oxygen masks in practice. Three months later, in the rematch, the reporters were all out of gas by 1Q and lost big for not being able to keep up with the pace. By 2001 CWNT were back as the champions in Asia and by 2002 they had won gold in Asian Games, World University Games and finished 6th in World Championship.

Gong's training philosophy, which in his own words was simply "train, train, train and train", had been criticized, however. In one report from 2000, a reporter wrote that one teenager, Ye Li (future Mrs. Yao Ming), was limping and Gong still urged her to finish the laps. Ye was grimacing in pain, while Gong also "had tears in his eyes". Eventually, Ye had her career prematurely end in 2006 at the age of 25 due to a plethora of injuries. She was not the only one. How much Gong's training played a factor to their injuries is of course anyone's guess. Will he do something like this this time around? Hard to say, but he has been working in a basketball research department for the past 10 years and no doubt has been exposed to modern sports science, hardly available in China in 2000. He's clearly not a sadist. In 2001, a rookie (Song Xiaoyun) asked to be excused from practice, claiming insufficient sleep, and he agreed without hesitation. What works for Gong is that he has a personality that commands respect. He doesn't have a temper, or look the type that will verbally abuse his players like many Chinese coaches (i.e. Fan Bin). He's also very dedicated, and bonded very well with the girls, even if there's some Stockholm Syndrome going on (which probably describes most Chinese people from a western standpoint....) Anyway, I don't foresee a major problems with the guys following his instructions or demands, especially now that he's getting older.

The 2013 disaster team lacked training. Anyone who watched FIBA Asia knows that Sun Yue did not shoot 14% from three or 17% overall because of terrific defense against him. He was out of form and out of shape, looked like he barely practiced in shooting the ball. The failure to bring an acceptable form out of Sun was a major fail for Giannakis. Clearly he shouldn't be blamed for his player's lack of practice. However, could Sun shoot 14%/17% in Asia under Gong? Absolutely no way. (PS: Sun shooting 39%3P/48%FG in the CBA right now.)

[CKR13]

South Korea's Kim Joo-Sung was recently interviewed by jumpmedia and shared some thoughts about Wang Zhizhi's retirement from the CBA and the national team. Both had met each other in a number of occasions in FIBA Asia.

Joo-Sung said that Wang was a complete player that was hard to stop as Wang could shoot, drive and strong in the paint.

[sinobball]

first training camp roster

Head coach: Gong Luming
Consultants: Jiang Xingquan, Yao Ming
Assistants: Yannis Christopoulos, Li Nan, Zhang Bin, Hu Xuefeng

Zhou Qi 1996 215
Wang Zhelin 1994 214
Zhang Dayu 1991 214
Xu Zhonghao 1990 210
Tao Hanlin 1991 208
Zhu Xuhang 1993 205
Xing Zhiqiang 1993 203
Yi Li 1985 202
Zhang Biao 1991 201
Zhai Yi 1994 200
Ding Yanyuhang 1993 200
Li Jingyu 1991 200
Zhao Tailong 1990 197
Duan Jiangpeng 1990 196
Han Shuo 1986 196
Sui Ran 1992 194
Cao Fei 1991 192

[CKR13]

Good to see Zhu Xuhang make it initially. He had some good games this season where he was an emerging double double.