China Women's NT

[sinobball]

Sky 84 China 45, with 18pts by Fowles in less than 15' (9/11 shooting!). Ji Yanyan has been excellent as well, finishing with 17pts (and 7/10 FG). Among the Sky rookies, Carolyn Swords had 13pts and 8reb.

http://www.wnba.com/games/20110523/CHNCHI/gameinfo.html

Watching the Mystics-China highlights I saw very good plays and scoring by the Chinese girls, but in some actions Mystics were imo a bit loose in defense.

I agree.

China actually led 22-18 at one point before the Sky went on a monstrous 46-9 run. It's just a game but I seriously think the head coach (Sun Fengwu) needs to be replaced ASAP. He's probably thinking "I still got Chen Nan and Miao Lijie back home" but getting outrebounded by 20+ game after game is unacceptable. Chen Nan and Miao Lijie were already starters 10 years ago in 2001. What had Sun Fengwu been doing with these current youngsters all these years?

cross0ver112 thanks for the photos, passed the one with you in it to Xu Nuo. (BTW you are pretty tall ) It's not that Zhao Shuang's jersey was too big, she is just too skinny! Same with Xu Nuo, Wei Wei, ... all of them need to gain more than 30 lbs at least. Look at Xu Nuo's arms, she's lucky they are still not broken yet.

The bald head in the 2nd to last photo is an Aussie named Bill Tomlinson who was brought to China by Tom Maher years ago.

There are 3 games left in the US. Hopefully they don't get massacred by so much again.

[cross0ver112]

Sinobball, so I take it that you know some of the Chinese players on a personal level since you said you sent one of the photos to them?

Could you send me some of their facebook profiles or online profiles if there are any?

I think that Zhao Shuang in fine with her weight, I don't see how her weight affects her game or will make her any better on the floor, unless she is boxing out for a rebound or posting up which I don't think that she does much. Wei Wei probably needs to hit the weightroom and add some muscle, but unless she is taking steroids it's going to be very difficult to add 10-15 pounds of muscle, especially on her ectomorphic frame. It's difficult for anyone to gain that much muscle, let alone her. Since she plays the center position she just needs to get stronger. During the game in Connecticut she only took one shot and hardly ever got the ball, but when she did she hit a turn around fade away jumper that looked good.

Xu Nuo likes to play on the outside, even though she's a center. Out of all of the players, I think that she needs to add the most weight. I wonder if she's anorexic or has been at some point in her life. With all of the strenuous exercise they do, that's incredibly unhealthy. She probably would have been a few inches taller if she hadn't been.

One last thing, I am trying to find professional teams in Europe and in China to try out for. Would you happen to have any contacts that would give me the opportunity to try out for a few teams in the People's Republic of China?

[sinobball]

They don't use Facebook, it's banned in China. Here's Xu Nuo's weibo (aka Chinese twitter), you can see your photo here:

http://weibo.com/1893161330/24F2cneaP

http://translate.google.com/translate?ie=UTF8&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://weibo.com/1893161330/24F2cneaP

(Translation, don't take it literally, for example by "old United States" she didn't mean that you were old, it's just a regular expression Chinese use). Basically she said she was a bit surprised that an American asked her that many questions all the way from the lobby to the hotel and lamented the fact that her English was too poor. Also the team translator told her to just ignore you because he is suspicious of your intentions lol

I think the girls need to put on weight. I've seen many games of Zhao Shuang's and I know how much she falls going after rebounds because of her weight. She doesn't post up, true, but others post up her! (in the Chinese league Finals she was guarding Swin Cash, who looked skinny in the WNBA but basically bulldozed over her.) Wei Wei actually has a large frame on the upper body, I think she needs to get stronger down low. Xu Nuo, never seen her play but given her weight it's no surprise she lingers outside.

I don't think I can help you land a gig, what I can tell you is, unless you have the word "NBA" (be it summer league, try out or what-not) on your resume, forget about China (even the 2nd division). [Over 35 players in this year's Chinese league played in the regular season NBA.] I don't know how good your credential is, but playing professionally abroad ain't as easy as it looks. You absolutely need an agent.

[cross0ver112]

Well, I appreciate all of the information you gave me along with the translation and Xu Nuo's profile. I tried setting up an account on weibo.com to get in contact with Xu Nuo, but it just doesn't work, I can't figure out how to use it and the translation is very poor.

Yeah after we spoke for a while she called the translator and he came up to me. I repeated to him what I told her then he said something to her and she quickly sped away with the rest of the team to some kind of Chinese barbecue restaurant in the casino.

She never responded to my e-mail. I wonder why she would give it to me if she didn't have any intention of responding.

By the way I want to know if you could do me a favor and translate something into (mandarin Chinese characters) just in case I see her again (I want to give her a note) when they play the New York Liberty in Albany, NY this Friday, May 27, 2011.

Could you translate this?: Would you like to hang out in Albany after the game?
On May 30, 2011 you're going to play the Liberty and Sun in Greenburgh, NY. I live very close to their practice facility. Could you tell me what hotel you are staying at so that we can hang out the days that you are in my area?
Do you have a phone number or a faster way that we can communicate? Here is my phone number: (914) 374-1946

[sinobball]

videos (can't see a lot though)

vs. Connecticut

http://video.sinovision.net/?id=2119

vs. Chicago

http://deerfield.patch.com/articles/video-wnba-and-chinas-best-collide-in-deefield#video-6217392

They'll play the New York Liberty in Albany tonight, expecting a turnout of 3500, mostly Chinese people in the area. Just hope they don't lose by a huge margin again.

cross0ver112, check your pm

[carlo]

China NT will travel to Australia and meet the Opals in three games late in July.
Additionally, the Chinese NT is set to face two local WNBL teams.
Details here:

http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1959&tx_ttnews[backPid]=322&cHash=6efd01975a

[carlo]

China 65 - NY Liberty 79, but Chinese women ahead by three at the first half (35-32).
Hope to get some stats later on.

[CKR13]

Good read on the Women's NT from USA Today

[sinobball]

China NT. vs WNBA history

*- scrimmage, which is a fancy name for a game in practice facilities

2011 (11 players):
PG-Yang Banban, Chen Xiaojia
SG-Zhao Shuang, Ji Yanyan
SF-Ding Yuan, Ji Xiao
PF-Xu Nuo, Gao Song, Lu Wen
C-Huang Hongpin, Wei Wei

5/19 L 63-101 Connecticut Sun (Ding Yuan 17, Zhao Shuang/Gao Song 12)
5/21 L 67-72 Washington Mystics* (Zhao Shuang 15)
5/23 L 45-84 Chicago Sky (Ji Yanyan 17)
5/27 L 65-79 New York Liberty

2010 (13 players):
PG-Yang Banban, Chen Xiaojia, Shi Xiufeng
SG-Ma Zengyu, Zhang Wei, Ji Yanyan
SF-Zhang Fan, Song Liwei, Ding Yuan
PF-Guan Xin, Gao Song
C-Huang Hongpin, Wei Wei

4/29 W 71-70 Seattle Storm*
5/01 L 58-78 Los Angeles Sparks (Ma Zengyu 14, Song Liwei 13)
5/04 L 57-91 San Antonio Silver Stars
5/08 L 78-106 Phoenix Mercury (Ma Zengyu 17, Song Liwei 14)
5/12 L 56-79 Minnesota Lynx* (Song Liwei 14)

2009 -no games
2008 -no games
2007 -no games
2006 -no games

2005
5/03 L 54-81 Seattle Storm* (Song Liwei 19, Liu Dan 10)
5/06 L 79-103 Sacramento Monarchs (Miao Lijie and Sui Feifei had 16 and 7 for Sacramento; Ji Xiao and Zhang Xiaoni had 22 and 13 for China)
5/14 L 84-117 San Antonio Silver Stars* (Chen Nan 20, Zhang Xiaoni 19)

2004
5/06 L 73-117 Seattle Storm*
5/08 W 87-85OT Connecticut Sun (Miao Lijie 25)
5/17 L 69-80 Detroit Shock (Miao Lijie 16, Chen Nan 15)
5/18 L 50-86 Charlotte Sting (Ye Li 15)

2003 (at least 4 games were scheduled but canceled due to American fear of SARS outbreak)

2002 (Unable to find scores. Calling @Kings)
5/?? Seattle Storm*
5/11 Utah Starzz
5/15 Portland Fire


Basically only 2 wins. The win against eventual champion Seattle Storm last year was great but then one realizes Seattle only had rookies/practice players as most Storm players were either still in Europe or still vacationing. Also it was a scrimmage. I think the Chinese scrimmaged against them again later that month and got destroyed by 30 pts in 6 quarters.

The only other win was in 2004 against a new franchise Connecticut Sun. I think that was the Olympic year and China did have all its best players. They got slaughtered in most of the other games though.

[JGX]

2002 (Unable to find scores. Calling @Kings)
5/?? Seattle Storm*
5/11 Utah Starzz
5/15 Portland Fire

Utah 90 China 89--Margo Dydek, Jennifer Azzi, and Adrienne Goodson didn't play for Utah. Game was played at their practice facility.
Portland 99 China 72

Couldn't find anything about a Seattle game.

[carlo]

China NT will travel to Australia and meet the Opals in three games late in July.
Additionally, the Chinese NT is set to face two local WNBL teams.
Details here:
http://www.basketball.net.au/index.p...ash=6efd01975a

Well, prior to this China will host two 4-Nations tourneys from 17 to 24 June.
Together with Chinese NT will battle:
Australia, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1975&tx_ttnews[backPid]=283&cHash=dc1af8c1b7

http://www.cbb.com.br/noticias/showrelease.asp?artigo=8597

Of course Au and Br won't have their players currently in the WNBA.

[sinobball]

Well, prior to this China will host two 4-Nations tourneys from 17 to 24 June.
Together with Chinese NT will battle:
Australia, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1975&tx_ttnews[backPid]=283&cHash=dc1af8c1b7

http://www.cbb.com.br/noticias/showrelease.asp?artigo=8597

Of course Au and Br won't have their players currently in the WNBA.

Right now China NT is playing games at home vs. Cuba NT. Won the first 63-57 (Ji Yanyan 17) and the second 68-65 (Zhao Shuang 16). Third game tomorrow.

[carlo]

The Australian NT that will compete in China has been announced.

http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1982&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=c5c3cbf927

Some players are new in the Opals roster, which will be the bulk of the WUG team, in the words of the Australian head coach.

[sinobball]

Australia NT (or some Australian team) will be in China next week for a four-nation tournament from June 17-24, also featuring China, Cuba and New Zealand. It seems all levels of Chinese bball (men, women, girls, boys) play Australia every summer. Not that I'm complaining.

China dropped the last game to Cuba 57-62. Wei Wei had 14. Here's the HQ video:

http://bugu.cntv.cn/sports/information/cctv5tiyusaishi/classpage/video/20110609/100379.shtml

The coach seriously needs to go home.

[carlo]

Australia NT (or some Australian team) will be in China next week for a four-nation tournament from June 17-24, also featuring China, Cuba and New Zealand. It seems all levels of Chinese bball (men, women, girls, boys) play Australia every summer. Not that I'm complaining.

China dropped the last game to Cuba 57-62. Wei Wei had 14. Here's the HQ video:

http://bugu.cntv.cn/sports/information/cctv5tiyusaishi/classpage/video/20110609/100379.shtml

The coach seriously needs to go home.

That's the Australian NT I've mentioned in the previous post. Of course it's not 100 per cent since some stars are currently playing in the WNBA, but still it should be a respectable selection.
The Chinese tourneys should be two, the first in Xiangyuan and the other in Shanxi and the participants are China, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand. See also:

http://www.cbb.com.br/noticias/showrelease.asp?artigo=8597