Apr 3
In early 2010, when news started to circulate around the internet that two-time NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury had signed with a team in the Chinese Basketball Association many thought that would most likely be the last they would hear of the player who was highly touted going back to his high school days in New York.
It could be another classic game in the history of the CBA, when the Beijing Ducks, with the help of Stephon Marbury, arguably the best import ever in the league, challenges the Guangdong Southern Tigers, which won seven out of eight recent finals. But what happened in Game 1 of the finals turned out to be a disgrace for Chinese basketball.
When you walk around the Yuanshen, you quickly realize that this is Yao Ming's house. His image adorns the walls, the banners and the advertisements, whilst his retired jersey hangs from the rafters. During home games, Yao watches from his private box up high in the arena, looking down on players and fans alike like an emperor.
Two men exchanged pleasantries via Weibo on Wednesday night, one complimenting the other on a job well done. So far, so normal, considering this is China's leading social networking site, with over 25o million registered accounts. Yet the big difference was who was doing it; Stephon Marbury, two-time NBA All-Star, now with the Beijing Ducks, was congratulating J.R. Smith, the former Denver Nugget, on playing his part in Zhejiang Golden Bulls' victory over Guangdong Leopards that night.
The ongoing NBA lockout has understandably been a massive coup to other basketball leagues around the world, who have invited a number of its currently unpaid players for a spot of moonlighting in a variety of interesting locations. Deron Williams is in Turkey, Tony Parker and Rudy Fernandez are turning up for teams in their native France and Spain, and players from the basketball’s most lucrative league can be found plying their trade in Israel, Russia, Brazil, Poland, South Korea, Slovenia, Serbia, Lithuania and Montenegro to name but a few.
Aside from the Euroleague, the only other basketball anyone will possibly be watching this year is from the China Basketball Association as players and owners work feverishly to hammer out a deal to save the NBA season. With the start of the 2011-2012 season approaching there is a lot of anticipation an excitement.
With all of the hoopla around former Houston Rockets’ center Yao Ming’s retirement, some may have forgotten that the NBA is still in lockout mode. As players and owners still haggle over an agreement, many of the top NBA stars have had a lot of free time on their hands this summer and it looks like they will still have a lot of down time come September when teams should be heading into training camp getting ready for the new season.
When the lanky Shanghainese first landed in Houston in 2002, few expected him to achieve what he now stands for. In his nine seasons of playing in the NBA, Yao Ming averaged 19 points, 9.2 rebounds per game. Yet his contribution to basketball and the NBA cannot be told by these stats, as Yao basically globalized the sport more than anyone in history.
The news came out yesterday from Yahoo Sports that the 7-foot-6 player is to retire soon due to left foot and ankle injury, which already cost him the past two seasons. Yao's injury was a typical result of over-playing. Since the 2004 Athens Games, the "Moving-Great Wall" constantly found himself moving over the Pacific Ocean to reunite with his Chinese teammates for glories in the Asian Champs, the Olympics after at least four surgeries.
Mar 1
Five golds, two silvers and four bronzes - the performance of Chinese athletes at the Vancouver Games has been nothing but outstanding during the celebration of Chinese New Year. But back home, sports officials in Beijing are fumbling, as a bronze medal the Chinese gymnastic team won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics could be stripped soon.
As gymnastics officials may have helped Chinese athletes falsify birth documentations just like the football and basketball teams have been doing in the country, it looks they forgot to remind the players that they should keep lying.
According to reports from ESPN, two-time NBA All-Star and former Boston Celtics point guard Stephon Marbury will join the Shanxi Zhongyu basketball team as early as next week, becoming the highest profile American to play in the China Basketball Association.
"The aim of signing Marbury is to pay back our fans and try to win more games in the rest of the season," Shanxi boss Wang Xingjiang told ESPN.
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