Future of Chinese basketball seen as bright, despite failure to find another Yao Ming

Chinese men’s basketball has not had the best of times over the past few years, while the lack of a true superstar capable of dominating on the global stage in the mould of NBA Hall of Famer Yao Ming has also seen the team fall behind regionally and internationally.

That predicament was probably best reflected in two losses to South Korea in four days last year, and the home defeat to Japan in the World Cup Asian qualifiers was the first in an official Fiba-level match in 88 years.

A failure to reach the Olympics in either Tokyo in 2021 or Paris means these were not random fluctuations in performance, but the inevitable result of the long-term accumulation of systemic problems in the Chinese Basketball Association, and the country’s domestic leagues.

The dependency on imports has reduced local players to mere tools, who just defend, box out, grab a rebound and hand it off. They are not required to dribble past opponents or orchestrate plays, let alone shoulder pressure at crucial moments.

Players nurtured under such an environment inevitably struggle against better teams, and national team player Zhao Rui once acknowledged that “the gap between the CBA league and the international stage of Fiba is too large”.

For many, the problems stem from the collapse of the youth training system in the country, insufficient combat intensity and professional ethics, and the ever-changing league rules – a result of the fluctuating performance of the Chinese men’s team – which have prevented the league, players and coaches from developing.