On December 2, the CBA updated the free agent list, and two players from the Shanghai team were on the list, namely Zhang Chunjun and Luo Xudong. The two veterans, born in '87 and '88, are now unemployed, basically announcing that they are saying goodbye to the CBA, or retiring from the CBA, or looking for opportunities on other basketball games. It is worth mentioning that Zhang Chunjun and Luo Xudong and Shanghai's Category C contract are still 1 year away, but at present it shows that they are all "free agents", not "restricted free agents", and the team has not interfered with their whereabouts.
In the past two years, the rapid rise of the Shanghai team, the most intuitive impression is that a large number of CBA celebrities, such as Zhang Chunjun, were bought in 2019 together with Li Gen and Ju Mingxin. However, if you want to become a strong team, you must go through run-in and pain, after two seasons of poor performance, this year's Shanghai team is finally on the right track, in addition to the introduction of reinforcements tends to be reasonable, Li Chunjiang has brought qualitative changes to the team, and they are currently ranked fifth in the standings with 10 wins and 3 losses, which is a result that has not been achieved for many years.
Although the core structure of the team is stable, it is difficult for some worthless players to get playing opportunities, especially the veterans are definitely going to be eliminated, Zhang Chunjun and Luo Xudong are the most typical examples. At the beginning of the new season, the two have not yet played in the CBA, and they have been sent to play three-player basketball before, and it seems that the project may not need them at present.
Zhang Chunjun in 1987 is a well-known CBA tough player, as a big forward without a high degree of superiority, he has a tough style, solid technology, excellent defense, and has experienced the process of falling to the NBL and returning strongly. Zhang Chunjun's highlight moment in the 15-16 season was originally intended to return to the CBA to gain a foothold in a weak brigade, but that year, the Sichuan team gathered three foreign aides, and the results went all the way up, and finally reached the finals. In response to the problem of the weak front line of the Liaoning team, Zhang Chunjun played a very high level in that series and became the hero of the Sichuan team to win the championship.
After 2017, Zhang Chunjun joined Shandong and reached the semi-finals with the team that season, if it were not for Ding Yanyuhang's injury, they would have a chance to defeat Guangsha to enter the finals again. However, after joining the Shanghai team in 2019, Zhang Chunjun's state declined significantly, in addition to the immature team system, the increase in age is also the main reason. Fortunately, with the championship ring in hand, Zhang Chunjun has no regrets in his career.
Another player to mention is guard Luo Xudong, who is a CBA living fossil level player, entered the professional league in 2005, and is Li Qiuping's beloved player. Since 2010, with the departure of Li Qiuping, Luo Xudong has started a tramp career, in addition to the Shanghai team, he has successively played in Jilin, Jiangsu, Qingdao, Xinjiang, Guangzhou, playing in 6 teams, Luo Xudong should have created the most CBA players.
It is worth mentioning that Li Qiuping left the Shanghai team for the first time, and after a short period of study and dormancy, he returned to the CBA to coach, and his first thought was to find Luo Xudong. Later, everyone saw that following in the footsteps of Li Qiuping, Luo Xudong joined Qingdao, went to Xinjiang, and was lucky to win the championship with the team. When Li Qiuping returned to Shanghai in 2018, Luo Xudong did not hesitate to follow his mentor again, and averaged 8.9 points and 4.1 assists per game.
Only last year began li qiuping left the front line, the new head coach no longer trusts Luo Xudong, the key is that he is getting older, and there is little left in the fuel tank. Although Li Chunjiang was the head of the god recruited by Li Qiuping, how to employ people would not be interfered with, including the departure of Zhang Chunjun and Luo Xudong.