With 9 days left before the start of the second stage of the CBA regular season, the Shandong men's basketball team officially determined their new team name - Shandong High-speed Qilin Club, which is also another name change in Shandong after the fire bull, golden lion, venus and king.
From the "bullish" fire bull, to the longest-used golden lion, to the frequent name changes in recent years. Every name change of the Shandong men's basketball team has written a history and scattered a piece of memory.
The Fire Bull (1995-2002)
Just like the Liaoning Hunters and Bayi Rockets of that year, the Shandong "Fire Bull" also impressed the fans. The angry Bulls who pierced the basketball with two horns explained what a "bull's rush" was. The name Huoniu was used by Shandong from the first year of the CBA (1995) to 2002, and has become the deepest memory of the older generation of Shandong fans. It is worth mentioning that the Shandong men's basketball team has been named by sponsors many times in recent years, such as the original Shandong Baoyuan, but the fire bull has always been the real team name of the Shandong men's basketball team.
The fire bull era is also the glorious era of the Shandong men's basketball team. At that time, Shandong, which had Gong Xiaobin, Ji Minshang and Ju Weisong and others, had always been an old powerhouse in the CBA, and its achievements were also in the forefront of the CBA. In the 1996–97 season, the 1997–98 season, the 1999–00 season and the 2001–02 season, Shandong reached the semi-finals four times. Unfortunately, Shandong was swept away in the semi-finals, and Liaoning and Bayi successively became their obstacles.
Among them, the 1997-98 season is the peak moment of Shandong Huoniu. That season, Shandong ranked first in the regular season with 19 wins and 3 losses. That season, Gong Xiaobin, the core of the Shandong men's basketball team, won the regular season MVP, and Shandong coach Ye Peng was elected as the best coach (together with the then Bayi coach Wang Fei), which was the latest time that the Shandong coach was elected as the best coach, and it was also the first time that Shandong was elected as the regular season MVP.
However, with the retirement of the Shandong Five Tigers, the core of the team, Gong Xiaobin, entered the twilight of his career, Shandong changed sponsors again, and the Shandong Fire Bull era also ended after the 2001-02 season.
The longest-aged Golden Lion (2006-2014)
Shandong has been using the team name Golden Lion since 2006. At this time, shandong's sponsors were replaced by Shandong gold, which was remembered by countless fans. The Golden Lions used a lion with a rather facial image, and the lion firmly grasped the basketball in his hands, and was known to dominate the basketball world.
It should be noted that in the period 2002-2006, the team name of the Shandong men's basketball team was Shandong Lion. During this time, Shandong's sponsor was The Kingston Company under Shandong Gold Group, at that time, Shandong's team logo was a golden lion with one foot on the ball, but this golden lion was different from the golden lion that followed.
During the Golden Lion era, Shandong experienced a long period of dormancy. After Gong Xiaobin retired in 2003 and directly transferred to the shandong coach, Shandong lacked excellent reserve strength, resulting in a long period of sluggish performance and no newcomers. For a long time, Shandong's ceiling was the first round of the playoffs, and there were many seasons that missed the playoffs, and head coach Gong Xiaobin was also questioned for his poor coaching record, and briefly left the team in 2010 to study in the United States.
But the most glorious moment in shandong team history also appeared in the Golden Lion era. In the 2012-13 season, Shandong, which has three foreign aides, reached the finals for the first time in the history of the team under the leadership of Gong Xiaobin, and it is also the only time the team has reached the finals so far. Although swept by Guangdong, this still created the peak moment of Shandong. It is also from this season that Ding Yanyuhang, Tao Hanlin and others began to really emerge and gradually provoked the beams of the Shandong men's basketball team.
The Treacherous King of Venus (2014-2022)
Venus and Wang are the two team names of the Shandong men's basketball team. From 2014 to 2018, in the era of Shandong high-speed investment, the Shandong men's basketball team was renamed King. After 2018, Shandong Dongwang became a new investor in Shandong. In 2019, they changed their name to "Shandong King Men's Basketball Team" in the CBA 2.0 era. However, compared to the previous Fire Bull and Golden Lion, the team logos of Venus and King are not impressive. Although the animal team logo is no longer used, neither the "five golden stars" of the Venus era nor the "Tarzan silhouette" of the king's era are not vivid enough.
During this time, the ups and downs of the Shandong men's basketball team were very large. The most proud of the Shandong men's basketball team is naturally the outbreak of Ding Yanyuhang. In the 2016-17 season and the 2017-18 season, Ding Yanyuhang was elected as the local regular season MVP with his outstanding personal performance, breaking Yi Jianlian's monopoly on local MVPs, and becoming another phenomenon-level local superstar after Yi Jianlian, Guo Allen, Zhou Qi and others. At that time, Ding Yanyuhang, who came out of nowhere, was even the most popular star in the CBA, and there were countless reputations for Ding Yanyuhang such as "four-word foreign aid" and "Ding Shen".
In the 2017-18 season, the Shandong Golden Star era ushered in their glory. That season, Shandong equipped Ding Yanyuhang with two former NBA foreign aides, Lawson and Motai Yunus, and Shandong was also regarded as a title race. They reached the semi-finals as they wished and were at one point very close to returning to the finals. Unfortunately, Ding Yanyuhang was injured in the semifinals and missed the seven games due to injury, and Shandong was eventually reversed by Guangsha and missed the finals.
After that season, Ding Yanyuhang has not re-worn the Shandong shirt due to injuries and other reasons. In the era of The King of Shandong, Ding Yanyuhang and the team have repeatedly exchanged insults in the air, making a lot of trouble. The King of Shandong also came to an end quickly with the withdrawal of the Xiwang Group.
Shandong Qilin (2022-)
This season, Shandong Expressway replaced Xiwang to reinvest in the Shandong men's basketball team, and Ding Yanyuhang also returned to Shandong after more than three years. At the same time, the management and coaching staff of the Shandong men's basketball team have also undergone tremendous changes, the most obvious change is that the former head coach of the team, Gong Xiaobin, has once again stepped down as the manager of Shandong.
In the first stage of the regular season, the Shandong men's basketball team ranked 11th in the CBA with 6 wins and 7 losses. Although Tao Hanlin played well personally, Xiaoding occasionally performed well after his comeback, but the lack of depth in the local lineup still affected the record of the Shandong men's basketball team. In the upcoming second stage, shandong men's basketball team two foreign aid Hudson and Gillenwater is reported to be expected to play, Ding Yanyuhang and Jiao Hailong two main injury recovery is also relatively smooth, coupled with the arrival of head coach, former Chinese men's basketball coach Gong Luming, Shandong men's basketball team is also expected to play a better performance in the second stage.
epilogue
In the 27th season of the CBA, the newly launched Shandong men's basketball team chose to change its name again. They hope to have a fresh start, and the challenge of "Kirin" will also officially begin from the second stage of the regular season.