Before the second stage of the CBA regular season was about to begin, the Tianjin men's basketball team officially issued a notice that Chinese basketball star Zhang Qingpeng officially joined the coaching team of the Tianjin team and assisted head coach Zhang Degui as an assistant coach. This is also the first time that Zhang Qingpeng has returned to the CBA in an official capacity after retiring.
On July 31, 2020, Zhang Qingpeng, who was 39 years old at the time, played the last game of his career. In that game, he bombed 37 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, but with the strength of a battle, he still chose to retreat from the rapids and officially ended his playing career. After that, Zhang Qingpeng tried a new identity, commenting on CBA games and serving as an assistant coach of the U18 national youth team. But only now has he officially returned to the CBA and officially has a new identity in the CBA. Compared with the brief teaching of the national youth team, this is the real beginning of Zhang Qingpeng's professional coaching career.
Zhang Qingpeng is also another player in the 2008 Chinese men's basketball team who joined the "coaching team" after retiring. As a classic in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team, the performance of the 08 men's basketball team at the Beijing Olympic Games at home has been impressive, and Zhang Qingpeng is one of them, and he is also one of the players who retired relatively late in the 08 men's basketball team. Before him, many of the 08 men's basketball players who retired early chose to be coaches, some were head coaches, some were assistant coaches.
Li Nan, the earliest retired, began his coaching career after retiring. He first coached the Bayi youth team, and then entered the national team as an assistant coach for many years, assisting Deng Huade, Yanakis and Gong Luming. At the same time, he also led the People's Liberation Army and the Shandong team to participate in the relevant competitions of the National Games. At the end of April 2017, Li Nan became the head coach of the Red Team of the Chinese Men's Basketball Team through competition, and at the end of September 2018, he became the head coach of the Chinese Men's Basketball Team (the merger of the two teams). With the Chinese men's basketball team folding at the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, Li Nan also resigned as the head coach of the Chinese men's basketball team. At the end of May 2020, Li Nan served as an advisor to the Jiangsu men's basketball team and officially returned to the CBA. In mid-August, he officially became the head coach of the Jiangsu men's basketball team and has been coaching ever since.
Like Li Nan, another member of the 08 men's basketball team who is now the head coach of the CBA is Du Feng. In the 2010-11 season, Du Feng retired early in order to make way for Dong Hanlin and other young internal players of the Guangdong team. Before retiring, he was a player and coach of the Guangdong team. After retiring, he officially became li chunjiang's assistant coach, and at the same time, he also had assistant coaching experience in the national Olympic team and the national team. In early 2013, Li Chunjiang was dismissed from the Guangdong team, and Du Feng temporarily served as the head coach, but more often than not, he assisted the executive coach and former national team head coach Yunas. After Yunas left, Du Feng became the real head coach of the Guangdong team. At the end of April 2017, Du Feng became the head coach of the men's basketball team through competition, and returned to Guangdong after the national team merger, replacing Yunas (Yunas returned to Guangdong in the 2017-18 season) to continue coaching Guangdong team.
At present, Du Feng is also the member of the 08 men's basketball team who has been coaching in the CBA for the longest time and is also the most outstanding. In the past three seasons, he has led Guangdong to complete three consecutive CBA championships. The once questioned head coach has now been elected the CBA's best coach for three consecutive years and lifted the "Chenghai Cup".
In addition, Wang Zhizhi also served as the head coach of the CBA team. Before retiring, Wang Zhizhi was also a player and coach of the Bayi team. After retiring, he assisted head coach Adi Jiang as an assistant coach. In the 2018-19 season, the Bayi team changed from the home location to the coaching staff, and Wang Zhizhi became the new head coach of the Bayi team and coached the team until the 2019-20 season. Last season, with the bayi team withdrawing from the CBA, bayi team players have joined other teams, and Wang Zhizhi's coaching career has also come to a temporary end. However, as a legendary center of the Chinese men's basketball team, Wang Zhizhi once appeared on the training ground of the national youth team after the Bayi team withdrew from the CBA to teach the young players to continue to contribute to Chinese basketball.
The other 08 men's basketball player, Liu Wei officially became the assistant coach of the Shanghai team after retiring in 2019. In the 2019-20 season, after Li Qiuping left class, Liu Wei became the head of the coaching team of the team, and once arranged tactics for the team on the sidelines during the rematch, with practical command rights. Last season, Liu Wei served as the head of the Chinese coaching team of the Shanghai men's basketball team. This season, with Li Chunjiang coaching the Shanghai team and forming a new coaching team, Liu Wei was transferred to the head coach of the Shanghai men's basketball youth team first team (U19).
Chen Jianghua retired in 2017 and became an assistant coach of the Guangdong men's basketball team, but after a season, the Guangdong coaching team changed, and Chen Jianghua left and disappeared from the public eye. Although Wang Lei did not serve as an assistant coach or head coach in the CBA after retiring, he is currently the head coach of Hubei University of Technology, leading the team to participate in the CUBA League.
It is worth mentioning that although Zhu Fangyu was already a player and coach of the Guangdong team in the last few years of his player career, he did not carry out coaching work after retiring, but became the general manager of the Guangdong team and contributed to the Guangdong team behind the scenes.
Among the retired players of the 08 men's basketball team, only Yao Ming, Wang Shipeng and Sun Yue have not yet had any coaching experience. Yao Ming became a technical advisor to the Chinese men's basketball team in 2014 and 2015, but has no direct coaching experience. After retiring from the army, Wang Shipeng mainly worked in the youth training camp, but did not have formal coaching experience. Sun Yue, who just retired this year, does not have a relevant coaching role at present, but in the future, it is not excluded that he will also teach his lifelong learning to future generations. Of course, the most special is the "big brother" Yi Jianlian, at present, Yi Jianlian is the only active player in the 08 men's basketball team, and has many years of career. And will Big Brother also transform into a coach in the future? It also depends on the choice of big brother.
For Zhang Qingpeng, who is about to start, this time serving as an assistant coach in the Tianjin men's basketball team is a new beginning of his coaching career. Although Tianjin has not won the playoffs for many years and has a poor record, here, Zhang Qingpeng will have a more relaxed learning environment. Here, too, he will learn and teach the players.