In the 2020 draft, Jiangsu Kendia lipped the "famous goal" from Tsinghua University in the 5th pick in the first round, Zheng Qilong, the son of Chinese basketball star Zheng Wu, a player who did not even get 10 points per game in CUBA, but after coming to the CBA, he unexpectedly showed his mature side, and in the 51 games played for Kendia last season, Zheng Qilong started 40 games. In the case of playing time to 30.3 minutes, he could average 9.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1 steal per game, and at that time, zheng Qilong scored a career-best 24 points in a match with Tianjin, crushing all kinds of doubts from the outside world.
Zheng Qilong's face-punching performance in the rookie season has also made many fans call "true fragrance", and he can play such amazing data in the CBA for the first time, and Zheng Qilong really did not shame his father. After a season of tempering, Kendia, who is the main Chinese class this season, should have been the perfect time for Zheng Qilong to continue to usher in the outbreak, but so far in the season, Zheng Qilong seems to have completely fallen out of Li Nan's main rotation list, playing time is only 14.2 minutes, the average per game is only 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1 assist, the overall performance compared to last season's newborn calf is not afraid of the tiger's "fighting dragon", it is exactly like a changed person.
After playing these 15 games, Zheng Qilong only scored double digits in one game, and he could not get playing time, and it was indeed very difficult to play the amazing performance of last season. And the reason why he was beaten into the cold palace by Li Nan, a large part of the reason may be because these two people stole his playing time, the first is the liao basket veteran Zhao Lizhou, who returned to the team after a season, last season because he followed the national team 3-person basketball to prepare for the Olympic Games, Zhao Lizhou directly gave up participating in the CBA game for the whole season, and as a result, after the official announcement of the big list for Tokyo, Zhao Lizhou was not selected.
With this nowhere to dispel the resentment, Zhao Lizhou also ushered in a big outbreak this season, in the case of playing time soared to 29.1 minutes, he also handed over a 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists, with a 39.5% three-point shooting rate, accurate outside projection, coupled with good defensive ability, Zhao Lizhou also won the full trust of coach Li Nan.
Another "culprit" who caused Zheng Qilong to be refrigerated was Cui Xiaolong, the No. 4 show of last year's draft, the swing man who once played for the NBL Henan team. Averaging 17.7 points per game, and coming to the CBA stage, he did not lose his offensive ability, in the 16 games played for Kendia this season, Cui Xiaolong averaged 8.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game when the playing time came to 23.6 minutes, although the shooting accuracy was not good (shooting only 37.1%, three-point shooting rate was only 33.3%), but his defense and impact on the box, Compared with Zheng Qilong, it can be said that there is more than enough.
In the case of these two main competitors firmly occupying the main rotation position, Zheng Qilong can only play a strange role, only in the case of poor state of the two, he may get more playing time, but most of the time, Zheng Qilong will not be Li Nan's first choice. In the case of this year's main all-Chinese class, if Zheng Qilong can't grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, after the end of his rookie contract, he may really have to find another place.