Now, it's time to go to the NBA for new developments!?
Rest assured, Zhou Qi is not stupid, he would rather have no ball for 21 days in The Phoenix in Southeast Melbourne, Australia, than go to the Los Angeles Lakers in the United States to play a 10-day short-term job.
However, as more and more NBA players trigger health and safety protocols, many NBA teams have fallen into a labor shortage, and then developed the league from the NBA - that is, the G League where Zeng Fanbo currently plays;
Then, veterans who hadn't touched the ball in the NBA for many years returned, Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas Jr., Mario Chamoss, and Liaoning fans love and dislike Lance Stieson, his second debut for the Indiana Pacers was 6 points, 3 assists and 1 rebound, not bad, but not particularly bad;
Subsequently, players who have had successful experiences in the NBL have become fragrant food.
Especially in recent days, former Keynes class star Cam Oliver rushed to the atathrough of the epidemic (the whole team including the head coach including 12 people quarantined), Melbourne United champion Banti Scotty Hopson joined the Oklahoma City Thunder, Southeast Melbourne Phoenix last season's small foreign assistant Kev Sykes joined the Indiana Pacers...
As it is, the strange faces of the NBA stadium have suddenly increased, so that the Philippines, which is far away from the ocean, has also easily ridiculed, and the original words of Manila Times reporter Mark Labago are so schadenfreude -
"The 75th anniversary of the NBA has degenerated into a summer league..."
Editor-in-Chief | Porcelain Editor-in-charge | Hope vision | Cherry blossoms
Recently, the mentality of basketball people in the Philippines has been very subtle —
The PBA of the 2021-2022 season, after playing in the Philippines, directly omitted the Commissioner's Cup - it is understandable that 3 events became 2 during the epidemic period; it is very helpless that the 3rd tournament Governor's Cup has only been played for a few rounds because the epidemic alert in Metro Manila has been raised from level 2 to level 3 and stopped, and the ball market that is not easy to recover is afraid that if -
Overnight back in time to the Spanish colonial period.
Kay Soto, who pinned the NBA dream of all the Philippines, is experiencing the "most difficult year" of his career in the words of the Philippine media - he is also currently in the NBL, playing for the Adelaide 36ers, he finally returned from injury, but his debut played less than 10 minutes because his teammates (due to privacy, the NBL did not disclose the specific name and number) tested positive, resulting in the postponement of many teams in the league.
And this is also the reason why Zhou Qi had no ball to play for 21 days.
Such a severe historical background, when the NBA is digging the wall all over the world, but let the Filipinos somewhat look at the hilarity is not a big feeling, eager to have an NBA team immediately poach Kay Soto to achieve the NBA dream as soon as possible.
The Philippine media is still in the mood to laugh at the NBA epidemic, while the Australians on the side are nervous and trembling; but what they are most worried about is the Chinese players-
Zhou Qi
You know, when Zhou Qi joined the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix, it caused quite a stir in Australia and China, and even the entire East Asian basketball circle, and the local media in Oceania called it -
The most important signing the NBL has ever made
Australian men's basketball coach Brian Gore, who has coached the CBA for more than 10 years, for example—
"It's like Andrew Gates going to China at his peak."
His analogy can make Australians understand in seconds, but who is Andrew Gates?
Chinese fans may not be familiar with it; put it this way, Gates is michael Jordan of the NBL, recognised as Australia's greatest player – although Luke Langley from this country followed Michael Jordan to win the NBA's 3-game winning streak for the Chicago Bulls; and is the starting center;
In addition, there are 3 players with strange personalities, namely Andrew Bogut, Kerry Owen and Ben Simmons, all of whom are the top rookies in the NBA, and the top 2 have won NBA championships;
But for Australians to comment on Australian basketball, they only see Andrew Gates —
In the NBL's 22 seasons, he ranked first in the history list with five stats, namely points (18908), assists (3531), shooting (6484), three-point shots (1826) and free throws (4114); he was named to the NBL's first team of the year for 15 consecutive seasons, won the leading score in 14 seasons, won 7 MVP, and won 2 championships.
And now Gates himself is quite friendly to Zhou Qi, not using his mastership and glory to suppress latecomers and outsiders, but full of expectations for his NBL journey -
"His arrival will bring about earth-shaking changes for the NBL."
But, in case Zhou Qi went to the NBA, wouldn't the Australians be empty and happy?
Fortunately, the next day that Chinese basketball commentator Su Qun broke the news that the Los Angeles Lakers intended Zhou Qi to become LeBron James's new teammate, Zhou Qi's agent team gave the NBL a reassurance pill.
Subsequently, the Australian media immediately returned the favor, and the local news website SEN released the NBL's real-time battle list, demoting the 5-1 winning hot Perth Wildcat to the 2nd position, and the 3-1-losing Southeast Melbourne Phoenix to the 1st place; the meaning is obvious -
As long as Zhou Qi does not leave, Phoenix is the number one candidate to win the championship.
No Happy
In addition, the site's NBL's awards prediction for the 2021-2022 season directly lists Zhou Qi as the number one candidate for the best defensive player.
Don't forget, it's only been 4 games now, and if the award can be presented now, I think the Australians would be eager to give the trophy to this Chinese player who has recently been unhappy in Xinjiang.
Of course, Zhou Qi's performance of averaging 4.25 blocks and 1.25 steals per game is fully worthy of the title of the best defensive player, but the Australians feel that the blocks and steals alone are not enough to explain the problem, and invented a new technical statistic for Zhou Qi
shot-altered
When writing about celebrity dolls, it is not normal to lick a few words, but I must state that this word is not my invention, but a quote from someone else's original text, and other people's homes say this.
"We may have to start a new technical statistic: the number of times to force opponents to change the way they shoot, because Zhou Qi fills this technical statistic every game. It must feel great to play at the back in the Phoenix, because you are very relieved that even if you are broken by the opponent when you are defending on the outside, Zhou Qi behind you will wipe your ass for you. ”
Although Zhou Qi's contract with Phoenix specifically adds an NBA jump clause, whether it is out of emotional factors for Phoenix or rational judgment of the NBA situation, he will not choose to return to the NBA by short-term work.
Zhou Qi's side can reassure the NBL, but as more and more former NBL players test the NBA in recent days, Chris Pike, a reporter at the Australian branch of the Fox Sports Network in the United States, has begun to stare at the NBL's list of U.S. foreign aid, is to do things Ah -
"If you look at NBL players like Caleb Agada in Melbourne, Jeremya Martin in New Zealand, Dusty Hanas in Adelaide, Vic Law in Perth, Robert Franks in Brisbane, Tagrey McCall of Keynes, Jerry Martin of Sydney, Javier Moonford of South East Melbourne, and Antonis Cleveland, Javier Rex-Meyers and Tyler Harvey of the Irrawara 3-man group... These are not the people in the NBA who no one wants. ”
Above, a long list is just a brick and stone, and then the player mentioned later is the most deadly person -
"However, none of these people can compare to Bryce Cotton. Since joining the Wildcats perth, he has won 2 championships and 3 MVP trophies in the NBL. There is no doubt that if he had chosen to return to the United States before, he would have signed at least a short contract of 10 days. ”
A grand NBL champion plus MVP, the current NBL scoring champion (averaging 24.5 points per game), but only worthy of signing an NBA 10-day short contract?
Yes, you read that right, the fox sports network's picture caption, if not paraphrased, is more difficult to hear than my expression -
Does Bryce Cotton deserve a place in the NBA?
Again, I got up in the middle of the night to write a manuscript, and I was am amused by the arrogance of the Americans, and I suddenly fell asleep, and the coffee money at 4 a.m. was saved.
However, Cotton's teammate Damien Martin thinks his teammates may really be moved.
"Cotton is much more advanced than Kev Sykes, who signed the Pacers, and he would definitely think that if he had returned to the G-League to play this time to sign the Pacers, he might have been himself."
Of course, Cotton and Zhou Qi are in the same situation, even if they want to go to the NBA, the United States must at least come up with a long contract to show sincerity, right?!
In fact, Chris Pike may have some misconceptions about the level of the NBL.
Many players have proven themselves in the NBL first, thus gaining the favor of NBA teams. For example, Torrey Craig, who just won the championship ring, Josh Gidey, who was signed by the lottery, Lamelo Ball, the No. 3 rookie, and Jessian Tate, who was put in the rookie of the year discussion...
By analyzing the performance of these players in the NBL, we can know that Zhou Qi wants to go to the NBA, and does not need to play the MVP level of Cotton, and it is more than enough to get the best defensive player of the year.
Tori Craig, who entered the NBA at the age of 27, is a late bloomer.
His highlight in the NBL was the 2016-2017 season, during which he not only set a single-game NBL career scoring record of 34 points, but was elected best defensive player and selected for the best team with an average of 15.2 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game;
That same year, Craig was recruited by the Denver Gold Nuggets after the NBA Summer League.
The 20-year-old Lameló Bauer has a relatively stable career under the careful planning of the ball daddy.
In 2018, La Mello first tested the waters in the Lithuanian league, due to the limited playing time, the data is not beautiful, the ball daddy also fell out with the head coach, in a fit of anger, the ball father returned to the United States with his son to participate in the JBA (youth basketball league) founded by himself; in his own league Lamelo shined, averaging 39.6 points, 14.6 rebounds and 11.5 assists per game, but he was not eager to participate in the NBA draft, but chose the NBL in the 2019-2020 season;
On November 25, 2019, he scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists, and in subsequent games he scored 25 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first player in 2009 to contribute a triple-double in a row since the NBL limited the player's single-game time to 40 minutes;
Although playing only 12 games in the NBL, Lamelo still won the NBL's rookie of the year with an average of 17.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game;
Subsequently, he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 3rd pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and successfully became the best rookie.
This time, Boss Joe finally didn't look away.
Josh Giedy, 19, and Lamelo Bauer are equally technically well-rounded and are known for their triple-doubles.
On April 26, 2021, NBL's Gidy scored 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the youngest Australian player in NBL history to cut a triple-double;
He then cut down 15 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, becoming the first Australian to contribute a back-to-back triple-double;
On May 9, he again finished with 11 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and scored a triple-double for the third time;
In 28 games in the NBL, he averaged 10.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game, and was elected the king of assists and the best rookie;
Subsequently, he was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 6th pick in this year's NBA Draft;
On January 3, 2022, Gidy ushered in his historic moment in the NBA: Despite the Dallas Mavericks' 95:86 away win over the Thunder, Gidy contributed a luxurious stat of 17 points, 13 rebounds, 14 assists and 4 steals, scoring a triple-double at age 19 and 85 days, breaking the previous record of Lamelo Ball (19 years and 140 days) and becoming the youngest mr. triple-double in NBA history.
If Gidey and Ball's careers have been full-fledged to the Novice Village, then 26-year-old Jessine Tate is definitely the representative of the dick counterattack.
In the 2018 NBA Draft, Tate fell behind, although he participated in that year's summer league, he lost the opportunity to compete because of a broken finger;
After a season in the Belgian league, Tate was called back to the NBL by the Sydney Kings, and he was named to the First Team for the 2019-2020 season with 16.4 points, 2.0 assists and 5.8 rebounds;
On November 26, 2020, Tate signed directly with the Houston Rockets and quickly gained a foothold, eventually being named to the rookie first team.
Finally back to Zhou Qi, if he can continue the good state of the first 4 games, stay healthy, win the Best Defensive Player of the Year award, and even help southeast Melbourne Phoenix win the championship, then I am afraid that there will be a semi-truck of NBA general managers waiting for him with a long-term contract;
As for the young people listed above, they are not Zhou Qi's development templates, and now Zhou Qi's templates are Tate and Craig.
Copyright Notice: Exclusive to East Asian Premier League, author Peng Fei. The material is mainly from the websites of Australian and Filipino media Such as Foxports, Sen, smh and Manilatimes, and has been strongly supported by colleagues in the East Asian Premier League; the pictures are mainly from the above media and NBL website screenshots, and the East Asian Premier League is used according to the practice of self-media. If you have any doubts about copyright, please deal with it immediately, and if other media or self-media need to reprint, please communicate in advance.
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