On January 25, Beijing time, the active Japanese national Yuta Watanabe, in a game against the NBA Development League, played an excellent performance, representing the Raptors' subordinate team against the Knicks, the whole game Watanabe Yuta as the core of the attack and defense, shot 8 of 18, hit 4 three-pointers, cut 24 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks in a single game, scored the second in the game, this game highlights Yuta Watanabe's ability, playing in the NBA Development League is already a star-level existence.
It is worth mentioning that Yuta Watanabe was not sent to the Development League by the Raptors to play, but took the initiative to apply to play in the Development League, on the grounds that Yuta Watanabe believes that he has not played much time recently, and wants to play more games to improve himself and find a better sense of play. Such a self-conscious professional attitude is an important reason why Yuta Watanabe can gain a foothold in the NBA.
In the summer of 2022, Yuta Watanabe and the Toronto Raptors' contract will expire, he knows that he needs to pay some practical action to fight for opportunities to perform, and if he wants to stay in the NBA, Yuta Watanabe needs to play better.
In fact, in the two years of playing for the Raptors, Yuta Watanabe has repeatedly broken through the personal limit, before representing the Raptors against the Cavaliers, 11 of 20 in a single game, 26 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block data, this data is placed in the history of Asian basketball, and only Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian have done it in a single game of 20+10. Considering that Yuta Watanabe was a loser, not a high-ranking draft like Yao Yi, it further highlights the inspiration of Yuta Watanabe's story.
So far this season, Yuta Watanabe has averaged 5.7 points, 3.3 rebounds per game, shooting 35% from three-point range, an ordinary rotation of the Raptors' front line, and his third season in the NBA. Although the statistics are not outstanding and the team status is not high, Yuta Watanabe is already the only yellow player in the Asian basketball world to play in the NBA, the light of Asian basketball, and the representative of the yellow players.
In contrast, Chinese basketball is currently lagging behind in the number of NBA players, the last time a Chinese player won an NBA contract was Zhou Qi in 2019, Ding Yanyuhang received a basic salary contract from the Lone Ranger in 2018 but eventually missed it due to injury, and only signed an NBA development league contract. Further ahead, it goes back to Yi Jianlian, who briefly joined the Lakers in 2016.
Of course, a number of outstanding players in the active Chinese basketball industry are seeking the opportunity to play in the NBA, Zhou Qi rushed to the Australian League to play, one of the purposes is to re-impact the NBA, 19-year-old Zeng Fanbo is currently playing in the NBA Development League's ignition team, will participate in the 2022 NBA draft, Shanghai team rising star Guo Haowen in the summer of 2021 to the United States special training to participate in the draft, and finally due to bad market conditions, it is expected to participate in the NBA draft again in the summer of 2022.
And the story of Yuta Watanabe is worth learning from Chinese basketball people, his personal basketball talent in the Asian basketball world is not outstanding, but finally with hard work, positive career attitude to win the opportunity, this spirit and attitude need to be seen by more people, Yuta Watanabe proved that the talent of the yellow players have the same opportunity to play in the NBA, the top players of active Chinese basketball ability, talent is not too bad than Watanabe Yu, hope to see the figure of Chinese players again in the NBA field.
(Lin Xiaoxiang)