Halfway through the NBA regular season, an All-Star Weekend followed. All-Star Weekend is an important point in each season and an important mid-season break for every team. This season's All-Star Challenge is held in Cleveland, and the format of the All-Star Game is the same as before, with the highest-ticketed player in the East and West being the captains to select the players to play, and if nothing else, the captain of the East and West will once again be monopolized by James and Durant. The format of this season's rookie challenge has subverted the previous format and will implement a new format, compared with the previous boring format, the restructured rookie challenge has added a lot of points of view. What makes Chinese fans even more excited is that Zeng Fanbo is very likely to appear in this rookie challenge, which is a once-in-a-lifetime performance opportunity for Zeng Fanbo, who aspires to land in the NBA.
The new format of the Rookie Challenge is that the tournament will be divided into 4 teams with 7 players for three matches and tournaments. The 28 players will include 12 rookies, 12 sophomore rookies and 4 Development League Ignition players, the first time a Development League player has participated in the Rookie Challenge.
Zeng Fanbo played for the Development League's Ignition Team, a unique team that accepts college players and allows them to receive salaries while also preparing for the draft in advance. This season's Ignition team has only 6 rookies, namely Hardy, Foster, Daniels, Deschamps, Zeng Fanbo and Henderson, the draft prospects of these players are not too good, only Hardy's draft prospects are more optimistic, and almost no other players appear on the prediction list of the 2022 draft. From a mathematical point of view, the probability of losing the election for Zeng Fanbo is not small, but in fact, Zeng Fanbo's appearance as an all-star has been eight or nine times.
First of all, the NBA is a business alliance, and everything is profit first. With no big gap in the level of six players, they certainly have to choose players who are more able to attract traffic, so as to increase the ratings of NBA All-Star Games. This season's ignition team's rookie resources are not abundant, not like last year, there are Green and Cuminga and other popular candidates, and Zeng Fanbo benefits from a large Chinese fan base, his attention is unmatched by other players, so Zeng Fanbo has almost become the most preferred. Inferred from this, the NBA will definitely give priority to Zeng Fanbo to increase the ratings and attention of All-Star. In terms of strength, Zeng Fanbo's performance only lost to Hardy, and the performance of other players was no better than his, no matter what, Zeng Fanbo deserved this place.
Mr. Zeng's appearance on All-Star Weekend will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when scouts from each team will notice the four upcoming college players. If Zeng Fanbo can seize this opportunity to perform well and attract the attention of scouts, then after April next year, I believe that Zeng Fanbo will receive a lot of trial invitations, for Zeng Fanbo, this is a stepping stone to land in the NBA. This is Zeng Fanbo's best performance opportunity before the draft, and if Zeng Fanbo can stand out from these four players, then he may really be able to become the next Chinese to land in the NBA.
So far, Zeng Fanbo's performance in the development league has not been satisfactory, and for now, it seems that his predicted prospects are unsuccessful. However, Zeng Fanbo's performance has improved recently, and half a season will be his last sprint opportunity. According to the agreement between Beijing Shougang and Zeng Fanbo, if after this season, Zeng Fanbo cannot successfully land in the NBA, then he will return to China and represent Beijing Shougang in the NBA, at which time Zeng Fanbo's chances of landing in the NBA will become very slim. Therefore, Zeng Fanbo must seize the opportunity of All-Star Weekend, not to perform well, but at least not worse than the other three players, to show their own characteristics and attract the attention of scouts.
The Ignition Team is a team created by the NBA for college players, and if the NBA wants to keep the resources of this team, then they must ensure that the Ignition Team can continue to send young players to NBA teams, and if Zeng Fanbo can stand out from these six players, then the chances of selection will not be too small.