On February 20, the Australian NBL League ushered in the Chinese New Year Chinese derby that Chinese fans are very much looking forward to, and Zhou Qi's Southeast Melbourne Phoenix team and Liu Chuanxing's Brisbane Bullets team launched a showdown.
Although the holiday has ended, we Chinese have such a saying: "Not out of the first month is the year", it is reasonable to say that if the NBL League knows how to attract Chinese fans, it should give Zhou Qi and Liu Chuanxing, two players, more playing time. However, the fans of this game are very depressed, this Chinese derby Zhou Qi, although still in the starting lineup, only played 12 minutes and 16 seconds, contributing 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block. Liu Chuanxing's side only had 2 minutes and 49 seconds of playing time, and he did not have a chance to shoot and sent a mistake.
Since the Phoenix assistant coach took over the team, Zhou Qi's substitute Ashley has begun to be reused, and Zhou Qi has become a pseudo-starter. I believe that after chasing so many games of Zhou Qi, the recent matches of the Phoenix team have made many domestic fans look very depressed, Zhou Qi is obviously capable on the court, but either fouled too early, or teammates are unwilling to take the initiative to feed the ball, and there is almost no chance of performance.
At the press conference after the game between the Phoenix and the Bullets, the words of Phoenix coach Simon at the press conference may have chilled the hearts of domestic fans. Because Ashley scored 13 points against the Bullets, Simon Mitchell praised Ashley at a press conference. Coach Simon bluntly said that Ashley played very well, ashley played at a very high level in the last game, and now the team is very honored to sign Ashley.
When it comes to Zhou Qi's playing time, Coach Simon personally admitted that he can't guarantee the playing time of Zhou Qi and Ashley, because as long as Zhou Qi and Ashley are not in foul trouble, they will all have excellent performances, and at present, Ashley and Zhou Qi have not adjusted their state, nor have they shown their full strength, and they now need to help them adjust with all their strength and try their best to reduce the pressure on Crick.
In fact, although Coach Simon's words are very subtle, Zhou Qi's position in the Phoenix team is no longer guaranteed! Earlier, according to the well-known basketball blogger "StarXia Australian Basketball", the Phoenix team owner was very dissatisfied with the use of Zhou Qi by the assistant coach. But now it seems to be only a superficial article, after the return of head coach Simon, Zhou Qi's tactical status in the team has not improved significantly, it seems that he is still starting, in fact, the playing time is still shrinking.
Zhou Qi's situation in the NBL Phoenix team is not very good, in fact, after watching so many games, the Phoenix players do not have any tactical cooperation, and only one player is crick who is willing to feed Zhou Qi. Earlier, media people broke the news that Zhou Qi is very likely to return to the CBA after playing the Phoenix team for one season. This is mainly because the income of the CBA is much more than the income earned by playing in Australia, and zhou Qi and his wife have been married for a few years, and the couple has not been separated for a long time. It was reported that the Liaoning team was communicating with the Xinjiang men's basketball team in an attempt to successfully recruit Zhou Qi.
The words of Phoenix head coach Simon have shown that Zhou Qi's situation in the Phoenix team is not good, and I am afraid that he will fall out of the team's starting lineup in the future. Many fans believe that Zhou Qi is really not as good as returning to the CBA as soon as possible.