As Yi Jianlian gradually faded out of the national team, the defender line of the Chinese men's basketball team suddenly showed a burst of talent development: Guo Allen, Wu Qian, Sun Minghui, Zhao Rui... At this time, the fans also missed one person very much - Liu Wei.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > The Shanghai Gemini overthrew the Bayi Dynasty</h1>
In 1996, Liu Wei joined the Shanghai men's basketball team, together with Yao Ming, to overthrow the Bayi Dynasty. Whether in the youth team or in the first team, he and Yao Ming are both teammates and roommates. They trained hard together on the pitch, tried to improve their standards, and relaxed on the Internet together off the pitch.
They also traveled across the ocean together to compete in the high school league in the United States. Subject to the economic conditions of the time, they could only eat with hamburgers every day. After he was injured and unable to play, Liu Wei distributed his hamburgers to Yao Ming, so that he could get more supplements and play more games.
Back in Shanghai, after a 3-year dormancy period, the Gemini pair gradually began to emerge in the CBA. Beginning in 1999, they led the Shanghai team to the CBA Finals for three consecutive years, culminating in the 2002 dream championship.
Since then, Yao Ming joined the Rockets as an NBA champion and started his NBA career, while Liu Wei has been sticking to the Shanghai men's basketball team.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > defeat at Busan in 2002, the pressure was sudden</h1>
About 20 years ago, Liu Wei represented the national team for the first time in international competitions. In the final battle of the 2002 Asian Games, because of his last-minute mistakes, the Chinese team lost to the South Korean team at home and lost the gold medal. After the game, Liu Wei was pushed to the cusp of the storm, and he became the person in the fans' mouth who should be fully responsible for losing.
Liu Wei, who was only 22 years old at the time, felt tremendous pressure for the first time...
"At that time, I saw the comments from the outside world, I couldn't sleep at night, which affected the quality of training, and I fell into a vicious circle."
Liu Wei, who was wrapped up in malicious comments from the outside world, did not sink here, and he used the simplest way to release his pressure:
"Every day I train hard, shoot, run, go round and round, practice until I am exhausted, and I can naturally fall asleep."
Soon, fans met an invincible Liu Wei on the CBA field, carrying the Shanghai men's basketball team alone. In the 2003 CBA, Liu Wei averaged 23.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, plus 2.5 steals. Super dominance and eye-catching data have also made Liu Wei favored from the NBA.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > parallel space-time, perhaps he will be stronger</h1>
In 2004, Yao Ming's Rockets came to China to play in the NBA preseason against the Sacramento Kings. In order to make the Chinese element stronger, the Kings handed Liu Wei an unsecured contract. Although the outside world believes that this is just a gesture of goodwill to Chinese fans, the Kings really want to keep Liu Wei to play for their development league team.
But Liu Wei ultimately had no choice to stay. It should be known that the Kings' bench point guard Bobby Jackson suffered a serious injury, and if Liu Wei stayed, he was most likely recalled by the Kings to play in the NBA.
Of course, this is just another story line in parallel time and space, and we can't know what state Liu Wei, who "stayed in the king", will be now.
But soon, Liu Wei got another chance to stay in the Ocean. The Perth Wildcats, who were in the Middle of the Australian League that year, gave him a contract worth millions and guaranteed a main position. In addition, in order to let him feel the atmosphere of the Australian League, the Perth Wildcats also invited him to participate in that year's Australian All-Star Game. However, due to various reasons, Liu Wei's plan to stay in the West was still unable to come to fruition, and his family still retains the contract of the Perth Wildcats.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" The person who passed the ball for Yao Ming in >08 was Still Liu Wei</h1>
In any case, respect Liu Wei's choice, he has his own choice of the road to go. After the successful bid for the Olympic Games in 2008, there was a saying in the Chinese basketball world: "Who will pass the ball to Yao Ming in 2008." The names of young geniuses, including Chen Jianghua, began to be associated with Yao Ming. But in the end, on the basketball court of the Beijing Olympic Games, it was Liu Wei who stood next to Yao Ming.
In this competition, the Chinese team almost overthrew the world champion Spain at home. In the last moments of the game, it was because of a misstep of Liu Wei's catch, so that the Chinese team missed the opportunity to kill the opponent. After the game, the network was another verbal rebuke to Liu Wei.
In this regard, Liu Wei, who has been playing in the professional arena for more than ten years, has been relieved, and he has chosen to shield himself from these negative comments. The comments on Liu Wei are obviously also slightly unfair, knowing that in the match against Spain, Liu Wei only rested for 5 minutes in the whole game and contributed to the Chinese team's highest 19 points. And in the key match against Germany later, Liu Wei successfully defended Nowitzki in the last moment, and a steal in the last moment also allowed the Chinese team to successfully reach the Olympic quarterfinals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > the recognition of the first point guard, the rock of Shanghai basketball</h1>
Liu Wei deserves to be affirmed, and he is waiting for him. After the era of the Chinese men's basketball center, everyone began to realize that Liu Wei was good. At the 2010 World Championships, Liu Wei scored 21 points against the European strong Lithuanian team, although the team eventually lost, but this is the Chinese men's basketball team against the European strong team to lose the least points.
In 2015, when the Chinese men's basketball team needed to impact the 16-year Rio Olympics, Gong Luming recalled Liu Wei to teach Zhao Jiwei and Guo Allen the experience of the competition, and the 36-year-old Liu Wei also successfully helped the team to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Although the outside world's evaluation of Liu Wei is mixed, in the professional basketball world, they have never skimped on the praise of Liu Wei. Yunas, the former coach of the Chinese men's basketball team, said: Among the Chinese defenders, only Liu Wei has the ability to play in Europe. Marbury, who has played in the CBA for many years, calls Liu Wei a legend for China.
From 1996 to 2019, although the middle experienced a brief drift. But Liu Wei played a total of 19 seasons of CBA for the Shanghai men's basketball team. He is the shanghai team's all-time scorer, assist king, steal king and appearance record holder. At the same time, he is also the first Chinese defender to score more than 10,000 points.
After Liu Wei retired in 2019, the Chinese men's basketball official Wei wei also left an emotional tweet for him:
"The 14-year national team career is like a long journey, and you have completed the longest confession of affection for the Chinese men's basketball team with perseverance."
At the retirement ceremony, Yao Ming, the current president of the Chinese Basketball Association, presented Liu Wei with the Rock Award of the Chinese Basketball Team.
Who is the first defender of the Chinese men's basketball team, everyone may have their own choices, but Liu Wei must be in the options, what do you think?