"Who's your favorite NBA player?"
"Myself."
A few months ago, in an interview with a local media outlet in Henan, Xue Yuyang said so.
At the retirement ceremony, Xue Yuyang interacted with the fans on the spot. Photography / Wang Hongyu
I found the reporter who wrote this sentence and asked about the situation and Xue Yuyang's state, and I thought he was just joking. The other person replied: He was not joking.
In the summer of 2003, on the morning of a national team training day, Xue Yuyang finished training and returned to the athletes' apartment near the Temple of Heaven, where he was greeted by a large group of people surrounding him, and several microphones came to his mouth. Xue Yuyang realized that he may have been selected by the NBA.
The Dallas Mavericks (the predecessor of the Mavericks) selected Xue Yuyang with the 28th pick in the second round. The 21-year-old Henan boy became the fourth Chinese player to be favored by the NBA after Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Battle.
The day after being selected, the Basketball Association held a press briefing to support Xue Yuyang to play in the United States on the grounds that the time was not ripe for him to go to the United States.
Xue Yuyang did not go to the NBA. In the first 10 years of his career, his fate was firmly controlled by the Basketball Association and the club. But at the same time, the policy has also favored him: the CBA expanded the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, Xue Yuyang became the "first pick of the reverse delisting conference", in today's words, it is the leader of the CBA draft; using the special rules of the special period, he played his own value and became one of the earliest high-paid players in China; he responded to the "support the Great West" policy, became the source of the Xinjiang men's basketball team's heavy gold digging, and won two league runners-up with his teammates.
On the other hand, he has entered the national training team many times, but has not entered the 12-man roster of intercontinental events such as the Olympic Games and the Asian Championships. With the rise of young players such as Yi Jianlian, Xue Yuyang was no longer called up by the national team, and later in his career, he traveled to many places and gradually became a role player.
"It's time for Ye to fall back to his roots," Liu Yongguo, the coach of the Henan team and now the secretary general of the Henan Basketball Association, advised him. In 2014, Xue Yuyang left the CBA to join the NBL team Henan Credit Shop Laojiu, contributing the last three years of his basketball career to his hometown team. On August 17, 2018, in the final round of the NBL regular season, the Henan Credit Shop Old Wine Club held a retirement ceremony for Xue Yuyang in midfield time, and the Henan Basketball Association awarded him the "Henan Men's Basketball Outstanding Contribution Award".
The basketball player who passed by the NBA finally ushered in his own highlight moment.
one
According to Xue Yuyang's own plan, he would pick up the microphone on the sidelines after the last Henan team home game to tell his father and fellow villagers that Xue Yuyang had retired. "Just a word. Give the fans an explanation, after all these years of playing. ”
Heaven forbid. In the first round of the NBL playoffs last year, the Henan Credit Shop Old Wine Men's Basketball Team, which played at home, broke out into a large-scale conflict with Guangxi Weizhuang Club. The Basketball Association issued the toughest penalty in history, except for three foreign aides who watched under the basket, the other two teams of more than 20 players were disqualified from the season. Xue Yuyang was also among them, he went forward to pull the frame, according to the league regulations, leaving the bench is a violation, a fight for his career ended.
After the start of the NBL this season, Xue Yuyang did not appear in the team's registration list. The Henan Basketball Association decided to hold a retirement ceremony for him with the club, and after several considerations, the time was finally set for the last game of the regular season on August 17.
Unlike the CBA, the NBL takes the "countryside surrounds the city" route, and clubs mostly set their home stadiums in cities below the second tier. Affected by last season's penalty, this season's Henan credit shop old wine team moved its home stadium away from Nanyang City and changed it to the subordinate Fangcheng County, which is more than 200 kilometers away from the provincial capital Zhengzhou and takes about three hours by car.
Last season, the ticket sales method of the old liquor club on credit was to buy tickets and send wine, but this year it was changed to buying wine and sending tickets, and the wine was about 50 yuan. In Fangcheng, such a marketing method is not unusual, I saw on the poster of a braised noodle restaurant: buy a bottle of blue and white porcelain credit shop old wine for 198 yuan, that is, give 100 yuan to send a meal coupon.
Fangcheng Stadium has only 3,000 seats, and in addition to the very few tickets sold by the club, "finding a relationship" is the most important way to enter the stadium. As soon as the news of Xue Yuyang's retirement ceremony came out, it was difficult to find a ticket for this game. In interviews with a number of Henan basketball people, our conversations were interrupted by phone calls asking for tickets.
two
At the Fangcheng Sports Center, the red banners hanging across the north and south standes are particularly eye-catching, with the words "Congratulations to Jiang Yuxing for being the first CBA draft winner" and "I wish Jiang Yuxing an excellent level in the CBA League and win glory for Henan basketball.".
Two months ago, Jiang Yuxing was elected to the 2018 CBA Draft. He has not yet had time to report to Jilin Club, the NBL league is not over, and Jiang Yuxing, as the core of the club, is leading the team to strive for a better position. Henan's opponents, Hefei, have no intention of fighting, they have only won three games this season, and the big foreign aid in the team has not even come to Henan with the team.
This is the first time I have watched an NBL game live, and there is little suspense about the victory or defeat, but Henan did not pull the score apart in the first two quarters. Before the game opened, the big screen showed Henan's last game score: 141 points, a high score that is not common in the NBA league. At the start of the game, the fast attack became an important source of score gain, including foreign aid, and almost no one defended.
Nor can it be said that it is completely undefended – players from both teams had "feet" in the game, and the referee blew two fouls that violated sportsmanship. To my surprise, the players on both sides who "got off their feet" were very calm in the face of the toughest penalties in basketball, and they did not defend themselves, or even raise their right hands to signal to the opponent and the referee. Everything is sparse and ordinary.
After the half-time, the retirement ceremony officially began. Xue Yuyang stood in the middle of the venue with a microphone in his hand, his wife and two children behind him. Xue Yuyang hoped that the fans would shout for him again, and the three thousand spectators in the audience were very face-saving, and collectively shouted the theme words of the retirement ceremony three times: "Xue" endlessly.
Xue Yuyang's wife, sister and nephew attended the retirement ceremony. Photography / Wang Hongyu
Teammates who have played together in the National Games are all present, and they are regarded as the golden generation of Henan basketball, including Wang Lei, who represented the Chinese team in the Olympic Games, and Wang Zhanyu, who is now a member of the coaching team of the Chinese 3V3 basketball team. In 2001, Henan won the eighth place in the National Games, breaking the history of 26 years of failure to enter the final circle of the national competition. In 2005, they set a new all-time record and finished fifth at the National Games.
At that time, Liu Yongguo, the coach of the Henan team, introduced the "golden generation players" who came to the scene in Mandarin and Henan dialect, and no one knew these players better than him. Liu Yongguo told Lazy Bear Sports: "In that era, Xue Yuyang's position in the Henan basketball world was like Yao Ming's in the Chinese basketball world. ”
three
At the age of 19, Xue Yuyang was appointed by Liu Yongguo as the main center forward and competed in the Ninth National Games. It was the era of "the one who wins the center wins the world", compared to those traditional big centers, Xue Yuyang's speed advantage is extremely obvious. "He's not just running fast, he's going fast." Liu Yongguo commented on his beloved disciple in this way. In that era, few centers could make a quick attack, and Xue Yuyang could complete such a difficult action as a fast attack and a dunk in the game.
In the 21st century, the CBA League began to seek a larger market territory, the Basketball Association invited Taiwan's Sina Lions to join the league, in 2002, Hong Kong Feilong was also invited to join, and had the first round of the first round of the first pick at the delisting conference that year, which made the Xinjiang team that had just played from the A and B League very dissatisfied - all teams wanted to sign Xue Yuyang.
Without any suspense, hong Kong Feilong chose him in the first place. Although the team nominally represents Hong Kong, there is only one Hong Kong player on the team and the home stadium is also based in Shenzhen. Xue Yuyang didn't care much about this, he was only worried about whether he could play in the new team.
As it turned out, he was overly worried. In the first season of the Hong Kong Flying Dragons, Xue Yuyang became the absolute core of the team, averaging 21.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, was named the best rookie in the CBA at the end of the season, and entered the national training team in 2002.
"This little achievement is all praised by friends in the media." In a high-end residential area in Zhengzhou, Xue Yuyang specially took a cake of unopened tea leaves to entertain reporters. Xue Yuyang's home is 300 square meters, and he has converted the basement floor into a tea room, where he has free time to drink tea and chat with friends. He also wore CBA-sponsored size 50 sports slippers, and a long towel from China Jordan hung in the bathroom.
Debut is the peak, Xue Yuyang played the best data of his career. When Xue Yuyang recalled his excellent performance at that time, on the one hand, he attributed that the Hong Kong Wyverns were a promotion horse, and he had more opportunities; on the other hand, Xue Yuyang took the initiative to mention that the policy of the Basketball Association at that time also made him feel like a fish.
At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the Chinese men's basketball team led by Yao Ming was forced to overturn by South Korea in the last moments, losing its asian hegemony. The Basketball Association then issued new rules for the CBA in a targeted manner: in the fourth quarter of the game, one of which must be full-court pressing. Teams that do not practice full-court pressing are judged to be technical fouls.
Hong Kong Feilong's tactics in the face of full-court pressing are: give the ball to Xue Yuyang. "I just lifted the ball with one hand, and then started shouting numbers, within 5 seconds the opposing center couldn't keep up, the referee whistled, I went to the free throw," Xue Yuyang's little thumb was born disabled, can not be straightened, but just can firmly hold the basketball, "Some big centers are not easy to rush to me, I dribble the ball, a smoke to kill the other side's basket." In that season with special rules, Xue Yuyang averaged 9.7 free throws per game and averaged 7 points per game.
Xue Yuyang's little finger is naturally disabled and can firmly hold the ball. Photography / Wang Hongyu
A season later, Sina Lion announced its withdrawal from the CBA League, and the club's chairman Jiang Fengnian said in an interview that the team suffered some unfair treatment in the CBA in terms of refereeing, and the team's performance was not satisfactory, and the financial burden was too heavy is the main reason why Sina Lion decided to quit. The Hong Kong Wyverns made the same choice.
On the Internet, you can also find the news of the Hong Kong Flying Dragons' unpaid wages, Xue Yuyang and his teammates to ask for wages, live in fast hotels, and eat instant noodles. Just out of the buddy, he encountered the first hurdle of his basketball career, saying that the money has not yet been returned.
Talking about this, Xue Yuyang turned out a yellowed business card from a small basket next to the tea set, which was the head of the team and the title was the vice president of the Hong Kong Basketball Association. Recently, in preparation for the retirement ceremony, Xue Yuyang sorted out many objects from the time of playing, team uniforms, business cards, and white strips. Xue Yuyang had a smile on his face, and his professional basketball career of more than ten years made him not surprised by these things.
shop
The dissolution of the Hong Kong team has given hope to the Xinjiang team that has been coveting Xue Yuyang for a long time. Today's Xinjiang team has long become an old CBA team and won the CBA championship in 2017. But in 2003, Xinjiang basketball was still a distant desert far from the core of the CBA.
In order to support the development of basketball in Xinjiang, the Basketball Association has specially introduced a policy of "supporting the Great Northwest", and the Sports Bureau of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region can apply to the Basketball Association for loan athletes, and a number of national players have entered the Xinjiang team through special approval, and Xue Yuyang is one of them.
The Xinjiang men's basketball team naturally cannot treat Xue Yuyang badly, and his salary is at the leading level in the team. In 2003, when the Xinjiang team was visiting Shaanxi, the hotel was stolen, and Xue Yuyang suffered the worst losses, losing the electric razor he bought abroad and two mobile phones - the most advanced Dopod mobile phone at that time, which people called "pocket computer".
In 1999, Wang Zhizhi became the first Chinese player to be selected by the NBA, and in addition to his own talent, his agent Xia Song also contributed. Xia Song also worked as Battle's agent and had a good personal relationship with Yao Ming— his company name was officially Yao Ming. Because of its wide network in the United States and strong operational ability, the Jianghu people call it "Xia BA".
In Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and Battle have landed in the NBA and built the name of "Mobile Great Wall", the NBA has also ushered in a short period of "China fever". Scouts with a keen sense of smell have begun to look for the next Chinese player who can go to the NBA, and Xue Yuyang, Mo Ke, Chen Ke, Tang Zhengdong, etc. have all been focused on investigation.
The NBA is the dream of every basketball player, and coincidentally, Xia Song has a crush on Xue Yuyang. In the interval between the national team training, Xue Yuyang and the NBA scouts had a more in-depth contact. In a basketball gym in Beijing, Xue Yuyang made some simple moves, shot a basket, and the American scout also took out a personality test form, "I can't understand anything, it was xia song who helped me translate." ”
On June 26, 2003, the NBA Draft was held. Xue Yuyang himself did not take this too seriously, as always, followed the morning training of the national team, and he did not even bring a mobile phone. By the time he returned to the athletes' apartment near the Temple of Heaven, a large group of people had already gathered downstairs in the dormitory, "When they saw me, hula suddenly surrounded me, and several microphones reached my mouth." Xue Yuyang realized that he had been selected.
five
Happiness didn't last 24 hours. The next morning, the Chinese Basketball Association held a press briefing and officially stated that Xue Yuyang's conditions were not ripe and he did not support Xue Yuyang to play in the NBA.
The Basketball Association also said that Xue Yuyang's draft was not approved by the Chinese Basketball Association in advance, which did not comply with article 12 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Sports Agents in Basketball Projects, "Every time a basketball agent engages in brokerage activities, he must apply to the Chinese Basketball Association for approval".
In 2002, Wang Zhizhi participated in the Summer League in the offseason and did not represent the national team in the Asian Games, and was banned. The situation of stagnation in the United States and no return has made the Chinese Basketball Association have more restrictions on athletes participating in the NBA League.
Xue Yuyang respected the decision of the Basketball Association, and in a subsequent interview, he publicly stated that there was a gap between his own strength and the NBA. Agent Xia Song had "reservations" about the fact that the draft was not approved by the Basketball Association. In this regard, Xue Yuyang and the NBA lost their hand.
"There is a saying on the Internet that the Mavericks chose you to give Xia Song a face."
"The draft is an international event, who has such a big face?" Xue Yuyang answered very calmly.
Xue Yuyang likes to drink tea after work, and he designs a tea room in his home. Photography / Wang Hongyu
A few months ago, in an interview with a local media outlet in Henan, Xue Yuyang was asked who his favorite NBA player was, and his answer was: Myself. Xue Yuyang is very concerned about the experience of being selected by an NBA team, "It's like a halo, it makes me a star, although I didn't become an NBA, but I touched it." It was the highest temple of professional basketball. ”
Xue Yuyang, who failed to enter the NBA, focused on the preparation and competition of the national team and clubs, but he still failed to enter the 12-man roster for the Athens Olympic Games, and head coach Harris , Harris from the Dallas Mavericks — chose Yao Ming, Battle, Yi Jianlian, Moko and Du Feng.
land
In the two years that Xue Yuyang was abroad, Liu Yuguo led the Henan team to successfully rush to the CBA. After landing in the top professional league in China, Henan found that the CBA's financial needs and the A-B League were not in the same order of magnitude at all, and without external financial support, it was difficult to support the team by relying on the local basketball association alone.
In 2005, the Henan Basketball Association sold the team to Wang Xingjiang. This year, Xue Yuyang's two-year loan contract expired just in time, and his ownership became an important part of the negotiations. Boss Wang is a businessman, he issued a flexible contract, if Xue Yuyang returns to the team, pay 8 million yuan in full, if Xue Yuyang can not return to the team, then he will deduct 1.5 million.
The wealthy Xinjiang men's basketball team did not want to let Go of Xue Yuyang, they did not bargain, on the basis of Wang Xingjiang's offer, added 100,000 yuan, at a price of 1.6 million - a record high for CBA player transfers at that time, and reached a permanent transfer contract with Henan Team. Xue Yuyang became the first big-name player recruited by the Xinjiang team.
When recalling his career, Xue Yuyang believes that the Hong Kong Feilong and Xinjiang Guanghui teams are his best periods, and in Xinjiang, he and his teammates fought for the team to win two league runners-up.
After attracting Battle and high-level foreign aid, fans' expectations for the Xinjiang team became higher and higher, and the old face Xue Yuyang began to suffer criticism - fans generally believed that Xue Yuyang's poor defense and soft ball style were not in line with the personality of this wolf-like northwest team. Some people even gave Xue Yuyang a not-so-nice nickname: Snow Dish.
"The style of play is really soft, people are right," when I asked him how to evaluate his style of play, Xue Yuyang's answer surprised me, "Playing basketball does not let the fans criticize?" ”
Seven
Thin body is one of the objective factors that Xue Yuyang's internal line is soft, because of Yao Ming's existence, the Chinese basketball tactics of ten years ago revolved around the big center. In the CBA league, even if it is not a foreign aid standing opposite Xue Yuyang, it is often a player such as Tang Zhengdong, and from the perspective of body shape, Xue Yuyang is a circle smaller.
"In our Central Plains region, children are generally higher. Located in the north, there is heating in winter, not as cold as the northeast, do not need to accumulate so much fat to resist the cold, so many of our players from Henan are thin and tall. Liu Yongguo, who is already the secretary general of the Henan Basketball Association, summed it up like this.
Zhou Qi, a Rockets player who is playing for his country at the Asian Games, is also from Henan. Zhou Qi's father also played basketball when he was young and had a good personal relationship with Liu Yongguo. Zhou Qi went to Liaoning Fuxin Sports School when the height of 1 meter 78, two years later in the Spring Festival, Zhou Qi and his father together to visit Liu Yongguo, has grown to 1 meter 98, Liu Yongguo picked a lifetime of young players, such a good seedling is really eye-watering, he took out a set of treasured large Size Nike fleece sportswear to Zhou Qi, but also wrapped a red envelope of 500 yuan.
Liu Yongguo cherishes talent, but the reality of Henan basketball cannot retain talent. After selling the team to Wang Xingjiang for a season, the team moved from Henan to Shanxi, the predecessor of today's Shanxi Fenjiu. More than a decade later, Henan Province, with a population of 100 million, has not had a team in China's highest professional basketball league.
But Henan really does not lack basketball talents, Zhou Qi, Li Gen, Gao Shang, Zhu Xuhang, Wang Zhengbo and a number of other young players left their hometowns and appeared on the CBA stage on behalf of different teams. After a few years of training in the NBL, Jiang Yuxing felt that he was a bit stuck, and he repeatedly applied to the Henan team to play in the CBA, and the replies he got were "play for two more years" and "wait another time".
Henan has been waiting for the opportunity to be promoted to the CBA, and no club is willing to give up the number one star it has cultivated. In the basketball circle, many people call henan teams "NBL Liaoning team", almost all of their players are from Henan, most of them are players in the system, and the communication between coaches and players is in Henan dialect. In 2017, CBA was founded and announced that it would not add teams for five years. This also became the last straw that crushed the Henan team, and they gave Jiang Yuxing the green light to participate in the draft.
Henan Credit Shop Old Wine Team's home ball market is hot, and the on-site banner reads: "I need a CBA team in Henan" Photo / Wang Hongyu
In the NBL, Fangcheng Stadium is one of the most attended home stadiums, and every time the home team player misses an empty shot, there will be a huge Henan sound on the scene: Ah. When the home team players succeed in their attack, the fans will respond with even louder cheers. In the stands on the side of the venue, spectators without seats could only stand by the railings and cheer for the team. Behind them is a banner that reads: I need a CBA team in Henan!
split open
There is no need to endure any longer. Xue Yuyang decided to leave Xinjiang.
A basketball reporter in Xinjiang told me that Xue Yuyang was a good person, kind and simple, and had never heard of anyone with whom he had a big conflict. Xue Yuyang's teammate Lu Xiaoming also held the same view, and he even felt that Xue Yuyang should fight for himself more.
"You can bully me once or twice, you can't bully me three or four times." Xue Yuyang and the club had some unpleasantness. Although the outside world is accustomed to Xue Yuyang's image of an "old and good man", he also has a temper and has his own way of expressing anger. He gave an example from a long time ago, when he couldn't open the door while practicing at the gymnasium, he kicked the door open.
But before the coach came, Xue Yuyang still fixed the door. He also did not disclose the specific contradictions with the Xinjiang team, and all he did was to throw his face and other ineffective ways to let the other party know that he was not happy.
Xue Yuyang went to Beijing alone, and he asked the Basketball Association, agents, and lawyers if he could leave after he signed a permanent contract. The Xinjiang team declaration contract issued by the Basketball Association is different from the contract signed by Xue Yuyang and the club, and there is a clear time limit in the contract. At the same time, the lawyer told him that from a human rights perspective, there is no such thing as "permanent". Xue Yuyang left Xinjiang as he wished.
In 2017, Xinjiang won the CBA League championship, and the club held a grand celebration banquet, inviting the meritorious generals in the history of the team to attend, Battle and Zhang Qingpeng. Tang Zhengdong and other players all arrived at the scene, and although the old coach Jiang Xingquan, who was nearly eighty years old, was full of white hair, he was also in good spirits. Xue Yuyang, who has been serving Xinjiang for 7 years, is not among them.
"Why didn't you go?" I asked.
"It's not that I didn't go, it's that they didn't invite me, how do I get there?" Xue Yuyang was a little excited.
After learning that Xue Yuyang's contract expired, a number of clubs chased him. The owner and general manager of the Qingdao team, the two drove for a day, took a box of seafood and went straight to Jiaozuo. But at this time, Xue Yuyang already had a goal in mind: he wanted to go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to see. Fortunately, he was also recruited by Wang Fei, then head coach of Zhejiang Guangsha.
A year later, Wang Fei left class and Xue Yuyang switched to Qingdao. Maddy then joined the team, and Xue Yuyang gave up his No. 9 jersey to the NBA Hall of Famer, "Such a big player, go to Chongyang, I should give it to him." ”
The Qingdao team, which owns Maddy, has received strong attention from fans across the country, and has encountered many home fans turning back when they are on the road, but the record has always been unsatisfactory. In a game against the Bayi team, in the last minute, in the case of a one-point difference, the Bayi players did not touch the basket with three points, but the referee did not blow a penalty of 24 seconds offensive violation. The Bayi team picked up offensive rebounds and hit a three-pointer to end the game.
After the game, the head coach of qingdao team brought Xue Yuyang to the press conference, and Xue Yuyang said a meaningful sentence: "As a player, I will have to mix in Chinese basketball in the future, there is nothing to say." ”
Nine
In a word. After retiring, Xue Yuyang became the assistant coach of the Henan Women's Basketball Youth Team and did not leave the circle of Chinese basketball.
He was approached by a local company and started a basketball camp in his name. Xue Yuyang is also willing to pass on his basketball skills and cultivate more good seedlings for Henan. He felt more like a benchmark for more Henan young players to work in his direction.
As soon as the news of the retirement ceremony came out, many old friends called to congratulate them. Their conversation is also inseparable from basketball, many people have said to him, if you are born ten years later, in today's small ball environment, as a big player who is good at three points and moves fast, your development is unlimited, and you can definitely go to the NBA.
Three years after banning Xue Yuyang from going to the United States, Li Yuanwei, director of the Basketball Management Center, communicated and persuaded Wang Zhizhi at the Three Sessions in Los Angeles, and then Wang Zhizhi represented the national team in the Asian Championships. Since then, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue and Zhou Qi have been selected and successfully landed in the NBA, and players such as Tang Zhengdong and Liu Wei have also represented different teams in trial training. Xue Yuyang became the only player who was restricted by the policies of the Basketball Association and was not allowed to be released for more than ten years.
In the summer of 2018, Chinese players Abdul Salam and Heng Yifeng both appeared on the stage of the NBA Summer League, and Ding Yanyuhang also worked a contract to go to the NBA, which became a trend. "If I had this opportunity now, and I was still in the same state as I was then, I would definitely have no remorse." Xue Yuyang said.
Extended Reading:
The CBA draft was four years, forgotten and struggling college student title
Participating in the TBT League, Fredette evokes the collective memory of American fans about the "Lonely God"