A few days ago, I talked to friends about the CBA's foreign aid, and everyone recalled that Guangdong Hongyuan once signed a young talent, Emmanuel Mudiel. Xiao Quan only remembered this former excellent high school player, if it were not for another season in the CBA, I am afraid that no one would remember this figure who has been drowned in the long river of basketball history.
Born in March 1996 in the devastated Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mudiel's mother brought his young Mudier to the United States to make a living in order to escape the war at the age of 5. In his freshman year of high school, Mudiel led the varsity team to the Texas High School Basketball Championship, successfully defending the title the following year, and with his outstanding performances in these two years, Mudiel ranked No. 1 on espn's 2015 high school student rankings, and was once known as "the first high school student in the United States". A year later, Mudiel was watched by many scouts at the Portland basketball camp, and at this time he also came to the crossroads of his life, and Mudie had to make an important choice between entering college to play in the NCAA and going to play in professional leagues overseas.
Years later, judging from Mudière's development trajectory, his choice was wrong, however, at that time, Mudière had to step into the professional arena early due to his family's poverty and support his family. In July 2014, when Du Feng went to the United States to visit the talented Mudiel, Guangdong Hongyuan offered him a $1.2 million contract, which was enough to impress Mudiel, who was eager to improve his life, so in the 2014/2015 season, Mudiel officially joined the CBA.
A year in the CBA is the closest year for Mudiel to Chinese fans, 18 years old can score 20 points in his CBA debut, it can be seen that Mudiel's talent and strength are definitely far beyond his peers, according to the plan at that time, first play in the CBA professional league, hone his skills at the same time, but also for his family to earn living expenses, and then to impact the NBA, so, after the end of the season, Mudiel announced that he participated in the NBA draft, and was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 7th pick in the first round. At this point in time, Mudiel's career development is smooth, the future is bright, especially in the draft, Mudiel wore a coat printed with a five-star red flag, which was favored by the majority of Chinese fans, fans affectionately called him "Chinese Boy", and everyone expected him to break through in the NBA.
From the beginning of entering the NBA, Mudiel entered a watershed in his life, before he was a talented high school student, a hot and promising "Chinese boy", after which he never met the expectations of the outside world, tossed a number of NBA teams, and gradually sank. After two seasons with the Nuggets, he was sold to the Knicks, struggled for a season, and then joined the Jazz, during which Mudiel was plagued by injuries, the data continued to decline, averaging 7.3 points per game in the Jazz in 2019/2020, reaching a career low, and missing most of the team's games due to injury in the 2020/2021 season was no longer within the scope of the head coach's plan.
Fans have a question about how Mudiel went from a gifted high school student to an NBA tramp, with no ball to play after being completely out of the crowd. In fact, Mudiel's birth determined his ceiling, no matter how talented, without the right guidance, and ultimately wasted a great future. The poverty of the family makes little Mudiel single-mindedly thinking about improving his life, not caring about career planning, listening to the advice of his agent after graduating from high school, joining the CBA, skipping the college stage to enter the NBA, such a choice makes Mudiel not be able to compare with excellent NCAA players, playing in the CBA for a season, ostensibly playing professional leagues, which is conducive to growth, but after all, the Cultural Differences between China and the United States basketball are huge, and the local players who come out of the NCAA are more adapted to the NBA environment. Mudiel entered the NBA from the CBA, carrying the brand of Chinese basketball, which made him unable to keep up with the rhythm of the NBA. In addition, during the Guangdong Hongyuan period, Mudie suffered an ankle sprain, in the CBA environment at that time, Mudie could not get scientific recovery and adjustment, fell ill, cast a shadow on his career, and the facts also proved that after entering the NBA, Mudieu suffered from continuous injuries, could not play the phenomenon and performance, and was finally abandoned by the team.
Of course, from the perspective of Mudiel at that time, the difficulties of the family made him have to choose to play abroad, if he chose to enter the NCAA that year, maybe the road ahead would be better, this is the original sin of poor birth, there is no well-informed person in the family to give the right guidance, the young Mudiel, although extremely talented, made a lot of efforts, but chose the wrong direction, resulting in a detour in his entire career.