As the representative of the golden generation of the Chinese 94 men's basketball team, Zheng Wu, once the key gentleman, resigned as the head coach of the NBL Hubei Wuhan Contemporary Basketball Club in June 2019 for personal reasons, which also means that Zheng Wu's decades of sports career officially ended. The legend of basketball has come to an end, but the legend he left behind is still remembered. When the Chinese basketball figure Zheng Wu is mentioned, people will still think of the dashing figure who once played a role in the CBA, in the World Championships, and the Olympic Games.
<h1>After Zhejiang Ball King</h1>
Zheng Wu was born in a basketball family in Zhejiang, his father Zheng Guobao was the most famous basketball player in Zhejiang in the 50s and 60s, and Zheng Wu in his childhood began to contact basketball under the influence of his father, and he did not expect to start his indissoluble relationship with basketball. Zheng Wu's younger brother, Zheng Liang, who is also a famous Chinese volleyball player, said: "When my brother was a child, he came home sweating every day and holding a basketball in his arms. Zheng Wu's love for basketball is evident. From a young age, excellent talent coupled with the hard work of training, Zheng Wu smoothly entered the national youth team from the sports school, and then from the national youth team to the national team, and even the father Zheng Guobao, who was known as the king of Zhejiang, still failed to realize his desire to enter the national team, and finally his son Zheng Wu realized this wish for him.
Zheng Wu, who plays as a small striker, has very solid basic skills, personal skills are also very skilled, and has excellent ball control ability, excellent breakthrough ability allows him to often stage the drama of getting rid of the opponent's defense and hitting the key ball. In addition, he is also known as a "shooting machine", and he likes to use his shooting ability to make the opponent doubt life with his extremely outstanding shooting ability. His only weakness is that he is thinner and weaker, and his physical ability to resist is slightly insufficient. His height is also a little shorter, 1 meter 97 he will be a bit of a loss in the position of small forward, because most of the players in this position of small forward are about 2 meters tall. However, his personal skills and shooting ability masked his shortcomings and allowed him to still shine in the national team.
The player with the best psychological quality in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team, this is an evaluation given to Zheng Wu by his national team teammates. This evaluation is also very in line with Zheng Wu's basketball style, it is precisely because of his super psychological quality and big heart that he has been able to stand up repeatedly in the international arena of the World Championships and the Olympic Games, and left a legend that belongs to him.
<h1>"Cold-blooded swordsman" Zheng Wu</h1>
Every player in the 94 Golden Generation has his own tricks, but zheng Wu is the only one who has the title of "Mr. Key". At the 1994 Men's Basketball World Championship, the Chinese men's basketball team bravely moved forward under the leadership of Hu Weidong, Zheng Wu and others, Hu Weidong was the main scorer of the national team and played the role of the scoring king, while Zheng Wu was the cold-blooded killer of the national team and has always played the role of a key gentleman with a sword to seal the throat. If Hu Weidong is the "Jordan" of the Chinese men's basketball team, then Zheng Wu is undoubtedly the "Lillard" of the Chinese men's basketball team.
With a big heart, he stepped forward in the match against South American giants Brazil, scored a layup and equalized in the final two points, successfully dragging the game into extra time, and finally the Chinese team narrowly defeated Brazil by one point. Amazingly, Zheng Wu also hit the key goal in the next game against Spain, he grabbed the rebound in the front court at the last moment and staged a shocking dunk, while he also scored the team's highest 15 points in this game, helping the Chinese men's basketball team complete a historic breakthrough, and the Chinese men's basketball team reached the world's top eight for the first time in history.
It is worth mentioning that Zheng Wu, who was only 27 years old at the time, averaged 12.6 points per game at the World Championships, second only to the team's 15.1 points of Wang HuWeidong.
China's "Lillard" killing performance is not limited to this, in the 96 Atlanta Olympic Games, against the strong opponent Argentina men's basketball team, Zheng Wu and Hu Weidong scored tied for the first place, they both cut 22 points, became the team's winning hero at that time, this battle has also become a classic battle in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team.
At the same time, Zheng Wu also hit a key three-point kill in the game against Angola, and the Chinese men's basketball team once again broke into the world's top eight. At that time, there was only one minute left before the end of the game, and although the Chinese team was one point ahead of Angola, the one-point difference was not safe, and even the Chinese team in the leading state was still extremely nervous. At this moment, it was still Zheng Wu who stood up, he used a key three-pointer to expand the score to 4 points, and this three-point shot was still shot at a zero angle, this three-point shot penetrated the hearts of Angolan players, and killed the suspense of the game hard.
Then at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Zheng Wu, as a veteran, once again helped the team to advance to the world's top ten. Although he has long since retired, the legend of the "cold-blooded swordsman" who drew his sword out of its sheath and saw the blood sealed throat is still passed down from generation to generation in the national team.
"Karma is good at being diligent and absurd, and doing is destroyed by thinking and destroying." As a professional player, Zheng Wu is deeply aware of this, and when the reporter asked about the experience of achieving impressive results, he said very realistically: "I just work harder than others. When I was on the national team, I was the last person to turn off the lights on the training ground every day, and I was the last person to go to the canteen to eat. Zheng Wu, who believes that hard work will bear fruit, interprets the effort with action, and the hard training makes his personal skills pure, and the efficiency of the shot becomes as accurate as a sniper rifle. It is the hard training that has created countless glories and achievements of the "cold-blooded killer".
<h1>A troubled basketball career</h1>
Legendary forward Zheng Wu's basketball career was brilliant, but also tragic, as he suffered multiple injuries and twice nearly bid farewell to his playing career. After the November 1996 Olympic Games, Zheng Wu's anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee was broken, and the meniscus was broken, almost bidding farewell to his playing career. But reassuringly, his surgery went smoothly and his recovery training gradually restored his physical condition. In July 1998, Zheng Wu, who was preparing to return to the CBA League, was in a car accident, and if the previous meniscus shattered almost bid farewell to his playing career, this car accident almost made him say goodbye to his family and friends.
In November 1999, Zheng Wu, who returned to the Zhejiang Team Wanma Team, continued to play in the CBA and became an indispensable soul figure of the Zhejiang Team. Zheng Wu, who returned from the king, averaged 18.9 points and 2 assists per game that season, and ranked 11th in the total scoring list. Although his athleticism has declined after suffering two major injuries, this still does not affect his excellent performance in the CBA. In September 2003, Zheng Wu was selected for the Australian Tigers, becoming the first Chinese player to land in Australia.
But unfortunately, Zheng Wu, who had only played two moons, suffered an injury again, and finally had no choice but to return to China for treatment and continue to represent Zhejiang in the CBA League. Injuries run through Zheng Wu's basketball career, but Zheng Wu has never given up basketball because of injury, and his love for basketball makes Zheng Wu's dictionary not have the word "give up".
<h1>Zheng Wu's coaching period</h1>
In 2004, Zheng Wu retired from the army and went to coach the national youth team U18, becoming the first young coach to directly transition from a player to a coach of a national team. In the 2005-2006 season, he returned to Zhejiang Wanma as an assistant coach and helped Zhejiang Wanma team achieve the sixth place in the CBA. In 2007, he went to the University of Memphis for further study, and then returned to Zhejiang to teach. Later, because the team's record was not good, the disgruntled club executives changed the assistant coaches, team leaders and other people including Zheng Wu.
After that, he began a three-year journey to coach the Zhejiang women's basketball team, and miraculously brought the Zhejiang women's basketball team from the edge to the finals, making the team reach the finals twice in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, Wenyi Basketball Club, the only professional basketball club in Anhui, was established in Hefei, with Zheng Wu as the head coach. In 2014, he won the NBL Promotion Tournament, and in 2015, he brought Anhui Wenyi to the finals.
Zheng Wu then entered the coaching staff of the Olympic Games and participated in the 2016 Asian Cup in Iran. In 2017, Gong Luming joined Anhui Wenyi, and Zheng Wu also went with his teacher to prepare for the basketball school project, but in the end it could not be implemented due to the qualification problem of the project. In 2018, the Wuhan Contemporary Team was officially established, and Zheng Wu was invited to serve as the head coach. It was not until June of this year that he announced his resignation as head coach for personal reasons.
Zheng Wu, who ended his sports career, will still be remembered by future generations, and when future generations look back at history, they will definitely remember the "swordsman" who wore the national team's jersey and repeatedly hit and killed at key moments.