With the Phoenix missing out on the playoffs early, Zhou Qi's campaign in the Australian NBL League this season is also nearing its end. After more than four months of overseas training, the "Big Devil" felt the muscle jungle of Australian basketball, and once gained recognition and self-confidence, and also experienced the difficulties of state ups and downs and limited playing time.
This is the second overseas conquest of Zhou Qi's career, and it is also his second overseas game after returning to the CBA from the NBA.
But it should be said that this was not originally in Zhou Qi's planning, until Zhou Qi and the Xinjiang men's basketball team last summer in the renewal of the unsolved dispute, Zhou Qi resolutely announced his withdrawal from the 2021-22 CBA, Zhou Qi turned his goal to overseas leagues again. At that time, the Japanese and Korean leagues and the Australian league had teams to issue invitations to Zhou Qi, who finally chose the NBL league and gave up the Japanese league with higher prices in combination with the league level and other factors. The Phoenix team finally impressed Zhou Qi because of its understanding of Zhou Qi and the details of the commitment, so the "Great Devil" went to Australia at the end of October last year and embarked on an overseas training trip again.
Compared with joining the NBA Rockets five years ago and playing abroad for the first time, Zhou Qi is obviously more active and calm in integration this time. In the new owner Phoenix, he became friends with the core of the team, Crick, in just a few days, and found a tacit understanding with the head coach and other teammates in a short period of time.
On December 4, 2021, Zhou Qi made his official debut in the NBL League. In the opening game, Zhou Qi played 21 minutes off the bench to contribute 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks, helping the team win 24 points to win the opening red. Although Zhou Qi's statistics are not gorgeous, he has played quite tough in this game only a week ago in the Chinese men's basketball team. The turn of the inside attack broke through the barrier and the defensive end frequently sent out a big hat, making Zhou Qi full of existence.
After the game, Zhou Qi's perception was even stronger: "I know that I am in the jungle, I need to be tougher and work harder!" That's what I'm here to learn. I am the last gate, but I am not afraid of any confrontation. After that, Zhou Qi did play quite strongly, especially in the third game, he had 22 points, 10 rebounds, 7 blocks and 2 steals on 10-of-13 shooting, playing his strongest game in the NBL League. Offensive and defensive ends, Zhou Qi is almost only a hand to cover the sky, exaggerated hit rate and crazy caps make Zhou Qi become a real "phoenix Chuanqi", after this war, the outside world's wind evaluation of Zhou Qi has changed greatly, mocking him less and less, encouraging and praising more and more. At this time, Zhou Qi seems to have completely stepped out of the haze of the 2019 World Cup.
"Wood shows in the forest, and the wind will destroy it." As Zhou Qi's personal performance becomes more and more crazy, other teams in the NBL league have studied him more and more, and the targeted defense has become more and more stringent. In such an environment, Zhou Qi's subsequent matches have had highlights and ups and downs. But the biggest blow to him is the injury, because of diarrhea and vomiting, Zhou Qi was forced to truce for a long time unwell, after a two-week break, Zhou Qi started his personal year of the tiger on February 5, but his body did not fully recover, coupled with the obvious loss of weight and muscle in the previous two weeks, Zhou Qi was also frequently in foul trouble in the fight against the tough NBL league.
Just when Zhou Qi's performance fluctuated, the Phoenix team, which promised Zhou Qi enough playing time and core position last summer, also began to frequently compress Zhou Qi's playing opportunities. Zhou Qi's appearance time decline when he was in foul trouble was still forgivable, but when Zhou Qi performed well, he was also replaced many times at the last minute. The assistant coach of the temporary platoon deployment is like this, and the head coach has also had such a choice after his return, which also directly affects Zhou Qi's performance.
In the first four games of the season, Zhou Qi played more than 20 minutes and showed a straight upward trend, with more than 30 minutes of playing time in the fourth game. But after the season, Zhou Qi's playing time fluctuated significantly. Even when he got 20+ stats twice and hit more than 70 percent of his shots, he played less than 25 minutes.
Throughout the season, Zhou Qi averaged 21.2 minutes per game (the team's 5th), averaging 11.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2 blocks per game (3rd in the league), shooting 64%. The relatively limited appearance time directly pulled down Zhou Qi's personal data. Originally, Zhou Qi hoped to help the Phoenix team enter the playoffs again, but at present, the Phoenix has been out of the game early, and Zhou Qi has lost the great opportunity to fight with the Phoenix in the playoffs.
With the competition coming to an end of the season and the Phoenix missing out on the playoffs ahead of schedule, Zhou Qi has also reached a time when he needs to consider it. Last summer, he signed a 1+1 contract with phoenix, with the right to jump out of the contract, so he can decide whether to stay in phoenix this summer. If you decide to continue to play in Australia, then Zhou Qi should probably consider joining other powerful teams, one is to get better experience, and the other is that Phoenix has not fully fulfilled their promise to Zhou Qi this season, after all, Zhou Qi went out to play to maximize personal ability and value on and off the field, but from this season's point of view, Phoenix is not a particularly suitable team for Zhou Qi.
Of course, Zhou Qi has other options, and he can also consider returning to the CBA in the case of difficulties in impacting the NBA. As the top interior and star of the CBA, Zhou Qi, who has returned from training, still has the ability to pry the championship pattern, and he will still be the object of many teams to compete. But the decision on whether Zhou Qi can join other teams is not in his own hands, but in Xinjiang's hands. But for now, his dispute with Xinjiang remains unresolved, and after a complete stalemate with Xinjiang last summer, Zhou Qi's efforts to repair the rift with Xinjiang seem to be extremely difficult. If the rift cannot be repaired, if Xinjiang refuses to release people, Zhou Qi will not be able to join other teams, so that Zhou Qi and Xinjiang will return to the original point. Unless Zhou Qi is willing to continue to play for Xinjiang, Zhou Qi's return to the CBA will still be extremely difficult.
Three years ago, Zhou Qi ended his first overseas trip, and after returning from the NBA, he eventually returned to Xinjiang after a dispute with Xinjiang. Three years later, Zhou Qi's second overseas trip seems to be coming to an end, this time, how will he choose?