On May 5, Beijing time, Zhou Qi, the Chinese men's basketball player who recently returned to China in the quarantine stage, revealed his recent contact with the NBA Pacers in the process of connecting Han Dejun, Gao Shiyan and the original coach live broadcast, and Zhou Qi himself revealed that the Pacers wanted him to play in the NBA Summer League, rather than trial training. Zhou Qi specifically said, "Did the walker tell me to go to the trial?" He told me to play in the Summer League, not to try it out, to finish the Summer League. ”
It is worth mentioning that every year the NBA Summer League is held, it is opened in June, there will be a number of games held, but the game time and the Chinese men's basketball team this summer game conflict, during which the Chinese men's basketball team needs to play in the Asian Cup, the World Preliminary Tournament and the Asian Games, as the team's main force of Zhou Qi, the personal role is very large, it is basically difficult to leave the team. This time Zhou Qi directly returned to China, its main purpose is also to gather the Chinese men's basketball team and enter the joint training mode in advance. In other words, Zhou Qi is focusing on the task of the national team at this stage, and as for impacting the NBA, it is something to consider after playing the national team game.
In the past, Zhou Qi has played in the NBA Summer League many times, namely the first year he joined the Rockets in 2017 and the Chinese men's basketball team in 2019. As an NBA second-round show, Zhou Qi has always performed well in the NBA Summer League, but at present, what Zhou Qi wants to win is an NBA official contract, not an NBA Summer League, so the attraction is not very large.
However, for Zhou Qi, if there is no national team task in the summer, to play the NBA Summer League is also a kind of exercise, in the past season, Zhou Qi in order to impact the NBA specially went to the Australian League to play, although in the end Zhou Qi's Phoenix team failed to play in the playoffs, Zhou Qi did not get the NBA scouts to recognize, but in this process Zhou Qi's ability to improve is still significant, after all, the overall intensity of the Australian League is much higher than the domestic CBA League.
In the future, Zhou Qi's where to play next season has not yet been determined, he himself said that not returning to the CBA league is not something he can decide alone, as for playing in overseas leagues, Zhou Qi said that he may return to join other Australian teams, or renew his contract with Phoenix, or he can also go to other overseas leagues to play, there are many options. Considering that Zhou Qi is 26 years old at the peak of his age, that is, full of combat strength, in addition to the NBA, the rest of the overseas leagues believe that they can find jobs, depending on the treatment and the overall level of the league.
For the development environment of the entire Chinese basketball world, Zhou Qi's inability to impact the NBA is a loss, since the 13-14 season in the CBA League, Zhou Qi has proved his excellence step by step, helping Xinjiang win the championship in the 16-17 season, and maintaining an average output of 20+10 per game after returning to Xinjiang in the 19-20 season. It can be said that the domestic platform has been unable to provide Zhou Qi with nutrients for growth, so it is reasonable for Zhou Qi to choose to go out and seek growth, and the NBA stage is undoubtedly a platform that can best enhance personal ability. Looking at today's Chinese basketball world, the player closest to the NBA is also Zhou Qi, after giving up the opportunity to impact the NBA, Zhou Qi's next opportunity does not know when!
(Lin Xiaoxiang)