On the evening of February 23, the Chinese men's basketball team defeated Kazakhstan in the World Preliminary Round, winning by 12 points, and the result seemed to be good, but the media and fans were still very dissatisfied, because the process did not meet expectations, and everyone generally did not have confidence in the performance of the national team in the summer World Cup. After Jordjevic took office, the focus of the transformation of the Chinese men's basketball team is on the forward position, improving the height of the squad and adding more endpoints, but the ability of our players seems to be not up to the requirements.
In the past two years, Du Feng led the Chinese men's basketball team to stumble in international competitions, and public opinion generally believed that it was too obsessed with the three-guard system, with insufficient outside height, inaccurate shooting, and unable to play to its physical advantages. And the arrival of Jordjevic from the warm-up stage made everyone's eyes shine, especially the starter only sent Zhao Jiwei one playmaker, 3 tall forwards at the same time to open up space, even if entering the rotation time, at most two defenders are kept on the field.
However, when it came to the official game, the situation was reversed, facing the weak Kazakhstan, the Chinese team's forward group was muted, not only the shooting feeling was bad, but also the shortcomings of insufficient ball holding ability were exposed. Even in the fourth quarter of the game, Giordjevic was forced to follow Du Feng's old path and put on a back three at the same time, at least to ensure the normal rotation of the ball.
Looking specifically at the data of the forward players under Djordjevic, against Kazakhstan, captain Zhou Peng started 26 minutes, shooting 0 of 6 without scoring, and the biggest highlight was 3 assists, the highest in the team. In the game, Zhou Peng's 4 three-point shots were all deflected, and the two back singles he switched to the inside were unsuccessful, after all, his physical condition was not as good as when he was at his peak.
Another starter, Zhang Zhenlin, shot 2-of-8 from the field for a total of 5 points, including a bottom-corner three-pointer, and only scored this one on 5 outside shots. Another highlight in the offense was that Zhang Zhenlin once broke through for a layup with the ball, and was the only player among several forwards to successfully impact the basket. In addition, Zhang Zhenlin's athleticism contributed greatly to defense, playing a team-high 27 minutes, with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
The performance of the forward bench is worse, Zhu Xuhang is a CBA star known for playing tough battles, but as a 30-year-old veteran his national team journey has not been smooth, this time to get the recognition of Giordevic is not easy. Against Kazakhstan, Zhu Xuhang and Zhou Peng had similar problems, no outside shots, only 2 of the 7 shots in the game, and the use of secondary shots under the basket was the biggest highlight.
Zhu Junlong started to establish himself on the national team last year, and this time he still got a chance to play, playing 10 minutes off the bench, shooting 1 of 3, scoring 4 points including free throws, and 3 rebounds. Zhu Junlong's good physical condition and speed are his strengths, but there is more defense than scoring.
Overall, the four big forwards under Djordjevic shot 5 of 24 in the first game, barely exceeding 25%, which is no threat to Kazakhstan. In addition, the 20-year-old Choi Yong-hee, who made his first appearance for the national team, was originally also a striker, but this time he played as a defender, and he also did not score on 0-of-2 shooting in his 15-minute debut.