On June 21, 2018, a player from Japan named Yuta Watanabe "lost" at the NBA Draft.
This is not a very difficult thing for an Asian player to accept, looking at the entire history of Asian men's basketball that has really been selected by the NBA as a draft player. Most of them are still Chinese men's basketball players.
However, on July 21 of the same year, Yuta Watanabe joined the NBA Memphis Grizzlies on a two-way contract.
Some players may think that just a "two-way" contract is nothing, but if you know a little more about Yuta Watanabe's basketball experience before this, you will know what the "meaning" of this contract is for him...
In the 2014-2018 season, Yuta Watanabe played 35, 38, 28 and 33 games for George Washington University, averaging 7.4 points, 8.4, 12.1 and 16.3 points per game.
This is a statistic that is increasing year by year, which proves that Yuta Watanabe's ability has been on the rise, especially in attack.
According to the existing draft rules, players only need to complete the first year of college to officially participate in the NBA draft, so why did Watanabe yutai participate in the draft after 4 years of college?
First of all, Yuta Watanabe is very clear about his positioning, and in the first 1-2 college seasons, he knows that he is still far from being an official NBA player, so even if he signs up for the draft, he will not be selected.
However, in the middle of this, Yuta Watanabe is not doing nothing, fans who know the NBA know that only very top players will attract their "attention" and "follow", and the general physically gifted players in the NBA will not spend time and energy to "study", Watanabe Yuta knows that he is the latter kind of player.
Despite this, he still actively tries out the teams through various channels, even if the final result he already knows in advance, but he still wants to work harder, the worst can also be a "face familiar", in case a team in the course of the season has a large area of player injuries, there is not enough rotation, said that it may not be reminded of this Asian player who has come to their team trial?
Or when a team has more bold ideas about the position of the front line when the overall planning and construction of the team, it will also think of him, an Asian player who has come to try out?
This is just like many of our "job-seeking" friends in the workplace now, first choose the company you want to interview, and then one by one to vote for the "resume", although many will sink into the sea, but as long as there is a willing to give a "interview" opportunity, it is not equivalent to there is still a glimmer of hope.
Secondly, Yuta Watanabe is a player with his own "belief", when the trial training is gone, he is still not discouraged, but from his own reasons, once again "throw" himself into the training hall and the strength room, and then pay several times more time than before, anyway, as long as he does not receive the contract of the NBA, he will not stop this life mode in front of him.
So, it's with that persistence that we see that he's averaging 16.3 percent per game in his senior year of college, and to be honest, it's not easy for even a black player in the U.S. to do that.
The improvement of his own strength gave Yuta Watanabe more courage, so this time he chose to officially launch a "general attack" to the NBA and his dream in his heart.
The ideal is very full, the reality is very bone.
He lost.
When we've sorted out our previous mental journey, let's think about it in a different way, if Yuta Watanabe was any of us at the time, what would you do next?
Continue to wait or find somewhere else?
This is a problem...
What I am more inclined to is that at that time, Yuta Watanabe must have had the idea of packing up and returning to China, after all, he had done all his best, and he did not have regrets, as long as he returned to his own domestic league, or a league that was sub-level than the NBA, then he wanted to get an offer, it would be really much easier.
However, there is another voice in his heart: if you just give up, then your four years of hard work and all your previous efforts will be in vain, maybe you will feel very happy after you really put yourself into the game in other leagues, but in the occasional gap you must still think, if I stay in the NBA for a while, will there be a different result, and my life will be different from now?
In the end, Yuta Watanabe still chose to follow his inner voice and wait a little longer.
You said that the hard work was not worthy, and you said that his previous "face familiarity" had an effect, and he received a two-way contract from the Grizzlies anyway.
It is conceivable that this contract at that time was the most precious "gift" in the world for Yuta Watanabe, and the dream finally shone into reality.
Of course, for the players who get this kind of contract, it only means that they have a "short job", and all the initiative is in the hands of the team, and the team management may once again "ruin" Yuta Watanabe's dream with just one idea, and even do not need him to prove himself by playing.
But, thankfully, the Grizzlies still decided to give him a certain chance, and the few appearances on the court several times, Yuta Watanabe, were not statistically bright, but everyone could see that he worked very hard and tried to do everything he had to do, which was a very good "attitude", maybe nothing changed, but it could also change his life.
Next, the Grizzlies chose to "break up" with Yuta Watanabe, but he unexpectedly won a training camp contract for the Toronto Raptors.
Yes, it is still a "short-term worker" and the guarantee is very low.
However, this gave Yuta Watanabe the "belief" to continue his dream.
He is always ready, taking advantage of rare playing opportunities to show his "desperate sanlang" basketball style.
Fast forward to April 19, 2021, the Raptors officially announced that they and Yuta Watanabe officially signed an NBA regular contract.
Yes, this time Yuta Watanabe finally "turned positive", he is no longer a "temporary worker", and the "social security" and "provident fund" in the United States that he envies finally has landed.
This day is a day of special significance not only for Yuta Watanabe himself and even for the entire history of Asian basketball, because all the words and pictures reveal two words: inspirational!
Since they belong to the same continent and are a player from a neighboring country, I myself watch Yuta Motomoto play in the NBA and represent the Japanese men's basketball team in international competitions.
When I saw Yang Yi on a video platform and said that the physical talent of many domestic fronts was better than that of Yuta Watanabe, and Zhou Peng's ability and temperament were better than Yuta Watanabe's, I was dumbfounded for a while.
Objectively speaking, to this day, Yuta Watanabe can only be counted as a middle and lower level player among the NBA forward players, and even a little lower, but his desperate attitude on the court is incomparable to many domestic forward players, many times knowing that he will be "blocked", but he still has no fear, does not dodge and jumps up to meet it, and as a result, he is "blocked", yes, it has not changed anything.
However, the change in competitive sports is not that you have to change the final result, but you have to tell the opponent and everyone that you can win, but I will never let you win so easily.
All of this is in the eyes of the head coach of the home team and in his heart.
So, have you "changed" in the end?
In many domestic games, our frontline players see that the other side forms a fast attack and basically do not chase the defense, watch the opponent to score, or when they can try to "block" again, they simply choose to hide, so as not to match a foul is even more uneconomical.
Two styles, two attitudes, in the end, two lives.
Let's talk about the so-called game talent, or objectively speaking, even if the CBA and the NBA are taken to the same "platform", the kind of ethereal and lightness that Yuta Watanabe shows in the game and the grasp of shooting ability are beyond most of our fronts, and only Ding Yanyuhang, who has won two consecutive MVP at the peak of his peak, can compete with one.
The gap between other domestic forward players and Ding Yanyuhang at the peak is really not small.
These most basic objective facts, Teacher Yang Yi should all know, so I don't know what the basis for him to say that paragraph was.
Of course, it is not that Zhou Peng must be how big the gap with Yuta Watanabe is, but Zhou Peng started from defense in his early years, his more skills are still on the defensive end, and then he slowly gained a foothold and began to transform, but compared to the defense of his offensive ability is inferior, but the most valuable point of Zhou Peng is that he still gives the offense the best he can do.
Therefore, this is competitive sports, if you talk about objectivity and put the facts, then the gap is the gap, and you can't rely on other things to "erase".
Then Teacher Yang Yi said this sentence: Then I don't see too many games in Yuta Watanabe.
So if I say so, I am suddenly transparent, but I hope that next time we will really understand some established facts before making remarks, after all, how to say that it is also a public figure...