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preface
As we all know, after Xin Lancheng became the chairman of the basketball association, he adopted a series of reforms to improve the competitiveness of the national men's basketball team, but these measures not only failed to achieve results, but were accused of "harming Wang Zhizhi and ruining Yao Ming", setting the level of the Chinese men's basketball team back 20 years.
What specific reforms did Xinlancheng make? How did this former helmsman become what fans call "the one who harms the country"?
Scourge Wang Zhizhi, who was forced to "treason"
In 1996, Xin Lancheng successfully took over the position of chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, and the Chinese men's basketball team at that time still maintained the strength of the world's top eight.
The new generation of stars such as Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi is also growing, and Chinese basketball seems to be about to prosper, but a series of decisions made by Xin Lancheng after taking office eventually led to the rapid decline of the Chinese men's basketball team.
Xin Lancheng first shortened the length of the CBA season, the national team played frequently, and the players missed a large number of league fixtures, which led to the inability of the players to improve their skills, and the contradictions between the national team and the club intensified.
At the same time, the CBA management was transferred to the local sports bureau, forcing a number of club owners to abandon their teams, and during the administration of Shin Lancheng, referee decisions became opaque, directly affecting the outcome of the game.
In addition, Xin Lancheng relied too much on Yao Ming, did not consider his physical capacity, and recalled Yao Ming to participate in various competitions for a long time.
In 2002, Yao represented China at the Asian Games and immediately returned to the NBA, a high-intensity round trip that eventually led to Yao's aging knees, and he could only announce his retirement at the age of 34.
Like Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi was miserable by Xinlancheng, who, as another player who encountered Xinlancheng's "special care", should have a promising basketball career, and he was forced to bear the charge of "treason" because of Xinlancheng.
Wang Zhizhi could have gone to the NBA after leading the Bayi men's basketball team to win the CBA championship, but Xin Lancheng kept him in China for various reasons, and the time was extended to 3 years later, Wang Zhizhi joined the NBA as he wished, but he soon returned to the CBA because of his age and lack of training.
Subsequently, in the international competition, the performance of the Chinese men's basketball team plummeted, and the Chinese men's basketball team only finished fourth in the 2002 Asian Games and could no longer sit on the throne of Asian hegemony, the reason was that Xin Lancheng insisted on using veterans to play in the competition, and young and new blood could not be exercised.
In 2005 , during Wang Zhizhi 's summer league , Xin Lancheng asked him to return to the team immediately to prepare for the World Championship , Wang Zhizhi wanted to stay in the United States to secure an NBA contract , but Xin Lancheng did not agree.
After that, Wang Zhizhi was fiercely criticized by the media for being disloyal to the motherland, and Xin Lancheng, who should have clarified for him, also took advantage of the trend and expelled Wang Zhizhi from the national team.
The Chinese men's basketball team in the era of Xin Lancheng is full of internal contradictions, the tactical system is chaotic, young players can not grow, and the culprit Xin Lancheng's various measures have made the Chinese men's basketball team from an Asian strong team to a second-rate team, the negative impact of which has lasted for many years, even if Xin Lancheng left office for a long time, Chinese basketball is still struggling in the shadow left by him.
During that time, except for Wang Zhizhi, who hated Xin Lancheng more, another person had more than that, yes, he was Yao Ming.
Yao Ming, who was "pitted" miserably
In 2003, the giant Yao Ming entered the NBA as he wished, turning a new page in Chinese basketball history, and Yao's addition undoubtedly injected a dose of strength into the Rockets, who quickly became the team's core player and led the team to the playoffs.
His unique physical advantage and ready-to-go interior skills quickly allowed him to gain a foothold in the league and become a headache for all opponents.
Under Yao Ming's leadership, the Rockets returned to the playoffs, and many stars, including Robbie Boner and McKeebosch, were victims of Yao's defense, and whenever Yao Ming stretched out his long arm in the box to block the opponent, the opponent was always helpless.
Yao Ming is a reliable scoring point for the Rockets on the offensive end, and his back singles and stable inside free throws are Yao's best killer skills.
Yao Ming quickly grew into the team's number one star with the Rockets, and his addition brought Chinese fans so close to the NBA for the first time, and thousands of fans had to witness the local NBA superstar every few days when the Rockets visited China.
And Yao Ming fully took on the responsibility of the team's first offensive point, and the steady output excited all Chinese fans, but at the peak of Yao's career, a terrible injury destroyed all this in an instant.
In the 2007 playoffs , Yao played for the Rockets for the Jazz , where he suffered a severe sprain in his right foot , which not only missed the rest of the playoffs , but also led to his retirement before the start of the 2008 season.
The fact that a player's normal career was forced to end here was undoubtedly very sudden and incredible for Yao Ming, who was still the league's top center before the injury hit, still strong and could have played for the Rockets for a few more seasons.
The real reason for Yao Ming's frequent injuries came from the decision of Xin Lancheng, then chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Xin Lancheng was determined to make the national team achieve better results during his tenure, so he increased Yao's participation intensity, requiring him to participate in various competitions large and small, even if it was only a few less important friendly matches, Xin Lancheng insisted that Yao Ming play the whole time.
Yao, who played 82 games in a season, immediately joined the national team training after returning to China, preparing to participate in various international competitions, and the rapid rotation of the NBA and the national team gave Yao Ming no time to adjust well.
However, Xin Lancheng still insisted on arranging for Yao Ming to participate in various competitions, and he only wanted to win a few more medals for the national team during his tenure.
Yao's injury problems were gradually exposed under the huge physical load, but even so, Xin Lancheng refused to reduce Yao's training and game intensity, which directly caused Yao Ming to suffer a heavy blow in the playoffs and had to announce his retirement.
For all the fans, Yao's departure was still too hasty and reluctant, and perhaps he was reluctant to say goodbye to basketball at that time, but the injury was ruthless, and he could only accept this fact in the end.
In his short career, Yao Ming has made great contributions to Chinese basketball, and his glorious achievements will forever be engraved in the history of Chinese basketball.
Yao Ming witnessed the glory of the Chinese men's basketball team to the gradual defeat, he did not want to let the Chinese men's basketball team that was hard to walk in front of the world regress again, so after he became the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, he was determined to lead Chinese basketball out of the trough through reform and connect with world basketball.
How does the Chinese Basketball Association save?
Yao Ming's first step in overturning Xinlancheng's policy was to set up a salary cap in the CBA league, limiting the space for big teams to stock up on top players, allowing more powerful players to have the opportunity to join different teams, balancing the strength of each team, and also providing more local players with opportunities to grow.
Before Yao Ming promoted the salary cap policy, the strongest teams in the CBA league would use their abundant financial resources and resources to hoard a large number of top local players and high-level foreign aid, which would undoubtedly greatly weaken the competitiveness and viewing of the league.
For example, the Guangdong team has been sitting on a number of national players and All-Star foreign aid as a giant for many years, easily winning the championship every year, while the weaker team, even if it cultivates good young players, it is difficult to retain them, and finally can only be poached by the big team.
After they have a salary cap limit, the big teams can no longer sign all the star players as they want, which gives other teams the opportunity to poach with high salaries, and the strength players also get the opportunity to exercise and grow in different environments, the strength of the teams tends to be balanced, and the league competition is more intense.
At the same time, more local newcomers will also have the opportunity to get playing time in the game, which will undoubtedly accelerate the growth of the local player base.
Yao's second step was to adjust his foreign aid policy, allowing only one foreign aid to play in each quarter, forcing local players to take on more offensive tasks than relying solely on foreign aid output.
Because most CBA teams in the past were accustomed to letting foreign aid serve as the absolute core and first offensive option in the team, most Chinese players only played auxiliary roles, which was obviously not conducive to the growth of local players.
The new foreign aid policy will force coaches to trust and reuse local players more, giving them the opportunity to stand up at key moments, which will surely improve the overall level of local players in the long run.
In addition, Yao Ming also vigorously developed the three-man basketball program, which led to the Chinese team winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and the China three-man basketball league was officially launched, becoming another important basketball event after the CBA and WCBA.
Three-person basketball has a low threshold and is easy to promote, and at the same time it is convenient to tap grassroots athletes and vigorously develop three-person basketball, which can inject new vitality into Chinese basketball and continuously expand the scale of the population participating in basketball.
The Chinese team winning the bronze in the three-man basketball event at the Tokyo Olympics is a proof that with the popularity of three-man basketball, the group base of Chinese basketball will be stronger.
During Yao's tenure, the number of regular season games for players has also increased sharply from the original 38 to 56, close to the NBA's level of 82, and the increase in the number of games will greatly improve the intensity of players' workouts, and provide more opportunities for new players to play, which will help teams develop new talents.
In the past, most players were too short in season, especially non-main players, and were more likely to lose their form once they suffered injuries.
The new games will give every player more opportunities to play and stay fit, and the newcomers will finally have the opportunity to get up from the bench and not just watch the game in place, which will greatly enrich the depth of rotation for each team.
This reform will also further stimulate the domestic basketball market, so that the influence of the Chinese basketball league continues to expand, fans can enjoy more wonderful games with the increase of the number of games, improve the fun of watching the game, and the commercial value of the Chinese basketball league will be greatly improved in the future, attracting more corporate investment and favor.
epilogue
Although the Chinese men's basketball team was in a slump during Yao's tenure, in the long run, Yao's series of reform measures laid the foundation for China's basketball powerhouse.
Under his leadership, Chinese basketball is improving at a speed visible to the naked eye, and I believe that through continuous reform, Chinese basketball will usher in a new spring.