He is the first Asian foreign player in the history of the CBA, and one of the worst foreign players, every time he helps the team to reach the playoffs, he is forced to change teams, Yao Ming's decision is directly ruined his CBA road, he once pleaded with Yao Ming but was refused, but he still regards Yao Ming as a benefactor, because it was Yao Ming who brought him to China to play in the first place.
This grateful foreign aid is named Saeed Abbas, nicknamed "Iron Man" and "Jordan Board". From 2009 to 2015, he led 6 CBA underdogs to the playoffs, this magical law is called "Abbas's Law", but every time he led the team to the playoffs, he was forced to change teams, what is going on?
It turned out that at that time, in order to balance the strength of the back team and the excellent team, the CBA team ranked in the bottom 5 of the record could introduce Asian foreign aid, and the Asian foreign aid could be used as a domestic excellent player, and on this basis, the same amount of foreign aid could be signed with other teams, so that these teams with particularly poor records had the strength to compete with strong teams and make the game more exciting.
However, the emergence of Abbas gradually lost the original meaning of this policy, because he was too strong, and his Asian foreign aid was even better than those European and American foreign players, which was very unfair to other teams. Although he is not the kind of big bag player who can cut 30+ triple-doubles, he is very strong in running without the ball, cutting in the air and scoring in the second attack, and can contribute a lot of points without occupying the ball, and the most important thing is that his defense is particularly good, he is 2.03 meters tall and can defend multiple positions, and the defensive area is very large.
Signing him gives him a guaranteed score, rebound, and defense, so the teams that sign him can all be much stronger. Shanghai finished second to last in the season before signing him, but after signing him, they became fourth in the league, successfully reached the playoffs, and led the team to the semifinals before being eliminated by Guangdong. Since Shanghai reached the playoffs and was no longer the bottom five team in the record, it lost the qualification to sign Asian foreign players, and Abbas was forced to change teams.
He then joined the Beijing team, helping the third-placed team from the previous season to win eight more games and catch the last train of the playoffs. After helping Beijing get out of the quagmire, Abbas joined the Fujian team, which had a record of 8 wins and 24 losses the previous season, ranking second to last in the league, and helped the team achieve a 17-15 record, also taking the last train to the playoffs.
At the end of the season, he joined the Shandong team, before the Shandong team ranked fifth from the bottom of the league, just qualified to sign the qualification of Asian foreign aid, they spent a lot of money to sign Abbas, the new season Shandong team ranked second in the league, Abbas not only helped the team to the playoffs, but also helped the team to reach the finals, but unfortunately he was defeated by the Guangdong team again, and missed the championship.
Abbas was keen to play Shandong for another year to make up for the championship shortcoming, but policy did not allow it, and then he joined Tianjin with the third-to-last record, helping the team to finish sixth in the league and reach the playoffs, but it also means that he will be forced to change teams again after the season.
His next stop is Shanxi, who finished third from bottom the previous season, and after signing Abbas, he won 17 more games and reached the playoffs as the sixth seed. At the end of the season, the 32-year-old may have been tired of having to change teams every year, and he didn't sign with a CBA team for the following year.
But after playing a season in other leagues, he found that it was still better than the CBA, so he signed a contract with the Tongxi team, and the 33-year-old was still able to average a double-double of 21.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, but the shooting rate was only 49.5%, which was the first season in his CBA career when the shooting rate was less than 50%, and the efficiency of the defensive end also declined, and he failed to lead the Tongxi team to the playoffs, and the "Abbas's Law" became invalid.
The following season, Abbas joined the North Control team, his shooting percentage was as low as 45.8%, a new low in his CBA career, and once again missed the playoffs, his CBA road became more and more difficult, and what made him completely disappear from the CBA was the benefactor Yao Ming who brought him to China - Yao Ming proposed to cancel the Asian foreign aid policy after becoming the president of the Basketball Association, although Abbas had pleaded with Yao Ming, but in the end this decision was implemented.
Due to the severe decline in Abbas's form and the cancellation of the Asian foreign aid policy, signing him would require a foreign aid slot, and no team was willing to do so, so the conscientious Asian foreign player disappeared from the CBA. If the Asian foreign aid policy has not been canceled, there are still many teams willing to sign him, he still has gas in the tank, and he does not occupy the foreign aid quota, which is very cost-effective, but unfortunately there is no if, it is Yao Ming's decision that ruined his CBA road.
However, he was still very grateful to Yao Ming in an interview later, and thanked Yao Ming for bringing him to the CBA and allowing him to have a wonderful experience, which was the most memorable time in his basketball career. Born in Palestine, he fled to Jordan because of the war, and he switched to basketball because of his outstanding height after playing football since he was a child, but the Jordanian basketball league has almost no sponsors, and the players' salaries are very low.
In this environment, Abbas and his brother continued to practice hard and later became professional footballers, earning a selection for the Jordanian national team for their outstanding performances. In the 2009 Asian Championships (later renamed the Asian Cup), Abbas helped the Jordanian men's basketball team finish third, allowing Jordan to qualify for the World Basketball Championship (later renamed the Basketball World Cup) for the first time.
When Abbas only got 1 point and 6 rebounds in his debut and was questioned as a parallel import, Yao Ming encouraged him: "It's okay, I didn't have a blank sheet in the first game of the NBA." ”
The owner's encouragement made Abbas cheer up, and then he played better and better, becoming the object of competition for many teams, Yao Ming not only gave him a sense of achievement, but also made him earn a lot more money than in the Jordan league, even if Yao Ming canceled the Asian foreign aid policy as a decision-maker, but he had no reason to hate Yao Ming, he was grateful to Yao Ming from the bottom of his heart, and always regarded Yao Ming as a benefactor.
Abbas's data is not explosive, the best season averaged 21 + 10 per game, mediocre in foreign aid, but his attitude to the game is very rare in foreign aid, he is willing to do dirty work, grab rebounds, defend, block and dismantle for teammates, etc., he can improve the cohesion of the team, can make the players around him better, this is the essence of "the other gets the playoffs", if there are more such foreign aids, it is a good thing for domestic players and the entire league.