On the evening of October 3, the Guangdong team finally announced their third foreign player (big foreign aid), a player familiar to CBA fans and a 36-year-old veteran, Troy Gillenwater, who played for the Shandong high-speed men's basketball team last season. Although the statistics of the Shandong team last season were good, he and Shayok, the two "super foreign aids", failed to bring the Shandong team into the playoffs, so many fans still have reservations about him, and are not optimistic that he can help the Guangdong team regain its glory, or lead the Guangdong team to the finals or championships.
Recently, the head coach of the Guangdong team, Du Feng, mentioned Gillenwater in an interview, and he clearly told the relevant sports media and fans that the current state of the Guangdong team is to need a player who can defend and protect the frame to make up for the vacancy after Zhou Qi left, although the Guangdong team got Wang Shaojie and foreign aid Beazley this summer, but they are not pure No. 5 players, not only highly limited in the confrontation and scoring There is also a certain lack of strength, and the arrival of Gillenwater can make up for the lack of this aspect. At the same time, Gillenwater has many years of experience in CBA games, and has a clear understanding of CBA rules, confrontation intensity and referees' blowing scales, he can quickly integrate into the team, and can lead and help young players grow (Xu Xin, Huang Mingyi, etc.), this last point is the most important.
Gillenwater was born in United States in 1988, 2.04 meters tall, weighs 110 kilograms, plays as a power forward, and is also not a pure No. 5 player, compared with Moreland, the triple crown hero of the Liaoning team, there is a certain gap in defense and confrontation, but his offensive scoring means are diverse, much better than Moreland. Gillenwater has played in both Japan and Korea leagues, and when he first came to China, he first joined the Shaanxi Xinda team in the NBL league, and helped the Shaanxi Xinda team win the NBL league championship twice, and he himself won the second consecutive MVP of the finals, which is enough. Therefore, he was favored by the CBA Shandong High-speed Men's Basketball Team, and joined the Shandong High-speed Men's Basketball Team in 2021 until Qiu Biao became the head coach of the Shandong High-speed Men's Basketball Team this summer, and he was abandoned by the Shandong High-speed Men's Basketball Team along with Shayok.
Last season, Gillenwater played in 45 regular season games for the Shandong High-speed men's basketball team, averaging 23.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 23.4 minutes per game, shooting 51.2% from the field and 35.5% from three-point range. Generally speaking, his level is above the average level of big foreign aids, and he may not be as good as top big foreign players like Sallinger, but they are not bad, and the "price" will be relatively cheap. Of course, judging from the recent performance of the two foreign aides of the Guangdong team and the news revealed by Zhu Fangyu, the Guangdong team will have the fourth foreign aid in the future, of course, Barton did not play well in a few games in the preseason, and his performance was not stable enough, and he may also be replaced by the team in the future.
This summer, the Guangdong team first gave up the right of first refusal of all three foreign aids, and then Zhou Qi left, which had a great impact on the team's interior offense and defense. In the preseason, Wang Shaojie's performance in a few games can only be regarded as average, and the Guangdong team still needs a tough big foreign aid in the No. 5 position, Wang Shaojie can play a greater role in the No. 4 position, including good statistical performance, and Beazley, a big foreign aid who averaged 21.3 points, 12.8 points and 3.7 blocks per game in the preseason, is also a No. 4 player. In addition, Huang Rongqi's performance is also good, and he will relieve the pressure on Xu Jie and Hu Mingxuan to a large extent in the new season.
The starters of the Guangdong team in the new season should be Hu Mingxuan, Xu Jie, Wang Shaojie, Beazley and Gillenwater, Huang Rongqi, Du Runwang, Xu Xin, Ren Junfei, Huang Mingyi, Zhang Haojia and Barton are the main rotations. In the fourth quarter, Gillenwater was replaced by a single foreign aid, and Xu Xin, Huang Mingyi or experienced veteran Ren Junfei were replaced on the inside, and Beazley needed to be kept at the critical moment.