The CBA has been playing for two weeks, the stage for the first phase of the season has almost been handed over to the local players, and we have seen that the strong teams still maintain the competitive level, and many new talents are breaking ground. Starting from this issue, Yang Kan will launch a "CBA Observation" column based on on-field performance to more truly analyze the current situation of our own league.
The CBA has played 6 games in the new season, and the first stage is about to pass the halfway point, and the quality of each team has basically emerged. Among the teams that fans pay attention to, Shanghai is currently 4 wins and 2 losses, ranking 8th in the entire CBA league.
Judging from the record, it is still passable. Winning four games, facing opponents who are not too strong, is easier to win. However, when they met head-on with the two strong players Beijing and Guangdong, this Shanghai team still showed many problems, facing a strong team with the league's top defense, Shanghai team spent a lot of money to introduce the league MVP Wang Zhelin, the performance is still quite weak.
Looking back at the past two years, after Jiushi Group took over, the Shanghai team has made the biggest move in the whole league for two consecutive years: in the 2020 offseason, the Shanghai team introduced Kolan Baike, Liu Zheng, Zong Zan, and signed Guo Haowen in the middle of the season; in the 2021 offseason, in addition to adding the main players of the year such as Ren Junwei and Yuan Tangwen, Shanghai's biggest hand was a shocking deal with Fujian team, and they sent out the 2020 ZhuangyuanXiu District Junxuan and "part of the cash". Wang Zhelin, one of the top players in the CBA and one of the main players in the national team. Since then, fans' expectations of them have reached their highest point, although last season's regular season 22 wins and 30 losses only ranked 14th, but this season with the Shanghai team's paper lineup, they are regarded as the inevitable favorite to compete for the title.
But facing the touchstone of the CBA League, Guangdong Beijing, Wang Zhelin, who the Shanghai team spent thousands of dollars to win, was not so good.
In the first six games, Wang Zhelin averaged 20.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, both of which ranked in the league's top ten, in addition to the league's second 2.5 blocks, 52.9% shooting rate is also in line with his career average. But since it is already MVP level, the basic data can only be used as a reference, and the criteria for determining whether a player is an ordinary star or a superstar must be evaluated when he fights a hard battle with a strong team.
In the fourth round of the league, Shanghai team against Guangdong team, the final score is Shanghai team lost 15 points 97 to 112. Facing the Guangdong team without Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhelin did not get a bargain under the repeated care of Su Wei and Zeng Fanri. He played 30.5 minutes, 4 of 12 from the field, and only had 12 points and 7 rebounds, while the two centers on the opposite side played 34 minutes combined, shooting 6 of 7, for a total of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
This is obviously not fair, but as a league MVP level star, the shooting rate of 4 out of 12 shots is obviously unqualified, in other words, Guangdong team successfully defended Wang Zhelin, and the game was successfully won.
One game may not explain the whole story, but the details of the game can see the huge crux of the Shanghai team at this time, Wang Zhelin only scored 2 points in the fourth quarter on 5 shots, we can take a closer look at the choice of these 5 rounds.
First goal:
Attacking low, facing Zeng Fanri's defense, Wang Zhelin turned around and hooked his hand, did not stand in a stable position, and the hook hand was deflected.
Second goal:
Wang Zhelin took the ball high, faced Su Wei's frontal defense and Xu Jie's interference, and shot and hit before the end of the 24 seconds.
Third goal:
Wang Zhelin faced low-intensity interference in the same position, shot from mid-range, and did not hit.
Fourth goal:
Liu Zheng missed three points, Wang Zhelin grabbed the rebound in the front court, facing Zhou Peng, who had been busy with the day and the defense, and the strength failed.
Fifth goal:
Wang Zhelin attacked with the ball head-on, was blocked by Zeng Fanri, and walked after taking back the ball.
Just after this round, Wang Zhelin fouled Hu Mingxuan, was blown for corporal fouls, two penalties and one throw, and then Wang Zhelin was replaced, the point difference reached 17 points, and the game completely lost suspense.
This ball may not be a malicious retaliation, but Wang Zhelin's disappointment and frustration can be clearly felt. In many international competitions and even in the NBA playoffs and finals, there will be such a situation where the team leader who is behind the score will apply for an unnecessary foul, but as the star and team captain, this behavior is very irrational and cannot be advocated.
Judging only by the 5 offensive rounds in the fourth quarter of the game, the Shanghai team tried to find Wang Zhelin to launch an attack, but the effect was very average. Whether it is attacking at a low post or advancing with the ball at a high position, Wang Zhelin's techniques and tactics have been cracked by the opponent's key points, and he has not shown a reading and decomposition of the game.
In fact, the second goal, although hit, was also an unsuccessful low-post drop, and the defender attacked again. Wang Zhelin did not make a suitable cover for the defender, and in the end he could only force a shot to score where the opponent's defensive arrangement was completely in place, and in the next round, when Wang Zhelin took advantage of the hot hand and wanted to have another one, the ball did not have any interaction with his teammates.
From the fourth quarter, the Shanghai team trailed by 8 points, and by the time Wang Zhelin came off, the trail reached 17 points. It can be said that the Guangdong team has played a very successful effect on Wang Zhelin's targeted defense, at the same time, Wang Zhelin, as the top inside player in the entire CBA, has failed to show the dominance and flexibility of the offensive end, and all his skills are within the control of the other side.
This also seems to be a portrayal of Wang Zhelin's inability to show the power of the league in the national team: in the five major competitions for the national team, Wang Zhelin only averaged more than 10 points per game in the 2013 Asian Cup and the 2017 World Cup qualification tournament. He has enough skill in the low position, and the outside line also has a certain shooting ability, but he does not combine the technology of the inside and outside lines, and when he starts to start the attack, the speed that is not fast enough is easy to face the quotation and attack interference of the second defender, and Wang Zhelin at this time is easy to reflect his anxiety and urgency.
In this case, the lack of one-handed passing technology has led to Wang Zhelin always being able to only be used as a low-level killer, but it is difficult to become the offensive axis of a strong team.
Throughout his career, Wang Zhelin has averaged less than 2 assists per game and only 7 in 6 games this season. In the face of the pinch, Wang Zhelin neither has the lethality of one against two, nor does he have enough vision and passing techniques to find his teammates in the empty position. Whether it is in the previous Fujian team or the newly joined Shanghai team, the team only thinks about how to let Wang Zhelin come to a comfortable position, how to pass the ball to him comfortably, but it does not try to let Wang Zhelin use as the main axis to drive the entire team to run, so that the attack is often stagnant, and the Role Players are obviously superior to other teams in the league, Shanghai Team, can not transform this advantage.
At the same time, whether it is because Wang Zhelin and his new teammates have not yet formed a tacit understanding, or because Wang Zhelin's own defensive habits are not good enough, the communication between him and his teammates at the defensive end is not smooth, which is also the reason why the Shanghai team often opens the door of the defensive line, resulting in the opponent's easy basket scoring.
In 2019, when Wang Zhelin was elected the MVP of the CBA regular season, although there were objective reasons for voting tendencies, Wang Zhelin led the Fujian team to play the seventh place in the regular season, and his performance of averaging 24.7 points and 13.9 rebounds per game was worthy of this MVP trophy. More importantly, Wang Zhelin's skills have improved significantly this season: during the march, the ability to adjust the end after receiving assists from teammates, the ability to adjust from the middle and long distance, combined with his own excellent low-post skills, makes him one of the best big men on the offensive end of the entire CBA. It is no exaggeration to say that if you can focus on improving the speed of dribbling and passing ability at the level of the time. Wang Zhelin is likely to test the waters of the NBA at the peak, to the rebuilding period of the Grizzlies to get a two-way contract or even a basic salary contract.
But compared with the peak season, Wang Zhelin's progress has stagnated. Seriously speaking, Wang Zhelin's current skills are enough to get a two-way contract in the NBA, but now both sides have no motivation: the bottom players in the NBA have extreme desire to appear, and the desire to win and enthusiasm have always been the bottleneck that hinders Wang Zhelin from going further. Basketball player Jerin, still the same technical moves as before, spinning, jumping, I closed my eyes...
In fact, the original Shanghai team and Wang Zhelin did not have to work so hard, they have the most luxurious domestic main force and rotation players in the entire CBA, as well as the most versatile and hardest foreign aid Franklin in the CBA. The Shanghai team does not need to hand over every ball to Wang Zhelin to initiate, he is only an attack point, but it cannot be used as the main axis of attack for the time being, and when the ball is handed over to him, this round can be regarded as over.
Giving the ball back to the backcourt players, then, may not be a bad option. Luo Hanchen and Yuan Tangwen's ability to control the game has passed the test, and Guo Haowen has also scored 28 consecutive strong attacks against Guangdong; not to mention franklin, the most comprehensive ball carrier, and Fredette, an old friend of the Shanghai team who is coming to the next stage. Since he can't do addition on Wang Zhelin, it is better to reduce his burden and let him be a high-level auxiliary scorer.
A more appropriate analogy may be the NBA Bulls' Vucevic, and the two men's style of play also have similarities. In the new season, the Bulls have enough players to play, Vucevic's stats have been sacrificed, he will spend more time to do no-ball cover and high-level strategy, and when the team needs him, he can still provide a stable single with the ball, and the current Bulls, the team atmosphere and record are all the way to the good.
For Wang Zhelin, he needs to make himself a more comprehensive player, and should try to make up for all the shortcomings that hinder him from becoming the first internal line. Instead of continuing to fall into each other's traps and squandering great opportunities in a competitive way. Fortunately, after this game, the Shanghai team also made obvious adjustments. Let Franklin take over the ball and control the rhythm of the game. In the game against Jiangsu, Franklin scored a triple-double of 15+15+15, while Wang Zhelin had 19 points and 9 rebounds, and also delivered a surprising 5 blocks.
Basketball, competitive sports, were never card games. It is not to catch a good card to dominate the world, and to use the paper lineup to point out the country to analyze the explosion, can only pass the fans' addiction, but it is not helpful to really control a team. Usually, chemistry is a more important link, and for the famous coach Li Chunjiang, he still needs to solve the problem of putting the right puzzle in the right place. A group of excellent mercenaries is not enough to become a good and winning division, and the Shanghai team is busy making Wang Zhelin and Kelan the main and vice captains, but they do not consider more run-in, trust and acceptance between teammates, maybe they really think simple.
There may be another doubt.
In the Three-Body Problem, Ye Wenjie was asked a question: Why do you think that a society with higher scientific and technological standards must have higher civilization and moral standards?
So, why do you think that a star with better skills must have higher self-discipline and desire to win?
Author of this article: @文若思