The center is a team's inner defensive barrier and rebounding guardian, and plays a pivotal role in both attack and defense. Chinese basketball has always been rich in excellent interior players, and five of the six Chinese players who have entered the NBA development of the highest level of basketball in the world are big inside players. However, in recent years, the Chinese men's basketball team, which is in the alternation period of the new and the old, is somewhat stretched on the inside line, and only the mature Yi Jianlian is alone in the inner line. In the 16 Rio Olympic Games, the Chinese men's basketball team lost five consecutive games in the group stage, the only player to take the shot is Yi Jianlian, he averaged 32.8 minutes per game, contributed 20.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, one person carried the entire Chinese team, with the excellent performance of the Olympic Games, the UAE Also got the opportunity to enter the NBA again to sign a contract with the Lakers. Compared with the current Lack of internal center talent in the Chinese men's basketball team, there are many excellent centers in history, let's take a look at the five major centers in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team.
Fifth place Shan Tao
Shan Tao, born in 1970, is 216cm tall and plays as a center forward. At the age of 19, he was first selected for the Chinese men's basketball national team, as the main center of the 94 golden generation of the Chinese men's basketball team, the physically strong Shan Tao has excellent hooking skills and stable shooting, strong defensive ability under the basket, and excellent rebounding awareness in the backcourt. At the 12th World Men's Basketball Championship in 1994, Shan Tao, as the team's main center, helped The Chinese team reach the top eight for the first time in the world, and then led the Chinese team to the top eight in the world with his teammates at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. At the Hiroshima Asian Games in the same year, Shan Tao led the Chinese team to win the championship and sit firmly in the position of the first center in Asia.
Fourth place Battle
Battle, one of the three "great mobile walls" in China. In 1986, at the age of 11, Battle joined the Beijing Shougang Youth Team to begin formal basketball training, and in 1993, he was selected for the national team for the first time and won the Asian Championship championship. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Battle went out again to help the Chinese team enter the top eight of the world. Battle joined the NBA Nuggets in 2001-02, starting the second NBA game of his career, the first Chinese player to start in the NBA, and won the championship with the Spurs in the second season. Later, Battle was cut after several teams did not play at the desired level. Battelle, who returned to the CBA, still had a good performance, averaging a double-double of 28.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game for Beijing in the 04-05 season.
Third place Mu Tiezhu
Mu Tiezhu, born in 1949, is one of the most famous basketball players in China in the 1970s and 1980s. With a height of 228cm and a strong body, Mu Tiezhu is a giant under the basket, and once scored 80 points on the spot in a professional game with Suzhou, setting a record for the highest single-game scoring in the history of Chinese basketball. In 1978, Mu Tiezhu competed in international competitions with the national team for the first time, and performed well at the Asian Games, winning the first Asian Games championship. In 1981, Mu Tiezhu won the first World Club Championship in Asia for the Bayi team. Mu Tiezhu once led the Bayi team to defeat the American Collegiate Team twice and was selected as the 50 best basketball players in new China.
The second is Wang Zhizhi
Wang Zhizhi, one of China's three "mobile Great Walls", was selected for the national team at the age of 17, and is the youngest player in the history of the Chinese men's basketball national team. With a 214m center height and flexible interior footwork, Dazhi is also very accurate in his mid- and long-range shots. In 1995, he represented the Chinese youth team in the World Youth Championship, and Wang Zhizhi ranked second in the overall score and rebounds of the entire series, ranked first in the total blocks, was named the best center, and was selected as the best team in the World Youth Championship. In 1996, when He participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, he gave David Robinson of the American Dream Team a big hat to show the world the talent he possessed. In 2001, Daiki joined the NBA Mavericks and had a steady playing time in the following season, and Daiji was also the first Asian player to officially land in the NBA. In 2016, the former wind-chasing teenager officially held a retirement ceremony, and Dazhi was also named one of the top 50 outstanding figures in Chinese basketball.
First Place Yao Ming
Yao Ming, the greatest player in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team, is currently the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association and the chairman of CBA. Yao Ming began his career in 1998 when he was first selected for the national team, and his contributions to Chinese basketball and even the entire Chinese sports world are innumerable. In the player period, he led the Chinese team to enter the top eight in the world at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games respectively, creating one of the most brilliant periods in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team. Yao Ming was selected by the NBA Rockets in 2002 and is the first NBA foreign champion so far. Yao Ming was named to the All-Star Team 8 times in his 9-year NBA career. In 2011, Yao Ming retired due to injury due to long-term participation in the national team and intensive NBA competitions, but in 16 years he was inducted into the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame, which represented the highest honor. Although Yao Ming has retired, the development he brought to Chinese basketball continues, and I believe that under the leadership of Chairman Yao in the future, the Chinese men's basketball team can achieve good results again.
After watching the five major centers in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team, unfortunately, none of the active players have been selected, and now the Chinese men's basketball team needs to cultivate more players to take over the inner line of the Chinese men's basketball team in addition to serving as a center forward or yi Jianlian in front of the big front, whether it is Zhou Qi, who has entered the NBA, or Hu Jinqiu and Wang Zhelin, who have performed well in the past two seasons, their road is still very long, and there is still a long distance from the great predecessors in history, hoping that in the future they can continue to learn and progress. Continuous development is comparable to or even surpass the achievements created by the predecessors in the inner line.
Text/Yan Xiaobai