Powerhouse China quiet on hoops front

MANILA, Philippines — While media has been in a frenzy over Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jordan Clarkson’s arrival to play for the Philippines, there is no hype surrounding China’s preparations for its basketball debut against Gilas tomorrow at the Indonesia Asian Games.

POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio, who spoke with NBA legend Yao Ming during the Philippines’ 96-59 win over Kazakhstan last Thursday, said mum’s the word in the Chinese camp. “Very quiet,” said Gregorio. “Yao was in the VIP box watching our game against Kazakhstan at the start then when we started to pull away in the third quarter, he got up from his seat and went over to the upper box level to confer with the Chinese scouts. It was also in the third quarter when Jordan arrived straight from the airport. Are they concerned? Maybe.”

Gregorio said before the game, he walked up to Yao and thanked him for supporting Clarkson’s inclusion in the Gilas lineup. It was rumored that before clearing Clarkson, the NBA went through FIBA and Yao who is the Chinese Basketball Association chairman and a FIBA Central Board member. If the NBA thumbed down Clarkson, it would’ve been difficult to justify NBA players Zhou Qi and Ding Yanyuhang in the Chinese lineup.

“I’m not sure if Yao understood what I thanked him for,” said Gregorio. “All he told me was yes, yes. My handshake was more a gesture of respect, goodwill and friendship.”

There’s no telling how Gilas coach Yeng Guiao will tweak his system to work in Clarkson. Although the Philippines will not enjoy the benefit of scouting China before they battletomorrow, the Chinese are also in a quandary as to how Gilas will play with Clarkson. Only three teams are in Group D with the Philippines, China and Kazakhstan vying for two tickets to advance to the quarterfinals. The winner of tomorrow’s encounter will meet the Group A runner-up, likely to be Thailand, in the knockout quarterfinals on Aug. 27. The loser will face the Group A topnotcher, South Korea who’s bannered by naturalized player and former PBA import Ricardo Ratliffe.

Gilas assistant coach and chief scout Ryan Gregorio has been busy taking down notes on each Chinese player, watching videos of their previous games to track tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. Of the 12 players in China’s roster, 10 saw action in the first three windows of the 2019 FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers. Only 7-2 Zhou and 6-1 back-up point guard Tian Yuxiang didn’t suit up in the Qualifiers where China rotated 30 players from its national pool. China posted a 3-3 record in six contests, losing to New Zealand twice and South Korea once. 

Ding, a 6-7 forward who was recently signed by the Dallas Mavericks, played only two games in the Qualifiers and showed his mastery by scoring 30 points in China’s 92-81 win over South Korea in the first window. Rising star 6-8 Abudushalamu Abudurexiti, 22, averaged 15.8 points and eight rebounds in four games in the Qualifiers. Abudushalamu played for the Golden State Warriors in two NBA summer leagues last July and is from the Uygur autonomous region of Xinjiang which borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajiksitan, Afghanistan, India and Tibet in northwest China. Other Chinese standouts are the Memphis Grizzlies’ 2016 second round draft pick 7-0 Wang Zhelin, 6-4 Liu Zhixuan, 6-2 Sun Mingui and 6-4 Zhao Rui. In the Qualifiers win over South Korea, Wang had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Sun hit 21 and Abudushalamu tallied 15.