Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Today's Featured Team: China

China is currently ranked 11th by FIBA. If there is a such thing as a basketball powerhouse in Asia, China is definitely it. China has won 14 of the last 16 FIBA Asian Championships. However, they have never medaled in the Olympics. I think head coach Jonas Kazlauskas has done a great job of getting the most out of his players. They aren't a very talented team, excluding Yao Ming(Houston Rockets) and Yi Jianlian(Milwaukee Bucks). I haven't had the chance to see them play this year. However, the last time I saw them in action, I was amazed to see how limited Yao's touches were. You would think that he'd be the focal point of the offense and maybe he is. But, I know when I saw them play, his touches were limited and their guards seemed to have a lot of freedom offensively. Anyways, they have a tremendous upside because it seems every time you turn around they are producing a talented young, and of course tall, athlete. China has as automatic birth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics because they are the host nation. One final note, in the 2004 Olympics they finished in 8th place.

1 comment:

John said...

Sorry if I'm going to biased on this team but I'm not sure are they good enough for a medal contention.

From what I see, the overall on other team are far more superior than China.

The only thing they have that others don't is vocal home crowd.