Chinanews Client Beijing, September 9th (Xingchen Liu) "In the new season, I will seize the opportunity to strengthen my strength, exercise myself in all directions, and strive to gain experience and progress in the NBL league." Everything is settled, Zhou Qi recently announced that the new season will join the NBL South East Melbourne Phoenix team.
On the day before Zhou Qi announced his joining, Liu Chuanxing from Qingdao also announced that he would join the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL league in the new season.
If nothing else, the long-lost basketball "Chinese Derby" will appear in the Australian arena next season.
Image source: Screenshot of Zhou Qi's Weibo.
With the two Chinese players joining one after another, everyone turned their attention to Australia in the southern hemisphere.
Questions also follow, what is the NBL, what is the level of the NBL league...
Has more than 40 years of history, focusing on confrontation
The full name of the NBL league is the Australian National Basketball League, which is Australia's top professional basketball tournament.
The NBL league, established in 1979, has a history of 42 years.
Unlike the NBA and CBA, the number of participating teams in the NBL league is currently 10.
The Southeast Melbourne Phoenix team joined by Zhou Qi only joined the league in the 2019-20 season, but after only two seasons, they reached the playoffs last season with a record of 19 wins and 17 losses.
The Brisbane Bullets joined by Liu Chuanxing also scored 18 wins and 18 losses in the regular season.
Image source: Screenshot of Liu Chuanxing's Weibo.
Like other ball games in Australia, the emphasis on confrontation and defense is the biggest feature of the NBL league.
Looking at past game data, it is not easy for teams in the NBL league to score more than 100 points in a confrontation, and it is commonplace to press on the whole court. This also reflects a major style of the league from the side.
How to adapt to the more intense physical confrontation as soon as possible will become a problem that Zhou Qi and Liu Chuanxing need to solve.
The origin of NBL and Chinese basketball
If we pursue the intersection of the NBL league and Chinese basketball, we have to start after the Atlanta Olympics.
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the Chinese men's basketball team broke through from the "death group" and reached the quarterfinals.
Zheng Wu averaged 7.6 points per game, and his outstanding performances against Angola and Argentina have attracted the attention of the outside world.
Since then, Zheng Wu received an invitation from the NBL League.
However, due to various reasons, it was not until 2003 that he crossed the ocean to complete the signing with the Melbourne Tigers.
Although there are not many opportunities to play, Zheng Wu has written the first in the history of a Chinese player in Australia.
Data map: The picture shows Yao Ming awarding Liu Wei.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Hengwei
After that, former men's basketball player Liu Wei once represented the world star team in the NBL All-Star Game. He scored 8 points and 3 rebounds off the bench in 22 minutes.
And closer to landing in the NBL league is the young point guard Liu Xiaoyu who was still in the Guangdong team at the time.
The Guangdong team and the Sydney Kings reached a two-season cooperation. However, Liu Xiaoyu, who had arrived in Sydney, was suddenly diagnosed with fatigue and bone damage and had to return to China to recuperate.
From the 16-year-old Sun Hefeng to the National Youth Player Liu Bo, to the Shanghai team’s Wang Tong and Yan Peng, before Liu Chuanxing and Zhou Qi joined this time, Chinese players have appeared in the Australian Basketball League.
Data map: On the evening of September 5th, the Chinese men's basketball team was training at the Guangzhou Gymnasium.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
In addition to the Chinese players in Australia, there is no shortage of records in the Chinese men's basketball team and the NBL league teams.
In 2017, when the Chinese men's basketball blue team, which had an uneven lineup, went to Australia for training, they played against Melbourne United and Brisbane Bullets in the NBL league twice, losing 94:104 and 83:89 respectively.
In 2019, when the Chinese men's basketball team was preparing for the World Cup, it played 3 games with the NBL alliance composed of the elite teams of the league. The final 2 wins and 1 loss, the total score difference between the two sides was only 3 points in the 3 games.
One of the springboards to the NBA
At the end of the Tokyo Olympics, the Australian men's basketball team led by Rick Doncic won a precious bronze medal for the Slovenia team.
In the final 12-man squad selected, 4 people are playing in the NBL league.
"NBL is the best springboard for players trying to land in the NBA." This is what Australian center Jock Langdale said about the NBL league.
Langdale was drafted in the 2018 NBA. In the 2020-21 season, he played for the Melbourne United team in the Australian NBL league, averaging 16.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
In the finals, he led his team to swept his opponents to win the championship and won the FMVP.
On August 4, 2021, he has been seeking NBA development and reached a two-year contract with the Spurs.
Show your skills in the NBL and then land on the NBA stage. This story has been frequently staged in the Australian League in recent years.
The picture shows fireworks off the stadium to celebrate the Bucks' 2020-21 NBA championship.
In 2019, "three goals" Ramelo Ball joined the NBL League Ilanova Eagles.
In the victory over the Keynes Vipers, he scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, becoming the youngest player in NBL history to reach a triple-double.
That season, he was named the best rookie in the NBL league.
It is precisely in the outstanding performance of the Australian League that in the 2020 NBA Draft, Lamelo Ball was selected by the Charlotte Hornets as a prospective player.
Elected to the NBA All-Rookie of the 2020-21 season and selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, the "three-goal" NBA career began.
From RJ Hampton, a five-star high school student in the United States to this year's NBA No. 6 show Josh Gidi, more and more players choose to go to Australia and open the door to the NBA by participating in the NBL.
Data map: On August 25, the Chinese men's basketball team warmed up at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, and Zhou Qi trained on the court.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Chang
The successful entry of young players into the NBA through the Australian League is in line with the "Star of Tomorrow" program launched by the NBL.
The league provides various preferential policies to support all players, so as to attract young talents from various countries to play in the NBL league.
It is worth mentioning that Zhou Qi and Liu Chuanxing joined as Special Restricted Players (SRP) for Asian players. In order to open up markets outside Australia and New Zealand, NBL encourages teams to sign contracts with China, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, India, and South Korea. , Singapore and Japanese players, the salary of these players will not be added to the salary cap, and the salary package is close to that of Australian native players.
What are the prospects of Zhou Qi and Liu Chuanxing
Compared with the previous history of Chinese players in Australia, this time the joining of Zhou Qi and Liu Chuanxing is obviously more important.
For tall insiders, the Australian League is indeed a good choice.
Liu Chuanxing, who is 2.25 meters tall, joined this time and broke the previous record set by Sam Harris and became the tallest player in NBL history.
Under the control of the Brisbane Bullets' many outside players, he is able to play a greater role in the team with an advantage in height.
Data map: On the evening of September 8, Chinese team player Zhou Qi (left) defended the Nigerian player Aminu (middle) for a layup during the game.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
As for Zhou Qi's new army Southeast Melbourne Phoenix team, the team's interior line is currently relatively empty due to the injury of the interior center Zach Hankins.
In the NBL arena where the number of rounds is small and the tall insiders dominate, Zhou Qi, who has shown good abilities on both offensive and defensive ends, will undoubtedly become the inside core of the new team.
And if you can launch an impact on the NBL League best team, Zhou Qi once again touched the NBA threshold is not a fantasy.
Once, the "Chinese Derby" in the international arena was a fond memory of Chinese basketball by Chinese fans.
This time, this scene will happen again when the two big players wear their team shirts and meet in overseas leagues.
When domestic players hit the highest stage of professional basketball like the NBA and encounter a bottleneck, they might as well seize the opportunity of the NBL league.
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