Despite the efforts of new star Chen Jianghua and veterans Liu Wei and Sun Yue , China's men's basketball team is still struggling to find a point guard who can support Yao Ming during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The Houston Rockets prepare before the game at the Toyota Center April 16, 2007 in Houston, Texas. [AP]
Chinese basketball has a problem. With stellar big men in Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian and solid outside shooters like Zhu Fangyu, the team would be an international force if only it could get them the ball.
Incumbent1 point guards Liu Wei and Sun Yue have consistently struggled at the TOP level, and youngster Chen Jianghua is failing to live up to expectations.
Faced with this scenario2 and the pressure to secure a medal at the Beijing Olympics next year, head coach Jonas Kazlauskas has been forced to think laterally3.
His solution? Everybody will pass the ball.
I am not a magician, I cannot make China a World Champion in a second. I need good players and competition, the Lithuanian told China Daily.
I cannot say who has been selected to pass to Yao because everybody will pass the ball to him at the Olympics. We play team basketball and everybody is important in offense4, not only the guards. Zhu Fangyu can pass, Du Feng can pass, everybody will be in the rotation5 to assist Yao.
In China's lop-sided 95-64 loss to Greece at the World Championships last August, Liu and Sun failed to give even a single assist to Yao while Chen managed just one all game.
I really worry about our point guards, he said. Now we have excellent big men like Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian. They are able to play against all the inside players in the world.
We have some pretty good forwards, I see they are improving day by day. But our guards have a lot of trouble, their defense6 is weak and offense is somehow error-prone. So I have been thinking about how to solve this problem.
I am sure we need more point guards coming through. I am looking for more guards, and I think there will be a competitive challenge for them in the team. Anyway, the door of national team is always open to talented point guards.
The current point guards are feeling the pressure.
I know fans and the media are expecting China's Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. Of course they are great players and are able to lift their teams to the level the fans want to see, Liu, who averaged 22.3 points and 5.9 assists for Shanghai Sharks last seaon, told China Daily. But the problem is that Kidd plays for the Nets and Nash is Canadian.
We have to build the team on our own foundations, we can't pick and choose.
Liu started in Shanghai at the same time as Yao, but continually frustrates7 fans and coaches by committing too many turnovers8. Sun plays for Beijing Aoshan in the American Basketball Association, and is favored by Kazlauskas for his size and ability to move the ball. But his lack of strength has limited his effectiveness against TOP teams
