China's young guns pick up the pace

Coach Djordjevic trusts in youth as Cup preparations gain momentum

China's national basketball program hopes an injection of youth can energize the squad ahead of the major challenges that await at this summer's FIBA World Cup.

Even with the domestic league season still in progress, the national program is wasting no time gearing up for this summer's World Cup, beginning with a nine-day mini training camp that put the league's finest young talents through their paces under the watchful eye of new coach Aleksandar Djordjevic.

The camp, which concluded on Tuesday in Qingdao, Shandong province, featured a 15-player roster of mostly new call-ups.

"The experience here was a real eye-opener for me in terms of what's required in the modern game of basketball at the highest international level," said 19-year-old guard Lin Wei of the Nanjing Monkey Kings during the camp's media day last week.

"I learned something new to improve my movement off the ball, offensive decision-making and defense drills," added Lin, who averaged 15.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3 assists in 39 games to finish as the top-scoring rookie in the 2022-23 CBA regular season.

"The coaching staff with the national team are really helpful. They were able to quickly detect my mistakes and teach me to focus more on the details, which can really make a big difference."

Named this season's rookie of the year, Guangdong Loong Lions forward Cui Yongxi returned to the national camp after making his international debut in two Asianzone World Cup qualifiers in February.

Already a versatile scorer on the wing with size and range, the 19-year-old Cui admitted the camp was challenging.

"Physically I was struggling a little bit to maintain the intensity of the practice sessions after just finishing the CBA league campaign," said Cui, who helped Guangzhou reach the second round of the playoffs last month for the first time in franchise history.

"I don't have any pressure, though, with the national team. Coach gave me a lot of tips on how to play offense with the ball on my hand and how to make plays for the rest of the team.

"My goal is to stay healthy and try my best to earn a spot on the final World Cup roster."

The quadrennial World Cup tips off in August and will offer Asian teams just one direct qualification berth to next year's Paris Olympics.

Finishing as the top team from the continent appears to be a tall task for coach Djordjevic. The former Serbian national team guard and coach has emphasized the importance of youth development, teamwork and national pride since being appointed in November.

"I'm trying to introduce our way of working to them because some of them are definitely the future of Chinese basketball," Djordjevic said of the players who took part in the mini camp.

"For every young player, it's important for them to be part of a group like this. It's also about how they understand their obligation once they step on the floor in a China uniform.

"Our job is to analyze everything and make a final selection at the end. But definitely these players deserve a call because they showed some qualities in the CBA season for their clubs."

Star center Zhou Qi, who played no league action this season due to his contract dispute with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, was the only established national team player at the camp.

The towering 2.17-meter center hailed the energy and passion his younger compatriots brought to the floor.

"Everyone was pretty excited and the energy levels were good, and that all makes for very good dynamics in the national program," said the 27-year-old former Houston Rockets player.

"Without official games to play, I've been keeping myself busy with strength conditioning and I will need the national team's summer training to get back in game shape for the World Cup," added Zhou, the only remnant from Team China's 2019 Cup roster at the camp.

The squad played two warmup games this week against Hong Kong Eastern, a team featuring five foreigners — the training camp team dropped the first game 67-73 before winning 77-56 on Tuesday.

Cui and Li Tianrong (Shanghai Sharks) stood out in the first and second games respectively, each scoring 12 points to lead the training camp team in offense.

Drawn with Serbia, Puerto Rico and South Sudan in Group B at the World Cup, which will be jointly held by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, Team China opens its round-robin campaign against Djordjevic's native country on Aug 26 in Manila.

Djordjevic, who coached Serbia to silver medals at the 2014 World Cup in Spain and 2016 Olympics in Brazil, said he expects nothing but an all-out fight against his home nation.

"It's my honor to lead Team China in the game against Serbia, and there are going to be a lot of emotions. But once the game starts, I will hold the emotions and just play hard," said Djordjevic, who was a formidable guard on the Yugoslavia team that finished runner-up at the 1996 Olympics and won the 1998 world championships before the country's breakup.

"My philosophy is always that I never say to someone that he's better (before the game). Your opponent must prove it on the floor.

"We respect our opponents. We are going to work hard and prepare as best we can."

Asked how China could contain Serbia's main weapon, Nikola Jokic, a two-time NBA MVP and a former protege of Djordjevic's, the coach simply replied: "Togetherness."

China's backbone Zhou is expected to be tasked with curtailing the Denver Nuggets star in the paint, and vowed to do his best.

"He is an all-around player with NBA All-Star caliber," said Zhou. "I will study his games in the NBA and at previous international tournaments and try to do whatever I can to minimize his contribution."