China's Basketball in 2018: making the ordinary extraordinary
According to the CBA company, there were nine extra-time matches and 37 matches with a score difference of less than five points in the first 149 matches of the new season. The increase in the number of games and their growing intensity has forced teams to send more young players to play, meaning youth training has become an important new focus. At the same time, the number of playoff teams has increased from 10 to 12, with teams ranking from 5-12 playing additional matches for a final eight berth in the playoffs, which means more dividends from the league, sponsors' input, fans' sense of belonging, and a greater incentive for the long-term development of the clubs.
The CBA company is continuing to explore ways of improving the accuracy of referees, the promotion of technical methods and the cultivation of the league's culture. Brand new logos have been designed for each club, while the seven teams to have won CBA championships will receive exclusive championship jerseys and newly-designed championship rings, designed to improve the sense of belonging and honor for all groups participating in the league.
"I hope that after ten years, Chinese basketball teams at the top level, both men and women, can surpass the achievements created by their predecessors. At the grassroots level, all our fans will have their own domestic home teams, whether they are professional teams, university teams or even community basketball teams," said Yao Ming, whose comments are especially pertinent given the success of China's 3x3 teams at the Asian Games.
More important than the gold medals themselves is the fact that both men and women's 3x3 national team members represent the grassroots that Yao spoke of. They were selected from 33,000 amateur players across 8,500 teams in a competition called "I Want to Play at the Olympic Games".
China's basketball fans in both rural and urban areas can now see a path from the grassroots level straight to the national team, thanks to the tournament created by the CBA. In 2018, China's basketball 3x3 national teams consisted solely of amateur players participating in six international tournaments, including the Asian Games and the World Cup. Early this year, 17-year-old Wang Yunzhang was still practicing shooting on the court of Mianyang Middle School in Sichuan Province. But by the autumn, he had stepped on the stage under the famous obelisk in Buenos Aires, Argentina, holding China's national flag in his hand as the delegation's flag bearer at the Youth Olympic Games.
