Gotham2krazy

What should be their starting lineup? I know they've only played in like 2 games and the 2 people really carrying this team are really just Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming. So who should really start for Team China? With my slight knowledge and the statistics provided on the FIBA website I'd have to go with a lineup of:

1: Sun Yue
2: Chen Jianghua
3: Du Feng
4: Yi Jianlian
5: Yao Ming

I'd have to say this would be a good starting lineup, whether or not it may actually be I do not know. But, from what I've seen this would the best even though you've got a mixmatch at the guard spots with the shorter playing shooting and the taller playing point. But this may be beneficiary to China as it gives them a tall and long point guard who can dish, handle well (having tallied 0 TO's in the two games China has played), and see over opponents.
As for the Shooting guard, I'd put Chen there as he is exceptionally well at penetrating and while you could've put another guard here as well such as Liu Wei, I'm taking the lesser of two evils: T.O. commitments.

See in this tournament, I think China has probably the highest TO per game at the moment standing at a high and mighty 19, while other teams accumulate much less the best of each group average from anywhere between 9-13. So ball handling capability is a MUST for Team China since TO's mean not capitalizing on possessions and if they had committed a 6-7 less that could've possibly helped the Team win. Unless if you are Argentina, but that's a different group, Argentina can commit those mistakes as long as the team you're playing with can't compete as well as you. Unfortunately, they play in the same group as USA, so they're always going to get ****.

But back on topic, next we have the forward position, which I would use Du Feng in because this kid is daggers from outside, even though he's only taken 8 shots and hasn't scored as many points as Wang Shipeng, Feng played more consistently and worked well with the minutes he received. Plus, if you play all of your good scorers at once, what bench will you have? But also, it came down to T.O.'s once again, Shipeng averages 4.5, even if you play guard, that just means you suck at ballhandling so work on it or learn to play catch and shoot, so you can help the team when Yao decides to kick the ball out to you.

Yi Jianlian gets my vote for playing the 4 (SORRY WANG!), but this guy simply has outplayed Wang and everyone else at the 4. But Wang would make a good backup, outta all the other players.

And finally, Mr. Yao Ming, currently second of all scorers and rebounders. Number 1 draft pick of the Houston Rockets in 2002. Need I say more?

Who would you start? This is just from an outsiders point of view, anyone with more CBA/FIBA experience of the Chinese National Team please share your thoughts.

bronx43

I'm sorry, but Wang is definitely still a more refined player than Yi. He was just injured for the past few games. He scored 19 tonight and grabbed 9 boards. Also, I would say Liu Wei is better than Chen Jianghua. Chen can penetration, but he makes some really bad decisions. He's a raw guard at this point. China can benefit more from a veteran.

Demiloy

My lineup would be:

PG- Liu Wei
SG- Wang Shipeng
SF- Du Feng
PF- Wang ZhiZhi
C- Yao Ming

Liu Wei is still the best point guard on the CNT, even with Sun and Chen on the team. Sun is a very good passer, but he can't shoot. Chen is still too inexperienced, and he can't shoot either.

And, uninjured, Wang is better than Yi. Better shooter, better passer, better all-around. At the moment, though, he's not fully 100%, so he's not much better than a 7-foot spot-up shooter.

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My China Hoops Blog

kisstherim

Agreed. A healthy Wang is still much better than Yi. Previously, he was just amazing in the international games.

And after he finally came back to China, he still managed to average 20+ pts/10+ rebs in the warm up games before the WC and scored 44 pts in one game.

And Chen is still so raw while Liu is way more experienced, actually Liu has improved a lot ever since he joined in the Sacramonto training camp. And more important, Chen has no ideas how to play with Yao while Liu had played many years with Yao back in the CBA days so they have great chemistry. (and that's the main reason Liu was picked into the national team in 2002)

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bronx43

Just a side note, Liu Wei had close to a triple double against Slovenia.
9 pts/ 9 assists/ 7 reb
Just the type of play China needs from its starting PG.

Demiloy

And some people are saying that Liu sucks and that Chen or Sun should start.

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My China Hoops Blog

Gotham2krazy

Well, I didn't say that Liu sucked, but I was just stating that TO's are very crucial to the game for China and that they should minimize that to the least possible amounts with that starting lineup.