Olympic Basketball: Big Trouble Persists In Old China

China is supposed to be a basketball powerhouse by now, but an archaic system and incompetent player development have prevented the nation of one billion-plus to adequately compete on the international level.

When the new millennium arrived back somewhat 16 years ago, we all had a feeling the world was going to change.

Everything as we knew it was turning upside down. The most famous rapper at the time was white (Eminem), while the best golfer was black (Tiger Woods). What a time to be alive.

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Basketball was also experiencing it’s own changing of the guard. The 2000 Sydney Olympics marked the first time since the inception of the Dream Team where Team USA was truly “challenged.”

With the globalization of basketball, spearheaded by the lofty ambitions of then-NBA commissioner David Stern and the lasting impression the original 1992 Dream Team had made internationally, the world was improving rapidly. More importantly, teams stopped idolizing American players and stopped playing scared.

But which nation was going to step up and genuinely compete against the United States? With the breakup of the Soviet Union, most of the segregated Baltic nations were perceived as not densely populated enough to compete.

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Meanwhile, far east, China had adopted basketball as its national sport. Better yet, they were growing 7-foot giants seemingly on trees.

With a total populace north of 1 billion, many expected the basketball-crazed nation to emerge as an international powerhouse in 10-15 years.

Well, such prognostications started off looking pretty legit, thanks in large to Yao Ming living up to his giant-sized expectations, but as we sit here in 2016, Chinese basketball is still in the same dire, archaic state.

As a man of Chinese-descent himself, I have watched and followed their progression intently.  Sure, the 2008 Olympic Basketball run at home was quite impressive, but much of that was manufactured by the sheer presence demanded by Yao.

With the Great Wall down and out, after his premature retirement from the game due to a laundry list of foot injuries, China has been downright terrible since 2010 — finishing no better than 10th in every major international competition, including last in the 2012 Olympics and second to last in the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Worst yet, Yao’s predecessor, Yi Jianlian, proved to be a colossal bust on the NBA front, and is best known for his mesmerizing predraft performance against a helpless chair.

The sad thing is, at age 29 (most likely 32), Yi is still team China’s most talented and athletic player. In watching the 2015 Asian Championships, everything still funnels through the big man.

But even the once stranglehold they had over their Asian competition is dwindling quickly, with recent losses to both the Philippines and Iran.

Their incompetent play was thoroughly highlighted this past week, as team China endured two embarrassing thrashings to the hands of the US.

In both games, the myriad of reasons why team China cannot compete on the international level reared its ugly head.

In the past, we’ve seen European teams give the Team USA a run for its money.

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Their strategy is simple, but sound — spread the floor with a four-out one-in alignment, run plenty of misdirection pick-and-rolls, slow the game down to a snail’s pace, and at whatever cost, do not let the Americans get out on the break.

China seemingly breaks every principal of the above-mentioned set of rules. They play two plotting seven-footers at all times, in conjunction with two of the stiffest wings you’ll ever find, and inexplicably gamble for steals against a team full of athletic cyborgs.

That puts an incredible amount of pressure on their lone guard to break the vaunted pressure of international defenses, and be the sole creator of the team.

Here’s the dirty little secret about team China though: unlike in years past, where the strength of the team lied with the triple towers of Yao, Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer, the new-age Chinese have two creative and highly skilled guards capable of breaking down the D with their off-the-dribble game.

But instead of playing to their strengths (i.e. playing them together) — which so happens to coincide with how the game is being played in the 21st century — Team China continues to trot out an army of bigs who have trouble tying their own shoelaces, let alone catching and finishing at the rim.

Bottom line is, if China wants any shot at not finishing dead last in this year’s Olympics, they have to leverage the dynamic skills of their duo of young point guards in Guo Ailun and Zhao Jiwei.

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The two have already become cult favorites in the States with their ankle breaking crossovers and shake-and-bake pullups, now is the time for old China to get with the program and unleash their new-school guards.