Posts tagged ‘fiba 2010’

When the New York Knicks signed 7″1′ Russian center Tomofey Mozgov to a 3-year, $9.7 million contract in early July, I, like many of you, gave a big ‘Huh?’ Part of that is the result of people, myself included, not being as aware of international prospects. The other part was that Donnie Walsh and the Knicks seemingly did it under the cover of darkness.

As was pointed out at The Painted Area, if other teams suspected Mozgov’s interest in playing in the NBA this season, as opposed to staying with his Russian club, BC Khimky Moscow, and getting more seasoning, there would have been more competition for his services. And especially curious when you consider that the Knicks signed Mozgov while the New Jersey Nets and their new Russian owner were licking their wounds from losing LeBron.

The Painted Area also called Mozgov the best free-agent candidate, factoring his youth of 24 years, behind Brendan Haywood and Darko Milicic, and described him as a “powerful finisher.” Well, not so much against Yi Jianlian (according to the visual eye, not necessarily a FIBA referee). For an explanation, let’s go to the GIF machine …

After a drive by Russian guard Dmitry Khvostov, on which Yi helps off of Mozogv, the ball is dished to TimoFey who has the baseline and an open path to the basket. But hold those Russian horses, the athletic Yi whips around and ain’t scared to meet young Timmy at the rim.

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[Linas Kleiza hops past Yi Jianlian on his way to a game-high 30 points. Photo/FIBA]

Bob Donewald Jr. is a rolling stone, in basketball coaching terms. After getting a start as a student assistant at Western Michigan, Donewald has been an assistant at Morehead State, a head coach and general manager in the British Basketball League, working with three separate teams, a scout and assistant GM for the New Jersey Nets, an NBA assistant coach under Paul Silas with the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers, a head coach of a couple professional teams in Brazil, an assistant coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, a coach in the ABA, a coach in the Ukraine, coach of the Shanghai Sharks and now, he’s the head coach of China’s national basketball team. What, you thought the ‘journeyman’ tag just applied to players?

After winning once and losing four times in group play, China is very lucky to be in the round of sixteen at the FIBA 2010 World Tournament. If you want to get technical, had it not been for a David Huertas last second three-pointer when his team, Puerto Rico, lost to the Ivory Coast, it would have been the African nation of 20 million instead of the Chinese country of 1.3 billion advancing to the knock-out stage. But China makes no apologies as they move on to face heavily-favored Lithuania on Tuesday. Donewald is now in the most recognizable position he’s ever been throughout his travels as a coach and the basketball-crazed millions in China have taken notice.

The coach inherited a young, inexperienced team, also coming off a sour loss to Iran in the China-hosted Asia Games in August 2009 — Hamad Haddadi and the Iranians gave the Chinese a beat down in the championship game, winning 70-52; Yi could only muster 11 points on 5-17 shooting. And to put himself even more behind the eight-ball, Donewald accepted the job in April 2010 fully knowing that Yao Ming would not be available for the FIBA Worlds, if not completely retired from international play.

But Donewald has taken the reigns and whipped new culture and fresh blood into the Chinese program, and it has shown with their competitiveness. In arguably the toughest group, Group C, China has lost by less than double digits in all games except against Turkey, when Yi and two other starters didn’t play. By the way, under Donewald, Yi and China got revenge on Iran with an 86-64 late-July win over them in the Stankovic Cup, a tune-up for the FIBA Worlds.

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[Yi Jianlian makes a nasty/tough game face during a game against the Ivory Coast.]

According to sources, the MRI results on the injured Achilles heel of Yi Jianlian have come back negative and he should be ready to play in China’s opening knock-out round game against Lithuania on Tuesday.

Yi aggravated his inflamed Achilles against Russia last Wednesday and was held out from China’s Group C finale against Turkey on Thursday. Wang ZhiZhi and Lui Wei were also held out of Thursday’s game by China’s American coach, Bob Donewald. Before the game, because of Puerto Rico’s loss to the Ivory Coast, China knew they would advance to the next stage regardless of the outcome against the Turks.

If you watched China in previous international competitions in comparison to this year’s FIBA Worlds, or if you’ve simply listened to the television commentators for this year’s games, it’s easy to conclude that this Chinese team has played with more energy and more overt emotion than ever in the past. Much of that can be attributed to the style of Donewald, from coaching flair to simply practicing his Chinese players less.

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Had enough of Yi Jianlian yet? I’ve got some good news and bad news. Bad news first. According to a report by the China Daily, and a story on the FIBA website, Yi sat out of Thursday’s game against Turkey with an injury to his Achilles tendon.

China’s coach, Bob Donewald, said that the Achilles was “inflamed a little bit,” and that Yi would be getting an MRI on it. Donewald also called Yi a “warrior,” because he played hurt after sustaining the injury Wednesday against Russia. Surely cringe-worthy news for Wizards brass. Those darn international competitions.

Now for the good news, or actually, bad news depending on how you look at it. Even though China went 1-4 in Group C at the FIBA Worlds, they advanced to the knock-out stage (four out of six teams from each of the four groups do). The Ivory Coast, whom China beat, and Puerto Rico, who beat China, were the two teams from the group sent home. All three finished with a 1-4 record, but China held the three-team tie-breaker.

On Thursday morning (on the East Coast), the Ivory Coast beat Puerto Rico for their first ever win in a FIBA tournament. China was aware of this result heading into their 2 pm Thursday afternoon game against Turkey. Knowing they would advance regardless likely contributed to Yi resting; China lost to Turkey 87-40.

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After Yi Jianlian’s dreadful performance in Madison Square Garden two weeks ago, there were legitimate reasons to be concerned about his ability to lead Team China.  He missed open shots, he was unable to get comfortable in the post, and his lack of aggressiveness on both ends of the floor seemed to affect the way his teammates played.  Luckily for Yi and China, the games were only exhibitions or “international friendlies”.

Saturday morning was China’s opening game in the FIBA tournament against Greece,  and Yi demonstrated that he possessed a higher level of play for the games that counted.  His first step was explosive and confident, he seemingly grabbed every rebound there was to be had (14 total, 10 defensive), and he played with an attitude that had been missing in his previous performances.  In fact, after more than a few baskets, he defiantly glared at Greece’s coach (and former China coach) Jonas Kazlauskas.

Unfortunately, Yi’s 26 points and 14 rebounds were not enough to overcome China’s sloth-footed zone defense, and his team fell to a more experienced Greece, 89-81.

Sunday, Yi and his Chinese teammates took on a feisty Ivory Coast team in the second round, and while he didn’t look as aggressive and explosive as he had the day before, he still put up effective numbers (26 points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block).  That performance was enough to lead China to an 83-73 victory, and it also gave me the opportunity to delve a bit deeper into this new version of Yi’s game. Read more »