A huge gap, China's men's basketball team's 2023 World Cup inventory: worst record

With the final whistle of Philippine forward Ramos, the Chinese men's basketball team lost by a huge margin of 21 points to the same Asian team, the Philippines, and finished their 2023 Basketball World Cup journey with one win and four losses, ranking 29th.

The 29th place is the worst record in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team participating in the Basketball World Cup. Throughout these five games, the Chinese team has suffered significant losses against strong teams in Europe, America, and even Africa and Asia, with a clear gap. Shortcomings such as limited offensive strength, insufficient physical reserves, and insufficient rebounding protection are all magnified in front of stronger, faster, and more accurate opponents.

Another world competition, another disappointment and defeat. The Chinese men's basketball team needs to effectively enhance its own strength in order to occupy a place on the world basketball stage with constantly evolving playing methods.

The difference between one win and four losses is significant

The opponents of the Chinese team in the group stage are Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico.

Facing the Serbian team, the Chinese team was in a passive position from the beginning, and at the end of the fourth quarter, they were hit by an 18:0 attacking climax by the opponent, ultimately suffering a disastrous defeat of 42 points.

Against South Sudan, a new World Cup team, although only 4 points behind the other team in the first half, it failed to withstand the storm of three-point goals in the second half, and finally lost by 20 points. The other team scored 15 three-point goals in the whole game.

Faced with the strong American team Puerto Rico, the Chinese team was suppressed throughout the game and lost by a margin of 18 points, despite the opponent not sending out a full starting lineup.

In the first game of the 17th to 32nd place qualifying match, facing the Angola team with insufficient shooting ability from the outside, the Chinese team successfully restrained the opponent on the defensive end and won with a 7-point advantage.

In the final game against the host Philippines, the Chinese team was hit by a 14:0 attack wave in the third quarter, and the opponent's head player Clarkson scored 24 points in that quarter; The Chinese team ultimately lost by 21 points.

From these five games, it can be seen that the Chinese team only had the same number of rebounds as their opponents in the game against Serbia, and their rebounds in other games were lower than their opponents; In the final game against the Philippines, the Chinese team had 15 fewer rebounds than their opponents. Among all 32 teams, the Chinese team ranks second to last in terms of average rebounds per game, only slightly higher than the Lebanese team.

In terms of offense, the Chinese team made 115 shots outside the three-point line, making 36 goals with a shooting percentage of 31.3%, while their group stage opponents Puerto Rico and South Sudan had a three-point shooting percentage of 38.2% and 40.7%, respectively.

From the data, it can be seen that the current Chinese team lacks strong internal defense and accurate external defense, and the Chinese men's basketball team has already been separated from world basketball.

Li Kaier's attack and defense core still lacks strong scoring points

Li Kaier, who had just obtained Chinese nationality at the end of July this year, became the core of attack and defense for the Chinese men's basketball team in this World Cup. On the offensive end, he achieved the highest average of 13 points per game for the entire team; On the defensive end, he averaged the highest 5.6 rebounds per game for the entire team; In terms of organizational linkage, he contributed the second highest of 3.4 assists per game in the team; At the same time, his 32.1 minute playing time is also the highest for the entire team. Overall, Li Kaier is the core player that this Chinese men's basketball team relies on most for both offense and defense.

However, it still takes time for Li Kaier to adapt to the team. Moving from the NBA field to the FIBA field, he still needs a process of understanding game rules, game style, teammates, and opponents. In just over a month, completing these tasks is indeed quite difficult.

There are only two players from the Chinese team who have scored double points per game in this World Cup. Apart from Li Kaier, the other player is Zhao Rui. Zhao Rui has become the main attacking point for the Chinese team in multiple matches. In the first game against Serbia, despite Li Kaier's poor performance, Zhao Rui lifted the banner of attack and scored the highest 17 points in the team. Except for the match against Angola, Zhao Rui scored double in all four other matches.

In addition, Hu Jinqiu and Hu Mingxuan have an average score of 9.3 and 9 points per game, respectively, while Zhou Qi has an average score of 8.4 points per game.

Overall, the Chinese men's basketball team currently does not have a strong scoring point. In situations such as decreased physical strength and increased defensive intensity of the opponent, the Chinese team has repeatedly fallen into a state of attacking silence. In the four games where they lost to their opponents, the Chinese team was hit by deadly scoring peaks by their opponents. During the period when the opponent's firepower was fully unleashed, the Chinese team failed to respond effectively in their own offensive round in a timely manner.

If the Chinese team wants to continue to make a difference on the world stage, it must cultivate more attacking strengths in order to have the capital to participate in competition.

Enhancing oneself and catching up with trends

After losing to the Philippines by a large margin, Zhao Rui said, "To be honest, the intensity of our league cannot be compared to this intensity. Facing strong teams on the field and these strong opponents, the feeling is definitely different. Especially when facing their defensive pressure, how to choose and handle the ball, I think there is still a gap in these things. We need to consider how to improve this aspect."

Chinese head coach Djorgevic also stated that this World Cup trip has exposed the problem of young players being immature and lacking experience. "Many players in the team are participating in a game of this level for the first time, and I think they will realize how intense the game can be and how high the requirements for players are." Jorjevic said, "Learn to stay clear headed at any moment of the game."

From the matches of this World Cup, it can be seen that there have been significant changes in the international basketball team's playing style, with a greater emphasis on shooting from the outside and transitioning between offense and defense. This has put higher demands on the team's physical fitness, core scoring ability, and team cooperation on both offense and defense, all of which are areas that the Chinese men's basketball team needs to further improve.

The FIBA changed the rules for the selection of Olympic spots for men's basketball as early as 2014. In the past, the champions of the Asian Championships in the year before the Olympics directly advanced to the Olympics, but now the best performing Asian team in the World Cup has made it to the Olympics. This means that Asian teams must achieve success in competition with other continental and even strong teams in order to have a better chance of participating in the Olympics.

In this competition, the Japanese team defeated Finland in Europe, Venezuela in the Americas, and Cape Verde in Africa, and qualified for the Asian Olympic Games with a record of three wins and two losses. For the Chinese team, if they want to appear on the Olympic stage again, they must set their goal to defeat strong teams in Europe, America, and Africa.

For the future, Zhao Rui candidly said, "If you want to play the Olympics, you should practice more and work harder in your daily life."; For the Chinese men's basketball team, there is no shortcut other than improving oneself and striving to gain the ability to compete with strong European and American teams.