“The NBA welcomes Chinese elements again!”

"Not every Chinese center is Yao Ming!"

"The hope of Chinese basketball!"

"Is there still room for big centers in the NBA to survive?"

…………

In the summer of 2013, Chinese basketball fans were once again shocked by the NBA draft news from across the ocean.

Chinese basketball player Zhang Feng was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the last second-round pick in the NBA draft, No. 45!

Zhang Feng has become another Chinese big man who may land in the NBA after Yao Ming retires.

Although in the NBA draft, second-round picks may not necessarily get a guaranteed contract from the team, whether Zhang Feng can appear on the NBA court in the new season still requires the Blazers to have team options.

Make the final decision.

After all, the Trail Blazers, who hold four draft picks this year, selected CJ McCollum with the 10th pick, Jeff Vesey, a senior graduate of the University of Kansas, with the 39th pick, and Grant Jeray with the 40th pick.

Specially, I only used the lowest pick, No. 45, to choose Zhang Feng, who went to the same university as McCollum and who was a sophomore this year, to participate in the NBA!

This year's rookie class is recognized by the NBA as a young draft pick. The strength of the draft players is predicted by many scouts that they will not have much fighting ability. However, Zhang Feng, a center player who performed quite well in the NCAA league, despite his height

He is very tall, reaching 2.16 meters, but he does not show particularly outstanding explosive power and outstanding game data. When he is considered to be in such a young draft year, Zhang Feng was actually predicted to be in the draft analysis before the game.

Undrafted.

Such a Chinese player who has never played in a professional league in China, went to the United States to attend college at his own expense after graduating from high school, and played basketball on the side, and was considered by the authoritative American draft prediction media to be "destined" to lose the draft. Naturally, he was not selected before the draft.

Domestic media covered it extensively.

Except for some domestic basketball enthusiasts, they know that Lehigh University has a Chinese center player. Because in this NCAA season, Zhang Feng’s teammate and Lehigh University core player, CJ McCollum, suffered a serious injury in the middle of the season.

It did not reach the NCAA tournament. Even though some domestic media reported on the NCAA, they also ignored Lehigh University, which was upset as the No. 15 seed last year and eliminated the No. 2 seed Duke University. Naturally, they would not pay attention. They were just patriotic.

Zhang Feng from Lehigh University has made a name for himself in the NBA, but due to McCollum's injury, he did not make it to March Madness this year.

However, thanks to the development of the Internet age and the help of many Chinese students studying abroad in Patriot League universities, with Zhang Feng being unexpectedly selected in the NBA draft, news related to Zhang Feng also quickly spread back to

Within the country.

According to an alumnus of Zhang Feng from Lehigh University, Zhang Feng did not have much playing time during his freshman season. Although Zhang Feng had certain strength at the time, he was not outstanding. At the peak of Lehigh University, during the Crazy Three

When the team defeated Duke University in the middle of the month, Zhang Feng only played less than 10 minutes in the game.

Zhang Feng only really rose to prominence at Lehigh University during his sophomore year. Thanks to his sudden growth in height, Zhang Feng secured his position as Lehigh University's starting center, and with his high-quality pick-and-rolls, he became CJ

McCollum's best partner. But because CJ McCollum suffered a serious injury during training, although Zhang Feng played good center data in his sophomore season, Lehigh University did not break out of the Patriot League.

, so Zhang Feng’s data during the league’s “Civil War” when he averaged a double-double as a center is not that convincing.

In the eyes of the Trail Blazers management, when Lillard has made great progress and Aldridge has become the best big man in the NBA, the draft picks in the team's hands are all aimed at being able to exert immediate combat effectiveness.

.

McCollum was chosen to partner with Lillard, and as a senior graduate, although McCollum was injured and would not be able to return to the court until after the New Year, he relied on his high golf IQ in college and his courage to

In terms of shooting ability, the Blazers believe that the No. 10 pick is still worth it. If McCollum can grow quickly, then the two strong combinations in the backcourt, coupled with Aldridge who can kill everyone in the paint, the Blazers can

Quickly complete the reconstruction and become the powerful team in the West that was in the Roy era a few years ago.

As for the center position, the Trail Blazers have not had a strong center in recent years. Aldridge, who mainly plays inside, is very comfortable at the power forward position, but does not have such a big advantage at the center position. Aldridge relies on Aldridge to attack inside.

Oddly, with Lillard's offensive style relied on for outside offense, the Trail Blazers only require good defense, height, and the ability to do dirty work for the center position.

The center position is a consumable for today's Trail Blazers. With the team still having two centers, Robin Lopez and last season's rookie Meyers Leonard, the Trail Blazers continue to choose in the draft market.

Taobao's two rookie center forwards, Zhang Feng and Jeff Vesey, are just to have more "cannon fodder" choices!

Jeff Vesey, as a senior graduate from Kansas, is regarded as an immediate fighting force by the Trail Blazers. In the eyes of the Blazers management, although the senior graduate has little potential, it can save a little time in developing players.

When choosing Chinese player Zhang Feng, the first thing to consider is that after a detailed inspection of McCollum, the scouting report showed that in the Patriot League games this season, before McCollum was injured, Zhang Feng and McCollum

In the pick-and-roll between Zhang Feng and Zhang Feng, the quality of the pick-and-roll is extremely high.

Zhang Feng, who is 2.16 meters tall, not only has standard pick-and-roll movements, but also relies on his relatively strong body to provide McCollum with ample shooting space.

Although Zhang Feng's speed is not that fast, and he cannot rely on his explosive power to directly force a pie and dunk, Zhang Feng's skills are very delicate. After receiving the ball when passing the ball, he can also directly use his height in the case of confrontation.

With a "flat lay", you can score a layup.

If there is no defense, it is very easy to dunk!

Moreover, Zhang Feng was still in the Lehigh University game. During McCollum's rest time, he had good post-up ability. Even if he was fouled by his opponent, Zhang Feng maintained a very high free throw rate.

Regarding the stable shooting percentage of free throws, the Trail Blazers scouts mentioned the Chinese giant who was once a strong team in the Western Conference, the Rockets, Yao Ming!

The ultra-high free throw shooting rate means that Zhang Feng can develop his long-range shooting ability and can better serve as a space-based center, pulling out the opponent's center for Lillard and Aldridge.

And as a Western Conference team, the Blazers' management is a bit blind when it comes to choosing team doctors, but the old rival Rockets have made a lot of money relying on the Chinese market, and the Blazers are also aware of it. If this

The Chinese center has half the strength of Yao Ming, so while ensuring that the team has additional strength, it will be a huge improvement for the Blazers' future business development.

Moreover, after basically getting in touch with McCollum and privately asking McCollum, who was Zhang Feng's teammate, for his opinion, McCollum also made it clear that Zhang Feng was underestimated, so he took a gamble with a spare second-round pick.

Yes, the Trail Blazers still have the capital to give it a try.

Of course, this is the most optimistic prospect for draft players. If the summer league players cannot reach their potential, then the Trail Blazers will not provide contracts to second-round picks. You must know that the contract of second-round picks involves valuable

salary space.

Zhang Feng was also surprised that he was successfully selected.

According to Zhang Feng's plan, if he loses the draft, he will find other NBA teams for trial training. If he cannot stay in the NBA, then Yang Feng will temporarily accept his fate and return to China to start a real professional basketball career. The result is unexpected.

, but it is reasonable that Zhang Feng got his wish and became a better second-round pick than the undrafted pick. This means that as long as he performs well enough in the summer league, Zhang Feng will have the opportunity to sign a professional contract with the Trail Blazers.

Whether a contract can be signed between Zhang Feng and the Trail Blazers is also of great concern to the domestic basketball media. After all, it is related to whether there will be another Chinese player in the NBA in the new season, even if it is just a role of watching the water cooler, but really

The fact that Chinese players can appear in NBA games again is enough for reporters and fans to cheer!

The NBA Summer League has once again received the focus of media from all over the East. The Summer League is a stage for rookies and various free agents who are working hard for NBA contracts. Everyone is working hard for a guaranteed NBA contract.

Own.

After three wonderful performances in the summer league, Zhang Feng played a dominant performance in the interior (summer league level). Whether it was his personal singles in the interior or the pick-and-roll for his teammates on the outside, he helped his teammates create a lot of opportunities.

Shooting space, or effectively protecting the team's basket on the defensive end. Zhang Feng did an extremely good job as a center.

In the end, the Blazers directly gave up senior graduate center Jeff Vesey from the University of Kansas and chose Zhang Feng to join the team's lineup.

The Trail Blazers offered Zhang Feng a four-year, US$2.9 million rookie contract with a minimum salary, with team options in the third and fourth years.
Chapter completed!