USA games an eye-opener for China's Wang

BEIJING (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) - China's Wang Zhelin has some good examples to follow if he wants to be more than just a late second round draft pick in the NBA and actually make it in the world's elite league.

Countryman Yao Ming was talented, but also possessed an incredible work ethic that allowed him to become one of basketball's most famous players when he left the Far East in 2002 for the Houston Rockets. Yao never won an NBA title but was among the league's best players.

Another Chinese, Wang's Olympic teammate in Rio, Yi Jianlian, didn't meet expectations in the NBA after being picked early in the first round and he went back to China. Yi has persevered, though, and earned another shot, having recently signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

If Wang, who plays in the Chinese CBA with Fujian, does end up crossing the Atlantic in the next two or three years and joining the Memphis Grizzlies - the club that selected 57th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft - he'll have a better idea of what awaits him.

On three occasions this summer, in two friendlies and one game at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Wang went up against the United States and their star-studded squad of NBA players. The USA were decisive winners in each of the encounters but the experience was valuable for Wang.

Wang faced the USA three times, including at the Olympics

He discovered what incredible athletes NBA players are. Defensively, he says, the Americans were extremely tough.

"I think not only their individual defense but also their team defense gave me a hard time and stopped me from doing what I'm used to doing and doing what I want to do," he said. "So it's been a good opportunity to learn."

From a national team standpoint, Wang and China had realistic expectations going into the Olympics. Yes, they won the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship on home soil but the competition in Rio was at an entirely different level.

They went up against very good teams and for the second straight time, just as they did in London, went 0-5 at the Summer Games.

China did have an opportunity to win one of the games, against Venezuela, but lost that one, too.

So how quickly can China improve in three years, before they host the FIBA Basketball World Cup? Wang and fellow youngster Zhou Qi should mature. Zhou was picked earlier in this summer's draft by Houston.

Something that would help the team, Wang says, is for China to have stability on the coaching staff.

For the past couple of decades, there have been many different men at the helm.

"I'm very happy that our head coach Gong Luming took over the leadership of Team China and led us to qualification to the Olympics at the Asian Championship last year and got us there," he said. "We need patience to build the foundation to achieve more and get better."

FIBA