Is China's 'two national teams' system going to work?

MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on My Mind) - China's 'two national teams' system is a unique approach to their preparation for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers, but will it bear good fruit?

Earlier this year, China - perennial powerhouses in Asian basketball - started a novel framework in the run-up to the Asian Qualifiers - they announced two different national teams that will compete alternately in the different continental tournaments up until the World Cup in 2019.

As a result, China called up a staggering 44 players to their national pool and divided them into the two national teams: China Red and China Blue.

This was a brainchild of Yao Ming, the new Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) President. Yao's platform revolves around revamping the national basketball program with the long term goal of having an impressive showing when they host the World Cup in two years.

China, of course, have been a fixture at the world level of basketball, but they have not really made any splashes these past handful of years. The squad known as Team Dragon were dead last in the London Olympics 2012, failed to qualify to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 in Spain and were last again at the Rio Olympics 2016. Needless to say, the Chinese are aching for a return to the form that enabled them to finish in the top 8 in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.

Enter this 'two national teams' system. The initial plan was to have one of the teams play in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 and the Asian Qualifiers in November. The other team would then represent the country in all the Asian Qualifiers games in 2018 (February, June, July, September, November and December) - perhaps in the Asian Games 2018, too, which will be in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The rosters for the two teams are the following:

China Red Roster - coached by Li Nan
Abudushalamu Abudurexiti	Chang Lin	Ding Yanyuhang	Fang Shuo
Fu Hao	Lei Meng	Li Jinglong	Liu Zhixuan
Meng Duo	Sui Ran	Wang Zhelin	Wang Zhengbo
Wang Zirui	Yu Changdong	Yuan Shuai	Zhai Xiaochuan
Zhao Jiwei	Zhao Rui	Zhou Qi	Zhu Rongzhen
Zou Yuchen

China Blue Roster - coached by Du Feng
Chen Linjian	Cui Jinming	Gao Shang	Gu Quan
Guo Ailun	Han Dejun	Hu Jinqiu	Jia Cheng
Ju Mingxin	Kelanbaike Makan	Li Gen	Li Jingyu
Li Muhao	Liu Xiaoyu	Ren Junfei	Ren Junwei
Tao Hanlin	Wang Ruheng	Yi Jianlian	Yu Dehao
Zhang Chengyu	Zhao Yanhao	Zhou Peng

This year, it was China Blue who already saw action, playing in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon. In that competition, China finished at 5th place, tying their lowest finish of the past five editions. Guo Ailun, Hu Jinqiu and Han Dejun led the team in that tournament, but they missed the services of Yi Jianlian, who rested up in preparation for the next CBA season.

As for the upcoming Asian Qualifiers, the latest we have heard is that China Red will have their turn. This is interesting since the top two players of that squad - Zhou Qi and Ding Yanyuhang - played in the US over the summer, with Zhou getting signed up by the Houston Rockets and Ding choosing to return to the CBA to play for the Shandong Golden Stars. Getting Zhou to play next month will be quite difficult, but that should open the door for Ding to be the unit's undisputed leader. Veterans Wang Zhelin, Zhai Xiaochuan, Zhao Jiwei and Zou Yuchen are also expected to step up.

On paper, this unprecedented way of preparation makes sense, especially for a country like China that has so much size and talent. It is basically a glorified, blown up and protracted tryout process. Du Feng and Li Nan are expected to gradually trim their respective rosters until, presumably by the end of 2018, they have around a total of 20 combined for the final national pool in 2019.

Remember that what Yao Ming has formed is not a pair of tiered teams. There is no Team A and no Team B here. In essence, both are good enough to be Team A, which, again, makes sense, since China technically do not need to qualify by virtue of being hosts.

I can also see this working in consonance with the CBA season. With two national teams of relatively comparable depth, there will be, in theory, just the right amount of high profile players who will play on the national team and an equal amount staying put in the CBA during the Asian Qualifiers windows.

Things, however, may get sticky when the final cuts have to be made. First off, who will make these cuts? Will Du Feng and Li Nan make them together? Will one of them be THE national team head coach while the other is 'demoted' as an assistant? Will it be Yao Ming, or will a completely new head coach be appointed in 2019?

It is still too early to lay down a verdict on whether this experiment by China will work or not, but there is no doubt that it makes a lot of sense on several levels. And, to be quite honest, if it does yield success for the team, then do not be shocked if a number of other countries adopt it post-2019.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

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